Case fan orientation ...

[souvikray123]

I have the cooler master k380 case .. I currently have the default 43cfm fan infront , corsair af120 quiet led 52cfm fan at the back , deepcool windblade 120 mm at the side ... And I am thinking of getting a cm sickleflow x led ... Now, I am gonna change which fans are gonna where and gonna fit a fan at the top too ( i'll have to mod abit coz there is no screw hole there but there is a 120mm vent ) .. So , which fans should go where according to you .. I think positive pressure should be good ... So , I should have the sickleflow x as exhaust ... I was thinking in this way , sickleflow x at back , windblade on top , corsair on side and default 43 on front .. This is one question and another is that if both my top fans are exhaust then how will my cpu cooler blow air into the cpu ??? I mean it shouldn't have any !!!

 

[CTurbo]

What kind of cpu cooler do you have and what video card?

Front and bottom should always be intake.
Rear and top should always be exhaust.
Side fans can go either way. It depends on video card config and/or what other fans are in use.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

 

[plaintuts]

the side without the cross bracket is the intake

the side with the wire and bracket is the exhaust.

 

[endeavour37a]

"This is one question and another is that if both my top fans are exhaust then how will my cpu cooler blow air into the cpu ??? I mean it shouldn't have any !!!"

I don't understand this question?

Nice illustration SR-71

 

[souvikray123]

@cturbo , i have intel core 2 duo e7400 with stock cooler and nvidia 8400gs ... but those are gonna get upgraded to say core i3 and nvidia gt 430 ( this one is fixed as i will get a cheap deal from a friend ) any time sooner ...

@endeavour37a , the 1st ques refers to what i asked about which fans will go where and the second ques is that if both my top fans are exhausting air then what air is my cpu cooler blowing in towards the cpu ...coz there should not be much air to blow in ...

@plaintuts ,what is a side bracket ?? Do you mean the vents with screw holes ???

@sr-71 blackbird , my case is a bit different ... in the sense that my top vent is a bit more to the right than what it is in the pic you posted ... so , i think i should change interchange the cooler fans' orientations and make the back fan intake , i.e. if and when i get a custom cooler ... and besides , my concern isn't that , i need to get ideas about specifically which fan to put where ...

 

[endeavour37a]

Trust me on this, your not going to run out of air in your case. Keep in mind your working with home computer fans, you could mount ALL of them blowing out and you would not even come close to creating an effective vacuum, think about it.......

With that said, arrange your fans however you like them (as far as which one goes where) , it will not make that much of a difference one way or another. The image SR-71 posted is the best way to do it for air flow, bringing cooler air in from the bottom and exhausting the warmer air out the top.

Most after market CPU coolers blow from front to back, the back fan would blow the hot air from the CPU cooler right out the back so it will not recirculate in the case. The only reason to have the back fan blowing in is with a water AIO CPU cooler installed as it would blow some air on the VRM's. Sorry if this is not the answer your looking for, this is pretty simple, perhaps your over thinking it a bit too much, hope this helps

 

[plaintuts]

Physics time..

Warm air rises.