CPU cooling: push vs pull

[romullus]

I wonder how much less effective cooler fans are in pull than in push position? Now my fan is pushing air and i get 60-70 C temps when rendering, will it get much worse if i place fan on the other side of cooler? Thing is, i want to fill empty RAM slots with more sticks and fan is getting in the way.

Of course, i could just open case, replace fan and see it for myself, but that damn thing is so hard to install, so i thaught i may ask here first :]

[Juraj]

What case, board, cooler and ram sticks are these ?

I honestly don't know what the difference in temperature to be, but push is superior in any case. Even with single CPU heatsink fan, you would have push/pull setup using the rear fan as exhaust.

I am asking the first, because if the ram sticks obstruct your fan, it might be because you use some high-profile memory modules ? In such case, you can strip the heatsinks from them, it will make zero difference.

[romullus]

You mean physically remove heatsink from RAM modules?! I don't have balls to do that, i'm affraid o_O

RAM is these: http://www.skytech.lt/cmz16gx3m2a1600c9-ddr3-corsair-vengeance-black-16gb-2x8gb-1600mhz-cl9-xmp13-p-125760.html#tabsnav-2
Case is ancient Antec Sonata (II?)
Cooler - Scythe Ashura
MB - Asus H87 pro

[Juraj]

Yeah, 6 years ago, when I build my first CGI workstation, I made the same mistake and bought Vengeance, instead of Vengeance Low profile :- ).

Here's tutorial in any case:

[romullus]

Hmm yeah... i don't know, looks like perfect recipe to damage frgile electronics to me. Since you mentioned low profile modules, would these be compatible with my current ones: http://www.skytech.lt/cml16gx3m2a1600c9-corsair-ddr3-1600mhz-16gb-2x8gb-dimm-unbuffered-99924-vengeanc-p-223716.html#tabsnav-2 I haven't bought them yet, so i'd be more than happy if i could bypass sledgehammer repair approach.

[Juraj]

Yes of course, the difference is only visual. The heatsinks are worthless :- )

[romullus]

That's great news. Thank you so much for help Juraj!

[fkoehler]

Hi Romullus,

I think that air cooling is not an exact science :). There are many variables in the equation, if the case is well ventilated it probably won't do great difference..  So there's nothing like testing in same conditions for both setups. A few years ago I made some tests with different setups (positive vs negative pressure, push vs pull) and it was quite random results... An old I7-2600k with a CM Hyper 212 Evo "scored" around 2º Celsius cooler in pull setup comparing with push setup. I also tested push and pull (2 fans) on  I7-3930k with an Hyper 212 Evo and there was no difference between push+pull and just push.

Cheers

[romullus]

Thanks for sharing your experience! 2 C wouldn't bother me at all, i doubt i even would notice such difference :] I was affraid that there could be 10-15 C difference. Anyway, i think i'll go with Juraj's suggestion and will buy low profile RAM.

[Juraj]

btw you can mix these ( same brand, clock, timing, voltage )

just writing in case that you would want to swap them all and not just buy additional  :- ) because I understood you need more dimms.