Heatsink fan..which way to move the air?

[jseber1982]

Which way would you turn the heatsink fan?

Ok now that i got your attention. ehe sorry for the letdown

Ok i been building pcs for about 8 years now. Lemme get some oppinions , do you prefer mounting your heatsink fan to flow into the heatsink or suck air through it. I have found that, if you can duck the air straight out of the case, then it is more beneficial to have it suck. If you blow onto the heatsink, your just pushin warm air onto it. And then of course you can suck in cool air over the heatsink and use exhaust fans to suck it out. but ahh heck, so many options. Just lookin for yalls opinions to see how i match up. i know i know, if your sucking through the heatsink, your just drawing warm air through it..

Thanks



Please use related subject headers when posting a question and not some off the wall comment that can be taken out of context. Thanks====MicroBell

 

[winblowz]

I've only seen sucking fans.... But I've only been builging for five years... I've only used sucking fans.

 

[killians45]

put on an active heat sink to help force the air convection. THEN have a set of fans pull air in from one side then have a exhaust fan on the other. That way you get the thermal transfer from the heat sink faster due to quicker air current and air convection and cooler temps in the air. The air, by the way, will NOT transfer heat BACK to the processor or heat sink. Thats not possible (the air would have to be so hot it would probably melt the case because the heat index of the air would have to exceed the sink). Anyhow, like I said it will not transfer heat back, but instead it would make thermal transfer slower. Cooler air (especially fast moving) convects heat quicker. Also heat does NOT dissipate from the sink. It is transfered to another medium, notably moving/convecting air.

 

[Nubius]

I've only seen sucking fans.... But I've only been builging for five years... I've only used sucking fans.

I've never seen a cpu fan that sucks air away from it......
They even have the little ducting mods (although itd take maybe an hour or less worth of work to do it yourself) so that you basically have a tube going from your CPU fan connected to a rear intake or front intake...BOTH are intake no matter which way you set it up...this way the cpu is getting the cooler outside air blown straight onto it opposed to the already somewhat warm air in the case being thrown ontop of it.......even with those duct mods...they always have it at BLOWING on the CPU never sucking air off of it.....the fans are meant to push a helluva lot of air....not for sucking..so sucking of air seems like it'd be less beneficial no matter what.

She's gone from suck to blow captain!

 

[killians45]

its not sucking, its all about forced air convection.

 

[Nubius]

.....its still 'SUCKING' air from the outside of the case regardless....when it comes to the duct mod that I was speaking of

 

[killians45]

lol, being sarcastic because what was said about the fan 'sucking' air through the heat sink. You cant really suck air OR even heat through a heatsink. As far as the heat being blown back into the heatsink, that kind of goes against the 2nd law of thermaldynamics.

 

[Nubius]

oh snap lol killian, yeah I'm going up and down the threads so my mind goes in loops...but yeah I get what you're saying about 'sucking air through the heatsink' gotcha...lol my sarcast-o-meter is malfunctioning this afternoon. And yeah I didn't even realize if someone had said heat blowing back 'INTO' the heatsink lol

 

[killians45]

heh, not quite possible. people have got to realize that heat just does NOT 'dissapate' from objects. the heat must be TRANSFERED someplace, otherwise you deal with entropy. air would be the medium to transfer it to. Even hot air will take the heat, but not as much as cool air (reason being as hot air already has more excited molecules than cold so heat transfer is not as good) Moving air is better because of whats called "forced convection", volumes of air is increased. However you CAN NOT raise the temperature of a heat sink by inducing air that is (although warm from the heat sink), is much cooler than the heat sink itself.

 

[elp]

In a sense it is simultaneously sucking and blowing. Although this concept may seem uncommon to you, it does in fact exist.