O11d XL - Custom loop mounting options

[chchbogan]

Hi All,

 

i currently have a Corsair Hydro X custom loop setup.

 

at the moment i have 10 fans populated in my case (RGB Goodness)

 

Bottom 3 Fans are intake, Side 3 fans are Exhaust, Rear single fan is exhaust and top mounted rad as exhaust.

 

at the moment my loop is only cooling my CPU however i have just purchased a second Xr5 rad and the RTX 3080 Block i plan to modify my loop this weekend.. i am having issues figuring out the best airflow with mounting radiator positions.

 

id like a balance of Looks, internal case temp and Coolant temp (best of both worlds i know it wont exist)

 

can i please get some help as i see alot of conflicing information as having rads as intakes better for coolant temp however it heats up the internals am i better doing that or both exhaust etc. i see alot of builds where people have bottom intake as rad top mounted rad as exhaust, often that is if they use the side mounted plate.

 

 

my thoughts are side rad as exhaust top rad as exhaust bottom 3 fans intake and rear fan exhaust will this be sufficent as it would also mean rear fan and side fans keep the correct RGB side as well?

 

thanks all in advance.

 

also attached is a pic of my current setup, sorry about the bright glare my room is light during the day.

[c-attack]

When you are ready to put the GPU in the loop, then there are more options. Top and side exhaust radiators are what I generally recommend for that. Bottom intake to help out with the side radiator getting air starved by the side glass and the back slot you leave open so part of the top radiator can pull in fresh air that way.

 

The other option is bottom and side intake radiators, but you are then dumping that waste heat into the case. While CPU and GPU temps may wind up about the same, your MB components, RAM, m.2 drives, or anything else in there will run warmer. Running both configurations repeatedly when I first got that case, the dual intake set-up would add about 8C to the internal components while reducing CPU/GPU by 2C -- but only in the short run. The longer the load went, the more things equaled out with the dual exhaust set-up.

Edited January 20, 2021 by c-attack

[chchbogan]

Hey thanks a bunch!

 

so side exhause (i am sure i can mount the radiator in the back section ok? and push would be from the fans in current orientation)

 

Top mount i leave the same as exhaust, and bottom leave as intake no rad? but you recomend removing the rear fan ? could i leave it there for visuals but reduce the RPM to lowest or would that still cause issues

[chchbogan]

also what kind of fan curve did you use or recomend? keep in mind the fans on the current rad at top are ML120s the other 7 fans are LL120s

[LeDoyen]

Remember when we say it heats up the case internals, it's still really low. if your ram or SSD runs at 40 - 45° with like 35-ish °C ambient, it's totally fine and waaaaaaay below spec for any component.

VRMs are totally fine loungin about at 80 -90°C, and will never reach half that unless you loop some cinebench on a bad overclock.

 

Regarding fan curve, did you install the temperature sensor on the XD5?

Ideally you want to set the fan curve to answer to coolant temperature. That's pretty much the best way to run any watercooling loop, custom or AIO.

There's no reason to spin up the fans with CPU or GPU load, since it won't do anything trying to cool down cold water, and just generate useless noise.

 

The rest is completely dependent on fan performance and your particular build's heat output, room temperature etc...

 

For example, what i do is set a base speed that is quiet and comfortable for idle. Usually slowest speed is fine.

 

Then i run Valley benchmark + Cinebench looped and after 10 - - 15 min start tweaking fan speed to have the loop heat soaked (steady temperature) at a reasonable noise level.

That's more or less where the fans will be when gaming.

From there, you can set a ramp up between the two, but that will entirely depend on your room temperature, heat load (we don't all have the same hardware) etc..

 

Oh and just for safety.. don't flatten the curve after that highest setpoint :p if it gets hotter (like in summer, or if you OC), you want the fans to keep accelerating.

 

my fan curve just for example. The coolant usually peaks at 34°C under heavy load for me, so that's how it can look like

https://gyazo.com/4af4e4d189d5d250f39f761eca0a386e

 

And if you ever add a 3rd radiator later on, you'll be able to drop your entire curve by a few 100s RPM for the same temps.

[chchbogan]

Remember when we say it heats up the case internals, it's still really low. if your ram or SSD runs at 40 - 45° with like 35-ish °C ambient, it's totally fine and waaaaaaay below spec for any component.

VRMs are totally fine loungin about at 80 -90°C, and will never reach half that unless you loop some cinebench on a bad overclock.

 

Regarding fan curve, did you install the temperature sensor on the XD5?

