PC airflow setup

[Montanaro]

Hey ladies, I'm getting a Corsair H80 CPU cooler for my desktop and was wondering how I should set up my airflow.

Currently I have 3 120 mm fans. 1 in front of case blowing air in. 1 on side of case blowing air over heatsink. 1 on back of case blowing air out.

The h80 uses a 120mm radiator and I'm not sure if I should suck outside air into the case through the radiator or blow the warmer air from inside the case out through the radiator. Surely it would be better to blow the cooler air over radiator then exhaust out the front and side fans?

 

[Montanaro]

you all suck.

General Chat is the bomb

 

[Tharros]

Airflow should always come in from the front/side and out from the the back/top. So really you want the radiator sucking air from the inside of the case and exausting the warm air out the back. IMO it is not good to blow warm air into the case on purpose. Also, gernrally you want equal or more fans exausting air compared to those bringing in air. This creates what is know as the push/pull effect so warm air cannot settle in the case.

 

[Montanaro]

True, I was just thinking that warm air running over the radiator could heat up the coolant slightly.

But then again, the air temp inside PC is mostly due to the CPU, which would be cooled and dissipated out of the case, making temperatures inside the case lower. So I really wouldn't be running warm air over the radiator.