H100i and NZXT best mounting options

[LAMSTER69]

Hi guys,

I am getting a H100i to cool my 4930k and the NZXT H440 case to be the new home of my power house. I have some questions regarding what the best mounting options and fan orientation as this is my first liquid cooler ...

1) Should I mount the radiator on the front or should it be mounted top of the case?

2) Should the fan pull air through the radiator or push air through the radiator? what are the benefits of doing so?

3) Should the fan exhaust air or should they bring in fresh air? I often see Linus orient the fans so that they were exhaust, pulling air through the radiator (NZXT H440 review - http://youtu.be/eqz5WAU9iJg?t=9m42s ) . Would this not mean that hotter air is used to cool down the CPU? If it does, will it make a dramatic impact on the thermals?

I currently will not go for the push pull configuration if you were considering to suggest that - I will invest in more fans later down the line.

Also, what is the best static pressure fan on the market with the best performance to price ratio, I do not really mind loud fans as I use background noise cancelling headphones.

All thoughts, opinions and justifications will be very useful.

Thanks Guys

[Shaqo_Wyn]

Hi guys,

I am getting a H100i to cool my 4930k and the NZXT H440 case to be the new home of my power house. I have some questions regarding what the best mounting options and fan orientation as this is my first liquid cooler ...

1) Should I mount the radiator on the front or should it be mounted top of the case?

2) Should the fan pull air through the radiator or push air through the radiator? what are the benefits of doing so?

3) Should the fan exhaust air or should they bring in fresh air? I often see Linus orient the fans so that they were exhaust, pulling air through the radiator

1. Top. Front as an intake if the tubing is even long enough.

2. Pull, dust only collects on the bottom of the radiator which is easier when cleaning the radiator. Push if you're replacing the stock fans with fan that have a direct airflow feature like Noctua NF-F12's.

3. Exhaust, the lower thermals you get from mounting the radiator as an intake are negligible. 1 maybe 2 degrees Celsius. 

4. Push/pull on a thin low fpi radiator like that of the H100i isn't worth it, the performance increase will be negligible.

5. Noise not a problem? Corsair SP120 high performance or quiet editions. Noiseblocker BlackSilent Pro's or Silverstone Air Penetrators depending on what price you can get them. 

6. Opinion: have a look at air cooling, the NH-D15 matches the H100i, U14S if you have high profile ram, Cryorig R1 or Dark Rock 3 Pro if you don't like the Noctua colors.

[LAMSTER69]

1. Top. Front as an intake if the tubing is even long enough.

2. Pull, dust only collects on the bottom of the radiator which is easier when cleaning the radiator. Push if you're replacing the stock fans with fan that have a direct airflow feature like Noctua NF-F12's.

3. Exhaust, the lower thermals you get from mounting the radiator as an intake are negligible. 1 maybe 2 degrees Celsius.

4. Push/pull on a thin low fpi radiator like that of the H100i isn't worth it, the performance increase will be negligible.

5. Noise not a problem? Corsair SP120 high performance or quiet editions. Noiseblocker BlackSilent Pro's or Silverstone Air Penetrators depending on what price you can get them.

6. Opinion: have a look at air cooling, the NH-D15 matches the H100i, U14S if you have high profile ram,

Cryorig R1 or Dark Rock 3 Pro if you don't like the Noctua colors.

Thank you Shaqo for this information.

Should I replace the stock intake fans on the front of the case with corsair AF120s or are they adequate enough?

[Shaqo_Wyn]

Thank you Shaqo for this information.

Should I replace the stock intake fans on the front of the case with corsair AF120s or are they adequate enough?

With the hardware you have in there it would be beneficial. The airflow is restricted in the front on the H440 so I recommend good static pressure optimized fans. Since you don't really mind noise, 3x SP120 High Performance or Quiet Editions. I'm still going to list some quieter fans, because there is no reason for your beast build to sound like a beast too.

 

Silverstone AP121

Noctua NF-F12

Noiseblocker BlackSilent Pro PL2/PL-S

 

If you can buy any of these at a price that you'd be willing to pay, they'll be quieter and perform just as good or better than SP120's.

[fishy]

if the tubes are long enough and you don't need 2 hdd mounts, mount the rad in the front as intake

if you do so and keep the dust filter that came with the case, the orientation won't matter much (tho someone started a thread here, that if you use nf-f12, you should use it in push config)

i haven't got any dust on rad since i mounted it there few months ago

i have h220 and had it mounted on the top of the h440 at first, but wasn't happy with temps and how long it would stay hot, even after closing games

the airflow really is a bit restricted in this case and it took some time to cool everything down

with the rad in front as intake, the cpu temps lower instantly after closing an application and the gpu doesn't run as hot for so long either

i'll suggest rad as intake any day after seeing what a difference it makes with my own eyes

as for air cooler, i doubt it'll do any good in this case since the not so good airflow, doesn't get rid of hot air so fast, so you'd be blowing hot air over the cooler over and over again, making it not as efficient as it could be

same if you mount it on top, the exhaust air will be hot and won't cool the rad>cpu as efficient as it could

[LAMSTER69]

if the tubes are long enough and you don't need 2 hdd mounts, mount the rad in the front as intake

if you do so and keep the dust filter that came with the case, the orientation won't matter much (tho someone started a thread here, that if you use nf-f12, you should use it in push config)

 

 

2. Pull, dust only collects on the bottom of the radiator which is easier when cleaning the radiator. Push if you're replacing the stock fans with fan that have a direct airflow feature like Noctua NF-F12's.

 

I have seen the demonstration of air channeling with the Silverstone ap 121 and Noctua NF-F12, does corsair make any fans that are pressure optimized but include this air channeling feature which as far as I know is present in their AF series.

[Shaqo_Wyn]

I have seen the demonstration of air channeling with the Silverstone ap 121 and Noctua NF-F12, does corsair make any fans that are pressure optimized but include this air channeling feature which as far as I know is present in their AF series.

No, neither the AF or the SP fans specifically list direct air flow as a feature. SP120's don't have a direct air flow but the high performance SP120's will give good static air pressure. 

[LAMSTER69]

1. Top. Front as an intake if the tubing is even long enough.

2. Pull, dust only collects on the bottom of the radiator which is easier when cleaning the radiator. Push if you're replacing the stock fans with fan that have a direct airflow feature like Noctua NF-F12's.

 

So, if for example I do not really care about make life difficult for myself in terms of cleaning out the radiator for dust, would SP120 performance edition be effective, I would think that direct flow would not exactly be good as the surface area of the radiator is not being covered. Next question, as the H100i is a low FPI radiator, can I not used airflow fans but ramp them up to high speeds - the H440 is a silent optimized case so that would significantly cut the sound. I am predominately investing in this case because I like the layout of the case and it look cool as well.

[Shaqo_Wyn]

So, if for example I do not really care about make life difficult for myself in terms of cleaning out the radiator for dust, would SP120 performance edition be effective, I would think that direct flow would not exactly be good as the surface area of the radiator is not being covered. Next question, as the H100i is a low FPI radiator, can I not used airflow fans but ramp them up to high speeds - the H440 is a silent optimized case so that would significantly cut the sound. I am predominately investing in this case because I like the layout of the case and it look cool as well.

I don't recommend using airflow fans. The blade configuration on them just doesn't give the static pressure fans need to work effectively mounted so closely to a restriction like a radiator even if it is low fpi. Half of the air those AF's will be pushing will just hit the radiator and dissipate. Corsair fans will be louder than other better fans regardless. Either get two SP120's high performance or quiet edition (for better noise levels) in pull or consider one of the other options I previously recommend. If you do still care about the noise.