Ideally you want to set the fan curve to answer to coolant temperature. That's pretty much the best way to run any watercooling loop, custom or AIO.

There's no reason to spin up the fans with CPU or GPU load, since it won't do anything trying to cool down cold water, and just generate useless noise.

 

The rest is completely dependent on fan performance and your particular build's heat output, room temperature etc...

 

For example, what i do is set a base speed that is quiet and comfortable for idle. Usually slowest speed is fine.

 

Then i run Valley benchmark + Cinebench looped and after 10 - - 15 min start tweaking fan speed to have the loop heat soaked (steady temperature) at a reasonable noise level.

That's more or less where the fans will be when gaming.

From there, you can set a ramp up between the two, but that will entirely depend on your room temperature, heat load (we don't all have the same hardware) etc..

 

Oh and just for safety.. don't flatten the curve after that highest setpoint :p if it gets hotter (like in summer, or if you OC), you want the fans to keep accelerating.

 

my fan curve just for example. The coolant usually peaks at 34°C under heavy load for me, so that's how it can look like

https://gyazo.com/4af4e4d189d5d250f39f761eca0a386e

 

And if you ever add a 3rd radiator later on, you'll be able to drop your entire curve by a few 100s RPM for the same temps.

 

Hey thanks for this, yes i have the temp sensor in the pump at the moment after gaming my fluid is getting about 35c in really hot weather can get up to 43c! i think thats possibly because at the moment my non water cooled RTX 3080 is pumping heat straght through the rad at top and also maybe less than optimal intake / exhaust.

 

looking at the fan curve pic you sent seems like the fans for you are only really about 50% used based on your coolant temp been around 30ish, is that fan curve for RAD fans and intake / exhaust fans or do you have different speeds for those as well?

 

what fan layout do you use in your O11D XL? would you use both radiators at exhaust if in my position ?

Edited January 20, 2021 by chchbogan
edited.

[c-attack]

Fan curves are really to user noise tolerance levels. 120mm fans are fairly weak under 1000 rpm, but effective enough for almost everyone around 1300 rpm. Most people will find a sweet sport for noise vs performance somewhere in that range. +1C coolant is +1C to the CPU/GPU component temp, so there isn't much reason to fret over 39C vs 41C, unless -2C would make some sort of difference. Typically not the case for CPUs, but the last two Nvidia GPU series have definite temperature triggers for dropping frequency.

 

The O11 is an interesting case, but there are two opposing limitations in the XL.

 

1) Side glass + side exhaust. Fans pull in and expel their air in a conical field. The steeper the rake on the fan blade, the wider that cone will be. That makes these motherboard plate mounted "side slots" a bit quizzical. When used as exhaust, the small side glass seems to limit the airflow into the radiator, regardless whether the fan is push mounted or pull mounted around the back. When using this I will get an instant 2C drop the moment I pull the small glass. More telling is the momentary "fan burst" that happens the second the glass is lifted and the pressure relieved. That is the true sign there is an airflow restriction. Even with heavy duty 38mm industrial fans in push-pull, it still seems to be a factor. I've the run that panel in isolation multiple times, and the intake from the back side always does slightly better.

 

2) The other limiting factor is the bottom of the case. Even though there is plenty of clearance underneath, that grate seems to pose some level of restriction when the fans are used in pull above the radiator - as almost everyone will do in an O11. I was puzzled for quite a while as to how my identical top radiator with identical fans running the same speed can be 40% more efficient as releasing heat per pass. This should not happen as the top part of the case is slightly warmer and the bottom is bringing in cool outside air. The moment I flipped the bottom fans to push exhaust, the two radiators then became equal. So bottom radiator intake (the other choice) also has some level of additional restriction.

 

Since those two combinations each are approximately equal in terms of CPU/GPU temp, you can choose on aesthetics or preference. The +8-10C in additional components temps was enough for me to choose exhaust. However, there is a 3rd choice that attempts to circumvent both limitations.

 

Top/Bottom radiator exhaust, side panel intake. This avoids both restrictive areas while offering top/bottom symmetry. Some people are going to have a hard time with this since you are pushing warm air out the bottom. However, the airflow from there dissipates pretty well and does not get sucked back in the rear or side. Where this might be a problem is if the backside of the case needs to be up against a wall or in some other space where the side intake is warmer than expected. It also feels a bit weird to waste all that nice space in back that is perfect for a radiator, but it is another option.

[LeDoyen]

Fan curves are really to user noise tolerance levels. 120mm fans are fairly weak under 1000 rpm, but effective enough for almost everyone around 1300 rpm.

