Member Avatar for Shaukat

I have...

1 80mm intake fan on the rear of the case

1 fan blowing out on the side

1 120mm fan in front

1 pci slot blow fan underneath my AGP card
(not counting the fan on the VGA card, PSU fan, and the CPU/heatsink fan)

however there is still room on top of the case for one more fan.

Should I even bother putting one there, I pretty much said goodbye to a completely quiet system.

sounds like a 747 about to take off every time I turn it on. :eek:

What advantages (if any) does having a fan on top of the case have?

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by ian_tec234

Dani AI

Generated

Short answer: dont add the top fan yet. Run a quick, measurement-driven check and remove the most noisy/redundant fan first.

Start with a simple test sequence: log idle and load temperatures with a monitoring tool such as HWMonitor and the GPU sensor in GPU‑Z. Record a 5–10 minute idle reading, then a 10–15 minute realistic load (game or stress utility) and note peak temps. Repeat the same tests after removing the PCI slot blower. If temperatures change only slightly and remain well under the CPU/GPU manufacturer limits, the PCI blower is just adding noise with little system benefit.

If temps rise significantly after removing the PCI blower, investigate airflow balance before installing a top fan. A top-mounted exhaust can help when the case has a clear upward path for hot air, but it is not a cure-all. Make sure front/side are configured as intakes and rear/top as exhaust so air moves through the case instead of colliding (see ). Prefer one or two larger, low-RPM fans over many small high-RPM fans to reduce noise. Use rubber mounts, a motherboard fan curve or a fan controller so extra fans only spin up under load.

Checklist: measure baseline, remove the noisy PCI blower and retest, verify intake/exhaust directions, then add a quiet 120mm top exhaust only if temperatures still warrant it. For background on fan sizes, behavior and orientation see the general notes on Computer fans.

Recommended Answers

All 7 Replies

Member Avatar for moderate_rock48

it seems like that many fans is overkill, without the top fan even. You could probably get by with one external fan to cut down on noise. I dont know of any advanages to having a top fan. But I dont know see what other people say :)

Member Avatar for jifiii

TO tell you the truth all of those fans are more than enough, then only good thing I could see about putting another fan on top is. Since hot air rises, it was exhaust it through the top.

Member Avatar for Dani

What are the specs of your machine? Is it an AMD or an Intel? What about your video card?

Member Avatar for alc6379

HAh! I've got fans, man!

1x92mm Vantec Tornado on my processor, pushing 100 CFM directly onto the processor,
2x92mm Tornados on the side.

If I don't have the case side screwed on right, the case side blows right off!

Member Avatar for kc0arf

Hello,

I am thankful for my laptop, with just one fan that every once in a while turns on.

The server has 4 large 3" fans for the case, and a set of CPU fans. They are thermo-statically controlled, so that they only go faster as they are needed. Sometimes, they don't even run.

I think that it is neat that the latest G5 chips on the Macs are equiped with water cooling. Nice and quiet. Way to go. Radiator. You Intel guys should be able to heat your room with such a device.

Just be sure to keep in mind that your fans always blow a particular direction. Having fans blowing ---> and others blowing <---- make an air-collison that does little for cooling.

And you can get obnoxious with fans... Apple had one of their G4 models nicknamed "windtunnel" by the users due to sound.

Christian

Member Avatar for oenone

I recommend getting rid of the PCI slot fan unless your graphics card gets dangerously hot without it. (which is doubtful because your system looks like it has planty of cooling) PCI lot fans actually do very little for cooling the case and add a ton of noise! All for a slightly cooler video card.

Member Avatar for ian_tec234

hi!
well you can go for the top fan(exhaust), and remove your pci blower
happy new year!

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