How should I place my rad

[Smackaroy]

I only really have room for it at the top of my case but should I place it as an intake or an outake? I have 3 fans in the front of my case serving as an intake and 1 outake at the back.

[Faisal A]

There is a lot of debate. Personally I would blow out of the case (from the rad) so the hot air does not go inside

[Praesi]

_{Hot Air goes up. So Outake is the only solution that makes sence.}

[Smackaroy]

1 minute ago, Praesi said:

_{Hot Air goes up. So Outake is the only solution that makes sence.}

Science 

[Praesi]

4 minutes ago, Smackaroy said:

Science 

 

[Mick Naughty]

Use it as exhaust. Better overall. 

 

A lot of variables. Heat rising isn’t the cure all to bad builds. 

[bowrilla]

This heavily depends on the specific case, your build and where you put it. 

The hot air rising thing doesn't really apply much since the temperature in your case will pretty quickly equalize and just rise in general. The amount of heat a radiator transfers to the passing air is not that great. Bear in mind that your water temps aren't that high in general (or you've really messed up if they are) so the air won't be that much warmer after passing through. In a good case the difference will probably only be around 2 or 3° and therefore neglible. 

You should really think more about where the filtered intakes are. If that's on the top then you really want those as intake. Also bear in mind that you want some more or less direct airflow over the VRMs so having the top as intake might create a bit more airflow. Also make sure that there are as little restrictions as possible for your fans on the radiator. They're going to work hard enough on the radiator so restrictive cover are a bad thing for your overall cooling performance and overall temps since less airflow will result to higher temps in the loop. That's not necessarily terrible but you're paying enough money to be bothered at least a bit by impaired performance. 

 

If the front of your case is the least restrictive filtered intake then I'd put my radiator there.  And if the radiator is the intake I'd put the fans on the inside and make them pull air through the radiator so cleaning the rest of the dust that gets into the case is easier from the outside of the radiator. Disassembling the fans from the radiator is bothersome just for the purpose of cleaning.

 

So, what case do you have?