For the optional front panel fan, what are the pros and cons of using it as an intake fan versus exhaust fan?
I don’t think I’ve seen tests with front fan as exhaust, but Phoronix did a test with front fan as intake, for CPU only tasks, there doesn’t seem to be any difference performance-wise, but peak temp is few degrees lower, SSD is also runs a bit cooler, and for the very few tasks involving the GPU, there seems to be a small increase in performance, but not significant enough to go out of your way to add the front fan.
If I had the system and I wanted to add a front fan, I’d probably go with exhaust or not bother at all, the main fan alone is good enough, having another fan as intake means additional dust build up and that’s kind of annoying.
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Yeah, dust is a concern. I’m curious what options we have for using dust filters.
Also, im curious whether using the front fan as an exhaust fan will increase dust coming in from the back
I found that this link has a good explanation of airflow concepts: