P180B top fan as intake

alfhenrik · Post by **alfhenrik** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 10:16 pm

Good Afternoon All,

In my new system I will be using the Thermalright HR-05 NB Heatsink, I read Chris Thomson's article (here) where he used the Ninja and the same NB heatsink and he said that it does need some airflow to cool efficiently. As I will be using the Thermalright Ultra 120 I may not get some of the airflow from the fan on the Ultra 120 in the same way as with the Ninja.

If I were to flip the top fan from an exhaust to an intake, would this cool the HR-05 more efficiently than having both the rear and top fan as exhausts, or should it be sufficient with having these two fans sucking the air through the front intake?

I will also use the Scythe Kama Bay located in the top 3 5.25" bays.

Thanks a lot you all.

P.S.
Apologies for if this question has been asked before, did a search but couldn't find anything on it.
D.S.

EDIT: Just thought of that this is probably the wrong board for this question...can I move the thread or would a moderator have to move it for me?

Thanks and apologies...

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 5:05 am

Hello,

This would be counter to the heat rising -- if you have the back as intake and the top as exhaust, that would make more sense. But, do you need this, really? What are your temps like?

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 9:28 am

This would be counter to the heat rising

the buoyancy force is pretty small at common temps-not hard for fan to overcome this.

alfhenrik · Post by **alfhenrik** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 12:03 pm

NeilBlanchard wrote:What are your temps like?

I'll let you know this week as I have yet to finish my build. I'm currently just trying to collect information on which way fans need to be pointed for best airflow/cooling efficiency.

Also on the fan note, is the fan in the lower chamber "really" necessary or would the fan in the PSU suffice for providing enough airflow over the hard drives?

Cheers

nici · Post by **nici** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 12:35 pm

If you block the holes around the PSU, it will be fine. Unless you have a very hot room. In which case it might still be fine. You have to try for yourself. DTemp is a good program to monitor HDD temps.

And remember, if you have enough alcohol in your body your computer will be very quiet.

JohnFL · Post by **JohnFL** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 7:38 pm

alfhenrik.....

Contrary to what most people on here say, i also tried the top fan as an intake rather than an exhaust. I have probably changed it back and forth 8 or 10 times, and EVERY time it shows me the same results. The temp on my Zalman CNPS7000B-ALcu was atleast 2C lower with the fan in the downward intake position. We all know that heat rises, but i can only tell you what happened in my P180 case. The only thing that bothers me about it being an intake, is that dust can be sucked in through the upper hole. I have rigged a filter over the top hole, but not sure if it is the proper thing to do. With the deflector up there, i doubt that much dust will come through the top, but time will tell.

Oh, and did i mention my temps were atleast 2C lower ?

JazzJackRabbit · Post by **JazzJackRabbit** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 9:47 pm

I don't have any fan up top, but I did leave the top open which now serves as an intake (just without a fan). If I put my hand I can feel substantial draft, the air does get sucked in plenty. IMO that's the best way to do it. Unless you run a very power hungry config one 12cm fan at the back should be enough, just make sure it's getting enough air.

alfhenrik · Post by **alfhenrik** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 11:21 pm

Hey,

First of all, thanks for all your good advice, I received my fans and heatsink today, so now I can finally finish this build and put your theories to practice and see which one suits me best.

Thanks a lot guys!

Shaman · Post by **Shaman** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 12:29 pm

One of the downsides of doing that is that you will render the front dust filter useless, but you can always put a filter on the top fan unless you're not too worried about dust.

Equilateral · Post by **Equilateral** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 10:02 pm

alfhenrik wrote:Also on the fan note, is the fan in the lower chamber "really" necessary or would the fan in the PSU suffice for providing enough airflow over the hard drives?

Speaking of the lower chamber fan, what's the best way to remove this? It looks like it's clipped into place but any attempts to try and slide it out aren't getting anywhere, and I don't want to force it for fear of breaking off the plastic tabs holding it into place. Is it safe to force it, or is there some hidden additional mount point I'm missing?

Kremmit · Post by **Kremmit** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 10:30 pm

Equilateral wrote: Speaking of the lower chamber fan, what's the best way to remove this? It looks like it's clipped into place but any attempts to try and slide it out aren't getting anywhere, and I don't want to force it for fear of breaking off the plastic tabs holding it into place. Is it safe to force it, or is there some hidden additional mount point I'm missing?

That question gets asked a lot; the removal method isn't obvious or intuitive. You have to push in on the big flat tab at the front of the plastic mounting bracket. At the same time, you have to pull out, the easiest way is to use your fingers on the inside of the fan frame to pull while your thumb pushes the bracket tab in. Pushing the tab causes a pair of little plastic bumps on the bracket to bend away from the sheet metal- they're sticking into holes there and keeping it in place. Sometimes considerable force is required.

Equilateral · Post by **Equilateral** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 6:21 am

Kremmit wrote:Sometimes considerable force is required.

Ahh, that was the problem: "If brute force doesn't work, you're not using enough of it"

. Thanks.

Kremmit · Post by **Kremmit** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 1:59 pm

Equilateral wrote:
Kremmit wrote:Sometimes considerable force is required.
Ahh, that was the problem: "If brute force doesn't work, you're not using enough of it" . Thanks.

You say it better than I did.