can someone tell me what the best way to set my fans up will be...... i have two 80mm fans. one at the back below the PSU one at the front below my HDD. im also cutting a hole in the side to put a 120mm fan. what should i have doing what?? i.e exhaust or 'input?' the 120mm will be just over the cpu (ish) and the gfx card.

cheers

The best cooling set-up is to have more air being sucked out than in.  This works better than blowing air in and less being sucked out.

I'd suggest two suckers in the back and a blower in the front.

Just my two cents.

Here's my input,

First off, I have a full tower on the floor.

Heat rises, supposedly, but not too well in a computer with all those fans, cards and cables. But, I still have my main exhaust fan (120mm) at the top along with the PSU. It's a drive slot fan. As everyone knows, the three main sources of heat, the PSU, CPU and Vidcard.

The fan on the PSU is supposed to keep the PSU cool, not run warm air through it.

I also have a thin 80mm PCI Slot fan right next to the Vidcard exhausting that heat directly.

I prefer more intake than exhaust to keep the case a positive pressure. In front of all my intake fans I fastened a green scrubbing pad to act as a dust filter. Gets pretty caked in a week. Keeping a positive pressure case means all the "extra" air exhausts through all the cracks/spaces in the case. However, it does not provide efficient air flow thoughout the whole computer.

Keeping a negative case pressure means all that "extra" air coming in through the cracks/spaces is unfiltered. A computer on the desk gets less than half the dust than one on the floor.

If your 120mm fan on the side is less than 1ft or 30cm off the floor, You should have it filtered IF you have it as an intake. I think you should have it exhausting. You just want to get that heat away from the CPU and vidcard without going through the PSU.

Hey all These are some pics of my comps fan positions

mydocuments/comp2
mydocuments/fscomp2
mydocuments/fscomp
mydocuments/fscomp3



And just incase it starts to overheat!

mydocuments/fscomp4

If it's possible (like appearances aren't as important as function).. just leave the case open and aim a small desk-top or floor fan at it.

Periodically blow the dust out from under the mo-bo and from around key places, like the CPU heat sink and you be "cool" as can be.

I have always built my cases as "Desktop's".... ...!
My reasoning has always been that heat rises to the top of the lid well away from all the individual components down below.

In a "Tower" case the PSU is generally at the top of the case, therefore all the heat generated by the CPU, GPU, etc, below, rise and add to the temperature of all the components above them in turn, including the the PSU at the top... ...!

My desktop is on the table in front of me which makes for easy access by just removing the lid, and it also keeps it well away from dust at floor level... ...!

(Extra fans fitted front and rear)... 8)...!





..geeez...that was a naff photo. I think my batteries are running down, (you will be pleased to know... ...!

Cheers all... ...!

Paul.

Alright I really dont know how to put a picture on from these forums so ill just tell u my fan set up.
I have..
1 side case fan giving air
2 back case fans sucking air out
2 fans in the front giving air
2 power source fans
1 motherboard fan
1 graphics card fan

Thats it (i think these are 80mm fans. They light up, My 2 fans in the front of my comp that give air are 120 i think) ENJOY!!!