[SOLVED] Fan Configuration: Pulling or Pushing?

[NewNewUser]

Hello,

All of my fans are pushing air out of my case. AKA the nice side is only showing. Is that okay?

However I can flip my radiator fans or the fans on top of the case to pull into my system. Any recommendations?

The system remains at <45c not under load.
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Intel Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor

Corsair H100i PRO 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler

CORSAIR LL Series, LL120 RGB, 120mm RGB LED Fan, Triple Pack with Lighting Node PRO- White

Asus PRIME Z390-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard

Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB Video Card

Corsair SPEC-06 ATX Mid Tower Case

Corsair RMx (2018) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
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I do not know how to add photos. But here is a link to view.

https://www.reddit.com/user/diqslap/comments/d4uayj/push_or_pull/
Thank you in advance!

 

[Darkbreeze]

No, it is NOT ok. It is TOTALLY not "ok".

If your radiator is mounted in the front of your case, then the fans on it should be in an intake configuration, and if there is no radiator there, they STILL should be. Front or bottom fans should be intake, in 99.9999% of cases. Rear and top fans should be exhaust, in ALL cases. The only exceptions are specialized configurations such as some mini ITX builds.

As it stands, I don't think you even understand the first thing about fan configurations, because if the "nice" side, AKA the fan blade side, are all facing out, then in reality ALL of your fans are blowing INTO the case, not out of the case. It's highly surprising that the system is able to cool AT ALL and that would be the same whether they were all configured as intake fans or if they were all configured as exhaust. There are NO configurations where you would want ALL fans having the same orientation. There NEEDS to be both intake and exhaust airflow unless it's an open air case and then the question is moot anyhow.

This is how 99.99999999% of cooling configurations should look with the blue arrows indicating fan locations that if in use, should be intake fans bringing cool air into the case and the red arrows indicating exhaust fan locations take hot air out of the case. The arrows in the lower left hand corner indicate intake and exhaust of the power supply.

 

[Countess_C]

Put the radiator on the top with the fans blowing the hot air out of the case. Then put the LED fans you now have on the top instead on the front and let them blow fresh air into the case. The fan in the back should blow air out of the case.

 

[NewNewUser]

No, it is NOT ok. It is TOTALLY not "ok".

If your radiator is mounted in the front of your case, then the fans on it should be in an intake configuration, and if there is no radiator there, they STILL should be. Front or bottom fans should be intake, in 99.9999% of cases. Rear and top fans should be exhaust, in ALL cases. The only exceptions are specialized configurations such as some mini ITX builds.

As it stands, I don't think you even understand the first thing about fan configurations, because if the "nice" side, AKA the fan blade side, are all facing out, then in reality ALL of your fans are blowing INTO the case, not out of the case. It's highly surprising that the system is able to cool AT ALL and that would be the same whether they were all configured as intake fans or if they were all configured as exhaust. There are NO configurations where you would want ALL fans having the same orientation. There NEEDS to be both intake and exhaust airflow unless it's an open air case and then the question is moot anyhow.

This is how 99.99999999% of cooling configurations should look with the blue arrows indicating fan locations that if in use, should be intake fans bringing cool air into the case and the red arrows indicating exhaust fan locations take hot air out of the case. The arrows in the lower left hand corner indicate intake and exhaust of the power supply.

Thank you for your response.

As this is my first PC build I am not familiar with fan configurations. If I place my hand towards the rear and top of the case I feel air pushing out of the case(Fan blades side). Now that I plan on bringing air into the system. Do I have to physically flip the fan or is it possible to change the rotation settings via iCUE to pull air into the system?

 

[NewNewUser]

Put the radiator on the top with the fans blowing the hot air out of the case. Then put the LED fans you now have on the top instead on the front and let them blow fresh air into the case. The fan in the back should blow air out of the case.

Thanks for the reply!

There is no room and will not fit at the top of the case. However, I am able to mount the fans at the front of the case as an intake. But it will blow cool air through the hot radiator and blow out essentially blow hot air in the case.

 

[NewNewUser]

Physically moved the fans to intake air and this reduced my temp by 10 degrees!

 

[Darkbreeze]

So, when you are looking at ANY computer fan, the side of the fan with the fan blades facing out is the side it will be pulling air IN from, and the side with the supporting arms that hold the fan motor is the side of the fan where air will be moving towards. Also, most fans have arrows on the frame to show the direction of airflow.

For front intake fans you want the fan blades facing out of the case. For rear and top exhaust fan locations you want the fan blades facing INTO the case.

If yours are set up that way then they are correct.