Radiator Fan direction, Suck or blow, in or out?

[devilchrist]

I currently have my swifttech 220 radiator with Yate loom Mediums sucking behind the radiator in to the case.

How do most people have it?
1. I'd like to know if you get better results by pushing air into the radiator than pulling air through it.

2, I'm seeing my Case ambient temp rise to about 45c running prime95. room is about 24c. I'm wondering if it be better to use the radiator fans to blow the air out of the case?

 

[Arcygenical]

Really doesn't matter too much. Most people pull air through the rad, I push it through because I can't fit the rad in my case with the fans infront of it. I also use the rad like you're thinking in question 2... where it's the exhaust for the entire case, all the other fans are intakes.

I've tried both ways, and noticed no difference in temperatures. However, sucking through the rad does seem to decrease the noise level a bit.

 

[fx9]

Actually Silent PC Review did research this push and pull idea. What they found was no noticeable difference between push and pull. They found that pushing lowered it by 1C than pulling (possibility of error in their readings too). So I would say what ever fits and works for your case. Like Arcygenical, not all cases can use both methods.

 

[ubermensch]

Thermochill Recommends push with the PA series of radiators.
The old HE they recommended a pull. So it's probably dependent upon specific radiator. The difference in performance is minimal, but why not get the best you can get?

 

[Deton]

well it all depends how you installed your rad, internal or external. The important is to draw a fresh cool air to cool the rad and you want to exhaust the hot air away from the case. If you do internal installation then you want to push the hot air out of the case, you don't want to pull the cold air to cool the rad and cause your case overheated. This is a bad setup IMO by the way, it doesn't matter how good is your case's air flow is.

 

[plot]

thermochill is weird.

for a swiftech, pulling works alot better. i actually mounted one fan pulling and one pushing on a rad and the one pushing didn't do to much.

dangerden also recommends pulling out and they're radiators are very similiar to swiftechs.

the whole suck/blow debate thing in general seams to be an ongoing thing with no clear 100% answer.

 

[Russ]

well it all depends how you installed your rad, internal or external. The important is to draw a fresh cool air to cool the rad and you want to exhaust the hot air away from the case. If you do internal installation then you want to push the hot air out of the case, you don't want to pull the cold air to cool the rad and cause your case overheated. This is a bad setup IMO by the way, it doesn't matter how good is your case's air flow is.

Uh, that's not what people are talking about. It draws air from the inside of the case and pushes it out regardless of if you put fans in the front or back of your rad.

I'd just do whichever is more convenient for your case.

 

[GhengisKhan]

one reason I always set up to pull instead of push...

when you've got the fan pushing, there are dead spots that not as much air travels through, like around the corners of the rad, and the center of the fan. When pulling, you're getting even air flow over all of the fins.
And this reason was confirmed by reviewing my RETA books (Refrigeration Engineers and Technicians Association)

 

[plot]

one reason I always set up to pull instead of push...

when you've got the fan pushing, there are dead spots that not as much air travels through, like around the corners of the rad, and the center of the fan. When pulling, you're getting even air flow over all of the fins.
And this reason was confirmed by reviewing my RETA books (Refrigeration Engineers and Technicians Association)

I always compare it to fans in a house. Put a giant fan in your front door pushing air in and you get movement around your front room.

Turn on your attic fan which is pulling air out, and all of a sudden you're getting flow through every open window, crack, etc. in your house.