H80i v2 position

[JAYXREALZ]

I'm having an issue on where to place this cooler and to make an an intake or exhaust. I have a NZXT s340 elite case. I have also seen people only use 1 fan sometimes and was wondering if that would be a bad thing to do.. any insight would help thank you!

[c-attack]

There are some pros and cons to both. As a general rule, I prefer to dump waste heat directly out of the case. It doesn't help anything when washing over your motherboard and adds to the total case internal temperature. With an H80i v2 and its thick size, the only real place for that is the rear slot and that is the most common. However, when in this position, your radiator becomes part of the GPUs local heat as well. The GPU will quite literally warm up the coolant fluid from under the radiator, both from proximity and through exhausting its heat through the fins. This leads to slightly warmer CPU temperatures, but also reduces the overall volume of air you are capable of pushing through that opening.

 

You haven't listed your hardware intentions or purpose. There are a couple of things that may make the one more viable than the other. A blower GPU will put more heat out of the back and less into the H80i. Conversely, the open air 2/3 fan models will add more heat to the H80i. GPU wattage matters. A big card like a 980/1080 Ti will really heat things up. A free exhaust fan would be preferable with those situations or possibly even with a normal card and a mostly GPU load usage.

 

Specifically for the S340, I think you are better off with the front mount as intake. Chances are you will be on Z170/270 board and Sky/Kaby CPUs do not put out enough wattage to really heat up the case. That makes the penalty low and maximizes your rear exhaust's ability to get rid of GPU heat, regardless of card type and load.

 

You can use a single 120mm fan, but you would then need to keep the speed at medium to high most of the time. The second fan should allow to run lower fan speeds. That is worthwhile as a radiator restricted fan is likely to make the most "noise" of anything in the case. It looks like there is plenty of room on the upper front panel for all 99mm worth. You definitely want the H80i v2 in the upper slot, not the lower.

[JAYXREALZ]

There are some pros and cons to both. As a general rule, I prefer to dump waste heat directly out of the case. It doesn't help anything when washing over your motherboard and adds to the total case internal temperature. With an H80i v2 and its thick size, the only real place for that is the rear slot and that is the most common. However, when in this position, your radiator becomes part of the GPUs local heat as well. The GPU will quite literally warm up the coolant fluid from under the radiator, both from proximity and through exhausting its heat through the fins. This leads to slightly warmer CPU temperatures, but also reduces the overall volume of air you are capable of pushing through that opening.

 

You haven't listed your hardware intentions or purpose. There are a couple of things that may make the one more viable than the other. A blower GPU will put more heat out of the back and less into the H80i. Conversely, the open air 2/3 fan models will add more heat to the H80i. GPU wattage matters. A big card like a 980/1080 Ti will really heat things up. A free exhaust fan would be preferable with those situations or possibly even with a normal card and a mostly GPU load usage.

 

Specifically for the S340, I think you are better off with the front mount as intake. Chances are you will be on Z170/270 board and Sky/Kaby CPUs do not put out enough wattage to really heat up the case. That makes the penalty low and maximizes your rear exhaust's ability to get rid of GPU heat, regardless of card type and load.

 

You can use a single 120mm fan, but you would then need to keep the speed at medium to high most of the time. The second fan should allow to run lower fan speeds. That is worthwhile as a radiator restricted fan is likely to make the most "noise" of anything in the case. It looks like there is plenty of room on the upper front panel for all 99mm worth. You definitely want the H80i v2 in the upper slot, not the lower.

 

 

 

I have:

Asus B350 plus

Ryzen 1700

Strixx rx 480

Ballistics 16 g

Samsung evo 250

Seagate barracuda 2t

EVGA 500 watt power supply

 

Used for gaming/ audio production

[c-attack]

For the S340, the front mount in the top slot is best for anyone not using CPU graphics and no discrete GPU. It is also something that can be relatively easily changed back and forth for you own testing -- something I encourage everyone to do. Sometimes reality does not match the theory.