Suck or Blow? Fan Question (volcano7)

[richklein]

Hi,
I was wondering. For the CPU which is better? Sucking air or blowing? Right now it is sucking air onto the CPU. I wonder if it would be better to have it blow the air away (if that can be done).

The front fan on mine sucks air into the case.

The rear fan sucks air in & the PSU blows. I keep wondering if my airflow is an issue.

Any ideas on a good way to go?

Thanks,
Rich

[Bull]

Where is your rear fan? If its near the top of the back of the case it should blow. I have tried different setups in mine you just might have to experiment and see which setup keeps your system and cpu cooler.

[richklein]

is there some way to change the direction of a fan? Changign from blow to suck or vice versa?

Swap a few wires?

[Bull]

No dont do that just turn the fan around. It will fit on either way.

[Rooster]

summertime i have mine blowing. winter i have it sucking. (put a cold air fan behind slotket) dont know why but it works better the other way in summer

[richklein]

Hrm. I am not sure how to swap the fan for the Volcano7. I dont know if I want to start pulling it apart.

I see 4 screws on the top of the fan. I guess I just unscrew it to swap the fan around?

[UserName]

Yea that's it. Un Screw it and flip it and put it back.

I can't understand about the suck and blow conversation. Sorry. It'd prolly be great if i did.

Fans are much better at pushing air than pulling. Pushed air moves fasterand theres more of it.
In most cases the fan at the back bu the CPU blows air out of the case. The fan by the front blows cool air in.

By just switching the direction of these two fans you can lower CPU 3C. Cause you want cool air in as close to the CPU as you can. The hot air going out the front is not done cause joe user might not want his papers botherd.

[Blue Jester_2112]

This question comes up every now and then, basically the answer is usually try both ways and check temps. It's different for everyne depending on thier set up, air flow and the heat given off by surrounding components. Just unscrew those four screws on top and turn it around, that's all there is too it, just be careful (obviously, but it has to be said :)).

Good luck

[Arkaine23]

Welcome to the forums!

I tried the volcano 7's fan both ways, and in my system it worked better the way it is(blowing onto the CPU). I have 4x 80mm fans in my case: 1 in front to suck air in, 1 in back to blow air out, and two on the side to blow air in on the CPU and expansion cards.

If you want better cooling, by all means experiment with your fan directions and see what works best for you. There's also a really simple way to make the volcano 7 work at full power all the time. Basically the V7 has a temperature sensor mounted on one side of the fan which controls its fan rpm. This sensor reads the ambient air temperature in your case and so if you have halfway decent airflow, it almost never gets up to maximum rpms. Mine was running at about 3100-3600 rpms all the time. This is only about 34-38 CFM (cubic feet per minute) of air. If you look at the fan, you'll see a little green thing sticking out of the corner. If you cut the two wires that its connected to, and then strip the wire insulation a bit, twist the wires back together, and tape with electric tape, you force the fan to run at 5000-5100 rpms with about 53 CFM of airflow all the time. Thermaltake should have engineered it this way in the first place, or at least put the temp sensor down between the heatsink's fins, because the V7 performs much better when the fan runs at full speed.

This mod is really simple. I used a screwdriver to remove the fan, a kitchen knife to cut the wires, my teeth to strip the wire insulation a bit, and electric tape. I accidentally mounted the fan backwards and my temps were higher than b4 the mod even with the fan at full power. But when I put that fan on the right way, my temps dropped by 2 or 3 degrees from what they'd been without the mod. I was able to add 8 MHz of FSB or 84 Mhz on my XP 1600+ after this mod. And it only took a couple of minutes and some regular household stuff.

There is an article in heatsink reviews on the front page about the Volcano 7 and this mod. I believe it has pictures.