A spare fan

[DaveB]

Hi Chaps..

A simple one for you. I've a spare, new, 120mm fan and a new pc case with more fan positions than I'd ever need. It came with a 140mm in the front and a 120mm in the back. I can either remove the front 140 and fit 2 x 120's (something I'd rather not do) or.. the side has 2 x 120/140mm mounting positions (intake) and 2 x 120/140mm mounting positions in the top for exhaust fans.

General consensus.. the spare 120 in the side drawing in or in the top sucking out.. or not to bother and keep it as a spare? The PSU is in the bottom of the case at the back and draws in through the base of the case, exhausting to the rear if this makes any difference I've not checked temps with software yet but the case is never even warm at the mo although our barmy weather may have something to do with that

ATB
DaveB

[TSR2]

Hi mate, unless you like the noise of fans, leave it off

[Airspeed]

This is too high-tech for me. I'm still reeling from buying a hazelnut tree.
Silly me didn't realise that the label was in the singular, and didn't say hazelnutS

[GHD]

You can't have too many fans

[DaveB]

I have to admit, I'm of that opinion too George though I wouldn't want to fill all the available spaces with another 5

As it stands.. the case is quiet.. quiet to me that is but my hearing is buggered. I've 3 fans installed in the Thermaltake case (E8400/WinXP rig).. front, side and rear and I can hear them all when I turn it on Other than the noise, the advantage of the extra fan showed when I was overclocking the QX6700 which only had front and rear fans. The E8400 wasn't getting so hot and bothered as the QX and it was going back to idle temps much faster. Although the PSU is in the traditional top rear of the Thermaltake case, it barely gets warm even in summer

The 2 fan spaces in the side of the Corsair 300R sit directly over the graphics card but in the Thermaltake case, the side fan is directly in line with the CPU or thereabouts giving a relatively straight foward airflow path. This setup does rely on the graphics card 'fending for itself' a little but maintains a cooler airflow over the CPU. On the Corsair.. an additional side fan would directly benefit the graphics card but the rear exhaust would be pulling that warmer air up toward the CPU before leaving the case. The alternative.. fit another exhaust in the top either toward the front or the rear.. the benefits of which, I can't quite get my head around other than it clearing what ever is in the case that much quicker!

Too many choices

ATB
DaveB

[Airspeed]

My unit is in a "Cooler Master" case. It only has the standard 4 fans: CPU, 2 on graphics card (with copper pipe plumbing), and one extractor fan.
Not over-clocked, but when I took it in for a check while still under warranty, they said the motherboard had overheated and bent, they were surprised it was still working. It's always had clear air space, but overheating isn't covered under warranty.
I guess if your power supply can take it, and you figure out where to put it, it should be good insurance.
Like I said, I don't understand flows, eddies and back-draughts, so I left everything as purchased. All my previous machines were built from dumped units at the tip, so goodnes knows whether they were properly cooled,and it didn't really bother me. These days they don't give you access to them since some clot delved into a hard drive and reported the previous owner to the Police.

[DaveB]

Well mate.. the CPU has it's own fan and heatsink and the Palit GTX560Tihas at least 2 fans.. these weren't included in the above. Airflow inside the Corsair is very clean and unrestricted.. very few wires hanging loose to disrupt what's going on due to it's cable management. I don't want to cause a typhoon in there with the fans frantically grabbing what air they can but perhaps I'm being over cautious

ATB
DaveB