[darin2]

I've built several computers before in the past, but find myself needing some help with putting case fans into my system. I want it to be cool, but not interested in anything fancy like water cooled systems. I have a large server case with 10 external 5 inch bays. On the inside there appears to be three medium size areas for fans on the back and one small. There is also one medium and one large area on the bottom in the front of the case. How do you set the fans up?? Do you have them blow in cool air, or suck out the hot hair.....or some of both?? Any helps appreciated.

Darin

[gudel]

there was a load of discussion in computer groups about this. i think suck out the hot air is the norm, such that the front fans draw cool air inside the case while the rear fans remove hot air from the cpu nearby.
if it works in our 32processors ibm mainframe at work, it should work okay with the pc.

[fastvfr]

Exactly.

I have two 80mm exhaust fans in the rear of my rig in addition to the ones in the PSU, one 80mm intake on the side panel that blows onto the vid card & CPU, one intake on the other side that cools the HDD bay, and also a 120mm fan I added to the lower front as an intake.

Had that not done the trick I would have added a top blowhole to the case with another 80mm; as it is my case temps stay very close to room temperature.

You want to be pushing in about 2X the air you are blowing out.

This helps not only with cooling but also keeps your case a little cleaner.

It will also keep your optical and floppy drives running longer, as a case with all fans set up in the rear as exhaust will suck air in from any opening - including right through the drives, making them terribly dirty in just a short time.

Good luck,

FastVFR

[darin2]

Thanks guys...that's what I needed to know. As it sits I will have three 80 and one 120 fan

Darin

[gudel]

if in doubt, you can always set them up like this! ;f ;P

[NetNinja]

What is that? A Beowulf cluster??