[SOLVED] Side fan - Intake or exhaust?

[Lawrence2020]

Hi guys,

I'm happy to have solved my cooling issues that i had with a DeepCool Tesseract BF case by adding 2x BeQuiet! Silent Wings 3 120 mm high speed fans (1 intake in the front and 1 exhaust in the back) + replacing the I5 8500 stock cooler with a Dark Rock Pro 4.

My final question is - i would like to add a 140mm case fan on the side of the case - as the top side is now pretty much blocked by the massive cpu cooler.

I was thinking about the Be quiet! Silent wings 3 140 mm high speed as i am very satisfied with the other two fans that i have installed. My question is - should this 140 mm case fan on the side panel be mounted as intake or exhaust? I want this fan to cool the GPU, it's a Gigabyte Geforce 2070 Super GPU.

I'm having doubts if it's best to blow cool air (intake) on the GPU since it already has it's three fans which spread warm air away from it, would this not create a conflict with the airflow? Or does the side fan just blow cold air on the entire GPU if mounted as intake and thus reduce it's overall temperature better than exhausting that warm air through the side?

Thank you very much!

Kind regards and stay safe!

 

[HerrKaLeu]

What are the rest of your fans doing? I'm a friend of only intake fans and filters in front and bottom. the warm air gets pushed out at the back including the slots behind the graphics card. So I would add a filter and intake fan on the side.

If your scheme is different, things change. If you are an exhauster, that would work too. Just be consistent with your overall flow. you could try both ways and run benchmarks and monitor all temps.

 

[vMax]

Having a 120mm or 140mm fan bring in air from the side will work wonders on keeping the GPU cool and in fact Gamers Nexus have long called for this to come back. Have the side fan installed and run it in quiet mode via the BIOS and you should have a great cool setup...

As the fans that come with the case are not the greatest, having the additional side fan will make a nice difference. With one fan in the front, one in the side bringing air in and one extracting out of the back will be a very good setup.

 

[Lawrence2020]

Hi both,

So i've replaced the only stock case fan that the Tesseract BF had. I have one BeQuiet! 120mm high speed PWM fan that acts as exhaust on the back and the same type of fan in the front as intake. The only other "fan" is the cpu fan - the Dark Rock Pro 4. So my system is currently pretty balanced and well-cooled, i was just thinking on the best option to go for with the remaining fan slots in the case that i have available.

So, based on the above advice, it appears as recommended to have it as intake? i think that cold air is blowed on the GPU as a piece, so it doesn't conflict with what i said regarding to the fans of the CPU, there is no conflict?

Thanks

 

[SkyNetRising]

So my system is currently pretty balanced and well-cooled, i was just thinking on the best option to go for with the remaining fan slots in the case that i have available.

With well-cooled and balanced system you don't have to change anything.

So, based on the above advice, it appears as recommended to have it as intake? i think that cold air is blowed on the GPU as a piece, so it doesn't conflict with what i said regarding to the fans of the CPU, there is no conflict?

Side vents are not filtered. If you wish to add fan there, then you also need to add filters.

 

[Lawrence2020]

I understand, The issue is that my GPU gets in the 60 degrees (lower 60) when i play games like PUBG and the GPU's fans are working at a moderate to high level, so i was thinking of adding a bit more cooling power towards this unit to keep the temperatures just a bit lower. I think i can find some filters for this fan if it would be the best way to go.

 

[SkyNetRising]

60C is very good temperature for a graphics card.

 

[Lawrence2020]

Yes, i agree with that i'm pretty pleased with the temps also.

So the conclusion here is that the temps are ok as they are, but if i decide to add the side fan as intake to blow on the GPU this would not be a bad thing, right?

 

[SkyNetRising]

but if i decide to add the side fan as intake to blow on the GPU this would not be a bad thing, right?

Dust filters are needed. Without those filters it would be a bad thing.

 

[Lawrence2020]

Alright, i get that. But adding it as an intake fan would create positive pressure and thus keep dust out, this is what i've read so far, is this wrong? :-?

 

[USAFRet]

Alright, i get that. But adding it as an intake fan would create positive pressure and thus keep dust out, this is what i've read so far, is this wrong? :-?

Without a dust filter on that spot, it will be sucking the dust directly in.
Positive pressure influences dust collection only happens with air coming in through filters.

 

[Lawrence2020]

Ok, now this might sound a bit stupid, but please bear with me:

Since i have the dark rock pro4 installed, this also takes space for one of the two side fans that i could mount, luckily the 2nd side fan slot is clear and it could blow air on the gpu cooler.

Now, about installing an air filter: since the side of the case has those holes in it, i was thinking of adding a magnetic filter like the Silverstone SST magnetic dust filter. The question is - should i use two to cover both available 140mm spots or just 1 where the fan would be installed? Also, the dust filter would be set on the outside of the case, right? 🤔

 

[madmatt30]

Side fans are from a bygone era.
I'm not a fan of them (pun intended)

If a case has fan mounts it's always a good idea to fit dust filters even if you're not fitting a fan there.

I wouldn't personally got a side fan, you won't see any real drop off in temps, you're getting passive ventilation there anyway.

The other problem is with it being a pvc side with a fair amount of flex is noise, everytime I've seen a side fan used the vibration noise has been excessive to say the least.

 

[Lawrence2020]

Hi,

It's actually this model, not the transparent one.Model

 

[HerrKaLeu]

Ok, now this might sound a bit stupid, but please bear with me:

Since i have the dark rock pro4 installed, this also takes space for one of the two side fans that i could mount, luckily the 2nd side fan slot is clear and it could blow air on the gpu cooler.

Now, about installing an air filter: since the side of the case has those holes in it, i was thinking of adding a magnetic filter like the Silverstone SST magnetic dust filter. The question is - should i use two to cover both available 140mm spots or just 1 where the fan would be installed? Also, the dust filter would be set on the outside of the case, right? 🤔

Only intake fans need filters. Make sure you have more intake than exhaust, or you have (unfiltered) infiltration.
filter on outside is easier to clean.

Side fans aren't bad since they help with graphics cooling.... but are a pain when you take the panel off and always have to deal with the connector.

 

[geofelt]

What is the problem you are trying to solve?
Your temperatures seem fine.
If the only front intake is filtered, your parts will stay cleaner.
I would not fiddle with a side fan.
If anything, consider removing the top 5.25" bays and use that space for a second front intake fan.
There are kits for this.