Basic Fan/Cooling Qs

[Jza]

1. Fan blowing air INTO or OUT OF heatsink?
2. What is a good CFM level for a light overclocker?
3. What is the max noise rating in dB should i NOT go over?
4. 6800/7000 RPM much difference?

Please help answer these quick Qs...thanks!

 

[GraveJoKer]

As to your first question, I would say it depends on the Heat Sink!!

 

[ErikS]

1. Age old arguement, depends on the HS. Alphas are designed to "suck"
2. Again, depends on HS. It may not be a function of CFM. An Alpha 8045 requires very little CFM to maintain decent temps
3. Depends on you & your tolerance for noise. As a general rule under 30dba is pretty quiet
4. Probably not

 

[Jza]

Well, lets say that I was using pretty decent heatsinks such as: SK-6, ThermoEngine, GoldenGate, etc...would majority have fan blowing air in our out of HS?

My bro uses a Papst/33 CFM/6850 RPM/43 DB...it was definately a difference compared to mine, but it didn't bother me cause I got used to it quick. But what's the annoyance/danger zone?

 

[ErikS]

In or out is an age old arguement, it seems that most of the HS you mentioned do slightly better blowing in. I have mine sucking becuase air is sucked off the HS and out the back by a fan next to the HSF.

If you can tolerate the noise then go for it, the faster & the more cfm the better it will cool (to the limit of the HS). Me, I hate a computer I can hear, different strokes for different folks.

 

[Brian48]

I've gone through more times than what I would like to admit. It really depends on the heatsink, the path of airflow in your case, and the amount of heat generated by the fan's motor (they get hot too).

In all cases, I'd advise you try both ways to see which works best for you, regardless of what the heatsink/fan's manufacturer originally intended. Yes, it's a bitch and it's a lot of work, but it's the only way. I do have to say that if you try it with the fan pulling air away from the heatsink, you MUST use a heatsink shroud in order to gain the maximum amount of benefit from it. For heatsinks that don't normally come with a shroud, you an easily fashion yourself by wrapping a strip of aluminum foil around the top of the heatsink (ala PAL series).