 

They actually peak at around 1300 rpm under load :p

 

my setup uses bottom and side intake, top exhaust (only 240mm up top since i use crossflow 360mm. need space for the top fitting).

 

I haven't noticed much restriction at the bottom as all 3 sets of fans do create substantial airflow when controlled individually, but your mileage may vary, depending on what fans you use. and i don't have a 3080. only dumping about 500w tops in the loop.

 

but having a hot gpu in the case will definitely warm up the water. a single cpu will not give 40+°c alone with all those rads for sure.

 

You'll have to experiment with your setup.. different components, different fans will give different temps.

Personally, the thing i saw giving the most benefit on the XL was removing the top panel in hot weather. with the fan orientation i use, it drops coolant temp by 1.. maybe 2°c.

 

But since theres not one definitive best setup, have fun tinkering :) try one, use a while, try something else, see what's cooler.. push ? pull? serial or parallel loop? different fans?..

"then step back.. and admire your handiwork" - Swiss Tony

[techwreck]

I have a o11 Xl case.

 

- Corsair XR7 360 rad botton (inntake). Push/pull (Noctua NF-F12 Chromax push/Corsair QL120 pull).

- Corsair XR5 360 side (exhaust). Push (Corsair QL120).

- Corsair XR5 360 top (exhaust). Push (Corsair QL120).

- Standalone QL120 (exhaust) back.

 

13 120mm fans total. Using 2 Corsair Commander Pro's. Also using onboard fan controllers for the Noctua fans since I'm already familiar (and are using) Asus's software. Also a bit diversity if something should happen.

 

A slight overkill since I only have a Ryzen 9 5900x / 3090RTX in the loop but estetic matters :)

Not done any hard testing yet but aware that I have negative pressure inside the case with the setup - which is fine imo (dust > heat buildup).

[LeDoyen]

i used to do push when i started but it's so annoying to cleanup i moved to as much pull as possible. the radiators are cleaned in half a second with a dry paint brush. but you don't really have too much choice, depending on what airflow you go with.

 

Overkill is good for silence :) since you have a good GPU block you can even aim for a higher water temperature level (slower fans) and still get decent GPU temps.

 

As example, my fan curve was set to a max of 1300 rpm at 34°C water temp. that ensured a GPU temp of 45°C max (2080).

For the 3090 i moved the water temp a notch at 36.5° /1300 rpm and get the same 45°C GPU temp at roughly 22°C in the room.

 

That said, two CoPro is a tad overkill for 3 rads and one exhaust fan + pump ^^ that should be 5 headers needed.. well 6 if you want to match the noctuas and QL airflow on the push pull. But i guess it takes less space than one copro + 3 PWM hubs.

[Gasalon]

I have a o11 Xl case.

 

- Corsair XR7 360 rad botton (inntake). Push/pull (Noctua NF-F12 Chromax push/Corsair QL120 pull).

- Corsair XR5 360 side (exhaust). Push (Corsair QL120).

- Corsair XR5 360 top (exhaust). Push (Corsair QL120).

- Standalone QL120 (exhaust) back.

 

13 120mm fans total. Using 2 Corsair Commander Pro's. Also using onboard fan controllers for the Noctua fans since I'm already familiar (and are using) Asus's software. Also a bit diversity if something should happen.

 

A slight overkill since I only have a Ryzen 9 5900x / 3090RTX in the loop but estetic matters :)

Not done any hard testing yet but aware that I have negative pressure inside the case with the setup - which is fine imo (dust > heat buildup).

 

Have you done any temperature testing with this setup? I am about to build a triple 360 Hydro X loop in the O11d XL as well. I will cool a 10900k and an RTX 3090 and the 2 concepts I had in mind were:

 

1) bottom/side radiator intake: I would assume this gives very good water temperatures but average looks and lots of heat dumped into the case

 

2) bottom radiator + rear fan intake: good looks, average water temperatures and less heat dumped into the case.

 

I have searched everywhere for benchmarks with different triple 360 setups but I could only find tests with air and/or AIO CPU coolers. Since I will do hard tubing I don’t want to rearrange Fans after I am done.

 

Has anyone done or know of comparisons for triple 360 setups in the O11d XL?

[LeDoyen]

What do you mean by average looks ? you don't like fans back side?

If you were thinking of only installing fans in push configuration, well, pull works just as good, and is easier to clean, mostly with the side and top positions (remove panel, brush brush, done..).

