Common Fan Layout Mistakes You Might be Making with Your PC Build! PC airflow tips and tricks

[@shrekwes4957]

Thanks for this, most ppl assume everyone knows how fans should be mounted and stuff. This was very good for my nephew who is doing his first build now!

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

Yeah I think that people probably worry about covering beginner or basic things for fear of patronising or being criticised. Whereas I'm just trying to be helpful and assume nothing. 🤣

[@abasiczombie.]

Thanks for showing everyone how to do it the wrongiest way possible and not taking 1 sec to show us the right way 👌🏼

[@pawang_game_id]

Common Fan Layout Mistakes

[@martinleblanc6650]

At 6:50 he quickly goes over the right way to do it

[@cinemaipswich4636]

After 50 years of building my own PC's, LED's are a waste of space. Noctua fans are probably the example to choose.

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

50 years? That's amazing...

[@mirananana]

THANK YOU for this video!! im planning on building my first pc this year and ive been doing my best to research everything as thoroughly as possible, but for some reason i just could never wrap my head around what anyone was actually talking about when it came to fan configurations and intake vs exhaust. using the smoke machine to visually show the airflow was so immensely helpful

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

Thanks Nivasti. Glad it helped!

[@tolosonberg]

Front and bottom to intake and top and rear exhaust. Sounds easy enough

[@gkranasinghe]

A really really good Video , Learned typically GPU Fans are intake fans wow ,wealth of information ,hats off thanks

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

@@gkranasinghe 👍🏼

[@nukacolanut6095]

If all else fails, I see a future for you as an airline attendant, thanks to all the directive hand gestures...lol! Great vid! I admit I had to stop and think about this when doing my build. It's tempting to defy logic in favor of aesthetics! The next big breakthrough...designing a fan where the shroud can be swapped or offer options for intake or exhaust that support your build and style. Appreciate what you do!

[@45eno]

1.) Fan motor arms are the push side that blows air 2.) Be mindful of putting pull side of fans too close to any object from case or heatsink. Don’t make more noise by not paying attention to suction pull side not having enough gap.

[@Slayvantz]

I watched several videos on this topic and yours was the first to really stick with me. Thanks for explaining like I'm 5!

[@JohnSmith-mf3dh]

Most pc cases are designed to be inefficient, I made my HAF 912 efficient using cardboard and high flow fans taken from damaged Optiplex 755 Towers. Newer cases are still designed to be conflictive in the airflow. Only the expensive cases show good design and even then there's a fistful of them, not all! The trick is to direct the air to the hot components and the heat of one must neve go to the other, fresh air for all of them. Ironically, Dell and HP design the Tower cases real good. Still I won't buy a OEM computer.

[@silentleges7988]

To be fair, wouldn't the entire test be different if you put the side panel on the case? Regardless of your fan config, if you have no side panel, your airflow will suck, right? Lol cause then there's no pressurization inside the case.

[@candidoriveraoquendo6412]

How do side intake fans interact with the front intake fans? Do they help? Or do they create a turbulence zone that impairs the airflow coming from the front?

[@umim]

I need to know this as well

[@mazz85-]

Another matter is, try always match the fans, dont go frankenstein. All same manufacturer by minimum.

[@GODLYNXofficial]

haha. ive been building my PCs for 25 years and i have always over looked fan configs. but now that my new PC is gunna have RGB fans this issue has naturally come up and it was immensely helpful to learn which way the fans blow for optimizing my new setup. The hilarious thing is that my last rigs I just put the fans in any old ways and those rigs were amazing with no cooling issues and ran like beasts. But the more you know the better you can do... at least theoretically, haha!

[@Oceanborn712]

I really hate how fans have an "ugly" side with the sticker. Obviously they're gonna need to hold the actual fan to the outside of the device somehow but those ugly stickers totally get me. I actually ended up removing all my Corsair fans and replacing them with Lian Li ones just because of those ugly stickers that were sitting right there in plain sight on the bottom intake fans.

