Heat sink on backwards

[isaac22701]

I know this is a pretty noobish question, but I noticed the other day my new processor was getting hot. I wasn't overclocking so it was a little weird. Today I looked inside and noticed the fan on my heatsink goes againts the airflow of the case (it blows air towards the front of the case). Instead of switching it around, would it be a bad idea to change the direction of the other two fans so that my intake is in the back and exhaust is in the front and would that help at all? 

 

I am going to buy a water cooler in a few months after I get a new case, so it will not be like this for very long. 

[isaac22701]

After giving it some thought I am going to leave it as it is and change the heatsink's direction when I have time. I don't have a dust filter on the back fan so it will just create a mess. I should probably think more before I post simple stuff like this

[DaveTheBeast023]

6 minutes ago, isaac22701 said:

I know this is a pretty noobish question, but I noticed the other day my new processor was getting hot. I wasn't overclocking so it was a little weird. Today I looked inside and noticed the fan on my heatsink goes againts the airflow of the case (it blows air towards the front of the case). Instead of switching it around, would it be a bad idea to change the direction of the other two fans so that my intake is in the back and exhaust is in the front and would that help at all? 

 

I am going to buy a water cooler in a few months after I get a new case, so it will not be like this for very long. 

It depends, most cases have restricted airflow to the front of the case, and most of the time air flows out the sides of the front in little slits, through an air filter. If you're too lazy, I don't think switching the fans around would be that bad, unless you're a temp freak.

[ARikozuM]

I would just flip the CPU fan. It'll put the flow in-line.

[LogicalDrm]

The main reason why cases are designed with idea of front/bottom in, rear/top out is how air moves OUTSIDE the case. In situation where your case would be in limited space, like under table or on shelf, outside air would be hotter near rear/top of the case. There's only one thing preventing you from making rear and top as intakes. And it really is major one. Those mounts rarely if ever have dust filters. Add dust filters and you are good to go.

 

Most heatsinks are square or rectangle shaped. So there's little point of turning whole cooler when you can just move fan.

 

 

[isaac22701]

Thank you guys for your help. I tried moving the fan but I couldn't because the fan would hit the RAM. I switched the cooling around and put the dust filter from under the power supply (I have my fan upwards so I didn't need it) and put it on the back, and took out the filter in the front. I went from 52 degrees idling to 36 degrees idling. When I get a new case I will also buy a closed system water cooler so I can have normal airflow, but this will work well for now. Thanks.