Radiator placement

I've looked around and I can't see a definitive answer. I currently watercool my cpu with a 280 top mounted rad with the fans pushing the air through as an exhaust. I'm going to be watercooling my gpu this week or next, adding a front mounted 240mm and adding a rear 120mm exhaust fan.

So my question, would it be better to have both rads as intake, or just the front and leave the top as an exhaust?

Current setup
Imgur

The amount of videos I have seen on the topic on YouTube with tests and stuff all say the same thing...
The difference is not worth bothering about it.
Yes, the intake will probably be a single degree cooler, but that is deep within margin of error, so yeah...
It doesn't matter all that much.

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Generally the way I've assembled Liquid Cooled rigs is to simply place as many components of the cooling loop away from the electronics as possible and low down in the case so that in the event of a leak/condensation or other dripping potential damage is reduced,

Cooling wise there isn't much difference, the ambient temperature of the room is a bigger factor than the actual layout regarding cooling.

Just don't place fans in obviously restricted airflow areas and you're fine.

For your current setup there isn't really anything you can improve without replacing everything.
So just make sure it never leaks, don't disassemble it unnecessarily and be sure the replace(flush) the coolant ever so often to keep the liquid loop clean and efficient.

It's a small case so finding anywhere to stick the res/pump was an absolute nightmare. I didn't add any dye to the water because I only want to have to flush it once a year max.

Seems like keeping the top rad as exhaust is the way to go, won't be worth the hassle for 1deg. I'm sure the inside temp of the case will be way down without the gpu dumping all it's heat inside as well. It gets toasty in there atm.

I'd test all configurations, in my opinion there's no definitive answer.

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Is that 4*120mm for one CPU? With that much cooling, I don't see how there can be any significant difference really.

Usually you want a positive pressure in the case to keep dust out, but you shouldn't go too high or the fans have to work "too hard" against the pressure and then the cooling will be less efficient. (Probably still only slight differences in temperature, but I wanted to mention it).

If I was you, I would make it even and let the front fans take air in and the top ones blow air out. At the same time, I would make the front fans spin lightly faster than the top fans, so you keep a positive pressure in the case.

At the moment it's only got one 280 cooling just the cpu. I'm adding a gpu block and a 240mm rad in the front. And just a 120mm fan in the back.

Oops, for some reason I thought those two fans at the front was another 240 radiator :smile:

Theoretically, I would give the CPU the lower temperatures since the GPU is more comfortable with slightly higher temperatures. I know, we are just talking about 2-3 degrees max, but if you have the choice, I guess why not.

Yeah there's not much room there, 34mm :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:.

How do you mean give the cpu lower temps?


I just realized that for some reason I assumed you want to build a second loop and not add the new radiator to the existing loop. In that case both chips have the same water and therefore the same temperature.

So I guess the only difference you might see is if you flip the fans of the top radiator to intake instead of exhaust but honestly, the difference will be so small, that I rather have the advantage of not having to put a dust filter there which I would need to clean once in a while.

Just let the front fans spin a bit faster to create a slight positive pressure and you are good by having the front take air in and the top fans exhaust.

Ahh no, it would never fit. Getting that one in was a nightmare.

Sounds good to me, much less effort. Thanks :slight_smile:

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