Will installing a side fan make the cooling of my MoBo even worse, if it disturbs the flow of air from the front fan blowing air in and the rear fan sucking air out. If it is a good idea to add a side fan, should I face it so it sucks air out, or blows air into my computer. Thanks for any help.
YOu always want exhaust fans to pull the air in at an even higher velocity. I'd suggest that you'd place the fans at the rear instead. Sucking out the air. I highly doubt it. Having less air is better than having a lot of HOT air. THe side exhaust will be able to pull out hot air from the motherboard. This decreases the front intake fans efficiency. I'd suggest that if there is only one fan, that fan be an exhaust fan. If you have two, try 1I and 1E, or 2E; having excess intake fans make be just useless. Cold air is pushed in, but the hot air have no way out; so to speak. Good Luck!
If you want to add a fan, you might want to consider a 'blow hole' fan in the top pannel of the case. This will allow the hot air that misses the airflow stream to rise out the top. Side fans can cause higher temperatures in some cases, but are generaly a plus. If you have a front fan and a rear fan, you might consider putting a 120mm or larger fan in the middle of the side of the case. Use the side fan as an exhaust fan, and the other two as intake fans. This will keep the hard drive heat away from the CPU, and the CPU heat away from the hard drives. Of course this is all assuming that the case was not designed with cooling in mind, some OEM cases come with plastic pannels that dirrect airflow for maximum affect. If this is the case, the blowhole will still help.
The case I have a the moment has one 120mm fan blowing ait in at the front, and one 120mm fan sucking air out at the rear. The case has a place when you can fit in a 80mm fan at the side. If I only have the side fan sucking out air, will it be enough to suck out all the air been blown in.
You might be able to get slightly better cooling by mounting the rear fan to blow on the CPU, the side fan to blow on the CPU, and the front fan as an exhaust...but not a whole lot. In my experience, the best solution for such a case is my trusty dremel.
Due to the laws of positive pressure and reduced airflow with intake, I'd recommend you do add the 80mm side fan, and add it as an intake fan.