 

I personally run your first concept, bottom and side intake, top exhaust (the top rad is a 240, not a 360 tho).

Not that much heat in the case, well it depends mostly on your fans. in game the exhausted air is in the 30°C, with an ambient of 22, and water temp of ~36°C.

A good tip when running that configuration is to make the top rad the first in line so it's less affected by warmer air, since it receives the warmest water.

 

That's a ton of radiator surface so either setup will work good if you make it, with fan curve. You're mostly tuning for noise at this point, chasing a °C here and there.

[Gasalon]

Well by average looks I mean the back side of the QL120s. Any other fan's back side would look poorly :)

 

Interesting idea with that top radiator, I am not sure though on how to route the pipes in that case. My plan was to go pump => CPU => Top => GPU => Bottom => Side

I want to avoid going from CPU directly into the GPU because that would mean a very short tube which can be hard to install. Also I dont want to mount the XC7 upside down so I have to enter from the right hand side. I think doing Top last would end up with a spaghetti config on the pipes :D

 

Have you ever tried the 2nd concept? The rear fan should pull in lots of fresh air because it is not restricted by a radiator shouldnt it? Thus Top radiator and to a lesser extend the side radiator would have cooler air to exhaust.

[LeDoyen]

if your run is the right size, you can fit it to the fitting then screw said fitting :) you don't have to mount the tube last necesarely.

I haven't tried back intake because my PC is in the corner of my room, and that corner is basically a hot pocket of air there.. i prefer it to take air from below, and the side.

 

Also, the side intake is not exactly air tight.. it pulls air through the PSU.

When i turn off the side fans, air exhausts through the side and the PSU is warm.

When i turn them on, they suck fresh air through the PSU keeping it running passive cooled. Its fan never spins, at all, even when the room is warm and under load. I am not sure it would stay passive if i pushed warm air through.

Actually it would warm up the entire back chamber, so that's to consider too.

 

About the top rad i meant to have it as the first rad to receive hot water, as in feeding CPU and GPU then dumping into top rad first, then the others.

that kinda forces you to feed GPU to CPU, bottom to top.

[c-attack]

Has anyone done or know of comparisons for triple 360 setups in the O11d XL?

 

 

Triple radiators can be difficult in any case and certainly the O11. The 3rd radiator will force you into a compromised position somewhere along the line. There are really only two viable options and they come with some notable caveats.

 

1) 3x360 Bottom/Side Intake, Top exhaust - The problem here is you are forced to dump the waste heat from the bottom two radiators into the top. That makes it pretty much a passenger adding flow resistance and cost without cooling benefit. In order to make this work, you really need to go CPU + GPU (either order) then directly to the top radiator. This makes the coolant in the top radiator the warmest anywhere in the loop, which will then still allow some cooling as the two lower radiators will be 1-3C less on their exhaust air that becomes the intake for the top. I ran this for several months over the Summer. Ultimately, I can squeak another 1.5C reduction in coolant with 3 vs 2 exhaust radiators, but the tradeoff is about 8-10C more in interior ambient. I didn't like +10C on the RAM in exchange for -1C on CPU and GPU. Pull the side glass and you now can both release some heat and the top radiator gets a little more breath.

 

2) Triple exhaust - Seems terrible and with the glass on it must pull all air from the back. This tends to starve out the side radiator position and that is often where people will stick their meatiest radiator or push-pull fans since the space is there. It's several degrees worse in CPU GPU temp than option 1, until you pull the side glass. Once you do that, it leaps ahead. All three radiators are no longer airflow restricted and can pull in clean air. This can take me as much -4C below 2xExhaust of 2 in/1 out. The obvious snag here is the side glass must be off. Some people are going to be OK with that for heavy gaming. I was for a while during the hot months, but eventually is wore a little thin.

 

For most people I would recommend 2x360 and you have multiple options and flexibility with order, placement, and tube path. The 3rd radiator only helps if you can supply it with cooler air than the liquid inside it and it poses some element of flow restriction.

[Gasalon]

if your run is the right size, you can fit it to the fitting then screw said fitting :) you don't have to mount the tube last necesarely.

I haven't tried back intake because my PC is in the corner of my room, and that corner is basically a hot pocket of air there.. i prefer it to take air from below, and the side.

 

Also, the side intake is not exactly air tight.. it pulls air through the PSU.

When i turn off the side fans, air exhausts through the side and the PSU is warm.

When i turn them on, they suck fresh air through the PSU keeping it running passive cooled. Its fan never spins, at all, even when the room is warm and under load. I am not sure it would stay passive if i pushed warm air through.

