Heatsink fan and PS fan Question ...

[-RBS-]

Should 2 fans "fight" with each other ? The CPU fan blows downward ... away
from the Power Supply exhaust fan. What would happen if I turn over the
CPU's heatsink fan, so it draws air up through the fins ??

The reason I ask is that on my Chaintech Socket-A motherboard, (which sadly
has no CPU temperature monitoring capability), the CPU socket is right next
to a fan in my Power Supply (it has two fans ... one inner and one outer
.... both work together to exhaust the air out of the tower). Would it not
make more sense for the fan on the heatsink, and the fan in the PS .... to
work together ... blowing more or less in the same direction ? (i.e., air
drawn up through the heatsink's fins ... rather than blown down through
them?)

Thanks for any insights !

-RS-

 

[David Maynard]

Should 2 fans "fight" with each other ? The CPU fan blows downward ... away
from the Power Supply exhaust fan. What would happen if I turn over the
CPU's heatsink fan, so it draws air up through the fins ??

The reason I ask is that on my Chaintech Socket-A motherboard, (which sadly
has no CPU temperature monitoring capability), the CPU socket is right next
to a fan in my Power Supply (it has two fans ... one inner and one outer
... both work together to exhaust the air out of the tower). Would it not
make more sense for the fan on the heatsink, and the fan in the PS .... to
work together ... blowing more or less in the same direction ? (i.e., air
drawn up through the heatsink's fins ... rather than blown down through
them?)

Thanks for any insights !

-RS-

Your insight has some merit but unless the heatsink was designed to exhaust
upwards (and most are not) then you'll loose more in heatsink efficiency
than you'd gain from fan cooperation.

 

[-RBS-]

I sense you might be right ... and sadly this mobo has no way to monitor the
temp ... :-(
The heatsink in question is a standard rectangular box-shape ... of
aluminium fins ... with the fan on top. Possibly it could be modified with a
skirt of tape or something, near the top of the heatsink ... to encourage
longer air travel through the fins. But again with no way to monitor the
temp ...

-RS-

 

[David Maynard]

I sense you might be right ... and sadly this mobo has no way to monitor the
temp ... :-(
The heatsink in question is a standard rectangular box-shape ... of
aluminium fins ... with the fan on top. Possibly it could be modified with a
skirt of tape or something, near the top of the heatsink ... to encourage
longer air travel through the fins. But again with no way to monitor the
temp ...

The skirt idea is what Alpha used to use on theirs that exhausted upwards
but even then it was iffy as to which direction worked best.

It has to do with the way a fan itself works. The outlet side is more
directional and with more force than the inlet side, which will suck air
from the easiest source, usually right there near it, rather than 'far
away' like the bottom of the heatsink.

 

[Phisherman]

Blowing air onto the CPU will keep it cooler than sucking air away
from it.