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Corsair 100i Intake or Exhaust?

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crb806

Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2005
I'm just getting parts in for a new build and was thinking about how to set up my 100i cooler. I see many people using it as exhaust, but in the manual Corsair recommends using intake for their CPU coolers. Every time I've read about someone trying it both ways they always get lower temps when they use it as intake so I'm just wondering why so many use it exhaust. It does make a lot more sense to cool the radiator with cool air from outside rather than blowing warm air from inside the case on the radiator. I'm going to follow the manual and have it as an intake on top since I have a good dust filter. Also using it as intake will lean my case to having positive pressure which will also help with reduce dust build up.
I can see how it would make sense a first glance to use an exhaust setup, but intake seems to make much more sense to me unless you have a GPU that gets really hot or no dust filter. What do you think?
 
I prefer airFLOW. The typical user (read 95% of us) really are not pushing the chips to the limit where 1-3C is going to be a make or break difference in temperatures (to use it as intake). I prefer to have proper airFLOW through the case where front/sides = intake, and top/rear exhaust.

"Positive" pressure keeps dust from coming through the cracks. That is it. I prefer negative pressure so warm air doesn't 'build up' inside the case.... but that +/- pressure discussion is one that is still ongoing to this day.
 
To elaborate a little, the average Joe Blow is going to hang this where the rear exhaust fan is because it's the easiest, most convenient way (read lazy) :p. A smarter guy will use it in the front of the case as an intake.
I agree with ED, front and side intake, rear and top exhaust.
I also prefer negative pressure.
 
To the poster of the thread: what make and model of case are you using (or thinking of using)? That may have an impact on what would be best for your setup.

Personally, I mounted mine as en exhaust, since I could only mount it at the top of my case. And, if I had mounted it in an intake setup that would have really messed up the airflow setup in my case, since I would then only have ONE exhaust fan and EIGHT intake fans. That would have been a crazy setup indeed.

Also, there is something to think about when setting up a liquid cooling/water cooling setup with the fans as intakes. It does tend to lower the CPU temperature, by using cooler intake air, but it also RAISES the overall temperature inside the case (2-5°C in a good case) (10+°C in a badly designed case with poor airflow). So, then your GPU, RAM sticks, HDD's, chipset(s), VRM's and everything else in your case would be warmer (how much warmer would vary depending upon your case and the rest of your fan setup).

To elaborate a little, the average Joe Blow is going to hang this where the rear exhaust fan is because it's the easiest, most convenient way (read lazy) :p. A smarter guy will use it in the front of the case as an intake.
I agree with ED, front and side intake, rear and top exhaust.
I also prefer negative pressure.
Not all cases can accommodate a front-mounted radiator though. Mine certainly couldn't (CM 690 II Advanced), not without some modifications anyway. Though I suppose that's beside the point when the tubing on an H100 and H100i isn't long enough to accommodate mounting the rad to the front of my case.
 
Not all cases can accommodate a front-mounted radiator though. Mine certainly couldn't (CM 690 II Advanced), not without some modifications anyway. Though I suppose that's beside the point when the tubing on an H100 and H100i isn't long enough to accommodate mounting the rad to the front of my case.
You're right, and I shouldn't have made the post sound so negative. If there was any way possible, I would always try to use intake air through a rad......sometimes it's just not possible.
 
I used to like the front and bottom intake and use the top and back as exhaust. I am know officially a all intake guy and rear exhaust guy because I believe in the rads getting the freshest and coolest air around. Most likely saves me a few degrees by doing this and keeps all the dust buggers away. It does help that I am filtered to the tee all the way around except the rear.
 
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