Every fan features a cubic feet per minute (CFM) rating, which measures of the volume of air it moves in a minute. He spent five years writing for Android Police and his work has appeared on Digital Trends and Lifehacker. When intake fans’ combined airflow is greater than exhaust, a positive pressure is created inside the chassis. Since the inside of the case is usually quite warm indeed, this isn’t really a problem, but if you use the PC in a particularly hot room (like an un-air-conditioned garage in the summer) you’ll see less effective cooling. Negative air pressure should create a slightly cooler environment (at least in theory), as the fans are working harder to expel hot air. Sure, you could take the “maximum power” approach of shoving as many fans as possible into and onto the case, but that’s far from ideal. How Best to Support Your Remote Workforce: COVID... Four Ways to Implement a Hygienic Return to... How To Maintain Clean Schools for a Safe... Could a Flexible Office be Right for Your... Business Guide to Proper E-Waste Disposal, RAID Basics: How Your Business Can Benefit, The Quiet Office: Turn Down the PC Noise - HardBoiled, Building A PC : 31 PC Building Mistakes to Avoid, PC Cooling: How to Set up Computer Case Fans, 5 Ways to Stream from PC to TV or Digital Display, Four Apps that Make Your Tablet a Second Monitor, 6 Reasons Your PC is Slow and How to Fix It, Born in the USA: Computer Hardware Made in America. You’ll need to make sure they’re sized right to fit the screw mounts on your case, obviously, but beyond that you’ll also want to consider: RELATED: How to Auto-Control Your PC's Fans for Cool, Quiet Operation, RELATED: How to Pimp Your Gaming PC: A Guide to Lights, Colors, and Other Mods. Normally front case fans are not necessary and if you have a secondary fan it will be located on the back of the c… Cables, especially the large bundled rails from a power supply, can be especially troublesome. Of course there’s the CPU and GPU coolers as well as the PSU playing into it. If vent blockers are included, use them: it might seem tempting to keep them open for more hot air to escape, but it’s much more efficient to direct air through the exhaust fans instead, and that’s just one more place where dust can get in. Even the most carefully-constructed build will accumulate dust from the surrounding room, and if you live in an especially dry, dusty environment, (or you smoke, or have pets, etc.) If you’re seeing too much dust buildup, move one of your output fans to an input position. Clean them out with water and dry them completely every few months to keep dust from flowing into your case (again, slightly positive air pressure can help here too). Positive systems tend to pool up the air a bit and make the air flow not as good. In most cases, the CPU cooler picks up some of that warm air and gets pretty warm, but the GPU stays cool. Try to direct the output of these fans to align with one of the case’s exhaust fans, sending heat directly from the CPU to the outside of the case. A side-mounted fan (expelling or drawing in air in a direction perpendicular to the motherboard) might be useful here, but not all cases support that. Since we launched in 2006, our articles have been read more than 1 billion times. These often … Neither makes better cooling, but positive airflow reduces dust intake which is a must if your pc is on a carpet. The favoring of more exhaust over intake means its less likely you will have any "dead spots" in your case where the air is warmer because air flow may not be good in that one area. Air Should Flow from Front-to-Back, and Bottom-to-Top. Computer chassis are typically equipped with many case fans, some are designed for exhaust and others for intake. Computer chassis are typically equipped with many case fans, some are designed for exhaust and others for intake. Most large cases include a system of holes and guides that allow users to thread these cables away from the main open area of the case, often behind the motherboard tray. Send any potentially exposed co-workers home if there is a positive case in the facility. Negative presure systems are a little easier to direct airflow, a slight vacuum will help pull air through all areas of a case. Because computers are stuffed under desks and into small openings that do not often get cleaned manufacturers have found that the best flow pattern for your computer is to have air come in from the front of the case and exit through the back. Should I add additional fans at the top of my case to help with proper air flow? If you don’t want to do a ton of research, we highly recommend Noctua fans for great noise-to-performance ratio—though some of their models are on the pricier side (not to mention the standard line is butt-ugly). Building a modern desktop PC is surprisingly easy, thanks to modular parts and a lot of solid engineering. your first picture is wrong, fan intake is the open side on 99% of fans. Difficult to attain unless you leave the case open. This might seem obvious, but an air cooling setup relies on cooler air outside the case than inside.