Do I set H110i GTX as INTAKE or EXHAUST?

After researching, it turns out that having a HIGH AIR PRESSURE airflow is better than a negative pressure airflow.

 

Since I know my PC is going to get dusty anyway I will make filters using stockings but I wanted to ask, the video on installing the cooler says 'we are going to install as exhaust'.

 

So will installing the H110i GTX as an INTAKE cause it to be LESS EFFECTIVE?

Please advise, thank you!:[pouts:

 

My case is a 760T Graphite Series

No, but it will make your case warm. Typically the air coming out the other side of the radiator is going to be 8-15C warmer (depending on CPU temps) than air coming in from outside the case. This makes it even more important to have strong exhaust to get that air out, something which many people have just taken a step in the other direction. If your motherboard and case temperature were 30C with moderate load, it will now likely be near 40C. All your drives, memory, chipset, GPU intake air, and motherboard components now function in an environment 10C warmer.

 

Will all the components still work? Of course. Short term ramifications are likely none, other than the GPU intake air. You may see an immediate rise in idle and operating temperature. Long term effects? If you could take 10C off your motherboard temperature, wouldn't you do it?

 

If you've been watching a particular Linus Tech video with an extraordinarily dusty radiator, erase it from your mind. It's staged, misleading, and is probably responsible for thousands of people making a poor decision. Dust doesn't care if you have positive or negative pressure inside your case. If a particle is near an intake fan, it will go in with the rest of the air. If it strikes your charged memory stick on the way by, it may stay there. Nothing about your radiator will change that. If you want to limit dust, get your case up off the floor if you can. That is the most significant thing you can do. Second step would be getting a light air filter for the front intake. If you have some difficult environmental conditions to deal with, then more steps may be needed, but for most people that will do it.

 

If you set the H110GTX in the roof as intake, that probably leaves a single 140mm fan trying to exhaust all the heat from the system. That a lot of warm air in the center of your case trying to get out.

Amazing suggestion, thank you. Can't believe you got the exact video I watched aswell lol. Also one more thing, in relation to my fan setup, do you think its good to make my own dust filters and place them on the fans (women's stockings basically)? will this reduce the dust build up? so less cleaning the actual inside of the PC.

That can work. Computer specialty stores also sell sheets of filter in various thicknesses for a low cost and magnetic stick on filters for areas that are difficult or in plain view. Whether you really need one for the top of the case may depend on how high you are off the floor. The higher you can put the case from the ground, the less likely you are to have dust drop in from the top while the PC is off. A thin filter likely won't hurt anyway because you will won't be running your H110i fans maxed out. You will always have to potential to push more air through if needed, so a small restriction like a filter shouldn't be too limiting.

 

If you know you have a pretty dusty/pollinated environment go ahead and put them on. You can always go the first month and see if it's really needed. Front intake and top should do it for normal environments.

I would definitely use it as exhaust.

if you want positive airflow pressure, just make sure you have at least equal the amount of CFM as intake.

 

 

using the radiator as intake, will get your GPU and other components in your case to little cool air, since you will be blowing hot air into your case.

 

for example having 1 or 2 fans as intake in the front of your case, and 1 side intake, should do the trick, and your Radiator as exhaust on top.

Brilliant! Thank you c-attack and sloeri I will upload some shots of how I've got it done so far, the stockings look tacky so after they get clogged I'll bin them and grab some manufactured filters like you said.

 

And for the fan setups, The 2 front are intake, the rear exhaust and the H110igtx will be exhaust and finally I have space for a bottom fan right next to the PSU, I'm guessing that should be set to intake, I'm not sure where a 'side' fan would go on a 760t, I will google it! THANK YOU.

No side fan on the 760. I would also use the bottom fan as intake, unless you need to put the case on the carpet. If so, you may be better off without it or get a moderate dust filter for the bottom slot.

I also am installing the Corsair H110i GTX Hydro Series. But I'm putting it into my Graphite Series™ 780T Full-Tower PC Case. The Corsair product web site has a big picture that indicates the front fans are intakes, the rear fan is exhaust and any top mounted fan should be exhaust as well.

