Question about the way a fan blows

Ok, so this is a really newbie question, but I have not pretended to be an expert or anything like that, lol.

If a case fan is blowing cool air away from the case, that means it's acting as an exhausting fan, right?

if it's blowing cool air inside the case, it's acting as an intake fan, right?

So, in essence, the direction a fan blows cool air is the determining factor if you want it to become an intake or exhaust fan, correct?

Help please!
Thank you!

 

Yes, that is exactly correct.

If a fan is blowing air out of a particular confined space, it is serving as an exhaust; (when talking computers it's not blowing out cool air, but hot) - if drawing air in, it is serving as an intake, blowing cool air into the confined space.

 

The basics are really simple exhaust - blows out and intake - blows in.

For the best cooling depends on the amount of heat generated by your PC I.E. CPU and GPU but but the average configuration is an intake fan at the front of the case as low as possible and exhaust at the rear as high as possible, that is because hot air rises so you blow cold air in at the bottom, it gets warm from the PC and you pull it out at the top.

 

That's odd.

I have a supposed exhaust fan in the center back of my pc, and even though it's supposed to act as an "exhaust fan, (at least I think)" it blows cool air out.

Any ideas as to why when it probably should be blowing hot air out?

The PSU at the top-back of the pc blows hot air out, that's a definite, but not the 80mm fan in the mid-back.

 

Is the fan on backwards? (just realized how stupid that was, lol) *edit) That wouldn't even be why tho right? Maybe the inside of your computer is just cool... do you have any other fans in there, do you see big copper color things connected to the CPU? (these would be advanced cooling, maybe it is blowing out cool air because it is just not simply hot inside the case.)


Top of my case is blowing out cool air...

 

mmmh, that's funny...I think my pc gets hot inside...I mean, the graphics card gets hot when I play pc games (call of duty, wow, etc...) but the fan is still blowing out cold air out the back. I'll have to measure temps.
Ty for your help bro

 

graphics card can get hot.. won't necessarily mean the whole inside of the computer is hot too.

I mean there is no other explanation why its blowing out cold air.. It is just a regular fan right? its not sucking in air and then cooling it and sending it out? (that wouldn't make sense anyways)

I mean, I know it is ok either way.. mine does the same thing, so i have a hunch this is normal.

 

Hmm, it sounds like you are just fine to me. I have a pair of dual-slot 9800GT's and when they're working, it is HOOOT out the back of the cards.:eek If the air is moving out from your fan, check with a match etc., and it's cool then you're just fine.:cool