System fans - do they suck or blow?

[Gareth]

I'm looking at improving the airflow on my case, and at the same time getting some quiet fans to replace one noisy one I've currently got. Anyone got recommendations on the quietest fans (and where to buy them), and is it more efficient to have all them sucking cold air in, all blowing hot air out, or a mixture of both?

I've currently got one on the side (a Cooler Master thingy... pretty quiet, I think it's about 20-ish dB) plus a noisy bugger at the back, and a spare slot - it's these 2 rear ones I'll be buying. The side fan brings air in, and the rear fan sucks outwards.

I've found Zalman's fans to be very quiet even in full speed.

If you want the best airflow, have case fans at the back of the case taking air out, and front/side fans taking air in, that way it's a one direction system.

[Bifta]

Akasa Ultra Quiet http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatal...a_Fans_97.html

You won't find a quieter one unless you spend silly money on a panaflo or papst.

Tip for you, dont go for Delta's I had two of them in my old dual p3 setup and it sounded like a jumbo jet on take off!!!

[Halcyon]

Yep, I've used the Akasa quiet fans and find them quite good.
Another thing to bare in mind is getting rounded cables to move those big IDE leads out the way. Make sure there is sufficient space around the case.
If you have several fans, you can put them so that some take cool air in through the front at the bottom and then blow out along the back and top of the case.

[maverick]

I installed a new graphics card which was causing extra warm air in the case,I bought a standard case fan turned it around and it now sucks the extra warm air out,not had any problems since.

[Gottu]

I've got 3 80mm fans 2 on the back and 1 on the side all pulling air out of my box and they work just fine...infact one of those fans is all thats left of my original system...hmmm maybe I need to replace it

Ive got the side off my case

[Stuart]

In answer to the question: Well, if they are bad they can suck or blow in more ways than one..

[Gottu]

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

Ive got the side off my case

Yup thats great for attracting all the moths flies and spiders m8 In fact maybe that will crash your machine so we can have a chance at beating you on sh

Originally Posted by Gottu

Yup thats great for attracting all the moths flies and spiders m8 In fact maybe that will crash your machine so we can have a chance at beating you on sh

I got spares

[Web-Junkie]

If you can fit 120mm fans it would quiet down the noise somewhat as you can get the same CFM's at a lower RPM!

Also consider some form of dust filter on any fan sucking air inside the case, they can get quite dusty inside if left a long time. Some new cases like the Thermaltake Kandalf case use 120mm and 90mm fans as standard (but no dust filter!), 80mm fans are becoming less desirable.

I've yet to see any firm addressing or producing 'dust free' cases though, anyone know of anything in this area?

[gooner4life]

For airflow I have my fans at the front of the case sucking cool air in and the ones at the back exhausting hot air out.

[Ramrod]

I thought that I recently read somewhere that it's best to just have fans blowing hot air out of the case.......if you have to choose between suck V blow.
__________________

My coolermaster stacker case has foam on the intakes at the front (behind the black sections you can see in the pic)......it does quite a good job of catching the dust.

Originally Posted by Ramrod

My coolermaster stacker case has foam on the intakes at the front (behind the black sections you can see in the pic)......it does quite a good job of catching the dust.

How does that effect the airflow /noise though, do the fans have to work harder?

Our servers at work have that mesh like fly screen to keep the creepy crawlies out... I hate it when u have to clean em out...