 

This all makes sense, but what I can't figure out is why the H110i User/Installation Manual, on step 3 says, ""For the best cooling performance, we recommend mounting the fans as an air-intake to your PC case". Additionally, the picture on that same page shows the airflow as exhaust. :wtfeh:

 

In any case, I'm going to mount mine as exhaust because that's the most logical way imho, and I agree with others that have indicated mounting it as an intake will create a rise in case temp.

 

The one question I have to add is does it make any difference if you mount the fans under the radiator (inside the case) or above the radiator (outside the case)?

They really need to re-phrase that and throughout the forums they do clarify the meaning. The use of slightly cooler external air can bring slightly cooler CPU temperatures. However, you are usually talking about 3C or so and the position of the cooler may override any gains. As mentioned above, the downside is a lot of waste heat dumped into your case with no where to go. This is a larger problem for for overclockers or large core counts, but perhaps not so much for a work terminal that does spreadsheets and Word all day. You have yours set up the way you should, however I suspect managing the Ti's is going to be your main focus.

 

Somehow the silly terminology of "push" (drawing air from open space and forcing it through the radiator) and "pull" (drawing air through the radiator and exhausting it into open space) has stuck. The answer to your question is it does matter which side you put the fans on. Both push and pull set-ups work. However, there are a few things to be aware of. Generally speaking, push will yield better CPU temps (about 2-4C on a stress test) with the fans under the radiator blowing up. The second factor is noise. The blades are in closer proximity to the radiator fins in the pull position. This alters the pitch, usually toward a higher frequency or buzzier sound. Every fan is different, so there is no universal rule. On some it won't make much difference. On others it's unlivable.

 

2-4C is nothing of importance unless you are clocked to your last tenth or two. If you like the look of the radiator vs the grey fans underneath, by all means use them in pull. However, my recommendation is the put them in push to start. Get a feel for the sound, it lets you see what the fans are doing while you get used to the system, and then you have some basis to measure it against if you remount in pull next week. Putting them in pull first and then having one of those "what's that noise?!?" moments right after installing would be a bit of let down.

Hi,

 

I was reading through all the opinions and comments of this topic For my setup the push in the air through the radiator into the case works better and gives me better temps on CPU and NOT affecting other component temperatures. I have tried it both way (have push-pull fan setup on the rad, tested mounting on the top as exhaust and as now mounted in the front as intake). Some facts:

1. CPU temperature is lower (idle 32 vs 36, 100% system load 55 vs 62 °C)

2. All air pushed into my case are going through dust filters (even rad), have positive pressure in the case (4x120mm fans on rad + 2 x 140 mm fans at the bottom as intake + 1 x 140 mm fan as exhaust at the back). Top case vents are closed with sound damping pads, through other holes (grill at the VGA ...)from my case I feel even at idle fan speeds air exhausting

3. I have a GTX 980Ti which during gaming heats like hell (OC version, near the most power hungry on the market) so it generates around 65-70°C air to be exhausted. So mainly rad mounted as exhaust was cooled by the 70°C air mixed with some fresh air moved in by the bottom fans (just think about what is Your most heat generating component and build Your cooling system accordingly)

4. If Your top vent holes are not utilised You can use sound damping there, case will be more quiet and dust will not fall into the case while not powered

5. It´s true, that You are moving in to the case through the rad heated air (my cooler temp is maximally 35°C ... so the air can´t be warmer - so I´m still cooling my VGA card even if it´s idling), but you can still use other bottom / side vents to move in also ambient room air (I have all fans controlled by one PWM signal of the H100i GTX fan controller, so if I move in "warm" air through the rad faster than I move in more fresh air also through other fans)

6. Push or Pull - if You push the air through the fins than You will have a bit harder work to clean out the dust time after time (need to remove fans), when pulling through the fins, tha dust will be on the fins and You can clean the fins with pressured air can or with vacuum cleaner. From cooling point of view as c-attack wrote. From my experience the pull through rad is more convenient for my ears (quiet) - but I´m also ok with the push-pull config I have (using Noctua fans - ugly, but do the job silently)

 

I know this is a nice topic where people are really divided, but I recommend to everyone to test what is the best for his needs. If You will try to cool Your CPU with air which is heated by 2x GTX980Ti´s (up to 600W consumption of 2 cards when OC´d) than ... don´t await miracles at CPU temps.

