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intel I7700K liquid cooler or Air cooler

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I'm interested in the radiator place discussion - I was planning on a placement at the top of the case venting out of the top but having seen the video it suggests a front radiator panel could be more beneficial. More so as I plan to get a non-blower 1080Ti. Is this really going to impact temperatures on the CPU?

 

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As Martin said, and I agree, if you have enough ventilation into and out of your case as he does, that should keep your case air temperatures down.

Ted


3770k@4.5 ghz, Noctua C12P CPU air cooler, Asus Z77, 2 x 4gb DDR3 Corsair 2200 mhz cl 9, EVGA 1080ti, Sony 55" 900E TV 3840 x 2160, Windows 7-64, FSX, P3dv3, P3dv4

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17 hours ago, JamesHongKong said:

I'm interested in the radiator place discussion - I was planning on a placement at the top of the case venting out of the top but having seen the video it suggests a front radiator panel could be more beneficial. More so as I plan to get a non-blower 1080Ti. Is this really going to impact temperatures on the CPU?

 

 

The point is James, we aren't talking about huge temp differences, no show stoppers. But yes, if you want to optimise your rig when you build it, radiator position is something to consider. But I notice that in that video he didn't consider rad fans blowing  in or out, which is probably more of a consideration than front or top mounting. More on that in next post.

Re the non-reference graphics cards that dump a significant percentage of their heat into the case, it's not an issue, and I can give you three personal experiences to back that up.

1) Quite a few years ago, I had an i7 920 system that had an EVGA GTX 580. It was the reference design with blower cooler. EVGA had overclocked it. Trouble was the card generated a ton of heat, so EVGA decided to set the fan to 100%. I'm sure you can imagine, the noise was horrendous, damned annoying. So I ditched the blower cooler and fitted a Thermalright GPU cooler. The Thermalright exhausted all, 100%, of it's heat into the case. Yet I had no issues at all with any temps. And this was a heavily overclocked CPU. In fact this is the only time I've been lucky enough to have a "golden" chip that I could throw anything at.

2) My old system [now owned by my son] was a 3770K overclocked, with an EVGA GTX 770. A non-blower style card. I'm guessing but I reckon it dumps about 70% of it's heat into the case. Again, no issues at all with temps, all temps low. CPU temp was very low with a Noctua NH-D14 cooler. And here's the thing, the case was a Lian Li case with just TWO 120 fans. One at the front and one at the rear. 

3) Current system, 6700K at 4.6 GHz. EVGA GTX 980 Ti Classified. ACX 2.0 cooler exhausting most of it's air into the case. CPU temp running BF4 and Elite Dangerous is VERY low. Even a tough Realbench stress test at 4.6 GHz only generates low 70's. This is with the NH-D15S. All temps low. And yes, my case has three 120 fans at the front and two at the back, but they reraely spin at anything like their max RPM. I have a fan curve configured with Fan Xpert so that the system is VERY quiet. The only time it's a bit louder is when I run Elite Dangerous, and that's because ED is very heavy on the graphics card, so the graphics card fan ramps up.

Sorry to babble on, as I usually do, but you can see from the above that a graphics card with a non-reference cooler that exhausts much of it's air into the case is rarely an issue. Surprisingly any increase in temp is minimal. Now if you were running SLI, or triple SLI, it may well be a different proposition.

Also worth considering that there are literally thousands of non-reference cards out there and most of them exhaust a lot of heat into the case. It's a proven design that rarely causes issues. In fact, I'd without doubt, advise you buy a non-reference design card from the likes of EVGA Asus etc. They have uprated components and cooling and are often factory overclocked.

 

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Regarding radiator orientation and position. The video I posted does seem to suggest that front radiator mounting is the best option. But there are countless systems out there with top mounted rad's that have no issues, so I don't think it's something you should worry about if top mounting is your easiest option.

A front mounted radiator will suck cool air into the rad and blow it into the case of course. Unless you go for a non-standard setup with case airflow reversed. So essentially warm radiator air is being blown into the case, thus, theoretically increasing internal component temps. But again, shouldn't t be a show stopper.

Re top mounted rads, same applies. Fans orientated so that they draw cool air from outside, across the radiator and into the case, result in lowest CPU temp but higher internal case temps. Corsair advise this orientation and for obvious reasons, they want their AIO coolers to be seen to generate their lowest temp. They're biased you see, so ignore that and decide for yourself. 

Conversely, if your top mounted radiator fans draw warmer air out of the case to the outside, it results in lower case temps but higher CPU temps.

Up to you to choose which you prefer. But don't panic, whatever you choose your system will cool fine.

Not such a problem with an air cooler. My Noctua D15S for example is aligned with the front case fan and rear case fan. So three fans all aligned and exhausting out of the case. So I suspect that there's not much CPU heat spill over.

