"Push" vs "Pull", radiator airflow configurations.

[EnergyEclipse]

Hi all!

So, my question I do suppose is mostly just an discussion/sharing ground on the poll. Although, what do you people use?

 

If so, why is that?

 

Thank you for voting/replying!

[flibberdipper]

I ended up going with pull on my H115i because it made the fans quieter and perform a little better (these fans are TERRIBAD for a radiator, I have no idea what the hell Corsair was thinking). When I eventually get some nicer fans (thinking Venturi's or Noctua's), I'll still probably end up going with pull because it's a bit easier to clean (unless, of course, they're quieter in push).

[EnergyEclipse]

Just now, tmcclelland455 said:

I ended up going with pull on my H115i because it made the fans quieter and perform a little better (these fans are TERRIBAD for a radiator, I have no idea what the hell Corsair was thinking). When I eventually get some nicer fans (thinking Venturi's or Noctua's), I'll still probably end up going with pull because it's a bit easier to clean (unless, of course, they're quieter in push).

Thank you very much for your gravely appreciated contribution/vote to this thread!

 

I too have heard complaints about Corsair's included CPU Cooler fans, though the ones on the H1151i do look very much similar to there AF series fan blades, so potentially that explains why they are so horrific for radiators? xDD I would upmost certainly recommend of the Venturi's though as I do believe construction quality is something of greatness with them. They look pretty smexy too if I may admit.

 

[Master Disaster]

Missing the third (and actual) answer

 

Makes zero difference to temps, it only affects case pressure.

[EnergyEclipse]

Just now, Master Disaster said:

Missing the third (and actual) answer

 

Makes zero difference to temps, it only affects case pressure.

Thank you very much for your gravely appreciated contribution/vote to this thread!

 

Oh, you mean a "Push/Pull" configuration? I mostly did not include that option to prevent people from saying that, as most commonly having dual fans can be more expensive.

 

Keep the replies coming all!

[Master Disaster]

Just now, EnergyEclipse said:

Thank you very much for your gravely appreciated contribution/vote to this thread!

 

Oh, you mean a "Push/Pull" configuration? I mostly did not include that option to prevent people from saying that, as most commonly having dual fans can be more expensive.

 

Keep the replies coming all!

Nah, I mean it really doesn't matter whether you use push or pull, the only thing it affects is case pressure.

 

That said it doesn't mean you can't ask the question and have the discussion but yeah, its been shown by a lot of people that having a push config gives identical temps to having a pull config.

[EnergyEclipse]

Just now, Master Disaster said:

Nah, I mean it really doesn't matter whether you use push or pull, the only thing it affects is case pressure.

 

That said it doesn't mean you can't ask the question and have the discussion but yeah, its been shown by a lot of people that having a push config gives identical temps to having a pull config.

I would've thought fan air movement backsplash could have been an issue with 'Push' potentially? And with Pull, as I believe Linus demonstrated in a video quite some time ago now, may rather draw airflow in from the seal between the fan and radiator itself if not completely in contact.

 

Although, no right or wrong answers here I suppose! :33

 

Identical temperatures are pretty understandable as it is most purely just air at the core.

[Phate.exe]

I'm no longer running the GPU portion of my loop, so I only have my 140mm rad ducted to a 120mm fan pulling air out of my case.

 

Makes cleaning much easier, since the dust doesn't collect between the rad and fan, so I can just wipe the rad with a damp paper tower before blowing it out with canned air.

 

I also use some very quiet but pretty feeble cooler master fans.

[EnergyEclipse]

1 minute ago, Phate.exe said:

I'm no longer running the GPU portion of my loop, so I only have my 140mm rad ducted to a 120mm fan pulling air out of my case.

 

Makes cleaning much easier, since the dust doesn't collect between the rad and fan, so I can just wipe the rad with a damp paper tower before blowing it out with canned air.

 

I also use some very quiet but pretty feeble cooler master fans.

Thank you very much for your gravely appreciated contribution/vote to this thread!