 

 

For my HW, case and noise requirements was this the best (attached the case setup). Cool, quiet (and ugly fans :D). Note: my VGA is passive up to 60°C, it idles at 48-50°C, 100% load with additonal manual OC kicks up to 68-69°C (what I think is far away from it´s thorrtling temperature still).

 

Good luck and enjoy experimenting, give it some time, need to do it once properly ;)

 

BR,

 

Peter

@c-attack:

You nailed it. I ended up mounting the fans 'inside' the case, below the radiator which is mounted 'outside' the case. I thought about it logically and came up with what you said about the fans inside the case will be quieter; makes sense to me. It also made sense to me to mount the radiator 'outside' the case to get even more of the waste heat outside the case. I'll try this for a while and see how the noise & temps go.

You are also right about the Ti's; I'm not sure which fans yet, but I'll be mounting 'something' at the bottom of the case to help with that as well; I'll mount them one way then turn them over after about a week to see which way helps the most.

 

@Datakiller24:

I may have taken more of what you had to say seriously, but you lost me with your condescending tone in your 2nd & 3rd sentences. Also, I've always cleaned my desktop 'innards' using a combination of canned air & shop vac. Shop vac is very high power & I have special attachments for it, so I'm sure I won't be needing to 'remove fans' to clean it out. And no, I haven't tried mounting it in different positions because I just got it; that's why I asked the question. Finally, you might want to try a different approach in subsequent responses.

Hi,

 

Sorry, English is not my mother language ... You can trust me my tone is non offending just to think about always and build according Your needs. Before I built my current system I was also reading lot of reviews and tests, watching videos (again) and was confused, one said push cool air through it into the case another said competely different so decided to take my time and play a bit with it. I just shared my experience, You can see the build is clear, my arguments are real, there is no rule how You should mount to have the best setup. The only rule what is not changing, that the hot air is raising ;) So, sorry if my writing sounds wierd or offending ... or I don´t know, I just wanted to share experience as I missed this part from this topic (if anyone else tried both possibilities and have details to share I´m sure the question makers will be happy to read) and I´m sure that lot of us have water coolers in our cases here, and maybe not I´m the only who played a bit with it.

 

Peace and have fun,

 

Peter

Everyone should always experiment if there is any interest at all in how things work. Normally, I explicitly say that. Each case has different physical properties and sometimes weird and wonderful things happen you weren't expecting. What I might recommend for a large case like 780 might not be the same for a mid-size case running Ti SLI, but you have to start somewhere and the traditional set-up works for most people in most situations.

 

The problem is most of us have no way to measure things like pressure, genuine flow rate, or thermal conductivity. We make guesses based on the data we do have, like GPU temperatures and CPU temperatures. There is an awful lot we can't measure that can lead to erroneous cause and effect conclusions.

I know this thread is over a year old but the past couple days I've been contemplating whether to mount my aio as an air intake or exhaust. I've decided to go with intake and mounted it today. There are a couple arguments in this debate I'm not sure I understand or can agree with. The first one is that you're pushing hot air into your case and that's not good. Well, that's the way it's always been. Where is all that hot air going with the CPU mounted air cooled radiator...the case of course. The second is that it makes only a small difference. I've watched and read more comparisons than I cared to and virtually all conclude there is a significant increase in cooling when using outside air to cool the radiator. In some cases as much as a 13c difference depending on ambient room temperatures. I think as long as you have a decent airflow going through your case there is no harm using your aio as an intake. Obviously, I also don't think there's any harm in running the aio as an exhaust, I just personally believe as intake is the preferred method for better CPU temps.

