Author Topic: Building question #1: Which direction for the fans
greystar21 
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Subject: Building question #1: Which direction for the fans
Hello all,

This is the first of many questions I will have regarding my upcoming build. I haven't built since around 2002, so please bear with me and my questions!


My case is a Rosewill Blackhawk ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147107 ) and my CPU cooler is the Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus
( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065 ).

I am curious about the fan placements, fan directions and potential additional fans (if needed). The case has 2 front fans, 1 rear fan, 1 top fan and 1 side fan. It has the possibility to have an additional smaller fan behind the CPU (see the case), as well as additional fans on the bottom.

The two fans in the front are drawing in air and blowing it into the case. I understand the CPU cooler should have the fan positioned in such a way that it is pushing air across the heatsink and blowing out the backside of the case.


Q: What about the top and side fans? Which way are they supposed to be blowing air?

Q: Is it worth getting a smaller fan to add to the backside of the CPU? If so, which direction should the fan be blowing air?

Q: How can I tell which direction the fan will blow? Is it clearly labeled on the fans themselves?

Q: Should I purchase fans to go along the bottom to push the air towards the top?


Thank you!

EDIT:

Damn it, I just found out that the Coolermaster fan will NOT fit inside this case unless I take off the side panel fan. The order has been placed through Newegg....now what do I do??

 

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-Mithan- 
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Subject: Building question #1: Which direction for the fans
"The Rosewill BLACKHAWK is pre-installed with
front 2x 120mm blue LED fan, rear 1x 120mm fan, top 1x 140mm blue LED
fan (or optional 2x 120/140mm), and side 1x 120mm fan. It also supports
1x 120/140mm fan at the bottom and 1x 120mm fan (18mm thickness only)
behind the motherboard to increase airflow.
"

In other words, don't worry about it. For what you have in it, it is already over kill as far as I am concerned. If I had that case, I would probably take out the top and side fans and just leave the front and back fans going in order to cut down noise. Obviously, I would run some quick tests to see what the temperature is and compare it before and after.

As for the other questions:

-the side fans are already placed for you
-no on the fan for the backside of the cpu.
-The "grill" side of a fan (the little arms that hold the motor) is where the air comes out. Google or youtube search for videos, I am sure there are some out there. As well, a lot of fans are marked with an arrow.
-No.



Like the original 900W PSU you wanted to use, that case is over kill for your needs. It is for extreme over clocking and the use of high heat producing equipment. Think big PSU, high over clock, 2 GPU's, bunch of drives, etc, etc.

Basically, dont worry about the cooling. What you have is more than enough. Just focus on getting the proper amount of thermal paste on the Core i5 when you get it. There are video's for that too.

 

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greystar21 
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Subject: Building question #1: Which direction for the fans

Thank you for the reply. I found out a bit too late that the Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus will not fit in my case unless I remove the side fan.

Should I:

1) Return the Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus and use the factory fan & heatsink packaged with the Intel i5 processor

2) Remove the side fan and install the Coolermaster product. I can use the side fan and install it on the bottom (I think this case has that ability).


Thanks again!

 

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-Mithan- 
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Subject: Building question #1: Which direction for the fans
greystar21 posted:

Thank you for the reply. I found out a bit too late that the Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus will not fit in my case unless I remove the side fan.

Should I:

1) Return the Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus and use the factory fan & heatsink packaged with the Intel i5 processor

2) Remove the side fan and install the Coolermaster product. I can use the side fan and install it on the bottom (I think this case has that ability).


Thanks again!



Depends if you over clock or not. If you are going to over clock, get the Coolermaster 212 and remove the side fan.

Personally, I wouldn't waste time over clocking it unless you are going to go extreme (4.5ghz+) but that is just me. I don't overclock my own Core i5 2500k yet, not because I cant (I have the Hyper and 1600mhz ram and the K chip) but it just doesn't gain me anything in todays games, which are so processor unintensive thanks to being designed around 7 year old console architectures.

 

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graard 
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Subject: Building question #1: Which direction for the fans
Option#2 in my opinion.

 

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greystar21 
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Subject: Building question #1: Which direction for the fans
Thank you for the replies!

The coolermaster cost $30. My concern for returning it is that I do not know how much Newegg would charge to "re-shelve" it, plus my own S&H charges to get it to them.

It may just be worth keeping it and doing option 2. Anyone have any experience with this kind of thing through Newegg?

 

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loztpazzword 
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Subject: Building question #1: Which direction for the fans
Keep the CoolerMaster. It's one of the best air cooling you can get, and it's easier to put it on right from the get go (than change your mind and do it later, having to remove stock fan/sink etc).

The missing side fan can be replaced by an additional intake fan elsewhere.

If you aren't overclocking and running two graphics cards, you aren't going to miss that side fan at all. Later down the road, if you did overclock and needed the additional intake, you could always rig up the fan to the outside face of the case side instead of the inside face. If you didn't care about aesthetics.

 

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loztpassword 
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Subject: Building question #1: Which direction for the fans
I should have said, best air cooling you can get at that price range. Which is all I'll spend on air cooling since it's overkill on anything less than pushing the bounds of top-edge overclocking.

I'd also like to back Mithan in saying don't bother overclocking at this stage of time related to video games. The i7 and even i5 are more than capable of brutalizing any game out there right now, at stock speed. Leaving it stock will extend it's life, as OC will require upping power to the chip. Later, when it's gotten longer in the tooth and new games are outmatching it, then you can OC to extend it's life. That could be years down the road.

