Lian Li O-11 cooling with 280mm rad

[Terriblyghetto321]

Given how popular this case is, this topic has probably been discussed to death but from my search for some feedback, I've found that the generally recommended setup is what I currently have.

 

So here's the question, it's crazy hot in LA right now and on a whim I started seeing if increasing the fan speed of the intake fans under the GPU would lower the GPU temp. Didn't seem to make a difference even at 100% fan speed. So I thought maybe the radiator/fans (it's a Corsair H115i) on top aren't allowing the warm air in the case to leave as quickly as 6 intake fans can bring air in. I manually increased the radiator fan speed to 100% and immediately the GPU temps started decreasing. The fans on the radiator are generally referencing the CPU temp but that doesn't get as warm as the GPU does so the fans don't ramp up as much as they seem to need to adequately cool the case. So now I'm looking for any feedback from really anyone as I'm thinking of buying a H100i 240mm rad so I can side mount it and see how that impacts the CPU and GPU temps (the case doesn't support 140mm fans on the side mounts so I can't mount my current rad there) and hopefully that leads to better GPU temps but that's $150 just to try this out. Hopefully other O-11 owners have some experience with both setups. 

 

Radiator is a Corsair H115i with ML 140 fans.

 

Case fans are Corsair LL120, CPU is 9700k/GPU is 2060 Super

 

TL:DR - 280mm Top mount rad/fans seem to not allow the case to exhaust properly due to CPU temps not increasing as much as GPU temps. Considering getting a 240mm rad to side amount and possibly allow better case exhausting. Looking for feedback. 

[vong]

1 hour ago, Terriblyghetto321 said:

Given how popular this case is, this topic has probably been discussed to death but from my search for some feedback, I've found that the generally recommended setup is what I currently have.

 

So here's the question, it's crazy hot in LA right now and on a whim I started seeing if increasing the fan speed of the intake fans under the GPU would lower the GPU temp. Didn't seem to make a difference even at 100% fan speed. So I thought maybe the radiator/fans (it's a Corsair H115i) on top aren't allowing the warm air in the case to leave as quickly as 6 intake fans can bring air in. I manually increased the radiator fan speed to 100% and immediately the GPU temps started decreasing. The fans on the radiator are generally referencing the CPU temp but that doesn't get as warm as the GPU does so the fans don't ramp up as much as they seem to need to adequately cool the case. So now I'm looking for any feedback from really anyone as I'm thinking of buying a H100i 240mm rad so I can side mount it and see how that impacts the CPU and GPU temps (the case doesn't support 140mm fans on the side mounts so I can't mount my current rad there) and hopefully that leads to better GPU temps but that's $150 just to try this out. Hopefully other O-11 owners have some experience with both setups. 

 

Radiator is a Corsair H115i with ML 140 fans.

 

Case fans are Corsair LL120, CPU is 9700k/GPU is 2060 Super

 

TL:DR - 280mm Top mount rad/fans seem to not allow the case to exhaust properly due to CPU temps not increasing as much as GPU temps. Considering getting a 240mm rad to side amount and possibly allow better case exhausting. Looking for feedback. 

 

Putting the radiator to the side is not going to make a difference to exhaust. You're thinking the radiator is a restriction. You're better of making the side fans into an exhaust, that'll help more than what you're thinking of doing,

[HM-2]

41 minutes ago, vong said:

You're better of making the side fans into an exhaust

This would be my suggestion too. I think you would benefit from significantly less intake, especially if you've got the dust filters still in place.

Given your only exhaust is through the top, with air being forced to traverse both a radiator and a thick and highly restrictive dust filter, it's not really surprising you're having airflow problems.

 

Actually removing the three fans on the side intake entirely would probably massively benefit your temps.

[MakubeX]

Before removing anything, I'd try stopping/disconnecting all the fans at the bottom first. Leave the side fans as intake and the top ones as exhaust.

[Terriblyghetto321]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I flipped the side fans to exhaust and I'm going to try that out and see how it goes. I had tried putting the bottom intake fans to 0 rpm and that seemed to have zero impact on temps. Seemed like the issue was just having more ways for the hot air in the case to get out. 

 

Just seems odd to me because the setup I have is what I've seen suggested as the ideal setup in many forums/videos/etc. 

[HM-2]

16 hours ago, Terriblyghetto321 said:

Just seems odd to me because the setup I have is what I've seen suggested as the ideal setup in many forums/videos/etc. 

Most O-11Ds seem to be custom loops, usually with 3x intake at the bottom and 3x exhaust at the top. Ideally you want rough parity between intake and exhaust.

As per my previous comments, do you also still have all the dust filters in place? Removing the top (exhaust) dust filter on mine (which also has a 280 exhausting) mad a big difference in temps.