I know this thread is over a year old ...

 

Try two years :p I read the whole thing without noticing the date until you pointed it out. :)

 

Anyway, as for my 2 cents: When planning your cooling layout you have to consider all of your heat sources inside the case. Generally speaking that's going to be the radiator and the GPU.

 

If you have an open air cooler on the GPU then it's pumping hot air into the case, so you certainly don't want that air going through your rad and should set it up as an intake.

 

If you have a blower type GPU cooler then very little of the card's heat will remain inside the case and you'll have the freedom to choose between intake and exhaust. If setting the rad as in intake, you'll want to make sure the GPU has a source of fresh air. If setting the rad as an exhaust, you'll want to make sure that there's enough fresh air getting in to feed them both.

 

Some cases will make it easier or harder to sort all this out. Case-in-point (pun intended) is my Obsidian 250D: The GPU draws fresh air directly through the side panel so doesn't care what way around you have the rad. I had it (H100i) setup as exhaust just because i preferred seeing the fans rather than the rad (I honestly didn't give any thought to alternative mounting at the time).

The first one is that you're pushing hot air into your case and that's not good. Well, that's the way it's always been. Where is all that hot air going with the CPU mounted air cooled radiator...the case of course.

 

That doesn't mean it is the most efficient or most desirable. There is a reason people don't like face down CPU coolers. The larger horizontal plane versions do a better job at moving the waste heat toward the rear exhaust, but in combination CPU/GPU load environments, you will still pay a penalty for location. It is location, rather the temperature of air passing through the radiator, that will have the most measured effect on your coolant temperature. The fans' job is to displace the heat coming off the fins. Moving hot air across the radiator is better than moving no air at all. In the context of radiator placement, the idea of "cooler air makes your CPU cooler" is a myth. Putting your radiator pump and hoses in a cooler environment is more likely to have a noticeable effect. If you take a thermal camera, laser temp gun, or whatever you have and scan your case, you will probably see measurable differences in zonal temperature. The top is usually warmer than the bottom. Every case is a different, but even in my system with all major components water cooled and exhausting, there is usually a 2-3C difference between the top 2-3 inches and the bottom zone. This is the most likely reason to see "cooler temperatures" by front mounting rather than top mounting. I did this experiment earlier this year for someone asking the same thing. The coolant deltas are the same, but I started 2C lower each time because of location. That was a viable set-up for me in this case with additional intake fans on the bottom of the case to keep intake/exchange rate up and the waste heat flowing out the now unrestricted top. That was a usable set-up and if I did not have other plans at the time, I might have left it that way. Or I might have changed it back because the radiator fits in the top better. That doesn't mean its the best for every case layout and hardware configuration and this should be judged on an individual basis. A 7700K used mostly for gaming does not necessarily have the same impact as a 7920X used for long duration professional applications, with or without additional GPU load.

 

Derek, specifically for your set-up, I don't think it matters much. A 8086/8700K even when highly overclocked is not a lot of watts. At 5.0 my CPU coolant delta is about 4C for most activities, top or front mounted, intake or exhaust. So what's the worst it could be? 30C in your room and adding 34-36C exhaust into the case? Likely insignificant in comparison to the real heater, the GPU. At 250-350W, that is the real antagonist. The impact of your intake/exhaust decision probably should be made in the context of overall system air flow. Will the single rear fan be able to handle your exhaust capabilities? That's what you get to find out. While you can "squeeze" some air out the venting, at 2x140 + 3x120 intake and 1x140 exhaust, your overall air exchange rate is going to be restricted. You'll have to see what that equates to in terms of temperature.

