liquid cooling

[freakdaddy64]

would like to know who else is using liquid cooling and if they are mounted top or front. im using nzxt kracken 73 360 mm mounted top exhaust and temps are ok but thought they would be better. fixing to change out mobo and may go with front mount for fresh air into rad but im wondering if that would restrict air flow.

 

[KeyboardDemon]

Both Gamer's Nexus and Jayz2Cents have published videos on the best way to mount AIO liquid cooling solutions. The GN video is both longer and more technical while Jayz2Cents offers more of a TLDR version, I'd recommend watching this version:

View: https://youtu.be/DKwA7ygTJn0


You can mount an AIO at the top of the case but the most frequently used configuration is to have it at the front. If you follow the expert recommendations, then you will have the pipes at the top of the rad and these should be above the level of the CPU and the integrated cooler and pump.

Air bubbles will rise to the highest level in the loop, having your pipes at the top of the rad will ensure that air pockets can only form in the cavities there and not in the pump. If air bubbles do make their way to the pump they will naturally flow up to the rad as air is lighter than water.

Also having a vertically mounted rad will help with this too ensuring any trapped air is forced to the top where it won't restrict flow.

If the pump is at the highest point in the setup, air trapped in the pump could lead to restricted flow and if the pump is allowed to run dry, it could lead to damage to the pump.

I can't remember if Jay said that horizontally mounting the pump was bad or worse, but based on what I remember from the video and my understanding of it, having the rad mounted this way is sub-optimal.

In your question you also asked about whether mounting at the top or front would impact internal case temperatures, in short, it won't make a difference or at least not a big enough difference to be worried about.

Cooling effectiveness is measured by looking at the delta temperature, the delta temperature is the difference between the external temperature and the operating temperature of the CPU or GPU that is being cooled by the cooler.

Your CPU, in this case, produces heat that is transferred through a water block into the water in your AIO loop, the water moves through your pump and pipes in the rad, then the fins in the rad pull the heat away from the water and that gets blown away by the fans. If you have your rad at the front of the case that means the warmer air will be blown into your case, which sounds bad, but it's not.

By adjusting for the delta using some hypothetical figures, say that your room temperature is at 20c and your GPU is at 70c it means you have a delta temperature of 50c. The 'extra' 50c heat, is not being dumped into your case, it is being spread throughout your cooling solution and blown out of the back of your case from your GPU or with your CPU it is being spread through the cold plate, water, and rad.

Even if the heat from your CPU was being dumped into your case, so long as the internal case temperature is lower than the GPU you will still get effective cooling, your internal temperature would have to be higher than that of the GPU for your GPU temps to be affected.

 

[freakdaddy64]

i watched those videos when i got cooler and went top mount because gamers nexus said top is ideal because it keeps liquid flowing evenly and air pockets would stay in rad. with r5 3600 i might see cpu temps while gaming hit 61 c. with 5600x i see them hit 70 maybe 71 which is still ok. if i crank fans to 100 percent temps back off to around 61 again so i see where the 5600x runs a little hotter but nothing im alarmed about. and im seeing where if top or front doesnt make a big diference in temps and when i went aio cooler i thought temps would be lower then what i see even with the 3600. so i may move to front not sure yet. as far as gpu i have no temp issues its fine. and ryzen master does show cpu temps cooler then nzxt cam.

and temp in the room affects it also.



this is idling

i have been watching some videos also on under volting cpu that says its safe and will lower temps and wont hurt performance. so i might try it.

 

[KeyboardDemon]

Undervolting is safe, you are reducing power consumption, therefore also reducing heat, but if you drop too low you might end up with stability issues. It is a bit like overclocking, but without pushing for extra performance, you are pushing for extra optimization instead.