[SOLVED] Blower fan blows hot air out the front of the card (RX580)?

[phdibart]

I have a Sapphire RX580 Nitro+ SE. This is a blower style card, and when the fans spin up, hot air naturally comes out of the back, which is expected. However, the other day when I was messing around with my fan setup, I had my side panel off while running Heaven benchmark, and hot air was noticeably coming out the front of the card towards the front of the case. I'm assuming it was intentionally designed this way, but it seems to be self-defeating as this card runs warm and the air being blown back into the front of the case was rather toasty. It follows that my case fan setup should take care of this through intake and exhaust, but it just seems like a sub-optimal design. What are your guys' thoughts?

 

[Metal Messiah.]

Are you sure your GPU features a blower-type cooler ? I think that's a custom AIB card by sapphire, having dual fans/Dual-x cooing, imo. It's not a blower style cooler.

https://www.sapphiretech.com/en/consumer/nitro-rx-580-8g-g5-se

 

[King_V]

Here are the images I found for the Sapphire RX580 Nitro+ SE

image 1

image 2


Given the openings variously around the card, it's not a blower card, with only one possible exit for the air. Air can obvioulsy get out at the exhaust vent at the ports, as well as on the other end of the card, and both long-sides of it as well.

That's normal for this card.

Something like this, where the shroud clearly seals off the card so that all air is forced to exist through the back (where the ports are) is what a blower-style card is.

 

[phdibart]

King_V & Metal, thanks for the replies. I thought since it expels hot air out the back, it was a blower type. I was under the impression that open-air expels out the sides (toward the PCI slot and the case side panel). Is Sapphire going for sort of a blended setup, exhausting some out the case and some in the case? Or am I completely mistaken on the types of GPU cooling?

 

[King_V]

I think the majority of cards are blended setups - they all have vents out the back, but blow out the sides as well, except for the ones that explicitly describe themselves as "blower" style, and have that kind of sealed shroud like the one picture I linked.

I tend to like the blended designs when they have the fins lined up length-wise rather than width-wise. Width wise, they really sort of prevent the air from exiting out the back effectively, whereas length-wise, at least the rear exit vent is utilized to some extent.

 

[phdibart]

King_V, thanks for clearing that up for me! Yes, my card has fins length-wise, so even though hot air comes out the front of the card (toward the intake case fans) and not the I/O plate exclusively, at least it's directly in the path of the fans.