 

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My Thermaltake Water 2.0 has just died (sprung a leak actually) & although it's four years old Tt are looking into a replacement. Hopefully I'll get an answer today whether they will or not.

In the meantime I've been researching & was considering a corsair however hear they are very noisy.

Came across this unit that get's very good reviews & out performs the Corsairs & is much quieter:

http://www.swiftech.com/h220x2.aspx

Could be worth considering.

 

 


Cheers, Ross

i910900KF | ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Extreme Z590 | ASUS ROG STRIX RTX3070 OC 8Gb | 32Gb G.Skill  Ripjaws DDR4 3200 I  Thermaltake Water 3.0 Riing | Samsung SSD 870 1TB GB HD | WIN 10 64 Bit

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4 hours ago, Rossco said:

In the meantime I've been researching & was considering a corsair however hear they are very noisy.

I think the older models were. I have the H110iGT and I run it in Quiet mode through the Corsair Link software and it's inaudible. Idle CPU temp around 24C and load around 65C and still quiet. The fans can be quite noisy if you run them in Performance mode but I've never needed to do so. It has a 5-year warranty as well.


 i7-6700k | Asus Maximus VIII Hero | 16GB RAM | MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X Plus | Samsung Evo 500GB & 1TB | WD Blue 2 x 1TB | EVGA Supernova G2 850W | AOC 2560x1440 monitor | Win 10 Pro 64-bit

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I have a noctua NH-D15S that cools my i7 7700k and it allows a stable overclock at 5ghz, I suspect I have enough temperature headroom to even go slightly higher though I haven't tried yet.

In short, I think I won the silicon lottery, but notwithstanding that it's a great cooler!


Dave

Current System (Running at 4k): ASUS ROG STRIX X670E-F, Ryzen 7800X3D, RTX 4080, 55" Samsung Q80T, 32GB DDR5 6000 RAM, EVGA CLC 280mm AIO Cooler, HP Reverb G2, Brunner CLS-E NG Yoke, Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS & Stick, Thrustmaster TCA Quadrant & Add-on, VirtualFly Ruddo+, TQ6+ and Yoko+, GoFlight MCP-PRO and EFIS, Skalarki FCU and MCDU

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Hi Martin,

Thanks as always for your advice - I think I'll go with a front mounted radiator with fans pulling air in as an intake and standard fans as an exhaust on the back and top. I have enough room in the case. It's a great case for Airflow anyway (hence the name 740 Air). I may do a bit of testing but as you say, the temp difference is likely to be negligible.

James

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6 hours ago, JamesHongKong said:

Hi Martin,

Thanks as always for your advice - I think I'll go with a front mounted radiator with fans pulling air in as an intake and standard fans as an exhaust on the back and top. I have enough room in the case. It's a great case for Airflow anyway (hence the name 740 Air). I may do a bit of testing but as you say, the temp difference is likely to be negligible.

James

 

Okay James.

Something else to consider of course is positive or negative case pressure. I have to say, that the slightly positive case pressure of my Lian Li case has been great regarding dust ingestion. Virtually nothing inside. Just a slight fine dust. No carpets in the room though which helps tremendously.

Looking at your Air 540, I see it has two 140 fans on top and one 140 on the rear, so configured for negative pressure.  If you'd prefer a slight positive pressure, you would have to lower the top two 140 fan RPM's.  Or alternatively, install just one 140 fan at the top. The other alternative is top two fans blowing in, which may be a bit over the top re positive pressure.

Something to consider anyway, but you may decide to accept a negative pressure and somewhat more dust ingress.

 

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8 hours ago, regis9 said:

I have a noctua NH-D15S that cools my i7 7700k and it allows a stable overclock at 5ghz, I suspect I have enough temperature headroom to even go slightly higher though I haven't tried yet.

In short, I think I won the silicon lottery, but notwithstanding that it's a great cooler!

 

Yep, same cooler as me. I babble on about how great it is all the time, so much so that I was once accused of having a connection to the company. :biggrin: Not true of course, but when I come across a device that is well engineered and performs well I'm impressed. Love their fans too, and not sure why many hate the colour scheme, I actually like it. Although I believe they do black fans now.

Incidentally, I understand that Noctua are involved in an "Active Noise Cancellation" project. Basically the fan emits inverted phase frequencies that cancel out fan noise. Phase cancellation, or destructive interference, technically.

Not sure inf any other manufactures are looking into this. Probably are.

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23 minutes ago, martin-w said:

Okay James.

Something else to consider of course is positive or negative case pressure. I have to say, that the slightly positive case pressure of my Lian Li case has been great regarding dust ingestion. Virtually nothing inside. Just a slight fine dust. No carpets in the room though which helps tremendously.

