Hey everyone! I'm having a bit of trouble figuring out how to set up the fans correctly for my custom PC build to optimize airflow. I'm using a HYTE Y70 case with a custom loop that includes two 360mm radiators (one on the top and one on the side), a 120mm radiator on the back, and three intake fans on the bottom. My main concern is making sure I'm not wasting the benefits of my water cooling. Right now, I'm considering having the side radiator and bottom fans as intakes, while having the top and back radiators as exhausts. Here are my key questions: 1) Is it okay to have an intake on a radiator, or is that generally discouraged? 2) What are your recommendations for optimizing airflow? 3) Should I consider using any reverse fans? I'm looking at Arctic P12 Pro RGB fans for all of them. Thanks a lot for any insights!
1 Answer
If both your GPU and CPU are water-cooled, I’d suggest making all your radiators intakes. You can do a smoke test with some incense to see how the airflow is, and only use enough exhaust fans to keep your case slightly positively pressured. The thermal air currents from your setup won’t really affect the overall fan performance much, in my opinion.
I’m a bit puzzled by this approach. Wouldn’t it be wiser for the radiators to exhaust rather than push the heat from the GPU and CPU back into the case? I feel like that could warm up other components, like the RAM. Can you shed some light on why this setup works?