What direction should I point my Hard Drive Fan?

[Jablumen]

OK, I've got an Antec SX830 case that has a bracket to install a fan between the hard drives and the front of the case. There are also two fans on the back of the case (which bring cool air into the case) and two more fans on the front of the case below the hard drives (which blow warm air out of the case). Because I am adding a 3rd hard drive to my 3-drive bay, I have decided the install a hard drive fan. Now the question is what direction should I point it.

My instincts tell me that the best thing would be to bring cool air into the case and across the hard drives. But it also occurs to me that if I point the fan the other way, then all of the fans on the front of the case will be exhausting air and all those on the back will be bringing air in. It seems to me that may result in better overall air flow. I'm going to pose the same question to Antec, but figure I might get a quicker response here. Does anyone have a strong opinion one way or the other on this one?

Thanks, John

Ain't this fun!

 

[BGates2B]

I have this case and I have two IBM deskstar 60's in there. I have the fan blowing across the drives and exhausting into the case.

Now, if you turn the fan over so it pulls air over the drive, you're pulling warmer air over them. Sure, you can have the back fans blow in, but then that air is heated by the CPU, and it might be exhausted through the powersupply anyway. Plus, you'll get the heat from the PCI components and the video card.



Did Weird Al write "It's all about the Pentiums" about me?

 

[Jablumen]

Thanks,

I double checked everything with my install and verified that all the fans in the system are directed front to back. All seems to be running pretty well.

John

Ain't this fun!