Why do they even design cards that blow hot air back into case?

[tuesday0180]

Is there any benefit to blowing the hot air back into the case as opposed to blowing in out the rear of the case?

My previous HD 4870 did just this. The fan blew the hot air into the case causing everything else to run hotter.

My new GTX 260 blows the air out the back and I've noticed the computer running cooler. Why do companies use the former design?

 

[welshmousepk]

an rear exhaust design is much more space restriced. there is a very limited grille thru which to dump the hot air. yb blowing the air into the case, you can use a bigger fan, and move more air per minute. obviously though, this method requires good case ariflow. when used in a case with good airflow, it is the more efficient method.

some cards use an inbetween, dumping some air into the case and some theu an exhaust.
most aftermarket coolers dump into the case too. they can use large fans, and the sort of people who buy them will almost certainly have good cases with lots of fans. so they can get much better temp decreases.

 

[jitpublisher]

Some cards that dump air into the case are also made thin enough so they only use up the space of 1 slot instead of 2. If you have a mini atx board, with a couple of PCI cards plugged in already, you may not have an open slot for a double slot card.