 

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Lokkie_the_Fierce 
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Subject: Building question #1: Which direction for the fans
Love the 212 - but it was BYATCH to install the first time. Suggest watching a YouTube video on how to do it - much easier than trying to figure out the instructions.

 

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greystar21 
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Subject: Building question #1: Which direction for the fans
-Mithan- posted:
greystar21 posted:

Thank you for the reply. I found out a bit too late that the Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus will not fit in my case unless I remove the side fan.

Should I:

1) Return the Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus and use the factory fan & heatsink packaged with the Intel i5 processor

2) Remove the side fan and install the Coolermaster product. I can use the side fan and install it on the bottom (I think this case has that ability).


Thanks again!



Depends if you over clock or not. If you are going to over clock, get the Coolermaster 212 and remove the side fan.

Personally, I wouldn't waste time over clocking it unless you are going to go extreme (4.5ghz+) but that is just me. I don't overclock my own Core i5 2500k yet, not because I cant (I have the Hyper and 1600mhz ram and the K chip) but it just doesn't gain me anything in todays games, which are so processor unintensive thanks to being designed around 7 year old console architectures.



Tomorrow is build day, and after reading the replies here as well as forums across the web, I still cannot get a definitive answer about the stock heatsink for this processor.

Is it, or is it not, worth using the Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus that I ordered? Doing so will mean I have to remove the side fan and find a fitting place for it.

If someone can let me know how the i5 2500k does on a Stock Heatsink, I would appreciate it. All I will be doing is gaming- ALOT of gaming.

I do not plan on overclocking right now, but I probably will down the road before the next upgrade.

 

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Ravynmagi 
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Subject: Building question #1: Which direction for the fans
Best thing I can say about the i5-2500K is that it's adequate for stock settings. And I don't remember the noise being a concern (been a couple weeks now since I last used it).

That said, I'd still use the Cooler Master heatsink. It'd be more hassle to return it. NewEgg will charge a 15% restocking fee (about $5) and it'll probably cost about $10-12 to ship it back. You'd be getting less than half your money back.

I'd remove the side fan and put it in the bottom of the case.

Have the front and bottom fans blowing in.
Have the rear and top fans blowing out.

If you want a side fan, maybe these thin 120mm fans will fit.
http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l3/g36/c15/s972/list/p1/Fans-12_Volt_Fans-120mm_x_12mm_Fans-Page1.html
Normal fans are 25mm thick, these are only 12mm thick, so less than half the thickness.

 

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Stormyblade 
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Subject: Building question #1: Which direction for the fans
greystar21 posted:
-Mithan- posted:
greystar21 posted:

Thank you for the reply. I found out a bit too late that the Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus will not fit in my case unless I remove the side fan.

Should I:

1) Return the Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus and use the factory fan & heatsink packaged with the Intel i5 processor

2) Remove the side fan and install the Coolermaster product. I can use the side fan and install it on the bottom (I think this case has that ability).


Thanks again!



Depends if you over clock or not. If you are going to over clock, get the Coolermaster 212 and remove the side fan.

Personally, I wouldn't waste time over clocking it unless you are going to go extreme (4.5ghz+) but that is just me. I don't overclock my own Core i5 2500k yet, not because I cant (I have the Hyper and 1600mhz ram and the K chip) but it just doesn't gain me anything in todays games, which are so processor unintensive thanks to being designed around 7 year old console architectures.



Tomorrow is build day, and after reading the replies here as well as forums across the web, I still cannot get a definitive answer about the stock heatsink for this processor.

Is it, or is it not, worth using the Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus that I ordered? Doing so will mean I have to remove the side fan and find a fitting place for it.

If someone can let me know how the i5 2500k does on a Stock Heatsink, I would appreciate it. All I will be doing is gaming- ALOT of gaming.

I do not plan on overclocking right now, but I probably will down the road before the next upgrade.




I bought 2 for the 2 computers I built for me and my wife. I don't even NEED the side fans. The Coolermaster comes very highly rated. 2400-ish reviews on Newegg and it's rated 5/5 eggs.

 

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loztpassword 
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Subject: Building question #1: Which direction for the fans
I'm serial. That Hyper 212 is going to be more than you'll ever need running that i5 stock.

It makes that side fan irrelevant, if you are not overclocking. Even when you DO overclock later, the side fan may still be irrelevant.

And trust me, it's a helluva lot easier to mount when the mobo is outside the case. As well as allowing you to see if you are gonna have any clearance problems with memory (don't get the highrise kind with heatspreaders) or chipset heatsinks since every mobo layout is slightly different.

I've used the Hyper 212 on both of my last CPU builds. Just built a new one last week with an i5 2500k just like you. I'm stock and this thing runs at 40 C full load (prime95), about 24 C under normal status. Couldn't fit a side fan on my case, and frankly with those numbers I'd say I'm not missing it.

OC later, I'll see how it goes. But unless I get really high temps then, I'm probably not going to worry about that missing side fan. There is always the option of tracking down a slim fan (Scythex makes the only ones I've ever seen, 12mm), or if you don't care about aesthetics you can rig the fan up to the outside of the mesh, using zip ties or thin metal (like twistie ties from your bread bag).

Don't overthink this. Ravyn is correct, you are going to lose your azz if you send that cooler back to Newegg with their ridiculous restock fees and (them) not picking up the shipping (10+ for you....). And later, you'll be kicking yourself for not using the Hyper 212 anyways. It's one of the best bang for your buck air coolers you're going to find.

 

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