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My DAW computer has two fans at the top of the machine. They are both currently blowing air down into the box. Is this the most efficient way of cooling or should the be set to pull air from the case?
The power supply is at the bottom of the box and its fan also blows down.
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I've put together many of my own DAW's for well over a decade.
The fans have always blown the hot air out of the computer vs. blowing the air in.
This is also more logical to me for what it's worth.
Hope that helps and I'm sure a few others will chime in.
Carry on....
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Robb,
I've built several PC's over the years and most have lasted longer than the ones I've bought from mfg's.
If I have 2 fans, one blows in and one blows out. If I have 3, then 2 in and 1 out.
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If I have 2 fans, one blows in and one blows out. If I have 3, then 2 in and 1 out. The above makes sense to me too. I should qualify that the towers I've purchased have had the fans blowing out by default...not that I've reversed them thinking I was smarter.  Carry on...
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Right or wrong, on all the PCs I've built over the last thirty years, the power supply fan blows in, and the case fans all blow out.
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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My DAW computer has two fans at the top of the machine. They are both currently blowing air down into the box. Is this the most efficient way of cooling or should the be set to pull air from the case?
The power supply is at the bottom of the box and its fan also blows down. If that is the way it was designed, don't know if it is the ost efficient way or not, which would take quite the empirical study, but if designed that way, likely best to leave it alone. --Mac
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I have an Antec case with 4 fans. The two front fans have filters and they blow in while the top and back fans blow out. I really like the filters as they stop a lot of dust from getting into the case.
I think my wife has started to show the first signs of dementia.
She said she can't remember what she ever saw in me!
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Thanks, I'll flip one of them so there is one in and one out.
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I got liquid cooling in a case that was designed to take that (there are a couple of ports for the purpose), or several 120-mm fans. The only fan is in the power supply, and I have no idea which way that wind blows. The thing is as close to silent as I could manage. It was based closely on one that bobcflatpicker had built.
"My primary musical instrument is the personal computer."
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Thanks, I'll flip one of them so there is one in and one out. If it was designed and built that way, I'd leave it as is. There's a LOT more to this issue than just which way the fans blow. Without a lot of definitive study plus having at least a good manometer and temperature measuring equipments plus knowledge of the subject and some rather considerable amount of good solid testing, there is no good way to prove out any of the conjectures in this thread. A design in which both fans are blowing inward likely has an outlet somewhere and the whole thing was likely designed to work with a little bit higher than atmospheric pressure inside. That wee bit of higher than atmospheric pressure translates to more mass in the stirred air, which, if designed dproperly, translates to more ability to transfer heat. One thing, though is certain: STIRRED AIR, in either direction, is going to cool better than static can. One should also consider the age of the puter in question, and whether or not it is still under any warranties, reversing one of the fans *might* be a warranty-killer. Second-guessing engineers seems to be running rampant these days, something that is often treated as a one-input problem, no less. There are very few one-input problems in this life. --Mac
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I'm with Mac on this one.
Air flow in a computer case is one of the things that has surely gotten a lot of engineering attention. Its likely that the very placement of components has been designed to benefit from the designed flow of air through the case.
And due to design patents, you can't presume that just because many computers work differently, this one must too.
Bottom line, if it came that way, I'd leave it that way. Having said that, if you've had it serviced, there is a chance that the fan got removed and replaced incorrectly. The best source of dependable information would be from the manufacturer, or from a certified repair location.
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If it ain't broke, don't fix it. 
Chris
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best to check with the manufacturer. and then leave it or change it based on their recommendations.
doesn't really matter how smart those engineers were if the low-paid assembly worker got distracted and put the fan in backwards!
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doesn't really matter how smart those engineers were if the low-paid assembly worker got distracted and put the fan in backwards!
Odds are pretty good that the fans were installed by a robot. And even so, there's also this thing of Quality Assurance Testing that rules out most of that kind of old world mistake. --Mac
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doesn't really matter how smart those engineers were if the low-paid assembly worker got distracted and put the fan in backwards!
