Sometimes, no matter how many fans you've thrown at a PC, the airflow just doesn't seem to be doing what you wanted it to. In such cases, the solution is not always "just buy more fans," especially if you don't have any more physical room to add one. Fortunately, there are ways to improve the airflow within your PC without needing to spend money on yet another fan.

3 Adjust how your fans are positioned

Get the most out of what you have right now

When adding fans to your PC, you'd be forgiven for thinking that you can just place them wherever you like and let them do their own thing. However, if you want to optimize the amount of air your current fans are moving, you need to dive into all the little intricacies that come with it.

First, make sure your fans pass cool air from the front and push it out the back. The goal is to create a steady flow that moves from one side of your PC to the other. If you have a fan on the back and the front, and they're both blowing inward, it's not getting rid of the hot air. If they're both blowing outward, the computer isn't getting fresh, cool air into the system.

Try to position your fans so that the fans at the front are pulling air in, and the fans are the back are pushing them out. If you have fans at the top, make them push air out - hot air rises, after all.

Also, try to position the fans so they're at the same height. If your case only has a single front fan on the bottom, see if you can't add an exhaust fan at the bottom. Not all cases will allow this, though, so don't be too bummed if you can't achieve a perfect line between your fans; just make sure it's in through the front, out through the back.

2 Achieve positive, negative, or neutral air pressure in your case

It's less complex than you think

Okay, so that's a lot of complex words that I've just thrown at you, and you may be a little confused. Don't worry; it's easier than it sounds. All you need to do is ask yourself one question; are you trying to achieve better airflow because you want to reduce the amount of dust that settles in your system? Or do you want to help your computer kick out as much hot air as quickly as possible and stop your hardware from overheating?

If you want your fans to focus on removing dust, go for a positive air pressure setup. This is when you have more fans bringing air into the PC than you do fans pushing it out. This extra boost of air coming in reduces the amount of dust that settles on your hardware, but because your exhaust fans aren't kicking out hot air as quickly as it could, you may notice your components get a little toastier than before.

On the other hand, if you want your fans to cool down your components, go for a negative air pressure setup. This is when you have more exhaust fans than you do intake fans. The end result doesn't allow hot air to sit around in your PC, as your back vents will kick it out ASAP. However, because the intake isn't so strong, dust is more likely to settle, so you'll need to pop open the case and give it a blast of compressed air every so often.

If you'd like to take the middle-ground, go for the neutral air pressure setup; an equal number of intake and exhaust fans. This strikes a happy medium between keeping components cool and removing dust from your system.

1 Ensure your PC has lots of space to move air around

Keep those vents unblocked

Now that we have a PC with the fans properly arranged, it's time to make sure the computer itself has enough room to take in cool air and spit out hot air. Fortunately, you don't need a huge amount of space to achieve this; just make sure your PC has around three inches of space around it, and that should be enough for it to move air.

Make the most of the fans you have before you buy new ones

Cooling down a computer is more than just sticking fans on it until it works. If you don't want to, or can't, buy more fans for your PC, there are still ways you can put your current ones to good use. Make sure you have a flow going from the front to the back, set up a suitable pressure depending on what you want to achieve, and give your case room to breathe.