Poll: Do you like a fan on the top of your case?

[Tab]

Example.

 

[us3rnotfound]

sometimes i'll set something on top of my case like some drink (it's a hardness thing) and what if it tipped over and spilled into the fan? Plus, from what I've heard, it really doesn't do all that much.

edit: plus it looks dumb

 

[tracerbullet]

I'd like the power supply to take heat out of the case up there, nothing else (in or out).

I'm hooked on this single 120mm in front, single 120mm (plus power supply) in back thing. Extra 80mm fans just seem like excess noise now.

 

[klocwerk]

ditto with both above.

I run a 120mm in the bottom front, a 120mm in the top back just under the PS, and the PS fan sucks out too.
seems to work well.

 

[Blooz1]

I've got a system in a Lian-Li PC-65b, which comes with a blowhole fan. (All fans in this case were replaced with Panaflo H1A's controlled by a Sunbeam rheostat.) 95% of the time the blowhole fan only runs at 7V to cut down on noise. I do find it handy during the summer to cool the system down quickly from CPU-intensive short tasks.

On the whole, my other system in a Compucase LX-6A19 without a blowhole runs just as cool, and most of the time the MB is actually a couple of degrees cooler! Both systems are Epox 8RDA+ MB's, and the board in the LX-6 case is at 210FSB vs.166FSB in the Lian-Li.

 

[thedarkwolf]

I set stuff on mine so nope.

 

[Ikonomi]

Whenever I get my new case, I may or may not 120 mm blow hole into the top to clear out hot air. I currently use a Seasonic power supply, and the fan never spins up beyond a gentle breeze, so it's not efficient at removing warm air from my case. It's awesomely quiet, though, which is why I bought it.

It's going to be one of the Antec SOHO server cases, so the airflow will look something like two 80 mm intake at the front and one at the side, with two 80 mm exhaust at the back, plus the small contribution of the power supply fan. I'm planning to run all of the case fans 7-volted, or on a rheobus, to cut down on noise. Since I would rather not run negative pressure inside my case, the 120 mm blow hole, no matter how undervolted, might be overkill. I'm sure I'll have to mess around and see what works best.

 

[Jeff7]

My main system has an 80mm fan on top.
Secondary system didin't have room on the top panel - it has a handle there - so there's a 60mm exhaust fan at the top of the right side panel.
Another case I modded, for a third system, but then sold, also had an 80mm exhaust fan on top.
So yes, I like topside exhaust fans.

sometimes i'll set something on top of my case like some drink (it's a hardness thing) and what if it tipped over and spilled into the fan? Plus, from what I've heard, it really doesn't do all that much.

You'd probably be in trouble anyway, unless you've waterproofed your case.

I set stuff on mine so nope.

Me too - but there's still plenty of space. 19 x 45cm surface area on top of my Enlight 7237 case, minus about 64cm^2 for the fan (with chrome wire grille), for 791cm^2 space. (~122.6in^2) And take a little space away for the handle that's next to the fan...there's still plenty of room for junk.

 

[RalfHutter]

Can't stand roof fans. Waay too much noise for me, plus any halfway decent case should/will cool fine without having to resort to this.

 

[0roo0roo]

depends...it can help as hot air rises..and intakes tend to be at the bottom front, leaving the top front area a sort of dead zone with hot optical drives etc. then again some cases with built in top exhausts have lousy grills that block most of the flow. i put blowholes ontop of old pos cases that have few options for fan locations in the first place, kinda like the one you pictured. heres a pos case with the fan on the outside, simply because its slightly too cramped to fit on the inside. inside gap exists, just not quite enough for fan frame to fit.

and yes, if you have a desk setup where you can spill sutff into pc, its more dangerous.

better cases like chieftec/antec towers with two rear exhaust two front intakes and some side...don't really need a top exhaust.

 

[beatle]

My case has one built in (similar to that one) that I use w/an L1a @ 7v. I could probably get by without it, but I feel warm air above it, so it's doing something.

 

[THUGSROOK]

i have a 120mm Panaflo M1A (7 volted) in the top of my case.
its quiet, i cant even tell its on.
if i turn it off, my cpu temp goes up 5*C.

 

[CubicZirconia]

I cut a 120 mm blowhole in my lian li pc-65. Yes, I like it.

 

[HardWarrior]

My PC75b has a 120mm on top. I paid extra to have it cut that way with the idea of eventually having a single 120mm radiator (with push/pull Panaflo's) for a CPU/vid H2O cooler. As it is now, for the bit of noise it makes, my case is noticably cooler. This isn't just conjecture. I have temp probes positioned high and low, in thermal contact with the case. Without running it there is a 4-5 degree difference. With it running there is a 2 degree difference. Is this difference important? That's up to the individual I think.

 

[ProfessorFate]

It's a must.

 

[mechBgon]

I'm with 0roo0roo, it is possible to end up with a stagnant zone in the top of some cases. My Antec Plus880, for example, has beautiful crossflow in the bottom half (three 80mm intake, two 80mm exhaust plus 80mm PSU exhaust). In the area above the PSU, however, it tends to get a bit warm, particularly since the TruePower PSUs run a bit warm themselves in an effort to stay quiet.

For my Plus880, I found that flipping the PSU over so its 92mm fan was on top helped quite a bit, without really detracting from the cooling of the mobo compartment (dual 80mm exhaust works fine down there).

Now I have a Lian-Li PC86 with custom dual 80mm exhaust and a top exhaust, and I just use 18dB NMBs throughout the case. The loudest fan in the case is probably the one on my ATI Radeon 7500... gotta get my passively-cooled Radeon back sometime.

As to whether I like it, well I don't. But my computer hardware does. The burners stay nice and cool up there, especially since I left an empty bay between them.

 

[everman]

I like having a low speed 80 or 120mm fan on top. Just helps promote good airflow so you can get away with very low speed fans all around. = quiet

 

[0roo0roo]

yea u know it works when u use a can of air on your heatsink and you see all the dust fly out the top case fan damn powder fine dust stupid filters miss grr

 

[KillaKilla]

IMO the blowhole fan is the single most effective option* fan to have. Even at 5v, it makes 5C of difference on mine. I think most of the heat is from CD/DVD and RAM(they don't have any other options for cooling). I couldn't hear it, but there was still quite a bit of hot air coming out of it, so it's effective.

EDITption fans do not include the following, as these come standard on most cases: The one at the lower front, the fan directly below the power supply, and the fan in the power supply.

 

[amdskip]

It really depends on your case and how you have things setup. If its a small case adn there are no rear fans, then yes, the top fan is very beneficial.