Fans on both sides of a rad

[Ergroilnin]

I have seen a few pics of people using fans on both sides of a radiator, kinda sandwiching it.

 

If we exclude the extra cost/connections/sheer size of this setup, is it actually better performing as in it is worth doing if you can or is it mostly a waste of time?
 

"Common sense" tells me that the extra fans on other side of the radiators should be somewhat similar to "SLI", so yes mostly you do get better performance, but at the same it is bad perf/$.

 

I am asking about this because I am simply curious. Mostly because when I look at my H700i case, there is a LOT of space in front, so sandwiched rad would be just fine and the cost of fans is comparatively pretty low even for the high end ones.

[Fasauceome]

1 minute ago, Ergroilnin said:

you do get better performance, but at the same it is bad perf/$.

This is true, but since fans aren't so expensive, bad price to performance doesn't hurt nearly as much. Overall, it's just increased airflow over your cooling surface so yeah cooling is better.

[gbergeron]

1 minute ago, Ergroilnin said:

I have seen a few pics of people using fans on both sides of a radiator, kinda sandwiching it.

 

If we exclude the extra cost/connections/sheer size of this setup, is it actually better performing as in it is worth doing if you can or is it mostly a waste of time?
 

"Common sense" tells me that the extra fans on other side of the radiators should be somewhat similar to "SLI", so yes mostly you do get better performance, but at the same it is bad perf/$.

 

I am asking about this because I am simply curious. Mostly because when I look at my H700i case, there is a LOT of space in front, so sandwiched rad would be just fine and the cost of fans is comparatively pretty low even for the high end ones.

You get 2-3 degree better. Not a huge difference at all. Not worth it at all.

 

Only thing I think gives a big advantage is you can set your fan at a bit lower speed for the same result so a bit less noise maybe...

 

I tested myself and its literally 2-3 degree difference.

[nick name]

If you want to find some more info and testing done by others you can Google Push/Pull.  I've seen some folks state 10% improvement, but I can't remember what the 10% is from.  I've run push/pull before, but didn't do any actual testing of different configurations so I can't tell you how much performance I gained.  I know it was better, but the fans that I replaced were different than the ones I ran in push/pull.  

[Enderman]

 

[SupaKomputa]

its not worth it, you might gain only a couple of degrees.

And remember you're fighting the ambient temp, if the water coming out from the radiator is already at ambient, there's no point pushing it lower.

[Mick Naughty]

Worth it if you have a dense rad and shit fans. Even good fans can struggle. Using something like that as an intake and barely getting any airflow makes a difference. Even more so if another rad is used or you expect the system to get by with little to no airflow. 

[andrewmp6]

Its called push and pull.Years ago went we had crappy fans it was a must to do.Today with the static pressure fans its not needed unless you have a 60mm rad or thicker.

[Kalm_Traveler]

54 minutes ago, andrewmp6 said:

Its called push and pull.Years ago went we had crappy fans it was a must to do.Today with the static pressure fans its not needed unless you have a 60mm rad or thicker.

Yeah even then with decent fans not needed. My big rig has two 60mm thick 480mm rads with 'only' 120mm Noctua Industrial iPPC NF-F12 2000rpm fans pushing up / out. They did a good enough job to set some top 10 records on Timespy Extreme and Port Royal benchmarks in a 74 F room and the case fully assembled.