![fan airflow direction fan airflow direction](http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/wlgfAO2Jtls/maxresdefault.jpg)
Some cheaper cases only include a single intake fan on the front of the PC, or a single exhaust fan at the rear. In a standard desktop PC, you want at least one intake and one exhaust fan. Including an exhaust fan on the rear of the case will round out an optimal setup.Ī configuration like that will let cool air enter in the front, while the hot air from the CPU and GPU then exhausts on the top and rear of the case. You’ll also want to add the top exhaust fans. A optimal fan configuration would include intake fans on the front of the case. Thiago Trevisan/IDGįor Example B, let's look at a more traditional case, the Be Quiet Silent Base 802. Hot air generated by your hardware rises and will leave through the top exhaust fans. A solid fan configuration would include intake fans on the bottom, and exhaust fans on top, as shown in the image above. Fresh air will enter the case, cooling your components. (There can be exceptions to this, such as in small form factor builds.) Thiago Trevisan/IDGĮxample A: Let’s choose the popular Lian Li O11 Dynamic case. You generally want to have both intake and exhaust fans. The idea is simple: Fresh cool air in, hot air out. Intake and exhaust placements might be the single most crucial concept for proper fan placement. How do you achieve positive airflow? Easy: Just have more intake than exhaust fans, or run your intake fans slightly faster than your exhaust if they’re in equal number.
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(This setup usually results in more dust entering your PC, which you can mitigate with dust filters or more frequent cleaning.) For optimal cooling performance in a standard system, you want to be slightly more on the positive airflow side. Negative pressure pulls more air out, often creating a vacuum effect.
#Fan airflow direction Pc#
When fans pull in more air than they push out of a PC case, it creates positive pressure. Fans with high airflow are great as intake or exhaust on your case as they can move large amounts of air. Fans with higher static pressure are ideal for moving air through dense water-cooling radiators. The type of fan matters too, though much less so than having them all configured in the right way. Our guide to telling which way your PC fan is blowing can help if you need it. Air exits out of the back, where the technical information may be written about the fan. If they don’t, a good rule of thumb is that air will almost always flow in from the front, where the branding sticker generally is. Some fans will have an arrow indicating the correct flow direction. How you point your fans determines whether it sucks in cool air or spits hot air out of your system.