Which way should the fan on my CPU cooler be facing?

[gigadager]

Hey, there! I got a CPU cooler recently, and I suspect that I installed it incorrectly because my CPU still gets rather hot sometimes. I was wondering if somebody could take a look and tell me which way the fan should be facing. Thanks!

http://imgur.com/Bk8a76i

NOTE: The fan is currently pointing towards the left.

 

[boosted1g]

The fan should pull air through the heatsink and out to the exhaust fan.

It is not so much a matter of the fan being on the left or right of the heatsink but which way the airflow is. You can have the fan on either side of the heatsink, but its intake/exhaust (suck/blow) has to be correct.
You can also have the fan pointed UP if you have a top mounted fan.

What you need to make sure is that the fan intakes air from the bottom/front of the case, and exhausts it to the top/back.

 

[boosted1g]

After looking at picture, I do think you have it on backwards.
You will need to remove the old paste and apply new paste once you remove the heatsink.

 

[andy_Man]

I would put the fan on the right side of the heatsink pushing air into it. The sides of a heatsink are open, so trying to suck air through it probably won't be as effective.