Actually it would warm up the entire back chamber, so that's to consider too.

 

About the top rad i meant to have it as the first rad to receive hot water, as in feeding CPU and GPU then dumping into top rad first, then the others.

that kinda forces you to feed GPU to CPU, bottom to top.

 

The rear fan would have access to fresh cool air with my case position so that won’t be a problem. I can also seal the area between side radiator and side panel to make the air go through the induct instead of the PSU chamber, but I’m not sure....

 

Removing glass panels is not really an option. What absolute temperatures do you both have on VRAM, RAM, m.2 and Chipset during gaming?

[LeDoyen]

VRAM tops at 60 - 62 (92 on air previously).

the first M.2 is above 50 on the controller, memory always remain under 50 if i remember well. that's the one just above the GPU which is the hottest position. the second one barely warms up at all. Games run on the second M.2, so the first one is only getting warmed up by the GPU's backplate.

I'll get some heaven to run to get numbers.. and to warm up the room a bit, it's freezing in here ...

[LeDoyen]

after one hour of Heaven i get roughly that :

Ambient : 24.5°C (ouch, turn the heater off before benching, idiot)

Water : 36.1 in / 34.3 out

VRAM : 66

Case temp close to the VRM : 35

Case temp under the GPU : 33

RAM : 42.5

PCH : 47°C at idle, 49°C under load.. i guess it's only heated by ambient temp.

 

For the drives that's the highest temps logged on HWinfo, since it varies constantly. they are otherwise at 40-45°C on NAND and controller. I believe the second value is the controller since it varies the most during read/write.

Top M.2 : 43/54

bottom M.2 : 41/40

 

With all that, the 3090 peaks at 45°C.

 

That's all i have, doctor.

[Gasalon]

Wow thanks for the detailed information! Those temps sound pretty acceptable to me. I will go with bottom/side intake then. I will have my GPU vertically close to the glass panel so there is a good distance to the m.2s. Also my VRM are way oversized for the CPU at stock clock so I would expect something in the 50s as well. Thanks again for taking the time to provide the information!

[LeDoyen]

Honestly even with low fan speeds, keeping the system quiet and letting it warm up, nothing is even close to being hot to the point of having issues.

your fans are what will dictate most of the performance, with that much rad space.

 

I wouldn't worry about VRM either ^^ i don't have any game that pushes the CPU at all.. Valhalla loads it at 20-25%, maybe FS2020 goes 10% beyond that but that's it. looking at the history, it peaked at 42 during the test (in 35°C air).

 

I'll wait to see if EK releases their active backplate for the Asus TUF, that will lower the RAM and M.2 temps quite a bit i imagine, by not having a big hot plate under them.

But even then, that's just tinkering.. they don't need more cooling.

[Caedhros]

I'm a bit late to this discussion, but I'll throw out my setup in my 011XL.

 

On the top and side opening, I have xr5 360 rads with ML120pro rgb fans as exhaust. On the bottom I have an xr5 360 with ql120's as exhaust. I replaced the front glass panel with a custom panel by performance pc's that has 3 120 fan mounts, and I have ql120's as intake there, along with a ql120 intake on the rear mount as well. I also removed unused pci slot covers and attached a spare ml120 to that opening as intake.

 

I don't have component temps off the top of my head, but even after gaming at 4k for hours my fans max out at 700-800rpm using the default HydroX built in profiles. It's virtually silent.

 

My main components I'm cooling are a ryzen 3900x with xc7 block (waiting for my 5950x to ship), and a Radeon 6900xt with the HydroX block.

[insanedeath44]

hi guys I'm new to the forums . I want to share my latest build :biggrin:

[LeDoyen]

aaah, one waterblock and radiator shy of greatness ;)

plans to watercool that triple fan space heater?

The screen reminds me of the jayztwocents hack

[VeriSkye1123]

after studying this thread and a few others on these forums in depth. I wanted to share the fruits of my labor.

 

Learned a lot would change some things next time. But it brought my ram temps down form 50's when playing some games to never hitting 40's barely. Strix 3080 sits at low 30's for most games 40 in cyberpunk. 5900 seems in the 50's or 60's when gaming depending on the game.

[Caedhros]

Finally got my new cpu in so here's how it looks. Still need to improve a few cable routings, but I'll get to that.

 

Ryzen 5950x

Asus crosshair viii hero

32gb ddr4 3600 cl16 dominator platinum

Radeon 6900xt with corsair block