iflo Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 Hello again, I'm going round in circles with which way to mount my fans and was hoping someone with a similar setup could provide some advice. I've read loads of post and everyone has different opinions! I have a Coolermaster HAFx case with: 230mm fan on the front as intake H100i at top with 2x noctua NF-F12 as intake (mounted beneath the rad, so pulling - not sure if push through would be better) A Noctua NFA-14 top rear as exhaust A 200m side fan as exhaust to dump air from the graphics card (Sapphire 290 trix) Does this seem sensible? -I'd prefer to blow air onto the GPU and motherboard but think this would cause too much positive pressure. And if anyone can confirm mounting the H100i fans above rather than below to push, that would be great. (It seems consensus on this forum is pushing through, not pulling - guess the manual illustration is confusing!) Any advice is much appreciated, I've spent 3 days messing about with the PC now and my better half is starting to roll her eyes ;): Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LangZone Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 Turn side fan as intake. Use h100i as exhaust out of the case with the fans pulling (so case / fans / rad ) and that third top fan I'd actually turn as intake to dump more air down to the rad but it likely wont make a difference at all. This way your gpus will get way more fresh air and your cpu temp wont rise much at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thenosbod Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 My method would be similar to Langzones but I would have the h100i fans set in push exhaust config I have got my 650d set up as 200mm front intake 230mm side panel intake 120mm rear exhaust H100i in top with fans set up push exhaust. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LangZone Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 The rad will perform much better with pull vs push. Granted not dramatically better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wytnyt Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 The rad will perform much better with pull vs push. Granted not dramatically better. i may be misunderstanding but you should always push air thru a rad and never pull air thru... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LangZone Posted July 2, 2014 Share Posted July 2, 2014 I guess it depends on density and speed. A quote from: http://www.coolingtechnique.com/martinsliquidlab/Radiator-Fan-Orientation-And-Shroud-Testing-Review.html "Push Vs Pull - This depends on fan speed/power. The high speed fans at 2000RPM with a 38mm fan thickness provided the best performance in a push condition. The slow speed fans with 1350RPM with a 25mm fan thickness provided the best performance in a pull condition. I would estimate that performance line is likely to cross in the 1500-1700RPM range where they are equal. So.... slow speed = pull, high speed = push, medium speed = it doesn't really matter." I'm sure either way would do just fine in the grand scheme of things but, Push/Pull for life. :p: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iflo Posted July 2, 2014 Author Share Posted July 2, 2014 Thanks for the info guys - I'm just awaiting some rubber grommits to turn up so I can mount everything quietly then I'll turn it round the way you suggest. My CPU temps are great at the moment with the H100i on intake but my GPU is suffering! I'll sacrifice a couple of degrees on the CPU to cool everything else I think. Thanks again, and interesting reading on the push vs pull situation. Does this stuff ever get easier? :laughing: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper69 Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 Positive pressure is good for keeping the inside of your case clean. Negative pressure tends to pull air in through every hole in the case, none of which are filtered. If you fit the fans on top of the rad, you won't have to take the rad out and remove the fans to clean it. A quick brush/vacuum in situ will suffice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Friction Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 I have a HAF X also and this is the basic setup with a H100i installed in the top. Front 230mm intake (Pull fresh air into the case) Side 230mm intake (Pull fresh into case over GPU/s) Rear 140mm exhaust (Push dirty air out of case) Top 2 x 120mm exhaust (Push dirty air out of case) The fans should be underneath the radiator pushing the air out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iflo Posted July 9, 2014 Author Share Posted July 9, 2014 Hi friction, your setup is exactly what I'm running now after swapping my fans around. GPU temps have dropped 2 or 3 degrees but CPU temps have gone up 5+ My next experiment will be to put another 140 in the top front and then I'll try reversing it all to see what works best. Funnily enough my work's PC has a 4770, zero cooling and runs like a furnace with bf4, yet still works a treat and is dead silent! Don't think I'll try that though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Friction Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 Your CPU temps have gone up 5 degrees from when using air cooling? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandstorm1 Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 i may be misunderstanding but you should always push air thru a rad and never pull air thru... cars have been pulling air through for years. also it makes it easier to clean the rad, I have 2 cats so i am vacuuming my case out twice a week, would suck to have to remove the fans each time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wytnyt Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 cars have been pulling air through for years. also it makes it easier to clean the rad, I have 2 cats so i am vacuuming my case out twice a week, would suck to have to remove the fans each time. your absolutely right,,cars have been ,now take your computer down the road at various speeds and youll mimic a cars cooling.,,to fully mimic it you will also need to mimic its fan ability which just cant be done unless you use a fan that will blow your hair wildly at 5+ feet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thenosbod Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 I have a set of filter on my case. similar to these. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/search_results.php?keywords=hafx&mft%5B%5D=624 most of the cars I have seen these days have fans fitted in front of the radiator blowing air through them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iflo Posted July 10, 2014 Author Share Posted July 10, 2014 Your CPU temps have gone up 5 degrees from when using air cooling? No, sorry - I meant that originally I had the h100i pulling air into the case from the top and exhausting out the side panel. I've since changed it to pull from the side panel and exhaust out the top, drawing my hot GPU air through the radiator instead which has upped the CPU temp as expected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iflo Posted July 15, 2014 Author Share Posted July 15, 2014 So I spent an evening changing the fans around in various ways to get the best overall system cooling. I measured temperatures at idle, under Cinebench and during a run through of the Stalker DX11 benchmark, taking average and max readings. Unfortunately my wife threw away the results sheet before I could post them here... However, the differences between the various configurations (barring exhaust vs intake) were so minimal it really didn't matter. All the side intake/top exhaust configurations were virtually identical and would have needed more scientific testing for me to notice a difference. Swapping to h100i intake from top and side exhaust dropped the CPU temp by a considerable amount (up to 10 degrees max temperature and 5 average noticeable difference in Battlefield 4, and a good 5+ with the benchmark tests above). Max GPU temp increased by around 3 degrees. Configurations tried were: Side intake, front intake, rear and h100i exhaust. Side intake, front intake, second front 140mm intake, rear and h100i exhaust. Side intake, front intake, second front 140mm intake, rear and h100i exhaust with top of case removed to see if no dust filters make a difference. Side exhaust, front intake, second front 140mm intake to blow across CPU/memory, rear exhaust and h100i intake (push). So, I've ended up going back to side exhaust, h100i intake - the 3 degree GPU increase is worth a 10 degree CPU drop in my book! I also ended up mounting the radiator to my case use wire cable ties as I'd run out of screws and the annoying case buzz I used to get (even with rubber grommets in place) has completely vanished. Thanks for all the suggestions - I guess every set up is different and what works for one might not be the best for another and it was pretty interesting to try things out. Very happy with the temps I have now and my fan profiles are right down so it's really quiet too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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