Odds are pretty good that the fans were installed by a robot. And even so, there's also this thing of Quality Assurance Testing that rules out most of that kind of old world mistake. --Mac plenty of manual assembly still going on in China and other places and "this thing of Quality Assurance Testing" is actually "Quality Assurance Sampling"; mistakes still get through. best advice, if you suspect a problem is check with the manufacturer and then take action (or don't) based on that communication.
Last edited by JohnJohnJohn; 06/14/13 01:59 PM.
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Odds are pretty good that the fans were installed by a robot.
And even so, there's also this thing of Quality Assurance Testing that rules out most of that kind of old world mistake.
 I built the computer. My commodore 64 was the last manufactured [desktop] computer I've owned. I built my first PC from components in '88. It ran a 80286 at 8MHz with 2MB of memory. I paid a mint for a MPU401 card and keyboard package that included Cakewalk 1.0. I have always installed fans to exhaust. However, during the computer's most recent case cleaning, I noticed that I had reversed the fans on the last cleaning. Nothing seemed to go awry and the system was performing just fine. It was a challenge to my assumptions; so I thought I'd get some expert opinions on the matter. BTW: The case sides are a round hole metal mesh but the box resides inside a cabinet.
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If you built the box yourself, fan flow direction is up to you.
In the case of the PSU fan, however, which comes preassembled, I'd elect to leave that the way it was manufactured.
As for the other fan(s) in the case, my first choice would likely be to orient them in such fashion that they pressurize the interior of the case if possible.
These fans are typically designed such that their own airflow also serves to cool the fan itself. This can be critical in fans that operate from DC levels rather than AC, as those fans typically contain electronic motor control components inside them and placing the fan such that it is always pulling warmer air from the cabinet across itself may result in a shorter Mean Time Before Failure of that fan. (See what I mean about problems not being just "one-input"?)
But the realworld bottom line comes in monitoring the internal temps to see if your pc is near to overheat condx or not and if found to be, try changing the fan orientation around.
The problem with the above is that most monitoring programs are likely only going to be concerned with the CPU temp and not the other internal components. Still, we might be able to gather a bit of assumptive information from that, for example, fans in one direction might result in a lower CPU temp than when in the other.
I once read an engineering study on the subject of cooling internal electronics that showed through empirical test results that the biggest single factor in heat retention is -- the lowly "house dust". They found that house dust has an R factor higher than almost any manmade insulation known. Therefore, keeping the internals clean by doing routine blowouts is a very good thing to do for your critical computer components. Just a wee bit of house dust on fan blades can lower the efficiency of the still-spinning fan by an incredible percentage. And can also force the fan to run in an umbalanced state, which takes its toll on the tiny fan bearings.
But, really, if all is well and there are no overheat problems, likely not worth the effort to pursue, that, "If it works don't fix it" line is a good one IMHO.
--Mac
Last edited by Mac; 06/15/13 05:29 AM.
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In that case, do this: 1) write each possible arrangement on a separate piece of paper 2) fold the papers up and place then in a container 3) blindfold yourself and draw one piece of paper from the container 4) arrange the fans according to the instructions on the paper In other words, once you depart from an engineered solution, your results enter the realm of "grab bag"
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Nope. 1 in, ... 1 out. 2 in, ..., 1 out,... etc. Nuff said. 
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I go with Mac for most of what he says, in fact all, not most.
However as well as my own computer experience, my employment meant working on electronics control cabinets for CNC controlled machinery, most of them used a fan in at a low level with a fan out at both an upper level and the other end of the case. That of course resulted in an even flow of cooling air from the lower level covering most of the electronics, with the upper fan working on the principle that warm or hot air rises as it travels the length of the case or cabinet.
I reckon that if that general principle can be followed, you can't go far wrong.
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