Trying to learn about PCI Slot fans

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Prozac1964

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 1, 2010
Messages
309
Hey everyone. I've just got a couple of questions concerning PCI Slot Fans. I have 2 open pci slots that I could plug one into.

1. Is the fan supposed to blow on, or away from the Graphics card?

2. Or, is it just supposed to exhaust air from the case?

This ought to get me started. Thanks, Prozac :)
 
They usually exhaust air. They are also usually very loud and nearly worthless.
 
if you are having a problem you might want to present that instead and get some possible solutions. a slot fan is just wasted money that suckers will buy. you won't see them in any serious system.
 
A PCI slot fan is a waste of money. That is all that you'll ever need to know.
 
bigddybn said:
A PCI slot fan is a waste of money.
Click to expand...
And waste of expansion slots.

This is lot more better approach by being able to draw heat from between all cards:
http://www.performance-pcs.com/cata...info&cPath=0130_210_750_758&products_id=22329
http://www.lian-li.com.tw/v2/en/pro...ex=232&cl_index=2&sc_index=34&ss_index=83&g=f

Attaching it to other cases would just require doing hole for exhaust airflow and holes for its attachment screws but doing that shouldn't be any rocket science.
 
I've got at least 3 of them sitting in a box here...you want 'em? They're yours for the cost of shipping. PM me.
 
jiminator said:
if you are having a problem you might want to present that instead and get some possible solutions. a slot fan is just wasted money that suckers will buy. you won't see them in any serious system.
Click to expand...


Ok, here's the problem I'm having, my GPU and my CPU are both getting just a small amount hot only when I'm gaming, so I just want to keep the air flowing the best I can inside my case.

My case only has a 120 mm in the back and an 80 mm in the front, so if I'm not going to add a pci slot fan, then it looks like the only thing I can do is get much better fans for the front and back.

I'm not going to the trouble to cut a whole in the metal side panel for an additional fan, and I'm not going to mount a Zalman on my cpu. Maybe on my next gaming rig, just not now. I'm just having a minor heat issue, and want to get more air flowing, which should help. Do you think better than stock fans will do the trick.

What say you now? hehe Thanks, Prozac :)
 
a picture of your case would be really helpful. if not, give us a link to your case and tell us which slots have hdds and dvd drives
 
I actually bought one back in the AGP days.....not only did they suck at performing but the blower fan on mine died after a couple months. Biggest waste of $6 ever
 
if you had to you can buy a couple of fans and mount them on the case lid. It should be easy since the holes are already there...

alternately you could also get a 120 mm fan and remove the metal plates for 2 or 3 of the cd rom slots, that and the foam from the bezels and it should help with airflow. not ideal at that spot though, the preference would be to push air in from lower

main issue with a slot cooler is that despite the numer of fans it has to be able to move air from inside the case to outside, and the air that can be moved through two slots does not do much.
 
That LiLi Cooler should work with minimal effort and most likely no cutting on a Centurion 5 since they already have the mesh on the back. You should be able to ghetto rig it with some nuts on the outside of your case.
 
Prozac1964 said:
Ok here is the link to my case at Newegg...lot's of pics there: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=n82e16811119068

I only have a DVD RW drive in the second from the top slot, and my HD is I think in the second or third down.

Does that help?
Click to expand...

Are your wires all over the place? I have that same case and have never had a temp problem, even with stock coolers and stock fans. Try moving your DVD and HDD into the highest respective slots. Then you can put another fan in the 5.25 bay area and your stock 80mm fan should pull in better air.
 
ryken said:
Are your wires all over the place? I have that same case and have never had a temp problem, even with stock coolers and stock fans. Try moving your DVD and HDD into the highest respective slots. Then you can put another fan in the 5.25 bay area and your stock 80mm fan should pull in better air.
Click to expand...


My wires have never been zip tied if that's what you mean, it's not a super leet super mod pc, so the wires inside are about average, I guess I could improve that.

