The Definitive Air-flow design guide for optimally cooled and a dust-free case

[KoHaN69]

This thread is to provide tips on building the best airflow for your case, while maintaining optimal air-flow and keeping the dust out of the case.


General Guidelines:

The main factor in efficient air cooling is airflow.
Since warm air tends to rise, it's recommended to have an exhaust on the top/back of the case, and intake on front/bottom.
I have seen too many cases with intake on top blowing down against the hear rising up.

To keep the dust out, it's generally recommended to have positive pressure.
That means more air blowing in than out, this creates pressure inside the case and the dust does not get in.
Doing the reverse (negative pressure) will suck in a lot of dust, and is not recommended.

Using filters is a very relative topic, since it's a delicate balance between airflow restriction and dust prevention.

If you are Water-Cooling, you still need airflow in your case (even if your memory, cpu, video card, north and southbridge have blocks on them!)



(this compilation is a work in progress, if you have any articles/links please post)

[KoHaN69]

*reserved*

[KoHaN69]

+reserved+

[cyberspyder]

5 stars already...dude!

Here's several:

-http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/238184-31-case-airflow-positive-negative-pressure
-http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1835927,00.asp
-http://www.g4tv.com/screensavers/features/45220/Yoshis_Mods_PC_Case_Airflow.html
-http://www.xoxide.com/computer-cooling.html
-http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/computercooling.html

Cheers, Brendan

[weston]

one thing - having positive pressure alone will not keep dust out. The dust will come in through the fan just as easily as anywhere else. Having positive pressure and dust filters on all the intake fans is the only way to definitively keep dust out and the inside clean. So if no dust is a must, positive pressure with filters. This will probably make it necessary to have at least 1 - maybe 2 - more intake fans than exhaust fans though.

I always set up airflow to go front to back in a standard ATX full/mid tower. a fan on the side where the CPU is will be best set as a intake while below the graphics card would best be an exhaust for airflows sake, unless the GPU fan blows air out the back of the case. So for aftermarket cooling like an HR-03 or AC accelero, exhaust fans will dump the heat out of the case directly and cool air coming from the front will keep the card cool. This will also help keep the temperatures even throughout the whole case. An intake by the GPU is good only if the video card fan blows air out the back of the case - an exhaust fan would make a low pressure pocket making it harder for the GPU fan to push as much air though the heatsink.

[Polizei]

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=2532742&postcount=115

Think about it... it all makes sense.