Had my side panel fan backwards for 6 months before I noticed

So I built this custom case from an old server chassis back in January. I kept wondering why my GPU temps were hovering around 82C under load even with three 120mm fans. Last week I was cleaning dust and noticed the side panel fan was actually pulling air into the case instead of exhausting it out. The little arrow on the fan frame was pointing inward and I just never checked it. Has anyone else made that same rookie mistake with airflow direction?

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julia84336m agoTop Commenter

My buddy built his first PC last year and did the exact same thing with his top exhaust fan. He had it set as intake instead of exhaust for like four months, and his room would get super warm while his CPU temps were fine (weird, right?). He only figured it out when his cat started sleeping on top of the case because of all the hot air blowing out the bottom. We still give him a hard time about it every time we game together.