alusnova415 Posted August 31, 2020 Share Posted August 31, 2020 Hi all, I finally got my MSI MAG x570, so I'll be building my computer Wednesday, one thing I'm trying to figure out is the fan placement for my H115i. If mounting the unit on top, should the fans be intake correct, so the rad pushes air out to the top the case holes. I might have to do it up front and that ones confuses me a bit, I seen pictures of different builds where the fans (intake) are mounted first and the rad behind them thus pushing hot air into the case...is this the only way to do it, I'm thinking hard on if i mount it up front where it pushes air via the front of the case but doesn't seem practical. My case will be the Phanteks Evolv ATX (not the X newer one). Thanks for any advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmecca1975 Posted August 31, 2020 Share Posted August 31, 2020 I have mine in the top of my case with fans between the rad and case sucking out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c-attack Posted August 31, 2020 Share Posted August 31, 2020 It doesn't really matter which side of the radiator has the fans. Putting them on the exterior side will make their sound more noticeable, but then some may prefer the visual of the fans vs the radiator grill. Intake vs Exhaust does matter and so does location. If you were concerned about nothing else in this world except the lowest possible CPU temperature, you would put it on the front as intake. The intake air from the front is going to be cooler than the air in the top the case making the cooling process more efficient. Also, the front rail is usually a few degrees less than the top the case. To be clear, we are talking about a 2-3C difference in normal conditions. That number can be larger if you run a lot of GPU load with an air cooled GPU. Depending on case size, you create a hot zone around the GPU. That is likely to include the top mounted radiator. The higher (or better) the case airflow, the less this impacts the base coolant temperature. When front mounted as intake, the waste heat from the CPU radiator is dumped into the case. This likely makes little difference for the GPU since the peak exhaust temp will be about the GPU idle temp. It can matter for temperature/airflow sensitive devices like m.2 drive or RAM. The radiator by itself reduces intake airflow volume roughly by half of you would expect at a given fan speed. Less airflow across a naked m.2 will show you higher temperatures. Something to be concerned about? Not likely. Just 5C warmer for most people and obviously only if you have one in that front zone. RAM is harder to predict. Top fans still help with that, but case dimensions impact this or it may be a non-issue entirely. Most people do not need to worry about DDR4 RAM temps. You said x570, but that includes a large range of processors from lightweight 6 cores to a 16 Core 3950x. Understand nearly all of the Ryzen 3000 (save the 3900/3950) don't have a lot of wattage. Controlling the environment of the cooling system likely has more effect than your routine settings, especially for the lower TDP CPUs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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