[Liberator]

Is it more important to bring in cooler air from outside the box or exhaust the warmer air from inside the box?

Reason being, my comp has started to run a little hotter than I'd like and I was wondering if I should rearrange my fans?  I have a 37cfm thermaltake fan on the front and a...50cfm(i think), from Mad Dog(technically it's also a Thermaltake).

It probably needs cleaning too, and I'll see about that soon, but which is better?  Cooler air in?  or Warmer air out?

[Clave]

It's more about unrestricted flow than cold in/hot out.  Try and clean (obviously) but also look at clutter and cables that stop the air reaching where it should...

[beatspete]

Probably to blow air in.  Then the new cool air moves about and induces much more mixing throughout the box, and will blow directly onto some hot components.  The air leaks out through smaller holes.
Exhausting air removes hot air but just from the area near the fan, the mixing in the case will be less (not as good).  Try to put the fan at the top of the case to get the warmest air out.

Also check how sealed your case is.  If you have 2 fans blowing into a sealed volume it will just raise the pressure a bit, so make some holes if you can - take out the pci (?) slots round the back if there is nothing in them.

The best solution would be to have the largest fan blowing cold air in and over the components, then the smaller one sucking hot air out the top.

[Splinter]

Originally posted by Liberator
Is it more important to bring in cooler air from outside the box or exhaust the warmer air from inside the box?

Reason being, my comp has started to run a little hotter than I'd like and I was wondering if I should rearrange my fans?  I have a 37cfm thermaltake fan on the front and a...50cfm(i think), from Mad Dog(technically it's also a Thermaltake).

It probably needs cleaning too, and I'll see about that soon, but which is better?  Cooler air in?  or Warmer air out?

are you talking about the temperature of your case or of certain components like CPU and VGA?

[Liberator]

well, last night my cpus was in the mid-40s(111 F) and the case temp was 89 F so I was a little worried.  But then I realized I had the heat up a little high and the room temp was a too high, I turned on the AC. Yes, it's been very warm lately, warm enough that that wasn't the first time the ACs been on in recent days, in January.

[an0n]

Just pour some water onto the processor.

[Liberator]

I will when I want to kill it.

When I was doing research and learning how to put the box together, I did learn that water is a very good thermal conductor(some guy actually tried cooling a processor with direct contact, it didn't short, but the chip fried when the water evaporated and the leads rusted), but it's evaporation temp is too low.

[an0n]

You could go to the trouble and/or danger of hooking up some water-cooling.

It's actually not that hard if you're doing it in a half-assed way.

[redmenace]

lol, an0n, who messed with your post count and title?

[an0n]

Thunder.

[vyper]

A bit harsh.

[Liberator]

The question is why?

[Stealth]

try to keep a constant flow of air through the case.  by that i mean keep cold air coming in, and hot air going out.  put your extractor fans blowing out near the top of the case (hot air rises), and your intake fans at the bottom of the case (on the other side, if possible... for instance with me, i have two fans at the front bottom of the case blowing in, and two fans at the top back (by the power supply) of the case, blowing hot air out).  that way you keep the air flowing constantly...  good air flow is all you need.

[Liberator]

How can I tell if I have good airflow?  Use a smoke stick like a general contractor?

[Stealth]

no, use common sense... (or you could use a smoke stick)... i mean, if you've got air blowing in at the bottom of your case, and blowing out at the top of it, on the other side, then yeah... you've probably got good air flow.  i've got two big fans blowing in, and two big fans blowing out... and then i've got a fan blowing out, sucking out the video card processor's heat, and then the power supply fan, and the processor fan, chipset fan, the hard drive fan(s), and then i had two more, but i got rid of them because the case was too loud.

but you don't have to go all out like me  just make sure you have a good flow, and you'll be fine

[Clave]

Run Doom III with everything maxed out, then when the fans kick in, you should be able to attach your PC to the wall by suction alone - THEN you have good flow!

[Liberator]

Actually, I ran doom3 with everything turned off and averaged about 6fps.  I do have GF4MX 420 though...