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

Yeah, the back is usually ugly

[@autotropicplaybench1819]

Interestingly some companies are recognizing this to offer reverse looking fans, like the ones from Montech's Sky Two case, and Thermaltake's SwaFans from CES 2023 where they come with multiple swappable blades

[@Chris-ql3rx]

I’ll have to google fan sticker company to cover that stupid sticker

[@Oceanborn712]

@@Chris-ql3rx I've actually been looking for that and couldn't find anything here in Germany. The only things I found were on eBay and cost liike $35 in shipping per sticker. Replacing the fans entirely was actually cheaper than that XD

[@haies09]

Phanteks new D30s have two options, Normal and Reversed. This way you see the front but the blades are reversed, so you get both aesthetics and performance 😊

[@westloves]

You showed how not to do it, but not how to do it? 🤔

[@suddenrelief5286]

You only need to know that the front and bottom are for intake, top and rear for exhaust

[@NoReply28]

Just literally do the opposite.... Does everything need to be spoonfed to you?

[@westloves]

@@NoReply28 like omg literally 😂

[@westloves]

@@GanymedeXD i don’t disagree, (I figured all of this out with more researching) but I will say this video at the time left me with more questions, hence my comment. It’s not a bad video just maybe I clicked on it at the wrong time in my quest for knowledge.

[@4tdaz]

You are all wrong. He had a valid question. The answer is always: it depends on your case and components. Airflow is generally best positive pressure (more fans in than out) and generally better pushing hot air up than down so you aren't fighting physics. However, not everyone needs or should have 10 fans using every available slot. Loads of people have tested this and it all depends on the case and components

[@jrose-xp6tf]

I reside in the 1%, I have 1 140mm pushing over my VRMs, and 3 140mm pushing into 420mm rad, 3 140mm pulling from rad. If this sounds odd just look at a Tt Core P3 frame and you'd get it. Great topic for new builders...or confused ones 😉

[@destructor6400]

I donno if I'm correct but here we go.. 3 front fan: intake 3 radiotor fan: exhaust 2 bottom fan: intake and 1(I'll place in middle)exhaust. 1 Rare fan: exhaust Total 10 fans 5 intake 5 exhaust... It that right? Like neutral airflow

[@emanbarikzey851]

Damn u upload daily hard to keep up

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

I'm grinding 👍

[@amodelanime2]

finally a video worth my time!

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

Thanks

[@rmorenberg]

I knew most of this but it's still good for a review.

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

👍

[@GES1985]

What do you think about: Intake: 3x 120s front, 2x 120s bottom. Exhaust: 1x 120 back, 2x 140 top

[@gordonwu87]

I'd be interested in the temperature differences between the correct fans vs incorrectly placing then 🤔

[@GraeTendo]

Yep, this would be "cool" to see.

[@SamzehGFX]

Great video and well explained, well worth watching :)

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

Glad it was helpful! Hope you enjoyed enough to subscribe 🦐

[@Hasan-j4q2h]

Cool Video...Thank you

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

Bad-dun-tsh

[@themog4911]

Thanks Prawn, very helpful :)

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

Happy to help!

[@roblilley4680]

Great video as always! One of my favorite youtubers for pc content!

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

Thanks Rob!

[@roblilley4680]

@@TheProvokedPrawn you're welcome!

[@thepathnotfound]

Good info! I spent some time working g through this a few months ago.

[@haies09]

After you have the fans setup right, what Tom’s should the intakes and exhaust be set too? Also if you have a AIO?

[@TheHumbleRoots]

Excellent Video!

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

Hope it helps!

[@FreestylAM]

Would be interesting to benchmarch back to back w fans pointed the right way and fans pointed the wrong way. Wonder how many degrees C logic is worth?

[@GraeTendo]

Yup, I wanna see this as well. MOARRR smoke machine!

[@MartinP279]

Ok, but can I do it the following way: Intakes: Front 2x160mm; Bottom(off the ground) 2x120mm Exhausts: Back 1x140mm and 1x120mm(separate mount for GPU); Top 2x120mm. On paper it looks okay, but I fear that one fan blows cold air and there's always another afterwards to catch that cold air and push it out...