 

This thread is in fact 3 years old and like a lot of stuff gets dredged up years later. I do remember this and it was never meant to be an exhaustive treatise on thermal flow and radiator location. It was the 3rd or 4th time in a week or two when someone asked this question while citing that ridiculous Linus Tech video with him standing there holding a radiator wearing a shag carpet of dust and saying "this is what happens when you run a radiator as exhaust". This was me trying to put a spike in that misleading bit of information. Please don't go look for that video. After years, it has finally fallen off the Google top 50 list and no longer comes up. I suppose that is the real lesson -- be careful what you put on the internet. It never goes away. As for the overall philosophical question about adding heat to the system versus exhausting it directly, I have a suggestion. On a nice warm Summer day with the air conditioning running at a good clip, take a small fan aided space heater and place it in a room with your significant other. Turn it slightly toward them, but explain it doesn't really matter because the overall air exchange rate of the house ventilation system is massively greater than the little space heater. Then leave the room. I would suggest heading toward the garage, keys in hand, just in case you need to make a quick getaway.

" It was the 3rd or 4th time in a week or two when someone asked this question while citing that ridiculous Linus Tech video with him standing there holding a radiator wearing a shag carpet of dust and saying "this is what happens when you run a radiator as exhaust". "

 

HaHa... I've watched way too many vids and read too many comparison articles, I'm glad I missed that one.

As stated earlier I have it set up now as an intake. I'm just waiting on my PSU before I can finally fire it up. With this case it won't take me but 10-15 minutes to change to exhaust. I will probably run it a few weeks as it is then switch over to exhaust and see exactly what differences I see in my own system. I am a little worried about the case being super positive pressure wise. There is some venting in the rear and top but atm it is a 5 or 5 to 1 ratio of fans in vs out, 6 to 1 if I decide to use the bottom intake. I do have two 50x50 fans coming that I will also mount in the rear to help, for what it's worth.

Some cases will make it easier or harder to sort all this out. Case-in-point (pun intended) is my Obsidian 250D: The GPU draws fresh air directly through the side panel so doesn't care what way around you have the rad. I had it (H100i) setup as exhaust just because i preferred seeing the fans rather than the rad (I honestly didn't give any thought to alternative mounting at the time).

 

With my particular case nothing of the aio is seen other than some hose and the pump block. The fans are mounted on top of the case but underneath the "roof\filter" and the radiator is under the top of the case but tucked in where it can't be seen. I didn't measure but there might actually have been room to mount both above the case inside the "roof\filter" chamber thingy.

 

On a side note, is there a setting to get a notification for responses at these threads? I'm sure I have emails set but never received any for the comments at this thread and cannot find anything for notifications like for Facebook\Instagram etc.

With this case it won't take me but 10-15 minutes to change to exhaust. I will probably run it a few weeks as it is then switch over to exhaust and see exactly what differences I see in my own system. I am a little worried about the case being super positive pressure wise. There is some venting in the rear and top but atm it is a 5 or 5 to 1 ratio of fans in vs out, 6 to 1 if I decide to use the bottom intake. I do have two 50x50 fans coming that I will also mount in the rear to help, for what it's worth.

 

Exactly. The point I failed to make until about half way through the original conversation is everyone should feel free to experiment with as many configurations as they like, observe, and make their own decisions. In none of these scenarios are you going to create a situation that is harmful to your components. Some may be slightly better or slightly worse, but typically the only people bothered by that are efficiency maximizers like me and if you are also one of those, you are plenty used to configuring things the way you want them. The "place it as exhaust and be done" advice is really for those who hate the install experience and once finished, don't want to touch it again for a long time. For that group, it is better to play the odds. Pretty sure you are not in that group.

 

Sigh. I really miss being able to pull the plugs out the back of my case, open it up, and change fans, placements, and everything else on a monthly basis. The custom loop for the GPU really limits what I can do and changing anything now is such a hassle. It takes 45 minutes to change the bottom fans and I have to jack it up like car to get underneath without tipping the reservoir over. That is one of the advantages of AIO coolers - no special positional care needed.

 

 

* I think under the "thread tools" (central right part of menu bar) you can subscribe to the thread. I don't typically do that, so I am not sure how it works in practice.

Thanks... I'm subscribed but for some reason the email notifications seem to be hit or miss. The earlier replies I got nothing, the last couple I did. I was just curious if there was an Android type notification for replies that I wasn't finding.