Looking at your Air 540, I see it has two 140 fans on top and one 140 on the rear, so configured for negative pressure.  If you'd prefer a slight positive pressure, you would have to lower the top two 140 fan RPM's.  Or alternatively, install just one 140 fan at the top. The other alternative is top two fans blowing in, which may be a bit over the top re positive pressure.

Something to consider anyway, but you may decide to accept a negative pressure and somewhat more dust ingress.

Actually I have the Air 740. I am currently playing around with the set up to ensure that I get a bit of positive pressure. In essence I have 2 x 140mm (with the radiator/H115i) on the front and 1 x 120mm on the bottom as intakes. I then have 1 x 140mm at the back and 2 x 120mm on the top as exhausts. I will configure the fan profiles to ensure a slight positive pressure in this scenario. I have also purchased magnetic dust filters for the bottom to help with the potential dust issue. The great thing is that I can access the case really easily on both sides making keeping it clean anyway pretty easy. 

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22 minutes ago, JamesHongKong said:

Actually I have the Air 740. I am currently playing around with the set up to ensure that I get a bit of positive pressure. In essence I have 2 x 140mm (with the radiator/H115i) on the front and 1 x 120mm on the bottom as intakes. I then have 1 x 140mm at the back and 2 x 120mm on the top as exhausts. I will configure the fan profiles to ensure a slight positive pressure in this scenario. I have also purchased magnetic dust filters for the bottom to help with the potential dust issue. The great thing is that I can access the case really easily on both sides making keeping it clean anyway pretty easy. 

 

Oh right, sorry James. Sounds like a well equipped case for cooling. Have fun testing, and let us know how it goes. 

 

A tip I picked up a while ago to test airflow is incense sticks. Haven't tried it, but they emit a constant stream of smoke. Handy for determining positive or negative pressure. Beats expensive smoke machines any day.

Jay is wrong in the video below in one respect though. He states that positive pressure is when more air is going in than out, which is of course wrong! Our PC's are rigid structures, they don't inflate like a balloon, so what really happens is that as air is blown in pressure increases, but then the velocity of the air escaping the case through fans and vents also increases. Thus you end up with the same CFM in and out but a higher internal pressure.

 

 

 

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Just now, martin-w said:

 

Oh right, sorry James. Have fun testing, a let us know how it goes. 

No worries, will do! I'm just waiting on a couple of components to come through. In process of uninstalling all P3D stuff from current computer (this one I'm typing on) so I can transfer the SSD across to the new system. 

I have to say, I like the Air 740 case - the fact it splits the HDDs, SSDs and PSU into the back compartment means it's dead easy to build in - also a lot of space for air flow and good cable management. If I can't keep the temps down in this then I don't know what I'm doing (which is also true anyway!).

One thing I did notice was I need to twist the Corsair H115i tubing a bit to get it sitting right (rather than an upside down Corsair logo) - thankfully YouTube has been my friend and the tubing can handle quite a bit of manipulation and maneuvering - just in case anyone else has worries about the flex in the tubing.

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12 minutes ago, JamesHongKong said:

No worries, will do! I'm just waiting on a couple of components to come through. In process of uninstalling all P3D stuff from current computer (this one I'm typing on) so I can transfer the SSD across to the new system. 

I have to say, I like the Air 740 case - the fact it splits the HDDs, SSDs and PSU into the back compartment means it's dead easy to build in - also a lot of space for air flow and good cable management. If I can't keep the temps down in this then I don't know what I'm doing (which is also true anyway!).

One thing I did notice was I need to twist the Corsair H115i tubing a bit to get it sitting right (rather than an upside down Corsair logo) - thankfully YouTube has been my friend and the tubing can handle quite a bit of manipulation and maneuvering - just in case anyone else has worries about the flex in the tubing.

 

Are you keeping the H115i Corsair fans James, or swapping them.

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Just now, martin-w said:

 

Are you keeping the H115i Corsair fans James, or swapping them.

Swapping them - reason being I actually tested it out on my current system with the stock vs replacement (quieter) Noctua fans and the temp difference was absolutely negligible. I did go for the Noctua's that are designed/recommended for radiator usage though rather than the stock case fans. If I have temp issues I'll test it with the Corsairs - I know the RPM on them is higher but so is the noise. Mind you not as noisy as my current Cooler Master AIO fans - absolutely ridiculous.

My CPU has been de-lidded by the way so I'm hoping I can keep temps down nicely overall. Trading a couple of degress with quieter fans is one of the trade offs I'm prepared to go with (or at least try out).

Funnily enough I watched that video a couple of months ago and was planning on getting some incense sticks! Haha 

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