[@davidmansingh3327]

Excellent video explaining fan setup and the importance of the correct fan orientation.

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

Thanks! 👍

[@westfield90]

Superb content

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

Thanks for watching

[@Sim-po1mc]

whats your toughts on all intake and one big 200mm fan at side of the case for exhaustion? or about having 2 exhaustions and put a button to activate the big daddy on the side whenver im playing high quality games? something between these lines :) i am already doing this but the side fan is only a 120mm, ive lost 3º degrees celcius (gpu) with current this current setup having back and side exhausts P.s my case its kinda of old and i dont mind of doing these kinda of projects... i didnt need it before i upgraded my gpu for a 30 series... i am already doing this but the

[@kissennice]

I think it's not so clear. I have an inverted case where the gpu is above the cpu. My case allows me to install 1x 120mm front, 2x 120mm on top and 1x 120mm rear fan. My 3 scenarios i thought for my situation are: 1. front and rear intake. Top exhaust. 2. front and top intake. Rear exhaust. 3. front intake. Rear and top exhaust. Which of the 3 versions would be best for my situation with the inverted case? I would think its either scenario 1 or 2 for me but i am not sure. You mentioned gpu fans and exhaust fans fighting each other. That would be true with top exhaust for me because my gpu is mounted under the top fans with gpu fan facing upwards. Thx for answers

[@FrankWoodPhotography]

Good vid Prawny but I just wanted to see 30 seconds of how it should be done with that smoke machine! That would have been a very satisfying end to the video.

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

Good feedback. Thanks!

[@topgunndunne9815]

My only two options to mount an AIO cooler is either on the top, or on the front. What do you recommend? Should I mount it on the front as an intake or should I mount it on the top as an exhaust? What would give me the best results in cooling?

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/p4LGqox-fNl0qNU

[@MrTranceFun]

I have 3 intake on front and 3 exhaust on the side (thru AIO radiator) that works guys? Guess cannot add more intake anywhere (no space on the bottom) so I cannot add exhaust at the top if I followed the logic correctly. I am already balanced atm

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

You can always check to see if there's an issue kzbin.info/www/bejne/qYeoiZdjjNVrfLs

[@leviathan5207]

Convection, i.e. "hot air rises", is such a slow process that it becomes meaningless in the presence of a fan! Much more detrimental would be turbulance disrupting airflow.

[@Atticuswalker-xm1if]

"Helloooo this is the provoked prawn" was so zesty wth

[@kujii_6606]

can i ask a question? is it normal for pc to vibrate much when 6 fans are spinning? i have the correct airflow, my only problem is its making loud fan noise and making my desk vibrate. when i turn off the 6 fans the pc are silence and no vibration

[@fadillah6014]

Are your case has rubber on feet? Maybe some of your fan is faulty or overpowered?

[@_M-_-C_]

Ive got that exact same chrome terminator skull on my desk :) Good timing on the video mate i bought a prebuilt pc a few months ago and im swapping case tomorrow. I bought the corsair 5000x rgb and some ql120 fans.

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/oKe7dJWkrpKGq9k

[@_M-_-C_]

@@TheProvokedPrawn thank you so much bro. Much appreciated

[@_M-_-C_]

@@TheProvokedPrawn finally got around to swapping cases, had to wait ages for a single ql120 fan and wanted to thank you. It amazing and my temps are better with this case. Thank alot mate i appreciate your help

[@arutezza]

i bought some reverse flow fans that are unlabeled which makes this extra confusing for me

[@ArtBuddyIndian]

If we are not using radiator but using an air cooler instead and the PC cabinet is a full tower with sufficient space to install fans, then in the empty vertical space provided for radiator fans , should we place intake or exhaust (cabinet) fans

[@GraeTendo]

If you have a normal tower case and normal air cooler for CPU, here is one of the normal and good configurations: Two or three intake fans at the front to pull cool air into the case, one fan behind the CPU cooler pulling hot air out of the rear of the case, and two fans at the top of the case for upward exhaust of hot air out of the case.

