Fan Direction

[jrgray93]

I have this case:
http://www.thermaltake.com/products-model.aspx?id=C_00001841

If you scroll down on the page, you can see the layout of the case. I have a side, rear, and bottom mounted fan, but no top or front.

I currently have the bottom fan on intake, but I was wondering if I should make it push air out. I will have two Gigabyte Radeon HD 7870s topping out at 70 celsius each, blowing hot air down.

Or maybe keep that one pulling in, but make the side fan blow out? The side fan is pretty much over top of where the video cards are, and the first card will just be blowing hot air onto the second one once they are both in.

 

[steddora]

If I had those two cards and no front/top intake fans... I'd probably exhaust out of the side and pull in from the back and bottom. Though with that case, I'd suggest getting a front fan and a couple for the top as well as you'll get a LOT better airflow going with the front/side as intakes and the rear/top as exhausts. The product page even shows that for the case as it's the single best possible method for it. It's worth the price of fans, trust me. Even if you buy cheap fans, you'll be better off.

 

[jrgray93]

If I had those two cards and no front/top intake fans... I'd probably exhaust out of the side and pull in from the back and bottom. Though with that case, I'd suggest getting a front fan and a couple for the top as well as you'll get a LOT better airflow going with the front/side as intakes and the rear/top as exhausts. The product page even shows that for the case as it's the single best possible method for it. It's worth the price of fans, trust me. Even if you buy cheap fans, you'll be better off.

My problem with the top is that I would have to buy fans with < 25MM thickness, due to the motherboard layout. That means loud fans with little air flow. Plus I'm trying to keep it at three case fans, to keep room on my fan speed controller for my two fans I plan to mount on a Hyper 212 EVO soon.

Hmmm... perhaps there is a splitter I can get to control both fans on the same control switch..? Will look into this.

EDIT: It would seem there are splitters, so I can set both sink fans on the same controller and add another case fan. I think I will do this:

Con 1: bottom & front intake
Con 2: side & rear exhaust
Con 3: top-rear exhaust (low profile)
Con 4: top-front intake (low profile, for cool air into the cpu cooler)
Con 5: heat sink intake and exhaust, towards back

Will look a little something like this:

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh139/ugotpwnzored/design1_zps6e3a9f61.jpg

 

[steddora]

There are plenty of fan controllers out there. Why not buy a nice multiple fan fan controller? If it wasn't for having two on my Rosewill Thor V2 that support 3x fans each; I'd have one of those controllers that have 6 different outputs or so.

As for less than 25mm... That does suck for sure. But I'd still put some fans up there regardless. That's where all the hot air will gather and even a low CFM fan will pull the heat out 5x faster than having no fan at all.

 

[jrgray93]

There are plenty of fan controllers out there. Why not buy a nice multiple fan fan controller? If it wasn't for having two on my Rosewill Thor V2 that support 3x fans each; I'd have one of those controllers that have 6 different outputs or so.

As for less than 25mm... That does suck for sure. But I'd still put some fans up there regardless. That's where all the hot air will gather and even a low CFM fan will pull the heat out 5x faster than having no fan at all.

Yep. Just sucks that Amazon is all out of Slip Stream fans right now :/

But I have a 5.25" bay 5-fan controller I just purchased. I will just double up those fans that are doing the same jobs. It would actually make it easier for me to adjust them all, anyway.

Oh, it's also worth noting I have vented PCI slot covers. They seem to help.

 

[steddora]

www.newegg.com ?

The more air you have moving; the better. I would check newegg and see if they have anything.

 

[jrgray93]

www.newegg.com ?

The more air you have moving; the better. I would check newegg and see if they have anything.

They are discontinued on Newegg. I can get them directly from the manufacturer, but it will cost me a little extra. No big deal.

I'm also only going to mount one fan, the intake, on the CPU cooler. The reason is that a second fan would be pressed against the rear exhaust fan, and not lined up 100% anyway. It would be better just to leave that side without a fan, and let the rear exhaust pull through.

I also noticed that the front intake would require me to move my solid state driver up, further blocking air flow to the CPU area. To solve that problem, I am going to mount a 5.25" fan system in the middle bay, directly in front of the CPU.

 

[jrgray93]

Just ordered:

2x Scythe Slip Stream 120x12mm (seemingly, from the only place on the planet that has them in stock)

4x Cooler Master SickleFlow 120x25mm (eh, already had two good blue ones, but I want uniform LED color, and my red one I already have is broken, only goes at like 300 RPM)

Startech 5.25" Bay Cooler

--- 3x Scythe Mini Kaze 40x20mm (for about 15 CFM directly in front of the CPU)

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO

--- 2x Cooler Master Excalibur 120x25mm (turns out I CAN fit two of them, because I had the wrong dimensions, doh)

--- Arctic Cooling MX-4 Thermal Compound

4x 3 Pin Fan Splitter (1 to 2)

3 Pin Fan Splitter (1 to 3, for Mini Kazes)

----------------------------------------------------------

Looks like I'm all set, thanks for the help!

 

[steddora]

Hell yeah! Now remember to set them things up right! Think of it this way, the more fans you have running the lower speed they need to go and the quieter the room is. I can hear my PSU right now; it's so wonderful.

 

[jrgray93]

Hell yeah! Now remember to set them things up right! Think of it this way, the more fans you have running the lower speed they need to go and the quieter the room is. I can hear my PSU right now; it's so wonderful.

Indeed, I love my new fan speed controller. Now I can clock the system down and run the Rain app on Windows 8 while I sleep, or just keep the fans quiet while I am not gaming. While I am, I have a nice speaker system and subwoofer. Can't hear the fans over all of that

 

[jrgray93]

Best answer selected by jrgray93.