Opinions on PCI slot fan

[PcAbuser]

Hi all,

I am considering installing an antec cyclone PCI slot fan.
3200 rpm and up to 42 cfm supossedly.

I would LOVE to hear opinions whether for, or against these.

Thank you all in advance





Do well unto others, else you will/should, not respect what you see in the mirror at the end of the day!

 

[lesgray]

SLot fans work great, particularly to help cool a video card or like in my case, to exhaust hot air from my case, which because of the desktop design do not have any spot for a large case fan. So, I use two slot fans instead.

Les Gray

http://www.creartec.com

 

[PcAbuser]

Lesgray,

Thank you for your response.

I would have one other question regarding these fans, do they create much addtitional drag on the power supply?

Do well unto others, else you will/should, not respect what you see in the mirror at the end of the day!

 

[lesgray]

No more than case fans would...

Les Gray

http://www.creartec.com

 

[RITE1]

Im no expert but common sense tells me that in many cases these could be counter productive (if and only if they push air out and not in, and I think they push it out?)

The fans on the back of the case push air through your case and in most instances push it out through the front of the case right by your hard drives, putting in a fan that pulls air out of the case would disrupt this flow creating a dead spot by your hd.

Doesnt sound good to me!

If they push air in and not out, im getting one too

Can someone clarify...?

 

[PcAbuser]

Rite1,

Sorry, but I have to disagree.
Although I am sure there are configurations as you describe, all or most in my experience, has had front fans that PUSH air in, and rear fans that PULL air out.

One exception to this, is in many cases, the power supply will suck air into the case.

If you have front fans, then having one in the rear pulling should be good.

Also, If your fan on your power supply pulls air into the case, this should also provide a little more airflow there as well.

Even without a front pushing fan, a rear pushing fan will pull air in through the ventilation openings in the front of the case, therefore increasing airflow into the case.

My original post was more to the point of the brand and style of an air pulling rear fan. PCI vs regular pulling case type.

If one of these are installed just under your video card, then they will help keep the video chip cooler as well.

Best Regards,

Marlon

My personal credo:
Do well unto others, else you will, or at least should, not respect what you see in the mirror at the end of the day!

 

[SYAR2003]

PCI cooler does excactly what the name say .
It's not for cabinet cooling ,but for pci/agp card cooling.

Take a AGP graphic card in a full/mid tower case .
It's component side is facing downwards to the bottom of the case as well as it's onboard fan and there might be a pocket of hot ambiant air under the card that's not beeing exhaused that easy.

Example:
[tt]
|--------------------|
| |
| |
<---- exhaust fan |
| . . |
| . .(air flow)|
| . . |
| . . |
|-----(agp) . . |
|| | |(heat) . . |
<-----(pci cooler) . .|<--- intake fan
|--------------------|

[/tt]

So i think it makes sense for mounting under
hot AGP cards , PCI cards for the purpose of cooling them only.

syar

 

[PcAbuser]

Agreed SYAR,

But even though it's main purpose is to pull the heat away from the video board chipset, it HAS to get the air for it's intake from somewhere, so it &quot;should&quot; increase overall airflow through the box.

Best Regards,

Marlon

My personal credo:
Do well unto others, else you will, or at least should, not respect what you see in the mirror at the end of the day!

 

[SYAR2003]

Right on PcAbuser!

The flow will bee someting like this:


[tt]
|--------------------|
| |
| |
<---- exhaust fan |
| .... |
| ....(air flow)|
| .... |
| ... |
|-----(agp) .... |
|| | | ... ..... . |
<-----(pci cooler) ....|<--- intake fan
|--------------------|
[/tt]

The cooler air from intake gets spread .
What's important is that the pci cooler exhaust fan
and the cabinet exhaust fan is of estimatly equal CFM.
Else the cool air flow from intake is not spread enough
to cool the agp/pci card via the pci cooler.

 

[RITE1]

I had it backwards!

I work with a lot of dell and since they have a cover over the cpu to channel air flow from the rear fan over the cpu I just assumed that it pushed it onto it. Just pulled the case off and nope, pulls it off.

Thanks for straightening me out people

 

[PcAbuser]

SYAR,

What about in the case of Dell's new styles, where the CPU has a 3 or 4 inch tall heatsink, and there is a cowel covering the heatsink, leading straight through to the exaust fan?

Take into consideration, no front clooling fan pushing air into the cabinet. Only the case ventilation holes.

Best Regards,

Marlon

My personal credo:
Do well unto others, else you will, or at least should, not respect what you see in the mirror at the end of the day!

 

[PcAbuser]

SYAR,

I left one question off of my last post.

In yout opinion, wold the PCI slot fan take air away from the exhaust fan in this case, therefore making the CPU suffer?

Best Regards,

Marlon

My personal credo:
Do well unto others, else you will, or at least should, not respect what you see in the mirror at the end of the day!

 

[SYAR2003]

The fan duct for cpu works like this:
You have a case fan either on the side or back or front that sucks outside air into the tube.(this could also be boosted by a parallel fan over the heatsink ,&quot;dual fan duct&quot
This air is blown through the cpu heatsink (cooling it)and the hot air is sperad from the bottom of the sink into the cabinet .

As we all know hot air rise ,and it gets exhausted by a top mounted fan and through the PSU.

See the sunbeam kit (with animations of the air flow):

http://www.casecooler.com/suovairdu.html

I'm not familiar with the new Dell style ,but i'm sure
it's simular.

But after all it seems like a good solution.

 

[PcAbuser]

The kind you described i believe, is with shorter heatsinks and do indeed suck air from the outside of the case.

In the Dell units, the heatsink is mor like 4 inches in height, and the exhaust fan pushes air out of the case, sucking air into the heatsink through holes designed around the CPU mounting.

I am wondering, since this IS the case in my Dell, If using a PCI slot fan, and no Front case fan blowing into the case, would make the CPU suffer by taking it's input air away from the CPU exhaust fan?

By the way, thank you.

Best Regards,

Marlon

My personal credo:
Do well unto others, else you will, or at least should, not respect what you see in the mirror at the end of the day!

 

[SYAR2003]

&quot;would the PCI slot fan take air away from the exhaust fan in this case&quot;
Yes it wold redirect the airflow in the cabinet
so thet less air pressure is floating over the cpu area .
To maintain the same the as before both the
front intake and back exhaust should be increased by a larger cfm value that compencate for the redirection to
the PCI fan.