[@coreywags1]

I've done 3 top intake, 2 front intake, and 1 exhaust at the back Plus the CPU cooler which acts as an exhaust and my GPU temps stay below 60c hotspot can reach max 80c but that's it, CPU stays below 30c but this all depends on your case as well.

[@jamesm568]

Noctua is the only way to go as all other fans are for minimum wage.

[@GungHoSourdough]

Do you recommend Peerless Assassin 120SE air cooler or a Kraken elite NZXT AIO for a pc?

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

I've only tried the Kraken. But I love it

[@techsquared_]

nice! what mic do you use?

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/oqOsp3qsiLt-eMU

[@haies09]

Would you recommend Noctua fans over Lian Li fans? Performance preference, leaving out the Aesthetics SL120V2 vs NF-A12x25

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

Performance wise all the serious reviewers would say noctua is superior

[@fadillah6014]

I have a question : what if I use one intake from top of RAM, two intake from below and one from side? For exhaust I propably use PSU and direct air from CPU tower cooler will setup optimal? Or I gonna kill my PSU (and CPU?) due hot air from cooler? Perhaps I should make intake for PSU on top. Oh yeah my case was old orange cameroon I was planing to mod this case for addional fan one on top and two below.

[@GraeTendo]

I'm not sure if I understand completely, but this config sounds like it may push too much air into the case and not have enough fans to pull hot air out of the case. I don't think that the PSU will have enough push or pull to contribute to the overall exhaust quite enough to get out the hot air. Also, I think that there should be at least one 120mm or one 140mm fan pulling hot air from the CPU cooler to exit the rear of the case.

[@DEEZENUTZ69]

Anyway you would recommend 9 fan set up for the O11 Vision by lian li

[@Ushborn]

What if i do the intake one to the front and one at the rear, and then two more at the top for the exhaust. Is it optimal? I can put two intake at the bottom but since my case is small (more like cube shaped) and the gpu is big, the gap between the gpu and the bottom of the case is not that big but i still can fit the fan. Should i continue with this setup or try to do it like i mentioned above? Or do i just get a new case?

[@xxdoomz89xx]

Thank you so much!!!!

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

You're welcome!

[@aceberganabolic]

bottom fans are great there will be no pile of dust under pc case.. this way..

[@rmorenberg]

yeah with my new build my front 3 are intake and my AIO 360 are exhaust

[@davidbohm271]

If my case only has holes on one side, the bottom and the back and I can only install one fan in the back, I should make it an exhaust, right?

[@nismonick861]

I did this mistake with my Ryujin 240 Argb front setup haha, I had it pushing the front instead of pulling air 🤓🤣

[@rajeshkumar-zq6gy]

what is the PC Case used in this Video? Please let me know, it help build the new PC. My existing Case has a bottom fan and is beneath the PSU. Is it a wise choice to add a fan as intake towards MB, please let me know. thank you.

[@GraeTendo]

Prawn is using the Lian Li 011 Air Mini in this video.

[@jessicaalvis7063]

You mentioned bottom fans, top fans, front, and rear fans - but you didn't mention which way to mount the side panel fans. If you did then I missed it and can't seem to find it.

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

I'd generally set them to intake, the same as the front

[@jessicaalvis7063]

@@TheProvokedPrawn okay thank you ❤️

[@burkyopttv]

What if you have a radiator on the top of the case? I have the phanteks pro case and really the only place to exhaust it out of the back. Should I have top front and bottom pulling air in and just exhaust out the back?

[@jamesm568]

If your radiator is mounted to the top of the case have the fans blow the air out of the case from the top and all other fans blowing cool air in.

[@strout2944]

Basically, the ugly side has to be facing the gpu or the other way around

[@ryanjames2938]

On top of a psu cover, are they intake or exhaust fans? For example the Lian Li can have two fans on top of the psu

[@bangdewa5197]

That's also my question. Hope someone give the answer... 😰

[@ryanjames2938]

I heard from another channel it’s exhaust, but not worth it apparently unless you just love rgb fans

[@XxmasteerdclassxX]

I would rather use static fans for the radiator.

