Liquid or air cooling for new build?

[RTX-OFF]

Hello,

 

I am planning to build my first PC and the case I am planning to use for my build is cooler master h500m. I won't do any custom loops for liquid cooling. What I wonder is whether the CPU will be better with an air or liquid cooler(I will use ml240r or ml360r top mounted, haven't decided yet). I want to use a liquid cooler as I prefer its looks over the air cooler, but I think in this case the air cooler will perform better, because the case has a good airflow. What I think is that I should set the liquid cooler to exaust the air from the top, this way I will have 2 front fans intake+LC fans exhaust+1 exhaust-rear, but then that air cooling the radiator will be heated up by the other components. My other option is to set the 2 200mm fans as exhaust and make the LC fans and the rear fan as intake, but then the GPU will suffer. 3rd option is to have the 2 200mm and LC fans set as intake and just 1 exhaust at the rear, but I am not sure if with this configuration there will be hot air trapped where the GPU is or the air will still dissipate, because of the pressure created in the case from the many intakes and it will quickly dissipate through the rear.

 

PS: I am planning to overclock the components. I also don't want to mount the radiator at the front because the heated air by the radiator will go to the GPU and I want the GPU to be as cool as possible.

 

Do you think I an air cooler will be better in this case, or using a LC as intake or exhaust?

 

Thanks for you help and suggestions.

[ZeouLs]

I mean you didnt even post what CPU we are talking about...

[RTX-OFF]

Well, I didn't post it as it really doesn't matter much(maybe it does a bit on whether it is with soldered IHS or not and whether I plan deliding the CPU) as we are looking for best cooling peformance overall.

 

The CPU will be i9 9700k or i9 9900K.

 

The GPU will be 2080ti(msi gaming x trio) or 1080ti(gigabyte aorus triple fan).

[lmeneses]

4 minutes ago, RTX-OFF said:

Well, I didn't post it as it really doesn't matter much(maybe it does a bit on whether it is with soldered IHS or not and whether I plan deliding the CPU) as we are looking for best cooling peformance overall.

 

The CPU will be i9 9700k or i9 9900K.

 

The GPU will be 2080ti(msi gaming x trio) or 1080ti(gigabyte aorus triple fan).

Well the cpu does matter lmao, especially if you're planning on ocing, but for that build, I would recommend water cooled; however, if this is your first build, ehhhhhh. If you feel confident enough not to boof it, then sure, go for it, but if not, stick with air cooling

[RTX-OFF]

3 minutes ago, lmeneses said:

Well the cpu does matter lmao, especially if you're planning on ocing, but for that build, I would recommend water cooled; however, if this is your first build, ehhhhhh. If you feel confident enough not to boof it, then sure, go for it, but if not, stick with air cooling

Thanks for taking your time typing your suggestion. Have a great day.

 

BTW what do you think is better, setting the fans as intake or exhaust when mounted on the top of the case?

[ZihanYu]

1 minute ago, RTX-OFF said:

Thanks for taking your time typing your suggestion. Have a great day.

 

BTW what do you think is better, setting the fans as intake or exhaust when mounted on the top of the case?

Linus made a video about is called airflow test or something 

[RTX-OFF]

3 minutes ago, ZihanYu said:

Linus made a video about is called airflow test or something 

But this also depends on the case. In a different case a different fan/lc cooler configuration may work best.

[lmeneses]

8 minutes ago, RTX-OFF said:

BTW what do you think is better, setting the fans as intake or exhaust when mounted on the top of the case?

Depends on your case and the number of fans you have. I would say, if you have a case that allows for 2x140 mm fans or 3x120mm fans in the front, then yes use the top as exhaust, but if it only allows for less than 2x120mm fans, then use it as intake. 

[RTX-OFF]

28 minutes ago, lmeneses said:

Depends on your case and the number of fans you have. I would say, if you have a case that allows for 2x140 mm fans or 3x120mm fans in the front, then yes use the top as exhaust, but if it only allows for less than 2x120mm fans, then use it as intake. 

Thanks.

[Dedayog]

35 minutes ago, lmeneses said:

Depends on your case and the number of fans you have. I would say, if you have a case that allows for 2x140 mm fans or 3x120mm fans in the front, then yes use the top as exhaust, but if it only allows for less than 2x120mm fans, then use it as intake. 

