Usual Placement of Case Fans?

[DuckTape]

Hello folks.

Would you be so kind as to help me understand the following about the placement of various case fans?...

Where is the front intake fan usually placed? (bottom of "front board"?)

Where is the back exhaust fan usually placed? (middle or top of "back board"?)

When the video card does not have its own fan, and one wants to cool the video card with a fan, does one usually use the fan as a "sucker" or a "blower"? (Where exactly would this fan usually be located? "Left board", "right board", left side of the inside the case, right side of the inside of the case, upper, middle, lower, etc.?)

When one wants to cool a hard drive with a fan, do they usually use it as a "sucker" or a "blower"? (Where exactly would this fan usually be located?)

As far as I could tell, with some supermicro.com cases, there are fans behind the hard drives which suck the air towards the back of the case. Is this an uncommon scenario? Anyone know if this method is especially effective at cooling the hard drives and the ambient air in the case?

Thanks for your time!

Best wishes,
DuckTape

 

[lhgpoobaa]

yeah u got it about right.
Case design is pretty much standardised, so the front casefan(s) are at the bottom front.
Rear casefans upper back of the case below the psu. If you have a tower case you often get another fan or two mounted above the PSU.

If you want to cool a passive video card you could use a PCI slot mounted fan below it, or a casefan mounted on the left sidepannel as in my atlas case.

Modern IDE Hard drives really dont need much in the way of cooling, just a low flow is more than sufficient unless you live in extreme conditions.

In your typical case the hard drives are mounted front bottom, behind the front casefans that blow iar into the case, over the drives.



<b>True Class: Just roll her over and do her doggy style. And put a laptop on her back and tell us what its like live on irc.</b>
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[DuckTape]

Thanks, LHGPooBaa.

I have a few things I want to make sure I understand, if you don't mind, and you would be so kind as to help me with...

<< Rear casefans upper back of the case below the psu. If you have a tower case you often get another fan or two mounted above the PSU. >>

So, in the more "shorter towers", the PSU is at the top in the back portion of the case, and the back exhaust fan will likely be below it on the back panel, correct?

And in the more "taller towers", the PSU is towards the top (but not quite at the top, maybe at about the 3/4 mark) in the back portion of the case, and an exhaust fan may be below it as well as above it on the back panel, correct?

<< If you want to cool a passive video card you could use a PCI slot mounted fan below it, or a casefan mounted on the left sidepannel as in my atlas case. >>

When a casefan is mounted on the left side panel to cool a video card, would it usually be sucking air from outside of the case and blowing it on the video card (requiring there to be a hole cut or punched where it is mounted on the left panel)?

<< In your typical case the hard drives are mounted front bottom, behind the front casefans that blow iar into the case, over the drives. >>

So, whenever there is a front lower intake case fan on the lower part of the front panel, is that what is commonly referred to as a "hard drive blower"?

Thanks again!
DuckTape

 

[lhgpoobaa]

Yes. Correct.
Tower or full tower cases are those really tall ones over knee high with 5-7 5.25" bays and the PSU is about 6" down from the top. Can have fans above and below the PSU.

The Mid Tower case has the PSU at the very top and usually have 2 to 4 5.25" bays. Fans just below the PSU, to the left of the standard Serial/parallel/PS2/USB ports comming from the motherboard.
Depending on the size and width of the case these fans can be anything from 1x120mm, 2x80mm or 2x40mm piddly fans (which are pretty useless).

Side fans you can really do either. Your choice.
I go by the general rule of:
IN at the front and left side,
OUT at the rear and top.
The Majority of cases dont have side or topfan holes, meaning that people cut their own.
My atlas SB-201 case is one of the few that does. 2 front bottom, 1 side, 2 rear and 1 top.

yes. the front bottom fans can be called hard drive blowers.

<b>True Class: Just roll her over and do her doggy style. And put a laptop on her back and tell us what its like live on irc.</b>
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[Auburn9698]

Hard drive blowers are also sold as a different type of fan that you fit in one of your external drive slots. They take air in from the front, and blow it down across the drive(s).
Here's a link to some on newegg. I think these may be more like what you're talking about.

<A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?catalog=62&DEPA=1&submit=property&mfrcode=0&propertycodevalue=3179" target="_new">http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?catalog=62&DEPA=1&submit=property&mfrcode=0&propertycodevalue=3179</A>

War Eagle<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Auburn9698 on 04/15/03 07:04 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[namek0]

A strategically placed 80mm fan can drastically reduce hard drive temperature. I installed one (strategically of course, lol) on my hd that was running at 48C, now it's running at a kick ass 26C and 29C under max load. For the record, it's a ibm 120gig

Although I'm sure some guy out there has one to several degrees below by now,

It's all good ^_^

 

[GeneticWeapon]

My first pc I modded, I was so proud of. It had ten fans on the case, and I didnt know about proper air flow. They were blowing all different directions....I was so proud of it...<sobbing>...

My Score..<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=6258104" target="_new">http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=6258104</A>..Pic's of my pc before I pimped it.<A HREF="http://www.lochel.com/THGC/html/Genetic_Weapon.html" target="_new">http://www.lochel.com/THGC/html/Genetic_Weapon.html</A>