intake/exhaust? how to tell?

[shmeggegie]

I'm not overclocking, so I'm only planning on putting one additional intake fan and one additional exhaust fan in my case to cool off the dual athlonmp system I'm building. How do I know which one is taking in and which one is putting out? is there a way to make sure the air is moving in the direction I want it to? Finally, is there a preferred direction of air flow? In other words, should I have the intake at the back and the exhaust at the front or vice-versa? Thanks in advance.

 

[camieabz]

I usually hold a lit cigarette nearby, and see how the smoke behaves.

<b><font color=blue>~ Oh flower of Scotland...da da de de dum dum doo doo.~ </font color=blue></b>

 

[btvillarin]

Most fans have markings telling you two things: 1) directions of the fan spinning, and 2) which way air will flow. These are normally denoted with arrows. If they don't say, you'll just have to plug one in, hold it in your hand, then turn the computer on.

Most people prefer to have the intake be at the bottom, then the exhaust be in the rear of the case, near the top. Since heat rises, it'll pull air out more efficiently. If the exhaust was in the bottom front of the case, it'd be taking out more cool air than warm air.

Stay cool... 😎

<font color=red><A HREF="http://www.btvillarin.com" target="_new">btvillarin.com</A> - My Windows XP-based Website</font color=red>

 

[bw37]

Most (all?) fans come with an arrow on the side of the housing that shows the direction of airflow for that fan when it is connected properly (red to +). So you just install them to point in the direction that you want the air to go. If all else fails, hook them up and see which way they blow.

Most people prefer to draw air in at the bottom front and exhaust up and out at the back.

Even though you won't be overclocking, you will need good case cooling since you'll have twice the CPU heat to dissipate. Antec has some nice new (Plus Series?) cases with good std. cooling and also have places for additional fans. They even come with front filters (to keep the dust down inside) and front USB and IEEE1394 ports. Their power supplies are good too.

BW

 

[bw37]

bt,

You write faster. No fair!