May I question is that a "Push/Pull" airflow configuration? I am slightly confused by the duct tape part

Sorry! D:

[0ld_Chicken]

I try and use "pull" as often as I can because it does not force dust/stuff into the fins of the radiator like "push" does.  A cleaner radiator certainly performs better than a dirty one and if it's a pain to clean then it is less likely to get done regularly.   That being said it is not a big difference, I have 5 rad fans in pull and 3 in push, just because I wanted the fans all facing the inside of the case and I needed some fans exhausting, so something has to be pushing on the top radiator. 

[Phate.exe]

12 minutes ago, EnergyEclipse said:

Thank you very much for your gravely appreciated contribution/vote to this thread!

May I question is that a "Push/Pull" airflow configuration? I am slightly confused by the duct tape part

Sorry! D:

Not duct tape.  Ducted, as in the 140mm rad is in an airtight-ish plastic tube, which the fan screws onto the opposite side of.  Then the whole monstrosity gets attached to the inside of the case.

 

It's just a pull config.  In the pic below (this was when I still had an external res and hadn't yet cleaned up my wires) you can see the 140mm rad on the left below the power supply.  The duct is the black plastic bit that's around the radiator, and to the left of that there's a 120mm fan attached to the case.  Air is pulled through the radiator, through the ducting, and out of the case.

 

Yes.  Those are barb fittings.  Yes, It is absolutely an abomination.

 

[EnergyEclipse]

1 hour ago, Phate.exe said:

Not duct tape.  Ducted, as in the 140mm rad is in an airtight-ish plastic tube, which the fan screws onto the opposite side of.  Then the whole monstrosity gets attached to the inside of the case.

 

It's just a pull config.  In the pic below (this was when I still had an external res and hadn't yet cleaned up my wires) you can see the 140mm rad on the left below the power supply.  The duct is the black plastic bit that's around the radiator, and to the left of that there's a 120mm fan attached to the case.  Air is pulled through the radiator, through the ducting, and out of the case.

 

Yes.  Those are barb fittings.  Yes, It is absolutely an abomination.

 

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooo! Welp. That shows my dumb mind kicking in.

 

The image helped quiet a lot, thank you!

 

Kind regards,

-EnergyEclipse

[Phate.exe]

28 minutes ago, EnergyEclipse said:

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooo! Welp. That shows my dumb mind kicking in.

 

The image helped quiet a lot, thank you!

 

Kind regards,

-EnergyEclipse

No problem.  Wish I had a picture from after I neatened everything up, but whatever.  The ducting just lets you run a larger radiator with a smaller fan.

[asand1]

My water cooling experience is limited to one kraken AIO, but I chose pull for easier cleaning. I just pull the front bezel off and use a paint brush and vacuum to remove the dust. With push, you would have to unscrew the fans. And as stated, temps don't change between the two configurations. 

[EnergyEclipse]

10 hours ago, asand1 said:

My water cooling experience is limited to one kraken AIO, but I chose pull for easier cleaning. I just pull the front bezel off and use a paint brush and vacuum to remove the dust. With push, you would have to unscrew the fans. And as stated, temps don't change between the two configurations. 

It does seem that 'Pull' really is quite superior for defense against Dust!

 

Using of a paint brush is something is never probably have though of. Thank you for the clever idea!

 

-EnergyEclipse

[EnergyEclipse]

15 hours ago, Phate.exe said:

No problem.  Wish I had a picture from after I neatened everything up, but whatever.  The ducting just lets you run a larger radiator with a smaller fan.

I may use if that idea with one of AlphaCool's thick radiators & one of Akasa's 70mm temperature controlled fans, as they feature something awesomely ridiculous like a 7.9mmH20 rating xDDD

 

Thanks again! I like the scrap yard wars style CPU Block by the way - the perfect definition of good ghetto ccc;

[Phate.exe]

8 hours ago, EnergyEclipse said:

I may use if that idea with one of AlphaCool's thick radiators & one of Akasa's 70mm temperature controlled fans, as they feature something awesomely ridiculous like a 7.9mmH20 rating xDDD

 

Thanks again! I like the scrap yard wars style CPU Block by the way - the perfect definition of good ghetto ccc;

 

It's actually an asetek block and radiator.  Originally came in some obscene 2006-ish Athlon64 FX-62(?) alienware as an AIO, but the pump was stuck to the bottom of the rad rather than built into the block.  Pump failed, so I bought a danger den, added a res and replaced the tubing.

