Should a fan blow air in or out of the computer?
By Aussies2007
@Aussies2007 (5336)
Australia
January 13, 2007 4:11am CST
I have just installed an extra fan in the case of my computer... but I got it in the wrong way around, and it is sucking air in the case instead of blowing it out.
I was wondering if any of you guys have a fan sucking air in the case.
After all... the fan of the power supply does suck it out.
Could it be more efficient to have one fan sucking air in while the other suck it out?
2 responses
@NewHeart (528)
• Canada
13 Jan 07
fans should be taking the air out of computer. if you will notice that there are holes you can't see in the front of computer and in the sides which draws the air in and over the boards and other components that need to be cooled then the fans draw the hot air to then and push it out and away from the computer. so if you think sucking the air in the way you have it now is going to work for you fine go for it i know alot of techs that could use your business. so remember when your spending all your hard earned money for a new motherboard thats when you will find out for sure you did it wrong...
@Aussies2007 (5336)
• Australia
13 Jan 07
OK... You did convince me with the air being draw over the boards.
Thank you.
@IddiKlu (176)
• United States
31 Jan 07
Fans can be installed either way. The important things are not to have a fan blow air into the case if a lot of dust will also be blown in.
At the CPU, sometimes the CPU temp can be lowered by having a fan blow onto it, drawing air from the outside.
When blowing air out, be sure that all the places that air has to enter to replace the air, will suck as little dust as possible into the case.
Opening the case and cleaning all fans can be very beneficial. Also, having the right cooling compound between the CPU and its heatsink is critical. I have found Arctic Silver 2 (and up) to lower the CPU temp by 10C degrees over the most common white silicon compound.
@kiwimac (323)
• New Zealand
13 Jan 07
It depends on where the fans are in relation to one another. If you have the one sucking air in, in front of the fan which is blowing it out, it should be fine, the other way around will, sooner or later, damage both fans and most likely not cool your case / CPU / Graphics cards as effectively.
@Aussies2007 (5336)
• Australia
13 Jan 07
The fan is under the power supply which is the common place for it.
I fail to see how it could damage the fans.
As for the CPU and the graphic card, they both have their own fan.
@Aussies2007 (5336)
• Australia
13 Jan 07
As the other fan is inside the power supply... I still don't see how.
But I thank you for helping and I will turn it around when I switch off the computer.
