Help with case Fan placement

[Raphael Argus]

Hello all,

I'm using a Centurion 5 case, it has an 80mm fan in the front, and 120mm exhaust. It's a great case, but I've been keeping the side panel off just to keep things cooler inside, and because of nasty dust build up I'd like to throw it back on.

Questions:

Are these two fans enough?

There is a mount for an 80mm fan on the side panel, should I add one, and if so, exhaust or intake?

Last question, the front intake fan is blowing air right onto my hard drive. I put the hard drive pretty low thinking the air blowing on it would keep it cool, but now I'm guessing it is blocking air from moving in the case. (obviously not an issue with side panel off)

Should I move my hard drives up and out of the way?

Running a C2D E6600 Not OC, 2GB ram, and an 8800GTS 640MB vid card.

Any help on the best air flow in my situation is appreciated. I have plenty of spare fans, but really don't want to buy a new case unless someone thinks it's absolutely necessary.

[El_Roberto]

i wouldnt think that pc would get too hot, just put a fan on the side panel as an intake and leave the hard drive where it is. also try to make sure you have the cables as neat as possible and out of the way

[jordo_99]

yeah, the only reason I think your computer would run very hot is if the cables are cluttered or because the graphics card runs hot (idk much about the 8600GTS though...so it might not.) Anyways, if you just make sure your cables are tied up and out of the way and put in that intake fan it should be pretty smooth sailing.

if you ever did want more cooling then I'd suggest swapping the 80mm fan for a 120mm fan. It would make a difference, but not a huge one.

[ReverseFluxx]

In my opinion, I would put a fan on the side of the case as exhaust. I've had experience getting lower temps by putting an exhaust rather than intake fan there.

[Preacher]

What are your temps?

[commandercup]

Originally Posted by ReverseFluxx

In my opinion, I would put a fan on the side of the case as exhaust. I've had experience getting lower temps by putting an exhaust rather than intake fan there.

supposedly the intake fan there would blow air directly onto either the graphics card or cpu (depending on case) so it should cool the actual component more, and spread some air around on the mobo decreasing chipset temps etc.

exhaust fans there will only clear up the system temp by a degree or two which won't be helpful and less air will be circulating around the board itself

[ReverseFluxx]

Originally Posted by commandercup

supposedly the intake fan there would blow air directly onto either the graphics card or cpu (depending on case) so it should cool the actual component more, and spread some air around on the mobo decreasing chipset temps etc.

exhaust fans there will only clear up the system temp by a degree or two which won't be helpful and less air will be circulating around the board itself

You get more airflow with exhaust fans, provided your case has a sufficient amount of ventilation openings. Exhaust fans are physically more efficient because you are lowering the air pressure inside your case and letting the outside air pressure move air into the case. With intake fans, you are pushing air into the case and thus the fan has to work harder to displace the existing air inside the case.

[Raphael Argus]

Thanks for the info

Temps are 32c idle and 42c under load. But that's with the side panel OFF.

The Centurion 5 has open mesh on the whole front of the case for air to come in. I'll leave my harddrives where they are.

So for the side fan, I see one intake and one exhaust. Any tie breakers? I guess I can experiment.

What type of temp increase should I expect with the side panel on, and what is acceptable. I leave the PC on 24 hours a day, but it's cool inside and the case seems pretty ventlilated.

[MetalOwns]

Originally Posted by commandercup

supposedly the intake fan there would blow air directly onto either the graphics card or cpu (depending on case) so it should cool the actual component more, and spread some air around on the mobo decreasing chipset temps etc.

exhaust fans there will only clear up the system temp by a degree or two which won't be helpful and less air will be circulating around the board itself

Actually, I think an exhaust fan there is better as well...My case has 2 side fans. Theres one right next to my GPU, and another thats almost directly across from the CPU/HSF. They were intake fans when I got the case. I turned them around so they are now exhaust, and all my temps dropped by about 3-5 degrees.

[Raphael Argus]

Thanks for all the help, I'll make the side fan an exhaust.

I also have one of those PCI exhaust fans, it's pretty powerful. Should I add that in towards the bottom of my case or just stick with the front intake, side/rear exhaust?

I'm such a weirdo about temps but I'm sick of keeping the side panel off, looks ugly and it's winter now where I'm at so it's cooler inside. Crazy though if you pull off the side panel and aim a small desk fan inside the PC how much cooler it can be. I've dropped temps 10-20 degrees. I liked things better back in the day where you never even thought about cooling stuff of course you didn't think about overclocking really either and things weren't hot hehe