Common Fan Layout Mistakes You Might be Making with Your PC Build! PC airflow tips and tricks

In this video I'm talking about things to avoid when building your PC in terms of installing the fans. There's a logic to installing your fans for the best airflow. If you're a seasoned PC builder then this video might not be for you, but for beginners, sometimes it can be confusing.

There are certain things to keep in mind:
1 - Airflow through fans tends to go front-to-back. In other words, the front of the fan pulls the air and the back sucks. So you'd usually want to face intake fans facing outwards from the case and exhaust fans with their back to the vents.
2 - Hot air rises, so where possible it's best to put intake fans on the front and bottom of your case, then exhaust fans on the top and rear.
3 - Avoid putting intake and exhaust fans in close proximity. If you put intake fans on the front, but then exhaust fans on the side, right near by, all you're doing is making air flow into the case, then immediately out again. Not ideal.
4 - Watch out for falling into the trap of installing fans just so you can see the RGB. This is easy to do and I've done it too.
5 - Make sure you put intake fans on the bottom of your case if possible. If you set bottom ones to exhaust, then they'll be fighting the GPU fans that are trying to draw air through the graphics card to cool it. Most GPUs vent air out of the rear near the HDMI/DP connections. But there will also be some venting above as heat naturally dissipates.

Other related videos to watch:
Lian Li Dynamic Evo build with Lian Li Infinity fans, Intel i9-12900K, NZXT Kraken Z73 and more

Are you struggling to get your computer to stay cool? Do you keep hearing odd noises from your computer? It might be time to take a look at your PC fan setup. In this video, we're going to show you how to configure your PC fan and setup your PC airflow.

By following these simple tips, you can avoid some common mistakes when setting up your PC fan and airflow. We'll also give you some case airflow tips to help increase airflow in your PC case. Finally, we'll give you a look at some of the most common problems with PC airflow and how to solve them.

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[abasiczombie.]

Thanks for showing everyone how to do it the wrongiest way possible and not taking 1 sec to show us the right way 👌🏼

[shrekwes]

Thanks for this, most ppl assume everyone knows how fans should be mounted and stuff. This was very good for my nephew who is doing his first build now!

[mirananana]

THANK YOU for this video!! im planning on building my first pc this year and ive been doing my best to research everything as thoroughly as possible, but for some reason i just could never wrap my head around what anyone was actually talking about when it came to fan configurations and intake vs exhaust. using the smoke machine to visually show the airflow was so immensely helpful

[nukacolanut]

If all else fails, I see a future for you as an airline attendant, thanks to all the directive hand gestures...lol! Great vid! I admit I had to stop and think about this when doing my build. It's tempting to defy logic in favor of aesthetics! The next big breakthrough...designing a fan where the shroud can be swapped or offer options for intake or exhaust that support your build and style. Appreciate what you do!

[cinemaipswich]

After 50 years of building my own PC's, LED's are a waste of space. Noctua fans are probably the example to choose.

[silentleges]

To be fair, wouldn't the entire test be different if you put the side panel on the case? Regardless of your fan config, if you have no side panel, your airflow will suck, right? Lol cause then there's no pressurization inside the case.

[Slayvantz]

I watched several videos on this topic and yours was the first to really stick with me. Thanks for explaining like I'm 5!

[westloves]

You showed how not to do it, but not how to do it? 🤔

[Atticuswalker-xmif]

"Helloooo this is the provoked prawn" was so zesty wth

[candidoriveraoquendo]

How do side intake fans interact with the front intake fans? Do they help? Or do they create a turbulence zone that impairs the airflow coming from the front?

[GrdShftR]

haha. ive been building my PCs for 25 years and i have always over looked fan configs. but now that my new PC is gunna have RGB fans this issue has naturally come up and it was immensely helpful to learn which way the fans blow for optimizing my new setup. The hilarious thing is that my last rigs I just put the fans in any old ways and those rigs were amazing with no cooling issues and ran like beasts. But the more you know the better you can do... at least theoretically, haha!

[roblilley]

Great video as always! One of my favorite youtubers for pc content!

[eno]

1.) Fan motor arms are the push side that blows air
2.) Be mindful of putting pull side of fans too close to any object from case or heatsink. Don’t make more noise by not paying attention to suction pull side not having enough gap.

[jrose-xptf]

I reside in the 1%, I have 1 140mm pushing over my VRMs, and 3 140mm pushing into 420mm rad, 3 140mm pulling from rad. If this sounds odd just look at a Tt Core P3 frame and you'd get it. Great topic for new builders...or confused ones 😉

[SamzehGFX]

Great video and well explained, well worth watching :)

[destructor]

I donno if I'm correct but here we go..

3 front fan: intake
3 radiotor fan: exhaust
2 bottom fan: intake and 1(I'll place in middle)exhaust.

1 Rare fan: exhaust

Total 10 fans 5 intake 5 exhaust... It that right? Like neutral airflow

[Oceanborn]

I really hate how fans have an "ugly" side with the sticker. Obviously they're gonna need to hold the actual fan to the outside of the device somehow but those ugly stickers totally get me. I actually ended up removing all my Corsair fans and replacing them with Lian Li ones just because of those ugly stickers that were sitting right there in plain sight on the bottom intake fans.

[tolosonberg]

Front and bottom to intake and top and rear exhaust. Sounds easy enough

[GES]

What do you think about: Intake: 3x 120s front, 2x 120s bottom. Exhaust: 1x 120 back, 2x 140 top

[davidmansingh]

Excellent video explaining fan setup and the importance of the correct fan orientation.