Best place for New Fan

[ZeusFede]

Hi, i am from Argentina so sorry for my english. I have a Corsair 400c stock, so it have 2 fans, one front 140mm that enter air and one rear 120mm that rear the air out of the case. I buy another fan, a AF140 Led quiet, but where i have to put it? In front too or in the top to exhaust the air? My rig is i5 6500, gtx 1080, SSD/HHD, Seasonic 520. Thanks

 

[Kursah]

I would put it in the front if it were me, additional intake pressure is how I prefer to go anymore for system cooling.

That will help push more air into more places in your case, and help reduce dust in the case as well. I have the 600C, it comes with 2 fans in the front and 1 in the back and this strategy works very well...to the point I have added no extra fans and am able to run the fan speed controller on low (setting 1).

Though you could test out different fan configurations and find out which one works best in your environment. Sometimes what works for one user in one area doesn't work so well in a different one, things like system setup, components, ambient air temp, fan speed, etc. can all have an impact.

 

[ZeusFede]

Perfect, so is better to put it in the front, like the 600c and no have any in the top ( the corsair 400c have a carpet in the top top, i dont remove it). Is any guide or something to View to put the fan in right direction? I am noob and never put a fan. Thanks again

 

[dorsetknob]

Fans usualy have molding on them to indicate rotation and Airflow direction

 

[Kursah]

Perfect, so is better to put it in the front, like the 600c and no have any in the top ( the corsair 400c have a carpet in the top top, i dont remove it). Is any guide or something to View to put the fan in right direction? I am noob and never put a fan. Thanks again

You can hook up the fan and see which way it spins, most fans have the arrows for which way the fan spins and which way the air flows indicated by arrows on them (some do not tho), you can compare to how the other front fan is installed as it will be the same.

Top cooling can be useful too, even if just ventilation, again I recommend you try different cooling configurations...even just pulling the cover off the top and exposing the vents while adding the new fan to the front will give more area to push hot air out of your case. Whether or not that is necessary depends on your system's load temps during your use of it.

 

[jboydgolfer]

more often than not, a fan blows towards the side its stickers are on/or the side the wire is not coming out of where it meets the fan.

id mount it in the front or on the top

 

[ZeusFede]

Mmmm i am really confused. So the cover on the top is better to take off so the case have more space to exhaust the hot air? And the dust is not a problem if i take off the cover? So i will put it in top, is better than in front?

And the position, if i put in the top, the fan for example have a bow to say the direction of the air, in the top the fan exhaust, so i have to put the side with the bow seeing to the up of the case to exhaust? I mean, if i put the side with the bow in direction of the mother, the fan will let the air in, and this is the bad position, right?

 

[dorsetknob]

Hot Air Rises
push enough cool Air in low to the Case and Extract that warm Air high up as possible

 

[Kursah]

Mmmm i am really confused. So the cover on the top is better to take off so the case have more space to exhaust the hot air? And the dust is not a problem if i take off the cover? So i will put it in top, is better than in front?

And the position, if i put in the top, the fan for example have a bow to say the direction of the air, in the top the fan exhaust, so i have to put the side with the bow seeing to the up of the case to exhaust? I mean, if i put the side with the bow in direction of the mother, the fan will let the air in, and this is the bad position, right?

I am saying try it. Hot air rises...if it can freely rise out or be pushed out because of extra pressure created by a second intake fan, that should theoretically improve cooling. Again why I'm saying try different configurations (with and without top cover). Trial and error, learning what changes what, it is a good way to understand what does and doesn't work well, what does and doesn't make a noticeable difference for your system, etc.

You can also add the fan to the top as an exhaust, but I don't believe that will be any more effective than a second intake, in fact I would almost argue it would be slightly less so but and would attract more dust...again depending on different variables that may or may not be the case for you.

If you put the fan in the top, in most cases you want it to be the exhaust.

As we said about the direction of the fan, you have been given several ways to find out how to see which way blows air... there are usually markers, hooking up the fan and "feeling the air", seeing how the fan blades are shaped, etc. Here's a video I found after a quick Google (which is also your friend for such questions if our explanations are not clear enough for your understanding ):

This isn't a confusing thing, what you're being told is to make it an intake or exhaust, and that you might want to try both setups to find out which is best for your system by monitoring temps during usage. I prefer positive air pressure created by extra intake fans, as that pushes air out through cracks and vents, and seems to be more effective at cooling in properly designed cases. Other situations, a negative air pressure situation might be better (more exhaust than intake), that will suck in air through cracks and vents...and usually leads to more dust buildup.

After another quick Google search on "PC negative vs positive airflow" I found this video as the first result:

Hope that helps!

 

[peche]

Hi, i am from Argentina so sorry for my english. I have a Corsair 400c stock, so it have 2 fans, one front 140mm that enter air and one rear 120mm that rear the air out of the case. I buy another fan, a AF140 Led quiet, but where i have to put it? In front too or in the top to exhaust the air? My rig is i5 6500, gtx 1080, SSD/HHD, Seasonic 520. Thanks

according manufacturer:

so 2 intake front fans, | 1 rear exhaust fan | 2 uper or top exhaust fans
thats the better setup for this case,

Also fill your sys specs here, will be helpful when tryin' to help you ....

