New case and cooling configuration options. Opinions welcome!

[Renzore101]

Hello again Computer Forum,

I just recently bought a Corsair Carbide 300R, and one aspect of this case has me racking my brain as of late. I never put much thought into this before, but now that I am confronted with it I am curious as to what the best solution is. In the 300R the PSU mounts in the bottom of the case, and further than that, I noticed that there is a wire mesh screen on the bottom of the case as well, utilized if the PSU intake fan is pointed down. Currently I have my PSU intake fan aiming up towards my GTX 970, and the thought that I am having on it is this, if warm air rises, and typical PSU's are mounted on the top of the case with the intake fan sucking hot air in, would there be any legitimate reason to flip the PSU over and utilize the bottom mesh screen that this case comes equipped with? Or should I leave it the way it is, sucking hot air out of my case in and around my GPU. Opinions, theory, and thoughts are welcome!

NOTE: My current cooling setup is as follows: 140 MM front fan (intake), 120 MM rear fan (exhaust), 140 MM top fan (exhaust), and a Hyper 212 evo on the CPU with the fan acting as an intake pointed towards the front intake fan, if that makes sense.

 

[Darren]

Honestly it really doesn't matter. Generally I tend to have the fan pulling fresh air from the bottom and then exhausting it out of the back of the PSU. The difference is pretty minimal and if you checked temperatures of your CPU and GPU at load between the two setups you'd probably notice a minimal difference.

Given the option, have it fan down, but it really doesn't matter much and isn't worth the effort to switch it if you already have it up. Of note though is that if the fan is on the bottom it will sometimes put the cables coming out of the PSU closer to the motherboard tray, which is better for cable management.

 

[Renzore101]

Of note though is that if the fan is on the bottom it will sometimes put the cables coming out of the PSU closer to the motherboard tray, which is better for cable management.

Although now, in retrospect, I feel as if I am not utilizing this carbide 300R to it's fullest potential, I really do not want to flip it over. If I did, most likely I would end up having to redo my cable management almost in entirety. Considering the fact that I just upgraded to this case yesterday, and fought cables along the way, I really don't feel like doing that again right now! Perhaps in a few weeks, in-between school i'll tear it back apart and redo it.