Which way to point my fans?

[MJCfromCT]

I recently bought a Thermaltake Xaser II 6000 full tower case...inside it has five fans...two on the back, two in the front, and one on the side door panel.

Which way should i point these fans so that i'll get the best cooling for my system?

Thanks for the input

[stix_kua]

OK, the front fans should bring in fresh air, the rear fans should pull out hot air and the side fan should do whatever works best for you. try the side panel one in both directions...whichever one lowers the temperature the best is the best way for your exact location and case.

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Two in the front blow in, side panel blow in and rear two suck out

--Jakk:t

[dajogejr]

MJC...
I have four in mine, one front and back, then got creative with the dremel tool, and put two in the side window. Originally, I had the two in the side pulling out (my roommate/landlord is cheap, gotta fry an egg on the floor to get him to A/C the place)...so, I tried for some cheap cooling. Didn't make much difference with the two side fans...until...I put the top blowing in, and bottom sucking out. Used to run about 44C idle and 49 to 50C loaded...now, 39C Idle, and I can't break 45C under load for the life of me...

See what works for you...might want to think about some filters, if the case doesn't have any and/or you work in a dirty/dusty enviornment....

Good luck!!

[MJCfromCT]

alrighty now i've got some great info. thanks for all the advice

[MJCfromCT]

How would this setup be in terms of cooling the system?

Have all the system fans suck air into the case, and have the only one blowing out air be the power supply fan.

Wouldn't that force the air that is drawn in to move up and out all in the same direction?

I appreciate your suggestions...

[Imperion1]

About the only thing that would do is to circulate the hot air inside the case.
The fan in the powersupply primarily removes the hot air from the powersupply

[MJCfromCT]

so the best setup would be to take the air in through the front, push it out the back, and orient the side fan in whichever direction gives me the best cooling...what are ideal system/cpu temperatures that i should be aiming for? Keep in mind that i have the stock AMD CPU cooler.

[rangeral]

45 to 50c if its hot in your room when you run a game it'll go up to 60c more or less, with a/c on 30-35c maybe 50c while gaming. Check your cpu cutoff temp alarm in bios might want to set it to 70c if room is hot.

[dajogejr]

Which AMD Processor?
Is it stock or Overclocked?

[MJCfromCT]

Its an Athlon XP 2100+, running at stock speeds...nothing is overclocked in my computer...i'd be interested in overclocking, but that's for another thread.

[dajogejr]

Non-overclocked in a large case with 5 fans...as long as they all actually WORK, I wouldn't worry a bit...

Run the system for a while, maybe an hour or so, and check the temp in BIOS if you don't have a windows based utility...

Asus Probe and Aida32 are both free...(Not sure if the Asus will work on a non-Asus board, though...probably not)

I'm sure your temps are fine...as long as you're not in some sweltering jungle...

[MJCfromCT]

Using the program that came with the motherboard, EasyTune4, I was able to find out these temperature readings:

All Fans Intake:

Normal: System 42C CPU 56C
Load: System 45C CPU 62C

Front 2 Intake, Back 2 Exhaust, Side Fan Intake:

Normal: System 36-39C CPU 54C
Load: System 44C CPU58C

[TcMatic]

A old trick
Iff you want more airflow
Fans working at 12V
when you disconect the - from your fan connection on the mb and connect it to the -5V from your powersupply
You have a 17Volt fan
It's a verry old trick 1988 i think

[MJCfromCT]

...after spending 50 bucks on all the LED fans, i'm a bit wary of that...but it is worth looking into

[zybch]

If you have your PC situated in anything but a cleanroom environment, it makes sense to have a slight positive pressure inside your case rather than negative one.
eh?
If you have the majority of fans (say 3 out of 5) sucking air OUT of the case then you'll must likley create a negative pressure gradient inside your case, which in turn will actually suck air into the case through holes other than those that you've got filled by fans. Many recent crappy ATX cases have lots of hole patterns drilled into them to make them look slightly less crappy, and the gaps around drives and the kb/mouse/audio connectors at the back of the case will let air in as well.
Air and dust will get sucked in through these holes and eventually microscopic civilizations will be born in the masses of dust that WILL get sucked in and contaminate the inside of your case.

On the other hand, if you have a higher airflow into the case than out of it, then all of these extra holes will be letting air flow OUT of them and actually 'pushing' dust away from the PC.
The case fans that are sucking air into the case will be the only points of access for dust and small rodents, and you can get cheap filters to cover them with (so at least the rodents can't get in) to help you have a nice clean interior.
Lets face it, not many people actually like getting rid of dust with a small paint brush and air compressor every few months!

By the way, unless you have lots of old carpet in your house, most dust is actually human skin.
Isn't that nice.

[zybch]

One more thing.
If you like blowing up power supplies, drives and motherboards, mucking about with combining different voltage rails from the power supply is great!
Remember that in just about ALL power supplies, the power cables for powering fans and drives all come from exactly the same point on the power supply's circuit board. Hence, if you twist together 2 wires to get the so-called 17V, you are in effect forcing every power cable to carry this increased voltage.

As I said, its fine if you like stuffing things up.

[MJCfromCT]

i tend to agree with you zybch, and i'm not up for messing up everything inside my machine. I will take your advice about the flow into and out of the case...thanks for the input

[Someone Stupid]

You also get more noise as the fans are spinning faster. That isn't something i would do at all. Could have some nasty effects on the PSU as well.

[zybch]

Why would the fans spin faster? Slightly less air resistance?
Even a cruddy power supply would be able to cope with that unless you use lighted fans and lots of other MOD stuff.

[ichorid]

i would never recommend overvolting, but that trickcan be done in reverse to roduce very quiet 7volt fans.

and zybch... the blades would spin faster becauyse there is an extra 5volts (40%) current going through the motor

[zybch]

I wasn't sure if the extra noise comment was regarding more current or the fact that when the intake is obstructed a bit (like from a filter) any fan will spin a little bit faster.

[TcMatic]

Its not 12 volt + 5 volt to make 17 volt
The al powersuplies have a -5 volt cable
Your fans ar connetect to a red 12 v and black 0 v
Iff you disconnect the black 0 volt cable and connect it to the -5 volt you have 17 volts.
Don't tell me that it can hurt your powersuply.
I run 17 volt fans a verry long time

[zybch]

My problem remains the same. Since all of the main power wires are basically the same wire (as they mostly all originate from the same point on the PS's board), you will be affecting ALL of the devices you have plugged into any power connector.

[TcMatic]

sorry m8
They all come out the PS but all the collors have a difrent voltage.
White -5v
Red +12v
Yellow i don't know
But on the Powersupply is a label with al the cabble collors and voltage
Iff the PS gives only one voltage 12v and a 0 volt why there are so many cabbles on the supply connection to your MB?
Yes because a lot off stuff needs a little less o more voltage
I have my waterpump running and my radiator fan running at 17 volt.
My old system with a peltier the peltier is running at 17 volt no probs :-)

[zybch]

I absolutley understand what you are saying. My point (and a simple understanding of electronics is all thats needed) is that when you run something from +12 and -5, anything else drawing power from those two particular wires will be receiving an out-of-spec amount of power. By using the -5 you are in effect altering (perhaps not by a huge ammount) the power that anything else using the +12 is receiving.
Its certanly a fantastic way to void your warranty just for a few extra CFMs of air.

[DaveLeclerc]

Are the volts on the rails circular or is there an end on the line for the power?
If you mod from the end would you still be affecting the other components?
Interested only for educations' sake.