Also, you said a install a fan to pull air in better.....I thought I was supposed to suck hot air out of the case....now I'm confused. What's the best possible airflow plan?
 
Ok so for the record:

1. is it better to have all case fans sucking hot air and expelling outward from the case?
2. is it better to have all case fans blowing air inward inside the case?
3. or is a combination of pulling air in and pushing air out, best?

Clearing this up would really help me learn about ideal fan placement, and airflow direction.

Thanks for any help, Prozac :)
 
Prozac1964 said:
Ok so for the record:

1. is it better to have all case fans sucking hot air and expelling outward from the case?
2. is it better to have all case fans blowing air inward inside the case?
3. or is a combination of pulling air in and pushing air out, best?

Clearing this up would really help me learn about ideal fan placement, and airflow direction.

Thanks for any help, Prozac :)
Click to expand...

The reason for fans is to replace the air inside the case with cooler ambient air. This is also why open-bench PC's such as caseless designs used by hardware sites have the best temps possible.

With that in mind, you need a combination. The best possible would be a low intake and a high exhaust, due to physics.
 
Prozac1964 said:
3. or is a combination of pulling air in and pushing air out, best?
Click to expand...
Combination for creating ordered, laminar airflow through whole case.

Also both "negative" and "positive" pressure options are possible but controlling airflow becomes lot harder and all impedance is on shoulders of either exhaust or intake fans.
 
Negative pressure means there's more exhaust fan power than intake fan power meaning pressure inside case dropping lower than outside.
In positive pressure there's more fan power pushing air in than drawing out leading to higher pressure inside case.

In both situations pressure difference grows only enough for more air to start leaking in from every crack or leaking out stopping growth of pressure difference.
 
It is good to have a slight positive pressure condition to reduce dust issues.
 
Ok well, I've decided to put this fan at the rear of my case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185054

That's a jump from 37 CFM on my stock fan to 133 CFM on this Scythe. I did have one question, my stock fan is 25mm thick, and the Scythe is 38mm thick. Do longer screws just usually come with the thicker fans?

Bit of a noob in this area. Next I'll replace the 80mm front intake fan with a higher CFM...I want to try one of the Vantec Tornados, but they seem to get bad reviews because if their noise, but good reviews for how much air they move.

You think this will improve the airflow a good bit? :confused::)
 
too much negative pressure might mean there is not enough air inside the case, too much positive pressure might mean there is not enough getting out. you would really have to test each scenario looking at the ambient temperature.

the general desire is to move air from the bottom front of the case to the top back of the case. with video cards they might be situated in a location that does not necessarily get a lot of air flow (since it passes above the cards). To help with this a lot of cases have a fan above the card venting to the side or back. if your case is drilled for these then you should use them.

edit:
Just saw your note. I'd make sure you have clearance to mount it, ie: the screw holes match up and there will not be any issues with motherboard risers or other clearances. the screw depth also does not matter since you screw from the back into the fan.
 
jiminator said:
edit:
Just saw your note. I'd make sure you have clearance to mount it, ie: the screw holes match up and there will not be any issues with motherboard risers or other clearances. the screw depth also does not matter since you screw from the back into the fan.
Click to expand...

Roger that jiminator. Thanks for that tip. I'll check the clearance before I order the fan. :D
 
What kind of cpu fan do you have? Is it a normal upward facing stock fan? Or is it one that faces one of the 4 horizontal directions? (horizontal in the sense that the case is laying on its side, motherboard parallel to the table).

If its a horizontal facing fan, try it in each of the 4 directions. You'd be suprised what a difference this can make.

Generally what I have is the fans in the back blowing out and a fan in the front of the case blowing in. In this case having the cpu fan blowing air towards the back seems to work best. Get some temperature monitoring programs and try it out for yourself.

This site has some good information about cooling
http://www.heatsink-guide.com/
 
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