Proper case fan setup

The type of fan matters too, though much less so than having them all configured in the right way. Fans with higher static pressure are ideal for moving air through dense water-cooling radiators. Fans with high airflow are great as intake or exhaust on your case as they can move large amounts of air. When fans pull in more air than they push out of a PC case, it creates positive pressure. Negative pressure pulls more air out, often creating a vacuum effect. For optimal cooling performance in a standard system, you want to be slightly more on the positive airflow side.

This setup usually results in more dust entering your PC, which you can mitigate with dust filters or more frequent cleaning. How do you achieve positive airflow? Speaking of….

Intake and exhaust placements might be the single most crucial concept for proper fan placement. The idea is simple: Fresh cool air in, hot air out. You generally want to have both intake and exhaust fans. There can be exceptions to this, such as in small form factor builds. A solid fan configuration would include intake fans on the bottom, and exhaust fans on top, as shown in the image above.

Fresh air will enter the case, cooling your components. Hot air generated by your hardware rises and will leave through the top exhaust fans. Best Linux Laptops. Best Wireless iPhone Earbuds.

Best Bluetooth Trackers. Best eReaders. Best VPN. Browse All News Articles. Windows 11 Uninstall Clock. Teams Walkie-Talkie. PCI Express 6. Wordle Scams. T-Mobile iCloud Private Relay. Avira Antivirus Crypto Miner.

Linux PinePhone Pro. Google Green Messages. Use Your iPhone as a Webcam. Hide Private Photos on iPhone. All Microsoft's PowerToys for Windows. Take Screenshot by Tapping Back of iPhone. Windows 11 Default Browser. Browse All Windows Articles.

Windows 10 Annual Updates. OneDrive Windows 7 and 8. Copy and Paste Between Android and Windows. Protect Windows 10 From Internet Explorer. Mozilla Fights Double Standard. Connect to a Hidden Wi-Fi Network. Change the Size of the Touch Keyboard. Reader Favorites Take Screenshot on Windows. Mount an ISO image in Windows. Boot Into Safe Mode. Where to Download Windows Legally. Find Your Lost Product Keys.

Clean Install Windows 10 the Easy Way. The Best Tech Newsletter Anywhere Join , subscribers and get a daily digest of news, geek trivia, and our feature articles. Faster fans move more air, but slower fans are much quieter. Some fans and cases even come with manual switches for basic fan control. Airflow or static pressure : Case fans generally come with two types of fins: those designed for airflow , and those designed for static pressure.

Airflow-optimized fans are quieter and great for unrestricted areas, like the front of your case. While there is truth to that, there are other factors to consider. Fans are driven by motors.

And the same holds true for the fan blades moving through the air. When you use a larger fan, a greater rate of airflow can be achieved at a lower RPM. This means that fans only have to spin at a fraction of the speed compared with smaller ones to achieve the same airflow rate. The other main thing that helps with keeping your system cooler and also but quiet, is the number of fans you use.

A few more large fans spinning slowly is better than one fan spinning faster to try and achieve proper cooling. When it comes to fan speed control, the fan is required to spin as fast as needed to keep the internal temperature of the case cool at any given temperature. Rubber-mounted fans or fans with rubberized mount areas also add a little extra when trying to keep things quiet.

It will lower the amount of vibration produced by the fan. Initially, simply using your hands can tell you a lot straight away. You can get a good idea of airflow by removing the PC case lid and feeling how much air is coming in from the intake fan s versus the exhaust fan s. Some fans have a poor design, and it may seem like they are spinning and doing their job, but the airflow can be poor.

This is not ideal, and I recommend replacing those types of fans right away. I found that it was most likely to happen when an extremely cheap fan was installed. The other possible option is to pick up a fog blaster from a toy or hobby shop. If you want to get more serious about testing airflow, airflow meters are available, and you can place them in various locations with your system.

If the filter has pores that are too large, or if the filter is too thin, dust will easily be drawn into your machine. This will make fans, heatsinks, and the inside of your PC case dirty quickly. Cleaning these components properly is time-consuming. There are some mesh-style filters that are fine but will probably mean that you will need to clean them more often. Most of the time, this is fine as they are usually designed for easy removal and reinstallation. If you look at the airflow path inside the case by looking at where the air is drawn in and where it exists, you want to make sure nothing messes with that flow path.

Hardware like cables can cause flow issues. So always make sure that the inside of the case is tidy and free-flowing.

A common example of cables obstructing airflow is the unused power supply cables that often get cable ties in a bunch. This is something that is large enough to obstruct airflow and needs to be kept tidy.

When it comes to air cooling for your graphics card s , two main styles of cooling are used by manufacturers. One is a fan blowing on a heatsink with a shroud, and the other is a blower-style fan. My personal favorite is the blower-style graphics card cooler.

This actually takes air from inside the case and blows it outside the PCI slot plate. If you choose to go with the more commonly used shroud style cooler, make sure your case can handle the extra heat. So ensuring that enough air flows through your case is paramount.

The downside to blower-style coolers would be the noise and temperature. Shroud-style coolers are more common and are efficient at cooling the card but raise the internal temperature of your PC. The graphics card is the component that generates the most heat in a PC, by far, so consider your options carefully. If you need to know how to make sure your graphics card fans are working as they should, please read our article on how to speed up your graphics card fans.

Having a radiator cooler assembly for your CPU is usually something that an enthusiast would desire, especially for overclocking the hardware.