fan placement

[yellohut]

i recently added a window to my case, and the window includes a fan in the middle.
my question is should the fan be an intake or exhaust?

i currently have an exhaust fan below the psu, and an intake on the bottom front of my case (as well as the normal psu exhaust). should the new side fan bring outside air in to the computer, or remove the hot air?


edit: (sorry, i just realized i posted this in the wrong section, but i don't know how to move it.)

[David14259]

Well, I suppose it could go either way, but you want to have more air blowing out of your case then there is blowing into it. So, if you already have 1 fan blowing in and 1 blowing out, I'd have the window fan blowing out.

[Cricket]

The original idea behind the door mounted fan was to have the fan blow cool air directly on hot video and PCI cards. But having more exhaust than intake is also a good idea. What you could do is mount the fan in either direction and take CPU and case temps to see which orientation works best for your setup.

:) Cricket

[got_ammo]

My side fan is on intake. In my opinion it is good to have all of that cooler air going direcly to the heatsink and pci cards, and have teh exhuast at the back of the case.

[yellohut]

thanks guys, right now i've got it blowing out, but i'll take some temp readings and switch it to see which works best. i'll let you know.

[David14259]

Yes got_ammo, thats correct. However, if you have too many fans/too much air blowing into the case and not enough fans blowing out of the case it changes the pressure of the case and air starts blowing out of places it shouldn't, like the front grill, the little holes around your CD or Floppy Drive...etc.

If you have more air moving out of the case than in (good), air is pulled into the case from the front, flows over the Mother board and processor, and out the back.