Are side panel fans worthless?

**davnport** · 10-26-2003, 09:25 PM

I've read both good and bad things about this. To me it makes sense that having cool air blowing onto your vid card or pci devices would help keep them cool. However, it also makes sense that having a side panel intake could disturb the front intake-to-rear exhaust air flow by causing turbulence that would not help to cool the inside of the case at all. Comments?

**mikead_99** · 10-26-2003, 09:28 PM

Lot's of debate on that. IMHO, 90% of the time, they suck.

See more: http://www.sharkyforums.com/showthre...hreadid=212081

Edit: Fixed link

**mystifmagic** · 10-26-2003, 09:32 PM

If you have an equal amount of intake air as you do outtake air, the side panel fans are invaluable. Having a cold air intake is a very good thing to have in your case. A side panel fan can easily bring fresh cooler air from outside the case to the video card or even better, the CPU. If done correctly, you won't want to live without one. Good Luck

**sapasion** · 10-26-2003, 10:17 PM

I use side panel fans. Quote me all the thermodynamics you want. Fact is my cpu is 15ºF cooler with a 120mm fan over it in the side panel than without it.

**thebove** · 10-26-2003, 10:30 PM

i actually use side fans as exhausts...in my room the air is always really warm, so in my case it's better to be exhausting the really hot air out of the case than it is to push already warm air into the system....case temps will rise at least 6C when i switch my 3 120mm side fans to intake

**XP1800** · 10-26-2003, 10:35 PM

My side panel fan doesn't even affect my CPU temp, it only drops my system temp 3C-4C and [b]definately[b] cools off my video card. I only keep it on while gaming though, since I prefer my rig to be quieter the rest of the time

**sapasion** · 10-26-2003, 10:36 PM

Yeah I think we've all experimented enough with our own individual cases to achieve our best personal results for some its lots of intake and for others its just the opposition.

**Jagermeister** · 10-26-2003, 10:40 PM

Hmm, my case isn't the biggest nor is it a very good case cooling wise (Apex TU-150), after adding a 120mm side intake fan, my temps dropped about 8 degrees celsius. Sure, the air flow is all screwed up, and some of my other components might be getting more heat... it's still worth it, IMO. The 120mm fan hits the GPU, CPU, and northbridge, cooling the three major heatsources.

**CrawlingEye** · 10-26-2003, 11:14 PM

Originally posted by Jagermeister
Hmm, my case isn't the biggest nor is it a very good case cooling wise (Apex TU-150), after adding a 120mm side intake fan, my temps dropped about 8 degrees celsius. Sure, the air flow is all screwed up, and some of my other components might be getting more heat... it's still worth it, IMO. The 120mm fan hits the GPU, CPU, and northbridge, cooling the three major heatsources.

Actually, I've found smaller cases get lower temps more easily than larger cases. (less space for air to ciruclate through)

**Jagermeister** · 10-26-2003, 11:24 PM

Originally posted by CrawlingEye
Actually, I've found smaller cases get lower temps more easily than larger cases. (less space for air to ciruclate through)

Well, my case doesn't have air circulation. Just a constant bombardment of cold air coming from the inside.

In fact, if I take off a cd slot cover, I can feel cold(er) air coming out.

EDIT: My case is at 27 degress celsius right now. And it was about 95 degress fahrenheit where I live today too!

**XP1800** · 10-26-2003, 11:26 PM

Man at night when I forget to turn off my window AC unit, my case temp gets down to 19C sometimes

**Ashpool** · 10-27-2003, 12:13 AM

For me, it helps a few degrees with my temps, both case and CPU. Then again, SX1030's aren't exactly big cases :/

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