This, with the caveat that you need close to balanced airflow to make it work regardless.  If you intake with the top and the front, you need god exhaust to get all that air out.  Pumping air into a semi-closed space won't cool well.

 

I'd go intake front (fans or radiator) and exhaust on top and back to bring a nice flow of air over the backplate of the GPU, which will be nice and hot.   

[Mira Yurizaki]

Go with water cooling if you want the cool factor or if you're doing heavy overclocking. Otherwise a decent air cooler will suffice.

[xXxAdamxXx]

IIRC water pumps take longer to heat up but also take longer to cool down, if you're doing CPU-intensive tasks then go overkill on water cooling. On the flip side with air cooling the heatsink immediately heats up but also immediately cools down which is important when the CPU is working for hours on end. With both you need proper air flow but more so with an air cooler than an AIO which should already have plenty of fans included. If you're just doing gaming then a $100 AIO or a $50 air cooler will be just fine.

[Tristerin]

5 hours ago, RTX-OFF said:

Hello,

 

I am planning to build my first PC and the case I am planning to use for my build is cooler master h500m. I won't do any custom loops for liquid cooling. What I wonder is whether the CPU will be better with an air or liquid cooler(I will use ml240r or ml360r top mounted, haven't decided yet). I want to use a liquid cooler as I prefer its looks over the air cooler, but I think in this case the air cooler will perform better, because the case has a good airflow. What I think is that I should set the liquid cooler to exaust the air from the top, this way I will have 2 front fans intake+LC fans exhaust+1 exhaust-rear, but then that air cooling the radiator will be heated up by the other components. My other option is to set the 2 200mm fans as exhaust and make the LC fans and the rear fan as intake, but then the GPU will suffer. 3rd option is to have the 2 200mm and LC fans set as intake and just 1 exhaust at the rear, but I am not sure if with this configuration there will be hot air trapped where the GPU is or the air will still dissipate, because of the pressure created in the case from the many intakes and it will quickly dissipate through the rear.

 

PS: I am planning to overclock the components. I also don't want to mount the radiator at the front because the heated air by the radiator will go to the GPU and I want the GPU to be as cool as possible.

 

Do you think I an air cooler will be better in this case, or using a LC as intake or exhaust?

 

Thanks for you help and suggestions.

AIO Coolers, for me, are so much more silent and why I use them now.  They actually, over time, are not as good as some of the best air coolers out there because the temps in the water normalize to a certain temp and takes hours to cool down post load. 

 

Intake v Exhaust you are spot on for a radiator - anyone who tells you otherwise doesn't have a top mount or exhaust mount option on their case for their radiator (or they are enjoying eating their hot air and spinning all that already hot air on their components).  Don't worry about the secondary hot air going through as exhaust on the radiator, its negligible if you are intaking enough cool air.

 

I use 2 200mm, and 1 80mm in the 5.25 bays as intake (Evercool 2 x 5.25 bay HDD SSD adapter)

I use 2 120mm Exhausts through Radiator and 1 140mm exhaust at rear of case

 

I double stack GPU's and they stay nice and cool even though they are dual fan design each - the top card runs slightly hotter but that's to be expected.

 

Positive Air Pressure = more intake than exhaust

Neutral Air Pressure = same amounts of intake and exhaust

Negative Air Pressure = more exhaust than intake (and sucks in air through any crack it can in the case)

 

Each of them have benefits.  You should research those setups particularly in a PC case.  I did before finalizing my rig and my temps are BEAUTIFUL.  I do not worry about heat, or hot spots in my case whatsoever.

[RTX-OFF]

3 hours ago, Tristerin said:

AIO Coolers, for me, are so much more silent and why I use them now.  They actually, over time, are not as good as some of the best air coolers out there because the temps in the water normalize to a certain temp and takes hours to cool down post load. 

 

Intake v Exhaust you are spot on for a radiator - anyone who tells you otherwise doesn't have a top mount or exhaust mount option on their case for their radiator (or they are enjoying eating their hot air and spinning all that already hot air on their components).  Don't worry about the secondary hot air going through as exhaust on the radiator, its negligible if you are intaking enough cool air.

