I just recently bought a Cooler Master Seidon 120M as Newegg was having a ridiculously good deal on CM coolers. I'm having a few problems though now that it's gotten here.
First, CM suggests to have the fan/s attached to the radiator pull air in from outside and blow the hot air into the case, and then have a case fan (or two) on the top of the case to pull that air out again. It seems really non-intuitive to blow hot air into a computer case, especially when the only heat that would be in a case (near the cpu area where the radiator would be mounted) is the passive VRM heatsinks. Any suggestions on how I should work with air-flow through the new cooling solution?
Second, It seems like I could put the radiator in the top of the case (I'd have to move a few things) but I was just planning on putting it in the back because the tubes are a little stiff. Not sure which to do, CM recomends the back of the case with the tubes at the bottom, but maybe its more advantageous to put it in the top, who knows.
Third, Here's a picture of my case, I've numbered the places where there are opening for fans (5 is the side panel) Also I have a Sapphire 7870 and the PSU takes in air from the bottom and vents to the back (I think you might need that information.
I have 2 or 3 fans available for case movement. I bought a Cougar Vortex 120mm for the radiator and I could still hook up the fan that came with the radiator if push/pull would be optimal. If push/pull isn't necessary the fan that came from CM, along with the two case fans that came with the case are available for air movement. So if you could suggest an initial trial set-up of what you think may be optimal that would be a great help to get me started.
I should finish with saying this is my first build, and thus my first aftermarket heatsink/cooler installation.
try to make it so you build positive pressure in your system like more air blowin in than out. then i would mount the cpu cooler on the top blowing the air out. how air rises.
I'm assuming its fine to mount the radiator horizontally, but since CM suggests to mount it vertically with the tubes on the bottom, will it still work well? Or is this a try it and find out kind of thing?
It will work either way. They recommend to have the tubes at the bottom to keep air out of the pump. Air bubbles CAN cause damage and lower performance. So I would keep it vertical. JMO.
Having it use fresh, cold air sounds better, but in practice it will heat up your VRMs and the inside of your case, Have every other fan in your PC as intake, and the Cooler as an out take..
Mount the rad on the back with a fan pulling air through the rad and out the back. Or on the top fan pulling air through the rad. I like pull configs as they are easier to clean. Place the other two on the front and one on top. Positive pressure is key to keeping dust out.
Positive pressure is brought up a lot and I'm not sure how to do it with this case. Should I cover the vents not in use to make sure air-flow is in the areas that I want it, and to keep pressure up, or leave it as is so that there is maximum opening to ambient air?
I put mine in position 3 in a pull config (Kraken x40) it makes it easy to clean and works just as well as push. I would not mount it in the top because I have found that it can start to fill with dust if the pc is left turned off overnight (I live in a dusty area admittedly) and then the only way to clean properly is to pull it out.
I have my H80 in position 3 in push pull pulling air out side in and a fan in position 2 sucking the hot air straight out the top it works good for me.
I got the cooler installed, and until I get my fan splitter in the mail I have it in a push/pull configuration venting out the back of the case. I bought some Arctic MX-4 as well and that combination has dropped my temps at full load by a good 12C from stock.
Now at some point whenever the splitter gets here I'll finally do some overclocking for the first time (AMD FX-6350) so we'll see how that goes.
