Does negative case pressure really pull in more dust than positive?

Question

I'm finalizing the fan layout in my Meshify 3 and I keep running into the same warning everywhere. Run more exhaust than intake and supposedly the case turns into a dust trap because it pulls unfiltered air through every gap.

The thing is, I've never seen anyone point to an actual controlled test behind it. It's always someone repeating what they heard. Before I lock my arrangement in, has anyone here seen real side by side numbers, or is this just folklore that stuck?

calibration_guy · Accepted Answer

Overclockers.com and be quiet! actually ran this, roughly 50 hours continuous on the same chassis across positive, negative, and neutral setups. Front filter dust came out very similar in all three. Leaning slightly positive is still a sensible default for the temperature and dust balance, but the idea that negative wrecks you on dust is overstated.

arch_btw · Answer

ran mine negative for years and the front filters did all the work honestly