Positive, Negative or Equal Airflow?

[luke127]

Hey guys, just give me a straight answer.

In your professional opinions, which is the best method of airflow through a desktop case. Equal meaning that I have 2 intakes and 2 exhausts. I live in an area where summer temps can hit 40+ degrees celsius, and the winters can get down to -4 degrees C. So if anyone has some advice on how I can manage the extreme ambient temperature in summer, that'd be great

PS: Water cooling is out of the question for the moment as it blows my budget way out of the water.

 

[patonb]

I like Positive pressure as in my setup. My belief is It forces are to move everywhere as it will "leak out" all the cracks and seams of the case along with the heat.

Adding some water cooling like a Corsair H100 slightly changes things as you'll want to get fresh cool air over the rads.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

I honestly like negative pressure setups where you have a stack of HDD's that all need to be cooled quickly. Having positive pressure can cause the air to somewhat stagnate if you have low powered fans.

In all honesty it depends on the case, and fans. Positive pressure with low-end fans can cause overheating of disks in the front bay area in my experiences. But with half the cases out there, you don't get positive or negative pressures anymore, because they are so heavily ventilated that the pressure doesn't change any.

Right now my case would be considered positive pressure (two 220mm intakes, one 220mm exhaust, one 140mm exhaust), yet I still get dust over venting on the outside where air is being sucked into the case where fans aren't mounted.

In all honesty, your best bet is equal with high flow rated fans, this will ensure you get cool air in, and exhaust the hot air out as quickly as possible.

 

[PP Mguire]

I personally don't care. I put fans in and make sure there is good airflow.

 

[iParanormalx]

Hydro Seriesâ„¢ H100i Extreme Performance CPU Cooler

This!!! Low maintenance, low cost (for water) and its badass

 

[PP Mguire]

That's what I have for the time being, but he said he doesn't have the budget for it.

 

[luke127]

I plan to get a water cooling setup sooner or later, but cannot afford to at the moment. I've got 4 fans, 2 come with the case (Corsair 200r) and a 2 pack of corsair AP120 Quiet Editions. So now that I'm at home, I think I'll end up going with an Equal configuration. Any advice on where to place the fans for this particular setup? The corsair 200R has 8 fan slots, which is pretty insane haha

 

[patonb]

You want airflow bottom to top.

 

[luke127]

Wouldn't that interfere with the placement of the PSU? It's mounted on the bottom.

 

[patonb]

Depends, the corsair 200 has the front grate which holds 2 120s, or are they 140s? Anyway put 2 in the pink, er front intake, they create the bottom in flow.
Then I'd put 2 up top to suck the air out.