I've noticed a lot of sites and forums on t'internet advise having an exhaust fan at the back of the case, then another at the front pulling air in. The thing I was wondering is that if you have a fan at the back drawing air out of the case, then say a 'hole' at the front (basically I have taken out the two 3.5" blankers out of the case, and used a fan grille to cover the hole), wouldn't the air being taken out of the case be replaced naturally through the front? If so, why would you need an intake fan on the front, surely the pressure inside the case would 'suck' air in? Does that make sense?! Cheers. BTW - apologies if I posted this in the wrong place, I wasn't sure where it should go.
Hmm. You would think it would but I don't think it would work very well. Why not try it with and without an intake and see what difference it makes. I know in my case if I turn the intake fans down it certainly gets warmer inside the case.
Well I was just wondering, as due to it being a cheapo case, it's gonna take a hell of a lot of cutting to get a fan into the front. Also, I want to keep it as quiet as possible. What would be a good temp for the inside of the case - it ranges from about 27c to 30c now, without any case fans (i'm waiting for a Papst off ebay!) depending on the weather and time of day, but I'm going to up the FSB when I get a new CPU fan which can take it, so I should imagine that would increase the temp, and I don't want to melt me motherboard!
My case temperature ranges from 19ºC-28ºC, it rarely gets to 30ºC only if my room gets hot I currently have 2 x Front Fans (intake) and 2 x Back Fans (exhaust), you can't really hear the fans either, just a low noise of fans spinning
I think the main reason the intake fans are there are to not only cool the component(s) in front of them but to isolate what "kind of air" gets in. Your case is not "normally" air tight so air could be sucked in from the top of the case - meaning hot air goes out the back and back in through the cracks. The intake fans may also serve to replace the air being sucked out so your output fans will be less strained.
If you've ever had a computer with only an exhaust fan, you'll notice that things like drive faceplates, and usb ports will fill up with dust, even if you had a designated "intake" hole, some would still get sucked in thru the cracks and crevices. A better design, and one that I've used with success is to only have an inlet fan, and let the air get out thru the cracks, keeps the machine much cleaner.
yup.. u need to have a proper intake.. as the air will be sucked thru the gaps eg between your drives & the case if you dont have a fan for intake
The reason not to just have an outtake is so you can have a constant smooth yet relatively fast air flow, if you have good airflow (making sure that the intake fans are basically leading the air towards the outtakes_ then your tempts will be much better.
for proper airflow, yes an intake fan is needed. without an equal ammount of intake and exhaust to help the inside of your carse breathe properly, you can end up with a whirlpool of hot air circulating near and around your cpu. remember to keep airflow equal in and out. if you have a 80CFM fan as an exhaust, you sould use a limilar 80CFM fan for an intake. as a rule of thumb. if you dont have an intake, but have an exhaust on the case, lets say near the cpu ares, move it to the intake position, your PSU fan should be blowing out as an exhaust. since the PU fan is on the top of the case, and the intake is usually located towards the bottom its a good equal setup. intake sucks in colder air the lower to the grond it is, heat rises,the psu fan removes the hot air, and if you use the card slot covers over your empty slots you ultamately create a bottom to top air current.. thats the theory behind it anyways. I makes sence to me and thats how I build systems too.
i would say you do need an intake. I sealed (nearly) all of the little holes in my case when i fitted pax-mate. I have 3 80mm fans intake at the front, sucking through some aluminium dust filters (OMG they make a huge difference to the dust, buy some now!), and 2 80mm exhausts, + the psu fan exhausting. I dont have a reading for my case temp, but my: northbridge is @ 27 cpu @ 3.5GHz @ 45 mosfets @ 33 hdd1 @ 20 hdd2 @ 10 i would ignore the hdd temps though. When i open the window to outside, my cpu temp drops to aroun 25-30, and the others to around 10. (This was last night in Nottingham). Balanced airflow is the key, but I aim to have slighty more coming in than I pull out. EDIT: I forgot to add that the 80mm fans are @ 5v, and my system is **almost** silent, most of the noise is from hdd's spinning.
i think if you only going to have either intake or exhaust, go for the intake. I can run my (2x 80mm)exhausts at full speed and i get heaps of noise, and a 2-4C drop in temps. I can run just my (1x 80mm) intake and get the same drop, with much less noise. so i think the intake/s are inportant, and the exhaust/s are just to "guide" the air through your case, so it passes over key components such as northbridge, cpu cooler.. etc
Im modding an intake fan into my case right now. I have one of those PSUs with temp controlled fans, and without cool air being blown into the case, the PSU keeps gettin hotter and noisier. Most cases should allow for at least one fan at the front - even one likkle 80mm is better than none at all.
To be honest, I don't think I'm going to put any case fans in at all. The case-temp is at 27-32 withought any. Hardly going to melt at those temps.
id say go for it rarstar... i have 2x80 out, one low profile 80mm intake.. and my case is at... i hope ur all sitting down 48°! *EDIT* should point out that i dont really mind hugely, as my Lizard sits behind it all the time bathing himself in the hot air!
