Orientation of CPU cooler -- back or up in corsair 8000d?

[Kozmik42]

Hi all,

Noob question.

The cpu cooler is oriented to blow air up rather than back in the example build in the tech report review of the corsair 8000d case.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/17852/3

It seems like orienting the cpu cooler to point toward the rear case fan would be better in terms of not drawing warm air directly above the graphics card into the CPU cooler, drawing air over the ram, and keeping air blowing over the north bridge. Furthermore convection would still allow hot air to rise up out of the top grill.

Is up better than back in this case? Why?

Thanks!

[Waco]

Heatpipes work better when horizontal - so I'd go with blowing up. I know my Megahalems produced much better results blowing up than back regardless of the warmer air it pulled in from across my video card.

[niblik]

Slightly off subject, be sure and confirm that whatever cpu cooler you plan to use in your build will fit physically fit with the memory sticks inserted into your motherboard. I made the mistake of buying a cpu cooler that blew up but was too wide to fit on my motherboard since I was using Corsair DDR 3 memory sticks that had extended cooling fins on them.

In the end I had to get a more vertical oriented cpu cooler that I set up to blow towards the back of the 800D case... which meant it worked in tandim with the preinstalled exaust fan in the back of the case.

[Kozmik42]

Thank you both for the feedback! In terms of the second comment, are some coolers meant to blow up and some are designed to blow back?

[JustAnEngineer]

Moving to the cooling forum.

[pikaporeon]

Thank you both for the feedback! In terms of the second comment, are some coolers meant to blow up and some are designed to blow back?

Almost all 'tower' coolers are meant to push towards your cases exhaust fan, which is 9/10ths of the time at the back of the case - however some cases, including yours, also have a top exhaust fan, allowing flexibility if things are getting in the way, and using the basic physics (of hot air rising) to push more hot air out of your PC (hence the most basic advantage of pointing up if you've got a fan up there)

[Kozmik42]

Thank you both for the feedback! In terms of the second comment, are some coolers meant to blow up and some are designed to blow back?

Almost all 'tower' coolers are meant to push towards your cases exhaust fan, which is 9/10ths of the time at the back of the case - however some cases, including yours, also have a top exhaust fan, allowing flexibility if things are getting in the way, and using the basic physics (of hot air rising) to push more hot air out of your PC (hence the most basic advantage of pointing up if you've got a fan up there)

The Corsair 8000D actually only has an exhaust fan on the back. It does have an open grill along the top, but no exhaust fans in that grill. I would have thought what you said that the tower cooler should point toward the exhaust fan, but the test build in the tech report review of the Corsair 8000D points up.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/17852/3

TheWacoKid said that:

Heatpipes work better when horizontal - so I'd go with blowing up. I know my Megahalems produced much better results blowing up than back regardless of the warmer air it pulled in from across my video card.

I've purchased the Noctua NH-U12P SE2 cooler that was recently reviewed by TR to go in a Corsair 8000D case.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/21873

I was wondering about the up versus back question for this combination.

Thanks!

[just brew it!]

Regarding the up-vs-back issue...

IMO it really depends on whether you've got a top vent fan or not. Heatpipes work by capillary action, so while there may indeed be an orientation that is slightly better for the heatpipes, it shouldn't make a *huge* difference.

Some people claim that the life of sleeve bearing fans is shortened by mounting them horizontally, so you may want to pay more attention to the type of fan bearings if you're planning on having it blow upwards.

[Waco]

IMO it really depends on whether you've got a top vent fan or not. Heatpipes work by capillary action, so while there may indeed be an orientation that is slightly better for the heatpipes, it shouldn't make a *huge* difference.

It wasn't a *huge* difference with my Megahalems but turning it to exhaust upward gained me a couple degrees under maximum load (which was high...a Q6600 @ 3.5 GHz and a ton of voltage).

At idle and at my lower clocks it did little to help.

[just brew it!]

It wasn't a *huge* difference with my Megahalems but turning it to exhaust upward gained me a couple degrees under maximum load (which was high...a Q6600 @ 3.5 GHz and a ton of voltage).

At idle and at my lower clocks it did little to help.

A 2 degree difference may not have even been due to the heatpipes being horizontal. It could just as easily have been that the airflow pattern in the case changed enough (due to the different fan orientation) to lower the temperature of the air around the CPU cooler by a couple of degrees; this would have in turn lowered CPU temps by the same amount even if the performance of the cooler itself remained unchanged.

[Kozmik42]

I really appreciate everyone's feedback -- This is really helpful!