Exhaust fans at the top of the case, with the radiator bellow

S6YAFF

Member
Hi,

When looking at the configuration of my new Tower, I noticed that the builder placed the 2 x exhaust fans at the top of the case, with the radiator bellow.

I thought best practice was to have the fans bellow the radiator so it pushes air through the radiator opposed to sucking air through it. Alternatively, people appear to place the radiator after the intake fans, but I haven't seen any builds configured like my PC, so wanted to check that someone hasn't made a mistake.

As building PC`s is PCS`s core business, maybe there is a good reason for this configuration, so I thought I would I ask the question

Any thoughts?

Thanks
Andrew

Details of my build are bellow:

Case CORSAIR OBSIDIAN SERIES™ 500D SE CASE
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™ i7 Six Core Processor i7-8700k (3.7GHz) 12MB Cache
Motherboard ASUS® TUF Z370-PLUS GAMING II: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM) 16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card 8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1070 Ti - DVI, HDMI, 3 x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive 2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive 500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3400MB/R, 2300MB/W)
Processor Cooling CoolerMaster MasterLiquid Lite 240 High Performance Liquid Cooler
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
Just to check, are you sure the fans at the top of the case are exhausting and not pulling air over the radiator?
 

S6YAFF

Member
By the way I just came across the bellow which suggest both options are OK !

If the difference is very minor as suggested in the articular, than I will leave it alone.

"Mounting the radiator first before the fan means you are pushing air out from the case, into your radiator, then out the back. This setup means that your fans are exposed (can be seen inside the case) while your radiator is concealed (between the fan and the case). Some people like this setup especially if the fan has a certain design that they want to show off (e.g., LED lighting, blade color, sticker, etc.). The disadvantage of this setup is dust build-up in the radiator (dust between the fan and the rad). Cleaning it up means unscrewing your fans first to access the dusty rad. Depending also on the case you have, some chassis have clearance issues with 120mm radiators' larger frame (especially small cases that only supports 120mm fan mounting at the back).

On the other hand, mounting the fan first before the rad means you are pulling air out from the case and through your radiator, then out the back. This setup means that your radiator is exposed while your fan is concealed. Some people like this setup to achieve a "cleaner black look" of the radiator fins being exposed in the inside of the case. Maintenance-wise, it is also easier to clean as you can see dust build-up, if any, at the exposed side of the rad (you won't have to unscrew the rad for clean-up). Disadvantage is you can't show off your LED fans in case you have one.

Both setups will just have a very minor difference in terms of noise and temps (and it's a case-to-case basis depending on the fan you have and the ambient temperature). It's up to you which one to choose as there is no hard-and-fast rule on this -- all a matter of preference."
 
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