Airflow 101

[idjekyll]

I saw this article and thought it would be a good share especially for newbies and those building rigs for the first time.

Airflow 101: Setting Up Your Fans and Keeping Your Computer Cool - Cooling - CPUs

 

[trento]

strange idea for radiator. most tests show intake fan for radiator leads to best temps for CPU. my personal experience also confirms this. i guess not much hot air is blown in if yr not doing push pull.

 

[idjekyll]

strange idea for radiator. most tests show intake fan for radiator leads to best temps for CPU. my personal experience also confirms this. i guess not much hot air is blown in if yr not doing push pull.

yeah it's definitely better for your cpu cause it fresh cool air cooling your radiator but at the same time it blows warm air into your case thus increase the ambient. I guess it's either up the cpu temp and save the ambient temp or the other way round.

 

[weap0nx]

strange idea for radiator. most tests show intake fan for radiator leads to best temps for CPU. my personal experience also confirms this. i guess not much hot air is blown in if yr not doing push pull.

I agree, I think putting hot system air through your radiator sort of defeats the advantage of watercooling right, i.e. trying to get the CPU cooling loop out of the sun.

 

[Alphas]

Rule #2: Have More Exhaust Fans Than Intake Fans (Negative Pressure)
This wrong, Have more filtered intake than exhaust fans (positive pressure), take the article with a ton of salts]=.

 

[idjekyll]

Rule #2: Have More Exhaust Fans Than Intake Fans (Negative Pressure)
This wrong, Have more filtered intake than exhaust fans (positive pressure), take the article with a ton of salts]=.

Actually I've done quite abit of Googling and forum surfing on this and one thing I know so far is everyone thinks their way is correct or the best. Even Linus says that push/pull is not really needed if we have good pressure fans. Apparently there is no one way to doing things so I guess we just find what we THINK works best and just get on with it. Just need to get the basics right i.e exhaust for top and back, intake for front and bottom etc.

 

[shadow84]

The general idea is to push cool air towards the rad.

if u are going for positive airflow, do get some filters for intake. If you are afraid that the ambient temp in ur case is high, then get an airflow optimised fan for the rear as exhaust.

 

[devilwahaha]

Rule #2: Have More Exhaust Fans Than Intake Fans (Negative Pressure)
This wrong, Have more filtered intake than exhaust fans (positive pressure), take the article with a ton of salts]=.

If your case is not big enough and you have too much intake/too little exhaust("positive pressure"), your case is gonna cook like an oven.

 

[trento]

If your case is not big enough and you have too much intake/too little exhaust("positive pressure"), your case is gonna cook like an oven.

Especially those 'silent' cases?

 

[Mikiberry]

Rule #2: Have More Exhaust Fans Than Intake Fans (Negative Pressure)
This wrong, Have more filtered intake than exhaust fans (positive pressure), take the article with a ton of salts]=.

Negative airflow usually yields a cooler ambient rig than positive. However the only draw back is that you would need proper filters and regular cleaning sessions as dust is more likely to build up as compared to positive.

Positive airflow with proper filters can be very much maintenance free for half a year or longer.

Especially those 'silent' cases?

R4 and R5 silent cases are great for cooling, in fact outperforming most of the mainsteam mesh type coolers due to solid cable management, intake and exhaust grills.

If your case is not big enough and you have too much intake/too little exhaust("positive pressure"), your case is gonna cook like an oven.

Yeah lol. The moment when people went for smaller ITX and MATX casings, no matter neg. or positive pressure the cooling is already not effective liao.

 

[trento]

But the r5 vents are blocked isn't it? Silence will always lead to compromises unless one removes the vents, which defeats the point of such cases

 

[jgyy1990]

Spam fans lor

 

[Mikiberry]

But the r5 vents are blocked isn't it? Silence will always lead to compromises unless one removes the vents, which defeats the point of such cases

If you not using radiators, you only need to remove a vent, with radiators you dont cover it up.

The main selling point of the case in my opinion is the ample cable management and the versatility for case fan management, not so much on the silent top vents.

 

[devilwahaha]

But the r5 vents are blocked isn't it? Silence will always lead to compromises unless one removes the vents, which defeats the point of such cases

That case is so big its a non issue. Literally the entire back panel is vented(meshed with huge holes) and half the top panel too. Unless you're loading it up with 3 290x tdp-class cards, you will probably get away fine with just one intake one exhaust fan even with 2 cards.

 

[trento]

ic. tot the h440 was another good silent alternative as the top is covered with some small vent holes. i've looking for a good silent case. it's prob either of these 2 now.

 

[Deadlycupcake]

Hi bro, just to check, if 2 front fan @1000 rpm and rear exhaust at 800 rpm is there good airflow?

 

[idjekyll]

good rule of thumb is there should be equal intake to exhaust or atleast close. too much intake and not much exhaust then the case will store the heat.

 

[Deadlycupcake]

So I guess I should turn up rpm of the rear fan and lower rpm of front intake? Thanks

 

[Alphas]

good rule of thumb is there should be equal intake to exhaust or atleast close. too much intake and not much exhaust then the case will store the heat.

this cracks me up, the vol of air must increase

 

[Phelan]

Hi bro, just to check, if 2 front fan @1000 rpm and rear exhaust at 800 rpm is there good airflow?

It's not about the speed of the fan, it's the amount of air that's being moved by them. A fan at 800rpm might move air than a fan at 1000rpm, depending on the size and blade design.