Radiator at bottom, blowing out

J

jyi786

Supreme [H]ardness
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Jun 13, 2002
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Yesterday, I bought a new case (the Fractal R5). My old case (the Corsair 600T) I had mounted the radiator in the traditional exhaust fan port. I was always a bit worried because it was sucking hot air from the CPU. The GPU (which I'm cooling with a Corsair H90) never topped 61C in stress testing, though.

So when I bought my R5, I reconfigured it so that the radiator was mounted at the bottom of the case, blowing air OUT (downfiring). In researching, it seems that most everyone uses the bottom of the case as in INTAKE. So I was very curious to see how it did.

Performance/thermal difference? NONE. The GPU still never topped 61C. It was exactly the same as before; however, I'm still quite curious; this must mean the Fractal R5 has excellent thermal qualities, notwithstanding the fact that it closes up the entire case due to soundproofing. Compare that with the Corsair 600T which was basically all grille.

I'm interested in competing theories for or against keeping the rad at the bottom blowing out, vice using it as an exhaust in the traditional sense (around the CPU area).
 
since hot air raises, and cold air falls, most people want to suck in the cool air and use the normal updraft to exhaust a case. thus the reason for not down firing. however radiators will still radiate heat regardless of their position, so not seeing any change in temps is not surprising
 
That's absolutely right. I think what I've been worried about the most was exhausting that hot air from the radiator BACK INTO THE CASE. Why would I want to do that if the express purpose of watercooling was to be able to direct the hot air OUT of the case. :D
 
Well whaddya know.

I had to move the radiator to the back of the PC. And not for cooling, but to silence the PSU fan, which by far is the loudest noise generating object in my rig. I also moved the 140mm fan that was in the back up to the front, so now there are dual 140mm fan intakes.

Doing all this netted me a 6C drop! At full load, the GPU barely breaks 57C, whereas before, it settled around 61~62C. This Fractal R5 case is seriously awesome.
 
Fan directed airflow will trump natural convection currents every time. The force of convection currents isn't all that powerful.

I've heard that it's generally better to have positive case pressure as it prevents dust buildup in the nooks and crannies of the case.
 
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