[EnergyEclipse]

Thank you all once again all for your votes/replies to this thread! So far both options are matched, so keep the submissions coming!

 

Have a brilliant day,

-EnergyEclipse

 

[Drak3]

Currently, push/pull with the pull fans being Corsair SP RGB set at around 1300-1400 RPM. The push are just the stock fans, set at their minimum at low temps and ramp up aggressively with the heat.

Works better than just having the stock fans, both quiter and slows down how fast the liquid heats up.

[EnergyEclipse]

1 hour ago, Drak3 said:

Currently, push/pull with the pull fans being Corsair SP RGB set at around 1300-1400 RPM. The push are just the stock fans, set at their minimum at low temps and ramp up aggressively with the heat.

Works better than just having the stock fans, both quiter and slows down how fast the liquid heats up.

But you want the liquid mostly to heat as the CPU does in order to correctly dissipate het away from the CPU & into the heat exchanger, although I really do like your idea of silent operation with two Corsair fans  Thank you for your vote/reply!

 

-EnergyEclipse

 

[Drak3]

31 minutes ago, EnergyEclipse said:

But you want the liquid mostly to heat as the CPU does in order to correctly dissipate het away from the CPU & into the heat exchanger, although I really do like your idea of silent operation with two Corsair fans  Thank you for your vote/reply!

 

-EnergyEclipse

 

I want the liquid to be as cool as possible, and the CPU's temps will not go lower than the liquid.

As it stands, the H100i v2 I have can, at best, stave off overheat for a few hours. It cannot sufficiently cool my 5930K at full AVX load past 4GHz, far from impressive and the AiO will probably be replaced with a custom loop that can handle Prime95 at something like 4.7GHz.

 

Also, it's only near silent at lower temps. It's just as loud when I throw a heavy load as it was just running 2 stock fans.

[EnergyEclipse]

As I mentioned previously about liquid heat only credit to dissipation from the CPU?

 

To keep things minimalistic, may I add, its Corsair. What did you expect?

They have literally no listings to the specifications of the components included within, yet claim to offering 'High Performance'. High performance in which, Corsair? Also, Corsair AIO Liquid Coolers do have quite the reputation for using poor optimizations of fans on radiators, as they deliver higher CFM levels rather than that of static air pressure, thus, I haven't a clue as to how they really expect that volume of airflow to have enough pressure to move through the fins in the first place, therefore a lot of back splash is met and temperatures rise, volume levels rise ect...

 

Thank you for your reply!

-EnergyEclipse

[PrimeSonic]

I can't really vote in this.

 

I've used rads in both push, pull, and push/pull in the past.

Often, the determining factors of which one I use are more to do with the space limitations and aesthetics.

Heck, I've used, at a time, both push and pull in the same case at the same time.

 

I have no real preference. I just often want to show off my fans so I tend to use push just a little more often.

[EnergyEclipse]

1 hour ago, PrimeSonic said:

I can't really vote in this.

 

I've used rads in both push, pull, and push/pull in the past.

Often, the determining factors of which one I use are more to do with the space limitations and aesthetics.

Heck, I've used, at a time, both push and pull in the same case at the same time.

 

I have no real preference. I just often want to show off my fans so I tend to use push just a little more often.

Aesthetics hmmm? Ok! Thank you very much for you comment on this thread! All information related to this topic is fine So you don't really have to vote, it is mostly just a way of gathering the opinions/thoughts of the community.

 

-EnergyEclipse

[PrimeSonic]

3 minutes ago, EnergyEclipse said:

Aesthetics hmmm?

Personally, I prefer the order to be [Case > Rad > Fan] regardless of whether that is an intake or and exhaust.

So the choice of push or pull (for me) really depends on where the radiator is in the case.

 

Granted, my current build doesn't have that on the front rad but that was due to not having enough clearance to put the fans where I wanted them.