Out of the box: Push or pull?
We recommend installing the fans pushing air through the radiator rather than pulling air through it for optimal performance-to-noise efficiency. While our tests have shown hardly any differences in thermal performance, installing the fans in a pull configuration tends to have severe acoustic drawbacks as the inflow turbulence caused by the radiator will lead to unstable flow patterns and unfavourable aerodynamic load conditions on the fan blades.
In our tests with the NL-LC1-36 mounted in a top exhaust position, installing the fans in a pull configuration resulted in 3-5dB(A) higher noise levels at the same cooling performance compared to the recommended push configuration:
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Push-pull: Is it worth it?
Noctua generally does not recommend adding extra fans to create push-pull setups on NL-LC1 coolers because the performance-to-noise efficiency tends to be worse than with single-side push configurations. In our tests using an NL-LC1-36 cooler at a head-load of 200W, the push-pull configuration performed better than the single-side pull configuration, but was 1-3dB(A) louder than the single-side push configuration at the same component temperatures:
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At full fan speed, the push-pull configuration did provide slightly better cooling performance, but at a noise penalty of around 8dB(A). If you still want to boost raw cooling performance by adding more fans, we recommend using speed-offset NF-A12x25 G2 Sx2-PP fans (for NL-LC1-36 and NL-LC1-24) or NF-A14x25 G2 Sx2-PP fans (for NL-LC1-42) in a PPA/PPB/PPA configuration on the push side and a PPB/PPA/PPB configuration on the pull side for 360mm and 420mm models. For the NL-LC1-24, we recommend a PPA/PPB configuration on the push side and a PPB/PPA configuration on the pull side.
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