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fan on heatsink....wrong way?

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bigsoomo

Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2003
Location
Northern Verrrrginia
hey guys i was on another modding website where they do reviews about the new alx-800 and the panaflo fan was on backwards wouldnt that be suckin air away from the heatsink?
 

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I have had great experiences with fans mounted the "wrong" way. I got a several degree improvement in my temps with a Thermaltake Volcano 6 Cu+ with a fan sucking air out.
 
yea its on "backwards" but i know some review places try both ways to see which one gives better temps.
 
whoaa i never knew that...


I have had great experiences with fans mounted the "wrong" way. I got a several degree improvement in my temps with a Thermaltake Volcano 6 Cu+ with a fan sucking air out.
 
stamasd said:
I have had great experiences with fans mounted the "wrong" way. I got a several degree improvement in my temps with a Thermaltake Volcano 6 Cu+ with a fan sucking air out.

There must be other factors involved, such as a heat source near the top of the fan would blow warm air on the heatsink, but if it was sucking it would be pulling cool air from the sides. But if you moved that heatsource and had the fan running the proper way it would prove to be much better than the original setup.
 
GlitchOfDoom said:


There must be other factors involved, such as a heat source near the top of the fan would blow warm air on the heatsink, but if it was sucking it would be pulling cool air from the sides. But if you moved that heatsource and had the fan running the proper way it would prove to be much better than the original setup.

No heat source. Open case, nothing else anywhere near the HSF. :)
 
Hmmm intresting makes me wonder if I could put my tornado on backwards and get better temps. Hmmmm
 
It depends on the heatsink. Some have a configuration that works better when blown upon, some the other way. :)
 
stamasd said:
It depends on the heatsink. Some have a configuration that works better when blown upon, some the other way. :)

The alpha PAL is a good example. It has a bit of a shroud which forces the air to be sucked off the heatsink closer to its base - not as much air can shortcut the heatsink base and just go straight into the fan.

The most important variable with different fan performance for sucking and blowing is your case and surrounding elements. In most cases with most heatsinks blowing will be better, but there are always exceptions.
 
Yes! When Alpha came out with the fans sucking air off the cpu everybody was trying it. Most people found that it works better blowing. But you never know until you try. I tried it on a few heatsinks without any improvement. It seem you need a shroud of some kind. I put some electrical tape around the top part of the heatsink to make a shroud (for testing purposes) but my temps didn’t improve.

But you never know, with the newer designs in heatsinks, some might work better sucking.
 
7keys said:
But you never know, with the newer designs in heatsinks, some might work better sucking.

That doesn't sound quite right, LOL!

I'll take that into consideration, the enviornment seams to appear as though it would have a bigger impact than the heat sink.

ie. A PSU blowing on an CPU HS.
 
would sucking from the heatsink not work better for those cases that mount exaust right over the cpu? I was always a little worried about airflow with two fans sucking air away from the heatsink. its why i run with no side panels. i might try it when i get a better case.
 
Wherever your fans are pointing, you don't want them interfering with eachother. It's better to have them working together than have them counter one another.
 
before i got my blowers, i had a volcano 12 with the fan backwards ducted to a 120mm panaflo on the top sucking air out. i then had a 92mm and three 80mm fans blowing air into the case. it cooled very well.
 
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