Intake vs Exhaust configuration

[RamboOC]

I had a discussion with MaddenShadow about which is better - more intake fans or more exhaust fans. He says that

What!? Since when is negative airpressure good? There should be more intake than exaust, so dust is passivly blown out. Is it you or am I missing something here?

and

Ive always heard more intake, lets see what others have to say

In my opinion from what i read multiple times before, exhaust is more important so that heat is removed. (keep in mind i read mostly about setups using air cooling)

For example in my opinion its better to have 3 fans as exhaust and 1 front fan as intake, where as MaddenShadow thinks its better to have it the other way round

If I only had 1 case fan, and i had a choice to use it as intake at the front or exhaust at the back, i would choose to run it as exhaust

 

[TPC]

Open Test-Bench FTW

But seriously, I have had an old Haf 922 and had 3x 120 and 1x 200mm intake(unfiltered) and 1x 120 exhaust so more in than out and I had massive dust Problems so I turned it around and voila!
Still problems... it sucked in dust from EVERYWHERE where it was possible, especially those 5.25 bays.
Best is neutral for example 2x 120 in and 2x 120 out.
But when filtered Positiv Pressure is much recommended because then there isn't dust coming in from anywhere unfiltered.

 

[ShaunB-91]

I'd say more intake, you need to bring in cooler air, yeah you can push hot air out with exhaust fans but enough fresh air will cool the warmer air anyway at least in my head that makes sense.

 

[Innocent159]

I still say it depends on your case it would be senseless putting an exhaust fan at the bottom just like it is senseless to have an intake at the top.
My gigabyte luxo m10 is weird structured.

see the fan at the back, what do I do? (psu pull cool air)

 

[RamboOC]

I still say it depends on your case it would be senseless putting an exhaust fan at the bottom just like it is senseless to have an intake at the top.
My gigabyte luxo m10 is weird structured.

see the fan at the back, what do I do? (psu pull cool air)

In my opinion Back fan as exhaust, and let the fan at the front take in cool air to the whole system

 

[MadShadow]

I still say it depends on your case it would be senseless putting an exhaust fan at the bottom just like it is senseless to have an intake at the top.
My gigabyte luxo m10 is weird structured.

see the fan at the back, what do I do? (psu pull cool air)

Wait, your PSU pulls air from the top or the back?

 

[kbalaz]

I think ambient temperature has a bit part in this as well. In my case, Bitfenix Ghost, I have 2-120mm intake up top, 2-120mm intake up front and 1 exhaust out the back. I have tried flipping the top ones to exhaust and had better temperatures with them as intake and only the 1 exhaust out the back. Experiment with different configurations and find what works best for you.

 

[Innocent159]

In my opinion Back as exhaust in my opinion, and let the fan at the front take in cool air to the whole system

there is no exhaust at that point imo. On the side of the psu is two intakes and the psu takes air in. the cpu (hot air) goes up...

 

[RamboOC]

Wait, your PSU pulls air from the top or the back?

PSU with that structure pull air in from inside the case.
thats why some people prefere to have psu fan facing up than down so that it does not struggle to pull air in from the bottom of some cases which have poor air filters or not much clearance from the bottom

 

[Innocent159]

I think ambient temperature has a bit part in this as well. In my case, Bitfenix Ghost, I have 2-120mm intake up top, 2-120mm intake up front and 1 exhaust out the back. I have tried flipping the top ones to exhaust and had better temperatures with them as intake and only the 1 exhaust out the back. Experiment with different configurations and find what works best for you.

+1 that's what I did and this config I have now works well. I had top as intake and it had a noisy sound so I exhausted it and my temps decreased

 

[shambles1980]

with a heat sink i like mostly intake. I used to try and go ballanced, and i tried to put more exhaust.

What i have noticed though (the only thing i really noticed)
the rear 120mm fan..
if you have a old case with the psu above the rear fan i found that it was better to use that as a intake as it helped the psu run cooler.
effectively with the older design your psu is an exhaust fan, and all that hot air from your cpu ends up being sucked in to it.

i used to have heat sinks set up in push pull and it would push from the front pull at the back nearest the rear fan and the rear fan was exhausting.
but the Highest ammount of heat would come out of my psu which was above the heatsink/rear fan.
so i flipped that round made the rear exhaust a intake then the fan nearest that on the hat sink push. and obviously the one furthest away pull...
this had a small improvment on cpu temps. due to the cold air directly supplied to it. but it had the biggest effect on the ammount of heat exhausting from my psu.
I then added some fans at my 5.2 bays at the top to exhaust from the front.
the bottom of the case had 120mm intake at the bottom..


all this changes when i have water cooling.
And all my rads exhaust. and i have 1x 120 fan as an intake.
so with water cooling i have atleast 3times asmany exhausts as i do intakes. But the fan speeds are different.
the intake moves the higest amount of air possible in to my case. so it could be some what more balanced than i expect.

 

[Cru]

more intake. always

 

[ShaunB-91]

I guess you could always switch your fans up to see if it makes any difference in temps.

 

[Innocent159]

PSU with that structure pull air in from inside the case.
thats why some people prefere to have psu fan facing up than down so that it does not struggle to pull air in from the bottom of some cases

now with 4 intakes and two exhaust won't that be cool air? the only hot air is from cpu and gpu?

 

[RamboOC]

now with 4 intakes and two exhaust won't that be cool air? the only hot air is from cpu and gpu?

Your gpu Hasn't got a blower style cooler. Instead it has a custom cooler that exhausts all the hot air inside the case so thats another reason i think you need more exhaust

 

[MadShadow]

This is my ideal setup

PSU not interfering; front and bottom as filtered intakes; back and top as exhaust.

 

[Innocent159]

Your gpu hasn't got a blower style cooler, instead it exhausts all the hot air inside the case so thats another reason i think you need more exhaust

Did n't someone say in my threat that that fans (gpu fans) push air out?

 

[Innocent159]

This is my ideal setup

PSU not interfering; front and bottom as filtered intakes; back and top as exhaust.

Good setup in your case +1

 

[MadShadow]

Did n't someone say in my threat that that fans (gpu fans) push air out?

They were probably mistaken. Unless its a reference card, all air is dumped into the case.

 

[RamboOC]

Did n't someone say in my threat that that fans (gpu fans) push air out?

Your gpu fans heat out out inside the case,
stock factory gpu blower cooler pushes air out outside the case