Side fans configuration

[youpla]

I would like to know if it makes any sense to set 2 side fans in different orientation or is it better to have them both in the same direction.
I am thinking to have one fan for intake of cool air and one fan for exhaust of hot air. These 2 fans are just on top of the 2 video cards.
I added a scheme to make it more clear... I am also planning to add another intake fan on the bottom of the case.
And which fans would you recommend between the Corsair air series AF or SP edition?
Thank you.

 

[Perturabo]

I have a feeling you will start to create a cycle where the air becomes trapped in a circular flow (anticlockwise in this picture) just going round and round. So I would say keep them both as intake.

To balance intake and Exhaust I would therefore configure it as sides intake, front intake, back and top exhaust. That should create a resultant flow direction of bottom/front to top/rear.

 

[jamesriley94]

I'd say, have the rad and the rear fans exhausting out the top and back, and everything else intaking.

 

[youpla]

Thanks for your inputs guys... concerning the back/top fans as exhaust, that was actually how i set it up first. But after watching the video on corsair website regarding the installation of the H100, they recommended to mount the fan as intake to cool the rad on the top, so I changed their orientation. It was kind of making sense at the moment, to cool the rad with fresh air taking from outside rather than warm air from inside... but i don't really know if it has a serious impact on temps!

Concerning the loop, you're probably right better not to create a loop where the same air maybe trapped and recycled.

 

[jamesriley94]

It's more because fans are louder if their pushing against a rad rather than sucking through it. Rad fans also have better cooling performance while sucking rather than pushing.
So I dont know whether it's better for performance to have the fans blowing fresh air, or the fans working better in pull but reusing warm air. I'd always go with the latter just to save on noise, but probably doesnt make that much difference in performance

 

[Perturabo]

I would have thought corsair say suck air from the outside in to make sure that their product performs as described. As an exhaust its performance will be dependent on how good the rest of your air flow is. In your case its fine so I would say exhaust through the rad for the reasons Jamesriley94 mentioned as well as the fact that it keeps the airflow all moving in one direction, reducing turbulence.

 

[Ulijin]

I have your exact setup in a corsair 600T. The side fans (intake bottom and extract top) really helped my top GPU card temps, from memory I believe there was a 5 degree drop with the side fans on vs off.

 

[Perturabo]

Did you try other configurations other than that? I would be very surprised (but also interested) if it performed better with two opposing flows rather than one single direction.

 

[SmoulderingCircuits]

Top side fan as intake and bottom side fan as exhaust. You want the GPU's heat out of your case the fastest route possible. The CPU on the other hand will need a lot more airflow as it will usually have larger fin stacks. Everything else is fine.

 

[youpla]

Thanks for all your inputs guys, i will try various configurations for the side fans and let you know the results after i get back from my summer vacations. For now 3 weeks away from the rig!