Fan label up or down on PCB plate?

[MiSTerEggman]

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It’s probably not going to matter either way since I think heatsink will cover the bases from chip damage alone but I modeled mine after one I saw online, with label up, and I believe air blowing away more so (though bidirectional of course) since the fan has a gap anyways and isn’t directly mounted on the heatsink like I was expecting (and is the case with PC builds)

It also looks nice fully wrapped around

[Nat]

In my personal opinion the best orientation is blowing air flow down onto the heat sink. But it is your build and looks good, really just some airflow is all you need.

Some more discussion is here Fan Orientation

[MiSTerEggman]

Thanks!

so I really cant go wrong either way? I figured that it would be better to not have dust blown on the board too

I saw that thread but came away thinking its a toss up and could see arguments for both.

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just flipped it for peace of mind! hopefully running memtest for an hour yesterday didnt do any damage but I think it can sustain quite a bit

[retrorepair]

You will get better cooling blowing cold air onto the heatsink but drawing hot air away from the heatsink is probably fine too. I don't really know if it gets hot enough in general to worry too much about it.

[rhester72]

That depends, really. If you have no case, I 100% agree - but if it's enclosed, blowing air onto the heatsink...without proper side ventilation...will simply cause the now-hot air to collect and swirl around inside the case, raising ambient temperatures. With closed cases, it's usually best to exhaust for that reason, but you'll still need side or bottom vents to draw cool air in through.

[MiSTerEggman]

That depends, really. If you have no case, I 100% agree - but if it's enclosed, blowing air onto the heatsink...without proper side ventilation...will simply cause the now-hot air to collect and swirl around inside the case, raising ambient temperatures. With closed cases, it's usually best to exhaust for that reason, but you'll still need side or bottom vents to draw cool air in through.

Thanks!

Flipped it last night, just to be sure. Im sure no damage was done.

Surprised I see all these closed case kits with it still blowing down in that case. Since io boards I think often come with the fan blowing down by default.

Oh well, only used it off and on for a day and change before switching it

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Glad these screws have little teeth in the bottom for the pegs that came with de-10, feel like I partially stripped one aesthetically in one groove but just cosmetic- my small screw bit on hand holds onto the smaller teeth well in the groove. and I dont tighten it too much so its still easy to remove (especially for when my birchwood case comes)

Glad im in the noob section of the forum

But software configuring was pretty dang easy

[retrorepair]

That depends, really. If you have no case, I 100% agree - but if it's enclosed, blowing air onto the heatsink...without proper side ventilation...will simply cause the now-hot air to collect and swirl around inside the case, raising ambient temperatures. With closed cases, it's usually best to exhaust for that reason, but you'll still need side or bottom vents to draw cool air in through.

I was going by his picture above which clearly has space all round for the hot air to escape.

[rhester72]

That depends, really. If you have no case, I 100% agree - but if it's enclosed, blowing air onto the heatsink...without proper side ventilation...will simply cause the now-hot air to collect and swirl around inside the case, raising ambient temperatures. With closed cases, it's usually best to exhaust for that reason, but you'll still need side or bottom vents to draw cool air in through.

I was going by his picture above which clearly has space all round for the hot air to escape.

Oh, I agree - I was trying to cover all the cases.

That setup *specifically* would benefit from blowing onto the heat sink.

[MiSTerEggman]

Down it is !

thanks guys ! Good to know I didnt do any damage either with it temporarily up.

Lucky me - my Birchwood case from etsy arrived today too (and in line dc power switch)

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[rhester72]

To be fair, I ran mine bare for a month with no fan at all and it was fine.

[ash2fpga]

++It's all about the airflow. I can only reiterate what other have already said.

If you want to read more about cooling, the SPCR forums are a decent resource.

[MiSTerEggman]

Are you guys fans of (no pun intended) 3.3 or 5v?

I think 5v may be overkill for the thermal situation , but I Really dont mind the acoustics of mine.

Sometimes quiet vs. loud doesn't bother me as much as how the fan itself sounds... if that makes sense.