2 or 1 side fans?

[Fly with me]

I have 1 intake lower front and 1 exhaust upper back.

I have space on the side for two 120mm fans, vertically positioned

I have windforce gpu that blows a lot of air near bottom of pc.

should i get two fans for side or just 1 for the bottom side where gpu is.

also should they be intake or exhaust, im thinking lower should be exhaust to blow out the hot air the gpu is pushing out.

 

[feelinfroggy777]

You can get 2 if you want. You will have a pressure issue as you are bringing in less air than you are pulling out, so that air will come from somewhere. But it is really not a big deal.

You definitely want them blowing out of the case, especially if there is not a screen. If you have them blow inside your case and there is not a screen, then it will bring in a lot of dust.

 

[Fly with me]

You can get 2 if you want. You will have a pressure issue as you are bringing in less air than you are pulling out, so that air will come from somewhere. But it is really not a big deal.

You definitely want them blowing out of the case, especially if there is not a screen. If you have them blow inside your case and there is not a screen, then it will bring in a lot of dust.

there is a dust filter, maybe I should have bottom exhaust, top intake?

anyway I can mess around with that when I get them to test the temps.

the main question i need to ask right now because I need to buy them is that will 2 be better than 1?

 

[Sedivy]

Stick to bottom/front intake, top/back exhaust. Side will depend. If you don't have any front intake, then I would put both bottom and sides on cool air intake. Just do not crank the sides to very high speeds as that can impede exhausting of warm air from the card. Gently spinning side fans to bring extra cold air to the video card, together with the normal speed intake bottom. Your back should be set to exhaust as usual, and so should the top. Best try to keep balance of intake/exhaust.

 

[Fly with me]

Stick to bottom/front intake, top/back exhaust. Side will depend. If you don't have any front intake, then I would put both bottom and sides on cool air intake. Just do not crank the sides to very high speeds as that can impede exhausting of warm air from the card. Gently spinning side fans to bring extra cold air to the video card, together with the normal speed intake bottom. Your back should be set to exhaust as usual, and so should the top. Best try to keep balance of intake/exhaust.

im sorry, I worded my previous reply poorly. When I said top and bottom I did not mean in terms of the case, I meant in terms of the side panel.

yeah i guess i can mess around with intakes/ exhausts once I get the fans. just wondering if 2 is better than 1 on the side panel because I read somewhere that too many fans can mess up air flow

 

[feelinfroggy777]

If you are going to mix and match, I would put the top fan as exhaust because heat rises.

What are your temps now? If your temps are high, then add two, if you temps are fine, then just add one or none.

 

[13thmonkey]

front/bottom/side intake (gives the GPU fans something to work with) top/back exhaust.

Do you have a temp problem at the moment? The GPU fan suck air from the case, push it through the heat sink and then back into the case, if you exhaust at this point the GPU has less air to work with.

 

[Sedivy]

For the side, ideal is as large fan as you can get, and gently spinning. If not, go with whatever you have. doesn't matter 1 or 2. 2 will mean more air in, but as long as you keep the spin very low, it should not be causing turbulence around the video card. Also, depends on the positioning of your side fans. Are they below the video card. Directly level with the video card? A bit above it?

 

[Fly with me]

If you are going to mix and match, I would put the top fan as exhaust because heat rises.

What are your temps now? If your temps are high, then add two, if you temps are fine, then just add one or none.

idle temps are 32 for gpu and 35 for cpu.

cpu load temps are ok. gpu load temps are ok at first but they keep rising. After a while gpu can reach over 85 during long time stress tests. I think its because there isnt much flow at the bottom of the case and hot air gets stuck there.

 

[Fly with me]

front/bottom/side intake (gives the GPU fans something to work with) top/back exhaust.

Do you have a temp problem at the moment? The GPU fan suck air from the case, push it through the heat sink and then back into the case, if you exhaust at this point the GPU has less air to work with.

yes, gpu load temps get higher and higher as time goes by even though load is the same.

basically the side panel has slots for two fans, lower and upper. l guess lower should be intake so gpu fans have cool air to work with. should the upper side panel fan be intake or exhaust? should I even attach an upper side panel fan?

 

[Fly with me]

For the side, ideal is as large fan as you can get, and gently spinning. If not, go with whatever you have. doesn't matter 1 or 2. 2 will mean more air in, but as long as you keep the spin very low, it should not be causing turbulence around the video card. Also, depends on the positioning of your side fans. Are they below the video card. Directly level with the video card? A bit above it?

one is directly level, the other is way above it, level with cpu

and what rpm would be ok for side fan?

 

[13thmonkey]

front/bottom/side intake (gives the GPU fans something to work with) top/back exhaust.

Do you have a temp problem at the moment? The GPU fan suck air from the case, push it through the heat sink and then back into the case, if you exhaust at this point the GPU has less air to work with.

yes, gpu load temps get higher and higher as time goes by even though load is the same.

basically the side panel has slots for two fans, lower and upper. l guess lower should be intake so gpu fans have cool air to work with. should the upper side panel fan be intake or exhaust? should I even attach an upper side panel fan?

How high? What gpu?

 

[Fly with me]

front/bottom/side intake (gives the GPU fans something to work with) top/back exhaust.

Do you have a temp problem at the moment? The GPU fan suck air from the case, push it through the heat sink and then back into the case, if you exhaust at this point the GPU has less air to work with.

yes, gpu load temps get higher and higher as time goes by even though load is the same.

basically the side panel has slots for two fans, lower and upper. l guess lower should be intake so gpu fans have cool air to work with. should the upper side panel fan be intake or exhaust? should I even attach an upper side panel fan?

How high? What gpu?

gigabyte gtx 980
it reaches up to 90's in furmark, i turn it off once it gets that high

 

[feelinfroggy777]

90C is a little higher than I would prefer.

What is your fan curve set up at? What about overclock on the GPU? What case are you using?

You will probably need 2 more fans.

It is hard to say what spot and what direction and location for each fan because a lot of hardware variables and the case makes a huge difference. Your best option is to plan for 2 fans and test their positions out.

 

[Sedivy]

I wouldn't go higher than 700-800 rpm if you put it on intake. But a lot depends on airflow in your case, the kind of gpu cooling you have etc. It won't hurt if you try a few different configurations. You can test what a difference in temps settings exhaust vs intake makes, 1 or 2 side fans and so on. No reason you can't experiment a little.

 

[13thmonkey]

Agreed 90 is too hot, it's not unsafe, but it's not desirable, however that is a stress test, what does it do under normal gaming load? Side intake just below the card then.