rad exhaust inside case?

[pejsaboy]

i thought the difference would be negligible, i just wanted to check with some of your experiences to verify my idea. i've decided that the rad will go on the case floor, i just haven't decided whether i want it to exhaust or intake. probably intake [for cooler air], but not 100% sure. maybe if there is a noise difference between the 2 configurations that will help me decide. wishful thinking i guess

 

[Bad Maniac]

Definitely intake if you are putting it in the case floor. Let normal "hot air rises" laws apply. Take in cool air through the rad into the case in the bottom, and exhaust it in the top.
BUT, if you put the rad and fans at the bottom of the case it is EXTREMELY important to have enough space underneath the case so that air can freely flow into the intake. AND You'll need a dust filter, no if's or but's. Sitting in the bottom of the case the fans will suck every piece of dust in the room into your rad and clog it up, wich is obviously no good.

 

[ziggo0]

A quick question for verification, would mounting the rad internally at the top of the case, with your fans either inbetween the rad and the top, or on top of the case pulling air through the rad really hurt your temps? Seeing as it would be sucking the 'hot' air from inside the case through the rad. OR...having the fans first, then the rad on the top of the case pushing air through it? MSPaint FTW!

 

[pejsaboy]

ah yes, i seem to neglect other cooling truths when i start to think about other areas let the hot air rise! i'll definitely be putting a filter of some sort on though, i hadn't forgotten about that somehow.
as far as getting enough airflow under the case to feed it, i've got soda-bottle caps sitting under the case now [as veryhumid suggested], and get about 1/2" clear between the desk and case bottom. if i flip the caps over and glue them to the feet on my case, i'll have about 3/4" clear. how much clearance do some of you have that are intaking through the case floor?

 

[ziggo0]

I was thinking of something like this.

Just because the fans are pushing the warm case air through the rad, would it result in worse temps? I'm cutting the holes for my rad today and I orignally planned on mounting it like that...just don't wanna screw myself.

 

[veryhumid]

the air inside of the case won't be too warm if you have blocks on the cpu and video card. all the other components are pretty small in terms of watts. However if you have graphics card adding 80-90, maybe 100 watts (I don't think anyone knows), the air inside the case would be considerably warmer.

No worries, though, no matter how you cut the holes you can still change the fans around to try both ways.