Dual chamber cases hide the power supply and cables in a back room behind the motherboard. That frees up the floor for fans, and most of them swap the front fans for a glass window.
No front intake changes everything. The cool air now has to come from the bottom and the side, and getting that balance right is worth several degrees.
The layout to copy
Bring air in low and on the side. Push it out the top and back.
| Fan spot | Set it to | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Bottom | Intake | Feeds the graphics card from below |
| Side | Intake | Feeds the CPU cooler |
| Top | Exhaust | Hot air rises, so let it out |
| Rear | Exhaust | Clears warm air around the CPU |
Corsair recommends exactly this for its 6500 series, and the same layout works best in the Y70 and NV7.
Bottom fans feed the GPU, side fans feed the CPU
Gamers Nexus has tested bottom intake against side intake in several dual chamber cases. The pattern is clear.
| Case | Bottom intake | Side intake |
|---|---|---|
| Hyte Y70, GPU | 45°C | 48°C |
| Hyte Y70, CPU (P-core) | 55°C | 53°C |
| Corsair 6500X, GPU | 44°C | about 45°C |
All results are degrees above room temperature, from Gamers Nexus’ Y70 and 6500X reviews.
So use both. Bottom fans on their own leave the CPU short of air, and side fans on their own leave the GPU short. As Gamers Nexus put it, forcing air past a GPU isn’t an effective way to cool a CPU.
When bottom fans don’t help
In the original Lian Li O11 Dynamic, three bottom intake fans did shockingly poorly. The flat graphics card blocked most of the air going up, so it just circled around under the card.
Three side intake fans won that test for both the CPU (49°C above room) and the GPU (48°C). If your graphics card is wide and sits low, close to the bottom fans, lean on side intake.
A vertical card is the other way around. In the Y70, the card stands on its edge, so bottom fans blow straight up along it.
Glass front or mesh front?
Glass costs you some cooling, but less than you might think. The Corsair 6500X (glass front) and 6500D (mesh front) are the same case apart from the front panel.
With standard fans, the glass 6500X ran its CPU 47°C above room versus 41°C for the mesh 6500D. But when Gamers Nexus matched the noise levels, the mesh version didn’t have a large advantage. The glass case even won on GPU temperature, thanks to its bottom fans.
Where to put an AIO
On top, as exhaust. In KitGuru’s Y70 testing, a top exhaust AIO with bottom and side intake gave the best CPU and GPU temperatures.
A top intake would pour the radiator’s warm air down onto the graphics card.
That matters even more with a hot card like the RTX 5090, which already pushes its heat up toward the CPU.
Reverse blade fans
Dual chamber cases show off the fans through the glass. A normal fan used as intake shows you its back, with the struts and sticker. Reverse blade fans flip that, so you see the clean blade side.
They usually move a bit less air than the standard version:
| Fan | Standard | Reverse |
|---|---|---|
| Phanteks D30-120 | 64.3 CFM | 61.5 CFM |
| Lian Li UNI FAN TL LCD 120 | 62 CFM | 54.3 CFM |
Phanteks puts it simply: on the regular D30, air moves front to rear. On the reverse, it moves rear to front. Use reverse fans where you’ll see them from the “wrong” side, which is usually the bottom and side intakes.
Popular cases at a glance
| Case | Bottom | Side | Top | Rear |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hyte Y70 | 3 x 120 / 2 x 140 | 3 x 120 / 2 x 140 | 3 x 120 / 2 x 140 | 1 x 120 / 140 |
| Phanteks NV7 | 3 x 120 / 140 | 4 x 120 | 3 x 120 | 2 x 120 |
| Corsair 6500X | 3 x 120 / 140 | 3 x 120 | 3 x 120 / 140 | 1 x 120 / 140 |
| Lian Li O11 Dynamic EVO | 3 x 120 / 2 x 140 | 3 x 120 / 2 x 140 | 3 x 120 / 2 x 140 | 1 x 120 |
Our case cheat sheets show each of these layouts at a glance, including the O11 Dynamic EVO. For the full setup, see our Hyte Y70 and Phanteks NV7 guides.
Set your fan speeds
With this many fans, each one can spin slowly and quietly. Our sister site can build a ready-made curve from your temperatures.