Should I add a 3rd fan...

clquestor

clquestor

New Member
My Dell is setup with the fan in the back being an intake blowing fresh air over my graphics card. Front fan on this is 120mm pulling air away from heatsink and out of the case through the front. Originally there was no rear intake so I have added mine and it directly blows through the heatsink and the front exhaust continues the flow out. As I have circled, there is room for another 80mm fan above the current intake...should I add it for more cool air intake or is my current setup ideal and that area left for simple ventilation? I play some games that tend to raise my temps but nothing over normal (at least thats what speccy says).
 
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What temperature are you running when gaming? You could try adding one, I would recommend adding a 120mm fan if you do so.
 
I would reverse the direction so its flowing from the front to the back. There's a lot of objects blocking it from the back so the coolest air would be from the front. Is that a grill on the side? You could add a fan to the side blowing in and two for exhaust, along one in the front blowing in.
 
What frustrates me about this Dell case is that the front must be exhaust as it is attached to a sort of heatsink cover which also can't be removed as it is what secures the heatsink. That being said...the side is not just the grill it is also plexi glass and was hoping to avoid having to cut/drill into it. Currently according to Speccy I haven't gone over 40 celcius during any gaming as I always check when I'm done. I feel like I have a good setup but just wasn't sure if that additional intake would make a difference.
 
claptonman said:
I would reverse the direction so its flowing from the front to the back. There's a lot of objects blocking it from the back so the coolest air would be from the front. Is that a grill on the side? You could add a fan to the side blowing in and two for exhaust, along one in the front blowing in.
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You probably don't want to do anything drastic with the airflow. Dell cases are specifically designed for its current cooling system. If you mess with it too much it might completely ruin your temperatures.
 
I am not able to peer in the case properly,but if the grill is front of the HSF then you can put one 120 mm as an exhaust.
 
I just leave my case side open, lie the case on its side, and shove fans everywhere without attaching them to anything. Sometimes I use tape. It's crazy loud. :P

...of course, on the rational side of things, as long as your temps are staying in the 60s Celsius under load, you really don't need to put any more fans anywhere. Of course, if you have a crap load of noise tolerance like me, then feel free to put fans everywhere. :)
 
I would want to see a picture of your system, spynoodle. Not because I support such crazy behavior, but it sounds interesting.
 
claptonman said:
I would want to see a picture of your system, spynoodle. Not because I support such crazy behavior, but it sounds interesting.
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Lol, yes, emphasis on crazy. :P Just as a note to the OP: if my case wasn't wide open, my airflow would be awful. In fact, I actually used a 60mm fan I had laying around to help hold up the top part of my sideways-heatpipe-based modded cooler (with a lot of added weight on the heatpipes). Sadly, my system is in an upgrade/teardown stage right now, so It's not really picture-ready. :(
 
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