 

I use 2 200mm, and 1 80mm in the 5.25 bays as intake (Evercool 2 x 5.25 bay HDD SSD adapter)

I use 2 120mm Exhausts through Radiator and 1 140mm exhaust at rear of case

 

I double stack GPU's and they stay nice and cool even though they are dual fan design each - the top card runs slightly hotter but that's to be expected.

 

Positive Air Pressure = more intake than exhaust

Neutral Air Pressure = same amounts of intake and exhaust

Negative Air Pressure = more exhaust than intake (and sucks in air through any crack it can in the case)

 

Each of them have benefits.  You should research those setups particularly in a PC case.  I did before finalizing my rig and my temps are BEAUTIFUL.  I do not worry about heat, or hot spots in my case whatsoever.

Perfect response, exactly what I needed :). I will go for an AIO cooler and after I am done with the build with some testing I will find out what type of air pressure will work best.

 

3 hours ago, xXxAdamxXx said:

IIRC water pumps take longer to heat up but also take longer to cool down, if you're doing CPU-intensive tasks then go overkill on water cooling. On the flip side with air cooling the heatsink immediately heats up but also immediately cools down which is important when the CPU is working for hours on end. With both you need proper air flow but more so with an air cooler than an AIO which should already have plenty of fans included. If you're just doing gaming then a $100 AIO or a $50 air cooler will be just fine.

Then I guess I will go with the ml240r, which is 240mm radiator with 2x 120mm fans.

 

Thanks everyone for giving out your suggestions.

[Tristerin]

2 minutes ago, RTX-OFF said:

Perfect response, exactly what I needed :). I will go for an AIO cooler and after I am done with the build with some testing I will find out what type of air pressure will work best.

 

Then I guess I will go with the ml240r, which is 240mm radiator with 2x 120mm fans.

 

Thanks everyone for giving out your suggestions.

Positive = Most Cold Air Possible In (means have dust covers on all intake fans - you are going to clean your PC a few times a year for sure)

Neutral = Balanced in and out, not the most optimal temps, but the cleanest - My Ryzen build I didn't open the case for a year.  Its set up as Neutral Air Pressure.  IMMACULATE on the inside after 1 year.  My dust screens did their job perfectly.

Negative = Most Hot Air Possible in the case being removed, but sucking in air through every crevice it can find which means you don't have ways to stop that dust incoming so this process typically ensures no HOT SPOTS building up in less drafty areas of the case, but to me, this is the most dirty.  It also means you are putting pressure on your exhaust fans trying to pull in air from places that are tight.

 

Just some pointers I gleaned while researching and coming to my Positive Pressure preference.

[_Hustler_One_]

On 10/16/2018 at 6:46 PM, RTX-OFF said:

Hello,

 

I am planning to build my first PC and the case I am planning to use for my build is cooler master h500m. I won't do any custom loops for liquid cooling. What I wonder is whether the CPU will be better with an air or liquid cooler(I will use ml240r or ml360r top mounted, haven't decided yet). I want to use a liquid cooler as I prefer its looks over the air cooler, but I think in this case the air cooler will perform better, because the case has a good airflow. What I think is that I should set the liquid cooler to exaust the air from the top, this way I will have 2 front fans intake+LC fans exhaust+1 exhaust-rear, but then that air cooling the radiator will be heated up by the other components. My other option is to set the 2 200mm fans as exhaust and make the LC fans and the rear fan as intake, but then the GPU will suffer. 3rd option is to have the 2 200mm and LC fans set as intake and just 1 exhaust at the rear, but I am not sure if with this configuration there will be hot air trapped where the GPU is or the air will still dissipate, because of the pressure created in the case from the many intakes and it will quickly dissipate through the rear.

 

PS: I am planning to overclock the components. I also don't want to mount the radiator at the front because the heated air by the radiator will go to the GPU and I want the GPU to be as cool as possible.

 

Do you think I an air cooler will be better in this case, or using a LC as intake or exhaust?

 

Thanks for you help and suggestions.

I hope this video will answer your concerns.. Enjoy..

Additional hint: Slap it on the front as intake.