[@AgoraphobicNews]

How many fans do I need for a full tower pc case?

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

Depends on the case

[@AgoraphobicNews]

@@TheProvokedPrawn Thermaltake Core P8 TG

[@45eno]

Why have the front intake fans on the inside of the brackets? They could easily be installed where the radiator could go.

[@GraeTendo]

The fans are behind the radiator in order to pull cool air through it and into the case. This configuration also contributes to keeping the fans and case cleaner than if the fans were pushing air onto the radiator from the outside in.

[@zeebass2690]

I dont get it. Whats wrong with the initial RAD fan setup pulling air through? You say its the wrong way?

[@jayphi4095]

I don’t understand why fans are place behind the AIO radiator and thus cool it with hot air taken from inside the case in place of taking fresh air from outside to blow on the radiator like in a car engine…..🤔

[@west-coast-willy]

That's an interesting thought. Maybe because cars have to drive forward, so you'd have to mount the radiator behind the engine to have the same effect and it'd then be too obstructed to actually work. 🤷

[@GraeTendo]

The fans are pulling cool air from the front of the case through the radiator and into the case, helping to keep the CPU cool.

[@naifalsaeedan5413]

what do you think in this scenario.. three 120s front intake one 140 up rear exhaust and top rad 360mm two exhaust (that near the rear 140m and one intake (near the front fans )?

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

Just got three intake on the front, the rest exhaust.

[@naifalsaeedan5413]

@@TheProvokedPrawn with my setup you have 4 intake fans and 3 exhaust.. this is positive pressure ..

[@dreyj0204]

is 2 120mm side intake and 3 120mm front intake optimal? my cpu is air cooled

[@GraeTendo]

That sounds like it should be good as long as you have at least one fan at the rear and two fans at the top pulling hot air out of the case.

[@umim]

So side fans should be intake? You didn’t mention side fans at the end

[@taomahNEGEV]

Show only the the right way never the wrong.

[@dahyuniedubu6346]

I have a question, I hope this gets answered by anyone if possible. I have a coolman robin 2 mini (you can call it a poor man's lian li o11 mini, if im correct) I run an i5 10400 and have 6 fans (3 bottom intakes, 3 top outtakes). I was told that I dont need to have an AIO with my CPU so I stuck with an air cooler (blowing directly onto the cpu). Is that good? I was planning on adding 2 more intake fans on the side (beside the mobo), or is it just an overkill at this point?)

[@GraeTendo]

Hi. I hope you have figured out your fan config by now. I have an 011 Air Mini and haven't yet built in it. I will be doing all air cooling as well. I think at some point, if there are too many fans blowing inward, the hot air will just circulate inside the case because there are not enough fans pulling out the hot air from within the case. Basically, a little positive pressure is OK, but a lot of positive pressure is probably too much. Don't want to choke your components.

[@Dmix49]

Having the power supply at the bottom that exhaust to the outside, does it make sense to put the intake fans at the bottom?

[@bangdewa5197]

That's also my question. Hope someone give the answer... 😰

[@lutylives1852]

If your power supply is mounted correctly, it should be intaking air from below, hence why cases have dust filters on the bottom - it isn't to keep dust in!

[@ozjuann]

I need help, so i have two intake fans on the front and i have one exhaust in the back. I decided to buy more fans and I want to install them on the top, should they be intake or exhaust?

[@FandangosBR]

Bottom intake would mean all the dust from the ground coming in?

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

If you never vacuum and your case doesn't have dust filters...

[@GraeTendo]

This. Also, hopefully you can place your desktop PC atop your desk, rather than anywhere near the floor. Floors and PCs usually don't mix.

