Radiator setup: push or pull?
 

Sorry for a newbie question, but since this is a friendly forum, I should be okay:)

I have a super small case, so I plan to attach my 5X5 radiator and 120mm fan to the bottom of the case, right in front of the front intake fan. The air from the 120mm will go out the bottom of the case (first of all, tell me if there's anything wrong with that).
My question is, should the fan blow air thru the radiator ie. fan on top of radiator, or should the fan suck air thru the radiator, ie. fan under radiator. I'm hoping the former, because I've cut a great blowhole (with a nibbler, took forever), but I'd have trouble mounting the radiator to the case (no mounting holes)

Thanx for the info!

I have done it both ways on two different rads and both ways where identical temp wise, so go with what ever is easier.

And you can test your rad by switching the fan from one side to the other and take temp readings. Each rad may react different.

I doubt you'd notice any differance. As jaydee suggested, an idea would be to test it first, and see what the temperatures are

Only if you're concerned about noise / airflow / efficiency, fans (those we use in computers) usually 'pull' more easily than 'push' due to their design.
With a good rad either way wont make any difference.

Use two 120mm with about 85cfm with low noise and put one infront and one in the back with about 1 inch spacing between the fan and rad.

the problem with that is the amount of room you are taking up, with 38mm thick fans, you are at 7" or so thickness

My fan is pulling the air through the radiator.

True true, but with push and pull you don't need to get a noisy 120mm to do the best job.

a 38mm thick fan will be quieter than a 25mm thick fan if they are both rated at the same cfm. Also the 38mm will have a higher static pressure, so it will move more air if you have say a radiator or heatsink in the way of the air flow

my is pulling... a 170mm 230VAC steel fan (chassie alu, rotor steel) the radiator is from an golf 2:nd generation... works good..
http://w1.858.telia.com/~u85821088/dator7.jpg

(and yes, I'v not using that bottle any more, got an alu reservoar now :))

nice work, even though you did use duct tape, it doesn't look messy at all.

a 230v fan is quite a differant animal to a 12v or 24v though

Looks GREAT! The birds are staying cool too!

Jim

the fan.... the rotor is quite heavy, and quite sharp... and I can't find a 170mm fan-grid here in sweden... lethal sun of a bitch... already eaten som skin...

and who said overclocking wasn't dangerous? :p..

caseetc sell them, so do some other refridgeration places, and other industries where big fans are needed