View Poll Results: Should a CPU Fan be intake or exhuast?

YTBOY83 · 23 Mar 2010

Is my cpu fan better as intake or exhaust???????

Product FRED · 23 Mar 2010

rmw020 said:

Is my cpu fan better as intake or exhaust???????

I'm not sure I understand your question, but from the looks of it your CPU is running fine.

YTBOY83 · 23 Mar 2010

I have a cooling fan attached to my cpu heatsink and it is set up as an intake. I am wondering whether it is better off as an intake or exhaust?????

Product FRED · 23 Mar 2010

The CPU fan should blow away from the heatsink to pull off excess heat. This also helps draw air across the cooling fins. If you have a rear fan, then the heat that the cooler is blowing away gets exhausted from the case.

seekermeister · 23 Mar 2010

Hmm, I have always installed the fan blowing toward the heatsink, rather than away. In fact, that is the way that the heatsink/fan originally came from AMD. What is the basis of your conclusion?

Product FRED · 23 Mar 2010

As I've stated, the heatsink draws heat from the CPU. The fan needs to transfer the heat away from the heatsink, towards the back fan, which transfers the warm air out of the case. Having the fan blow towards the heatsink will cool the system, but it will also be inefficient since it'll be pushing the heat back towards the heatsink and CPU.

That's why a vacuum is better for putting out fires than blowing air (small scale).

cloud8521 · 23 Mar 2010

.... unless you learn that fire feeds off of oxygen, and you also learn that moving cold air toward a heat source is better. that is why ALL fans blow towards the heatsink when you buy them, if the opposite was true then they would do it themselves.

seekermeister · 23 Mar 2010

The only thing that I can think of that might be an improvement with directing airflow away from the HS, is that blowing toward it would split the stream, rather than keeping it together. Split or not, I believe that it would still carry as much heat away, but I'm not so certain about how this would effect the air circulation pattern within the case?

That's why a vacuum is better for putting out fires than blowing air (small scale).

Not particularly relevant, but this made me think about the fact that a procedure in flying is that in case of an engine fire, the plane is put into a dive in hopes of extinguishing the fire. Of course, a vacuum is not an option.

Product FRED · 23 Mar 2010

cloud8521 said:

.... unless you learn that fire feeds off of oxygen, and you also learn that moving cold air toward a heat source is better. that is why ALL fans blow towards the heatsink when you buy them, if the opposite was true then they would do it themselves.

You contradicted yourself. Fire feeds off of oxygen. Draw the oxygen away, suck the air away.

seekermeister · 23 Mar 2010

Product FRED said:

cloud8521 said:

.... unless you learn that fire feeds off of oxygen, and you also learn that moving cold air toward a heat source is better. that is why ALL fans blow towards the heatsink when you buy them, if the opposite was true then they would do it themselves.

You contradicted yourself. Fire feeds off of oxygen. Draw the oxygen away, suck the air away.

You are not actually sucking the air away, because the air that is exhausted is replaced by fresh air coming from between the fins. Also, the heat in question is not a fire, and oxygen does not feed it.