[@CantTreadOnMe]

Im actually building my first pc this week and im stuck on my fan setup and dont know what to do. I have a cpu air cooler with 2 fans on it and 6 140mm fans in my case. 3 intake in front, 1 exhaust in rear and 2 I was gonna use for top of my case and that is where im stuck. My cpu cooler with be exhausting to the rear fan so ill have 3 intake im front to a cpu cooler which is pulling from the front and exhausting to rear so how donI setup my top fans? Also seems I dont have enough exhaust so I wanted to do 2 exhaust in top but with my cpu cooler im confused what to do. Please help me someone.

[@Ckk2024]

Thanks

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

You're welcome!

[@boltzkratos]

So for gaming pc should i go for positive placement or neutral?

[@branman4959]

Will it hurt if I top mount my radiator and still exhaust through the top

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

No

[@rachelblake2350]

Dude, I think you left your weed out when you were showing us the smoke machine.

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

Alas no 🤣

[@rachelblake2350]

@@TheProvokedPrawn wait so what is that in the jars? Deffo looks like some fat nuggies.

[@hman6159]

@@TheProvokedPrawn lol

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

@@rachelblake2350 key switches

[@rachelblake2350]

@@TheProvokedPrawn aaahhh hahaha

[@alkingabod185]

In my PC everything is intake except the rear exhaust. is that ok?

[@Fire_BoltX]

You should try and have a neutral pressure and if u can’t make it positive but as close as possible to neutral

[@Indahchannel]

Saya sangat senang sekali melihat video video anda

[@elm4nsuri]

why does every word you say sound like sarcasm? lol . Edit : nvrmnd, the appearance at the end explained everything XD

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

Maybe because I'm British? 🤷‍♂️

[@Baz87100]

What on earth is going on with your nvme drive?

[@ahmedtag3904]

i have got my 3 exhaust fans on the bottom is that bad ?

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

It's not ideal imo. It'll be fighting your GPU fans, as I showed

[@ahmedtag3904]

@@TheProvokedPrawn well i guess that is why im getting 80 degrees temp on my Rx 6800 xt i will try swapping them see if temps get any better

[@psychoalert1823]

Apply some logic on that, how and why would it work

[@Gigachad204]

9 fans has to be loud

[@Heartofswordx]

Real question is: how to get a voice like yours?

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

Be born British, have a dad that smoked a lot, be old and use a good mic?

[@PotatoBoi69]

@@TheProvokedPrawn 🥹

[@Heartofswordx]

@@TheProvokedPrawn whats the MSRP on that? :P thanks for the guide i would add simple drawings to help with the video or suggest some general configurations and point out that some fans are designed more towards moving more air volumen or to get more air pressure

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

@@Heartofswordx thanks for the feedback

[@SammyPlayzRoblox]

Where’s his power supply?

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

At the back. It's a dual chamber case

[@GraeTendo]

The case is the Lian Li 011 Air Mini . If you are looking at the case from the side as shown most of the time in this video, the power supply is behind the center "wall" divider between the motherboard and the wiring compartment. The power supply sits sideways at the lower right rear corner of the case.

[@nanxlu]

why don't show us the right way and call it a day?

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

I did?

[@jordanm2984]

Wtf are you Chyrosran22's brother?

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

All British people are related I guess.

[@johnschauer7000]

Im not like him in Orange

[@abdulsalamshar5601]

thank god i dont like rgb crab

[@rickss69]

Case fans in general are a scam really...you will never see a great impact on cooling regardless. The components that utilize fans for cooling is another matter...

[@StinkyTheSquid2]

Rubbish. I’ve had CPU temp differences of 10C just by changing my case fan config

[@Cody_Ramer]

that is complete bullshit, case fans can make the difference of your GPU being at nice warm temperature, or blue screening due to heat.

[@EmomanTavish]

i am not putting diarrhea fans in my case

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

No one said you had to

[@rich8201]

😅

[@damnjj1379]

Noctua sucks

[@Kabilapok]

Great video!

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

Thanks!

[@ramiyacoub5092]

thanks

[@TheProvokedPrawn]

No problem. Hope you enjoyed enough to subscribe