Install it so the air is flowing against the motherboard. Same with the processor. Also, take off the heatsink, it's a ripoff and does nothing but add heat! :)

I know this is a joke but this is really bad "advice" that some people who legitimately don't know better might actually take.
Forrr shaaammmmee

It's great advice, as it is the correct option of the two. Make sure that every screw you use to install parts with tightens with a leftward turn. If it doesn't work, press harder.

Also helps to spray about half a can of graphite into all the fans so they spin even faster!

If your computer doesn't turn on, lick your thumb and rub it against the contacts on the power supply. A small shock will let you know if it's working.

my roommate just did the last part.. dunno.. he sorta shakes and doesn't move ever since.. should I poke him with a stick or something? ;3;

I'm pretty sure that most times you should have it like configuration B, since blowing air onto the motherboard would run the risk of flinging debris from outside onto it, but I'm also not 100% sure... just like, 95%.

on occasion this can vary, but generally, you want the fan to blow air out and away from the board. the air comes in a little slow into the heatsink blades, gathers some heat, then is expelled by the fan quickly.

^--- Both these gaiz incorrect. Pour water on computer to cool down.

you forgot the bathtub part.
and a good coating of peanut butter makes your CD drive read/write so much faster. really closes up that buffer of air inbetween the disk and the laser.

*really does this*


YOU RUINED MY LIFE.. ;3;

YOUR CD IS DELICIOUS

it was my cup holder you .. gah.. ;3;...

They are very obviously trolling XD

I know.. I just wanna be fun 8U

Bwahahahahaha!

You should just get a Schrödinger fan and get both A and B at the same time :P

But that may cause a high-pressure vacuum!

Lol. I'm loving Fastchapter here, but seriously. I'm a computer science major if you need some credentials. Option B is the way to go unless you liked cooked computers for breakfast.

Funnily enough, in my current college course, we talked about this just last week!

Blowing air away from the motherboard is indeed a good idea, but one of the best ideas you can do is have one fan that pulls air into the case and another fan that blows air out of the case. You effectively get a current of air constantly circulating air through the case to really help keep it cool. Using a liquid cooling system with a fan is also a viable option.

Another reason you'd want to pull away, something very hot, getting sudden blasts of "cold" air. The constant expanding and shrinking that causes will eventually cause your MB to fracture.

It's supposed to blow down into the CPU's heatsink, usually. Unless of course you had one that blew sideways, but that's a custom thing. Anyway, yeah. down into the heatsink. not up and away from it. it's easier to force air in than suck it out, and will better cool the fins if air is being pushed deep into it, rather than simply drawn from the outer edges of the fins and up.

...yeah, I fix them for a living.

I better option might be to get one of those liquid-based cooling systems.

If you're not poor :3

Corsair H100 watercooling has been working wonders on my desktop. 30C at maximum CPU with my core i7-3770K ivy.

hello there, computer engineer here, since on board chips can handle more head than your cpu, configuration 1 would be king, it will also provide more airflow across the motherboard compared to a vacuum style b setup. Also, if you do have case fans on the computer, make sure that you are not creating turbulence, meaning randomly changing intake and out take for the fans, what case are you using?

Point it so air is blowing away.

Here's is DA BASIC! You want to COOL the equipment down! Therefore you want to let ''COOL'' air flow against the equipment so that it gets cooler! :3 Hot air will flow away from the motherboard and tada!

If you install it the other way you'll draw heat from the focused equipment but the heatsink, (Silvery fans) will be warmer as you draw hot air through it instead of cold :3

Definitely B. Engineer here. Credentials available upon request.

Option B.
Here's why:
Option A will cool the processor just fine, but will not create airflow over the other motherboard components - such as voltage regulators, capacitors and chipset chips.
Option B, however, will create airflow across these parts, and since the air exiting the CPU heatsink is not really hot (let it be, maybe, 35°C), it still has enough capacity to keep your other components to a reasonable temperature, and will prolong life of the capacitors on your motherboard.
Ideally, you combine option B with a computer case that has ventholes above the CPU location and one of these little chimmneys that allows the fan to draw in cool air from the outside of the case.

Please exchange option "A" and "B" in my previous post.
The correct way is to have the fan blow air towards the motherboard, reasons see above.

You want to use A. Another reason that no one else has listed, More dust settles on the intake side of a fan. with A, the dust settles on the back of the fan and the blades, easy to clean. With B, the heat sink fills with dust first, causing a higher risk of the CPU overheating. A fan is far cheaper then a CPU when dust starts to build up.

Option B for better Motherboard component cooling,
Option A for better CPU cooling.

On B it pulls the air from below, making 'fresh' air draft over the components like voltage converters before it reaches the heatsink, a little warmed up from those components of course.
On Option A the components around the CPU only get a blow of already used air from the CPU.

A I think is standard on most cooler configurations and overall more effective.

All this of course requires a well ventilated case that can supply the needed fresh air via a constant airflow.

Personally i prefer two fans. well.. ultimately id prefer a water cooling system cuz its a million times more efficient than air but id be paranoid to NO END.
hm...

well, i use B with a case fan on the back of my computer, its a cheap thing but it does its job well and reduce the heat lot (note, the chase fan is sucking the air out of my pc)

bleepingcomputer.com

they live to help people with their computers and they also do so for a living so they know better than just about anybody