Do fan adapters w/ fans cool as efficient as cpu fans?

[twong82]

I am wondering if a 60mm to 120mm fan adapter actually cools better than a CPU fan. Take for example, I have a Fop38 w/ Delta and I am wondering if a 120mm fan will cool better than it. I want to replace the Delta 38 cfm with a quieter 120mm Panaflo which has about 83 cfm.

 

[Viperoni]

Of course it will silly
More airflow will always get you lower temps, up to a certain point of course.
I think you would get adrop in temps of roughly 4c......
if it's worth if for you, go ahead

 

[toph99]

the thing that i worry about is that since the airflow is in a wider diameter than the heatsink, how much actually hits the 'sink? also, with a larger fan, you get the larger center piece where there is NO airflow. so i'm not as sure that it does a better job, as i have never tried it

 

[Lars]

if you make an adapter 100% of the airflow will hit the heatsink
that is the reason why you use an adapter and not just put the fan
on the heatsink.

 

[ericd]

I have built two adapters and so far have been fairly disappointed. I havn't seen anywhere near the reduction in temp that I was hoping for. However I am going to keep trying and see if I can get it working well. One theory of mine of why it won't work is that I have "maxed out" the airflow through my PAL6035, I imagine that there has to be a limit to how much air can pass through the small gaps of this heatsink. I think I might buy either a PEP66 or a taisol and try it with that.

Eric

 

[jawaki]

I think in the PAL's case you have to suck the air and maybe decrease the size of the shroud.

 

[Viperoni]

You may have also reached the point where the heatsink itself cannot expel the heat out into the air.
A bigger fan will not help in that case.
The fan adapter will help eliminate a bit of blind spot caused by the fan hub....but in general they are good things.

 

[GroundOO]

The only problem I can see (besides the max. CFM that would matter) is backpressure. If you know cars at all it's like using an exhaust manifold compared to header. The air doesn't just disappear when it hits the sides but it isn't going in the right direction and decreases efficiency.

 

[006agent]

just my 2 cents

metal can only disperse heat at a certain rate. the higher the conductivity the better..ie copper. silver..aluminum...

once that threshold is met, you then have excess. ie..does your case temp and heatsink temp match. if so..there is a good pos..you have met that threshold. on the otherhand, lower case temp means lower threshold..

good luck