[SOLVED] Should my CPU fan face up or down?

[Jason H.]

So I just got a new PSU (it is mounted on the top) and it has a fan on the bottom of it sucking in.

My CPU fan (cooler master hyper t2) is facing upwards at the PSU fan.

So basically, CPU fan and PSU fan are facing eachother with about 2-3 inches of distance.

Is this safe? Or should I flip the CPU heatsink/fan upside down? And if I flip the CPU fan will it just blow all the heat up to the PSU fan?

My gpu fan faces down. So the CPU fan wouldnt be facing another fan.

Any ideas?

* SYSTEM SPECS *

CPU- AMD A8 5600k
GPU- GTX 750 1gb
COOLER- Cooler Master Hyper T2
RAM- 8gb DDr3 1333mhz
MOBO- Biostar A55ML2
STORAGE- 1 160gb Seagate 1 500gb Seagate SATA
WIN- Windows 10 home

 

[huntlong]

Your CPU fan should be blowing air from the front of the case through it’s fins toward the rear of the case.

What case do you have? Unless you have some OEM style case with no front intake that is the usual setup.

 

[Jason H.]

Your CPU fan should be blowing air from the front of the case toward the rear of the case.

I can only mount it up or down.

 

[Jason H.]

Your CPU fan should be blowing air from the front of the case through it’s fins toward the rear of the case.

What case do you have? Unless you have some OEM style case with no front intake that is the usual setup.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156226

That is my case. Side fan, 1 intake in front, and 1 out take in back.

but I can only mount my cooler master hyper t2 with the fan facing up, or down. Which if up, faces directly at the psu fan which the psu fan is bigger so it made me think its stealing air flow from the cpu fan.

which is why I need to know if facing it downward would be better or if that would be bad for the PSU airflow as all the hot air will be shot at the psu fan.

 

[huntlong]

Why can you only mount it facing up or down? If I had to have it facing up or down I’d have it blowing hot air toward PSU. The front fan on your case is low so that would help the cooler get more fresh air. The slightly higher temps on the PSU won’t hurt it.

Also hot air will have much less impact on PSU performance than GPU performance.

 

[Jason H.]

Why can you only mount it facing up or down? If I had to have it facing up or down I’d have it blowing hot air toward PSU. The front fan on your case is low so that would help the cooler get more fresh air. The slightly higher temps on the PSU won’t hurt it.

Also hot air will have much less impact on PSU performance than GPU performance.

Idk why I can only mount it up or down. If you take a look at my cooler, maybe you can tell me. Maybe because its a cheaper one?

Or maybe its just my MOBO mounts... but I can only do it up or down I cant mount it sideways there are no clips to tighten it down n I know because I wanted to do it sideways..

And the only reason I worried about extra heat on the PSU is because its a bottom barrel Insignia 450w psu I got from Best Buy so I didnt wanna add any extra stress to it until I can get a replacement. I just got the new PSU today because my Logysis finally died after 4 years of daily use and gaming and Im broke so I had to drive 2 hours to buy it for 40$ as I didnt have even 10$ extra to get a better one nor time to wait for one online.

And my GPU works fine temps are fine too. My gpu cant even be fully utilized cuz my CPU bottlenecks it.

So basically you think I should have the fan facing down then? Will that help airflow and temps on the cpu? and with the fan facing up at the psu fan, is the psu fan stealing air from it?

 

[huntlong]

I’m saying have the fan on the side of the your CPU cooler closest to your GPU. I wouldn’t want my CPU fan fighting the PSU for air.

That PSU should be fine. Does your 750 even require a power connector?

 

[huntlong]

I now see why you can’t mount it the usual way. I’d think coolermaster would have made sure it would go the standard way for AMD then designed the intel bracket but who knows.

 

[tejayd]

I would just blow it towards the psu then. If you think about it, any pc with a top mounted psu and stock intel or AMD cooler is basically sucking the same hot air in anyway. It just doesnt seem as obvious as it would with your cooler.

And yeah normally they do go front to back. But if yours cant, it cant.