Regards,

 

[ZeusFede]

Perfect, so i will put it in the front to intake, so the bow will direction to the motherboard to make positive air in.. And i will remove the cage driver, and hold the psu cage, and remove the cover of the top to let the hot air exhaust... This is fine? Thanks for the patience and for the videos

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

Should fine, move or remove obstacles that might block airflow internally. Also, might wanna have a look on youtube about cable management.

 

[peche]

Perfect, so i will put it in the front to intake, so the bow will direction to the motherboard to make positive air in.. And i will remove the cage driver, and hold the psu cage, and remove the cover of the top to let the hot air exhaust... This is fine? Thanks for the patience and for the videos

keep PSU cover, dont mess with it,

about drive cages take out the ones you dont use, also if the case have slots or cages behing for HDD / SSD use 'em and remember to take out the ones you dont use, this will result on better airflow for internal hardware such board and video card, cable management is pretty important cuz sometimes cables block airflow due position

Which CPU cooler do you have?

Regards,

 

[ZeusFede]

I have and HHD in that cage, and 2 SSD in the other part of the case ( this case have on the other side a brackets for SSD). So i have to keep the PSU cage, and the other cage keep it too because the HHD is inside? By cage i mean the black box that apears in the pic that u upload...

I have the cooler stock for the 6500

 

[peche]

I have the cooler stock for the 6500

those brave units are decent enough, just be sure to use decent TIM, also better airflow could help that little cooler to improve,

I have and HHD in that cage, and 2 SSD in the other part of the case ( this case have on the other side a brackets for SSD). So i have to keep the PSU cage, and the other cage keep it too because the HHD is inside? By cage i mean the black box that apears in the pic that u upload...

if you could provide a pic of your rig will be nice to see how can we help better, thats another option

 

[ZeusFede]

Right now i dont have the GTX 1080, i am waiting for arrive. The cables is a mess, i have an cooler hub because my mother only have 1 fan connection port, so i buy that cooler hub up to 4 fans... That two black boxes are the cages that i say, 1 is for psu and another for HHD ( SSD are in the other side of case).

http://imgur.com/a/PLJ4o

 

[Kursah]

For some reason imgur images don't work well here... feel free to use Techpowerup.org for image hosting, copy the BBC code and it works every time.

Looking at your picture, the wires could be cleaned up a little bit...get them behind the MB tray, zip ties where needed. Cable management can be a huge time dump too...but the end results are so nice.

 

[ZeusFede]

Yes, when the vga arrives i will take the time for cable management. U are very helpful. The only thing that remain is that is better to take out or keep the cage of the HHD?

 

[peche]

1. cable management is a must there...., then you can continue working on what you were, there should be videos on youtube about the cable management on that case, also its possible to find the correct sp0t on that case / when doing cable management cuz behind the motherboard tray there should be holes for cables and maybe it has a sweet spot for drives and SSD's....

Regards,

 

[ZeusFede]

Sure i will do the Best i can... But then i have to keep the cage for HHD or out the cage for better airflow but the HHD will be visible and withouth the cage...

 

[niko084]

Cooling is a bit of a black art, something you learn to eyeball over time.

Some prefer positive pressure (more intake pressure than exhaust) this can create hot spots but also reduces dust.

Negative pressure (more exhaust pressure than intake) keeps air flowing in/out of the case through every crevice but can increase dust.



From what I see in your case, add a video card and you don't really have much to worry about from a cooling perspective.

A few rules I tend to live by...
I almost always install a top and/or rear exhaust fan, this can depend on where your case sits...
---Instance... My brothers HTPC case sits inside a cabinet and only the front is widely open so I reversed the setup.
I make sure I have an intake fan blowing across my hard drives which I tend to mount as low as possible (center of gravity), this also feeds cool air further down by the expansion slots and disrupts the hot air coming off your cards so that your exhaust fans can pull it out.

 

[ZeusFede]

By HHD cage i mean the box that cover the cage LOL... I dont know how is the name of that black box that cover the psu and HHD.. That is my question, that is better to remove that plástic box that cover the hhd cage

 

[peche]

By HHD cage i mean the box that cover the cage LOL... I dont know how is the name of that black box that cover the psu and HHD.. That is my question, that is better to remove that plástic box that cover the hhd cage

no, psu & drives shroud is useful for better cable management, also some of then have the space for another fan, and the most important, your case have a window, this is the aesthetics of your case desing, better arrange all the cables arround behind motherboard and install fans like the provided setup in post #10,

Regards,

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

do you have 3 sticks of RAM there? or is there just 2?

a lot of room in that case is good so airflow management is good too.
2 fans in, 2 fans out is optimal.

 

[ZeusFede]

3 sticks, 2*4 and 1*8. Yes i have to install the GTX 1080... I will put the AF140 in front and remove the upper cover