On Apr 13, 2004, at 06:33 pm, James Morgan wrote:------------------------
This "Which direction should the fan move air in a 9600 case" issue comes up from time to time and there is always confusion caused by Apple's contradictory instructions.
Here is the bottom line. If you have a 9600 you should have the side door fan blowing air INTO the case because the fan at the rear of the power supply exhausts air OUT of the top of the case. Cool air comes in over the components that need it, rises up, and is exhausted out the top of the case.
I, and I think everyone else, realise this. I for one an in no way confused about what my fan should do - it's blowing in and long shall it stay that way. What has me confused is why on this earth Apple decided to shoot the whole thing in the foot by fitting them the wrong way around.
My only theory is that they thought directly exhausting air off the pair of floor mounted hard disks would be better for the cooling of the upper part as it meant that warm air was not being pushed over already hot components further up. There are other places the top exhaust fan can draw air in, but no so as to remain at best cooling efficiency. Has me boggled. Apple have done some crazy things in their time ;-)
The only thing I can figure is that the early models, which did not have the plastic shroud around the fan, could have been intended to draw air in from either side of the fan (the side door slots extend all the way along the bottom of the side door) and then out through the fan. This air coming in at each side of the fan could have been drawn around and over components in the bottom of the case and also drawn up to the exhaust fan in the power supply. This is only a guess and, since I am making it, I also will guess that it was not a very efficient cooling design.
With addition of the plastic shroud around the fan and the fan set to draw air into the case, the fan then draws air from all along the slots into the case. This is a much better air movement system and it seems to me the early system without the plastic shroud and with the fan in backward was just one of those early Apple designs they didn't give much thought to, didn't work well, and was soon changed. I have seen Apple put out other designs that appeared to have been hurriedly put on the market and then changed soon after they went into use.
-- James K Morgan
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