Help an RGB-n00b: Fan placement and RGB-related questions

[1sascha]

Hiya guys,

 

since most of the stuff for my new build hasn't arrived yet, I've had some time to ponder the question of air-flow/fan-placement. Plus ... to RGB or not to RGB.

My case is the bequiet! Pure Base 600, a solid, but not too fancy or even modern mid-tower for an ATX build. It has space for 2x140mm fans at the front (one 140 non-RGB came with the case), enough space for a 360mm rad up top and a single 120mm at the rear (also came with the case).

 

I'm going to be fitting a 240mm AiO with RGB. Now the front of the case is pretty much closed up except for two vertical openings on either side that run from the top all the way to the bottom of the plastic front cover.

Here's a pic:

The orange outline is where the opening(s) sit(s) on the side of the front panel.

 

This pic from the manufacturer (looks like a render to me though) seems to suggest I could also mount a rad in the front without having to remove either the ODD cage or the HDD cages. ODD mounting space was one reason why I chose this case) and I'll need one HDD cage at least.

 

 

What would be the smartest way to configure all this with emphasis on air-flow but also with an eye on getting some light into that black hole of a case? (it has a glass side panel and I want to be able to see my components, dammit! ).

 

Lighting- and fan-wise I currently have (once my order arrives that is) 2x 120 RGB fans on the AiO plus some RGB on the pump (Lian Li Galahad 240 V2). Plus the 140 and 120 non RGB fans that came with the case.

 

The way I see it, mounting the AiO in the front might be a waste of potential airflow, since I'd be putting 2 120mm fans blowing through a rad there instead of 2x140 blowing in unimpeded. So... two 140 at the front (I was thinking Corsair LL140, but is it even worth going RGB here given the nature of the case's front?), AiO up top blowing out, 120 exhaust in the rear? The case doesn't have any opening or mountings at the bottom, so the front is where I'll have to get air in I guess... 

 

 

 

Thanks for your input!

 

S.

[Ralfi]

Rad up top may be the better option, as I presume the openings are better than the front?

 

Either 3 x 120mm front fans or 2 x 140mm front fans, but if you can, only use the lowest HDD tray, so then at least 2 fans are unhindered. RGB would be a waste as you’ll only see the back of one & a half of your fans…

 

Corsair aren’t the greatest performing fans. Suggest Arctic Bionix P120 (better static pressure than the P12, which should be more apt for your front obstacles) or P14.

[thrasher_565]

fake news

 

[1sascha]

12 hours ago, Ralfi said:

Rad up top may be the better option, as I presume the openings are better than the front?

The internal structure is actually more open at the front ... until I re-install the front cover that is..

 

Since the case is the only part of my order that's already here, I've prepped it a bit and took a couple of pics:

 

 

^Front with ODD added, front cover and one HDD cage removed.

^ Top view.

 

I'm currently thinking that I'll add one more non-RGB 140mm to the front just to get enough air pumped in, then put the rad as an exhaust in the top and leave the 120mm exhaust in the rear. I would have another 2 120s here from my old case but I'm not sure I'd have enough space/clearance up top to go push+pull, so I'd have to see about that. Plus the old fans are disgustingly dirty, so ...

EDIT: Just took a tape measure to the top and I *think* the 240 mounting points are offset far enough towards the glass-side/away from the tray to get away with a 240 with push+pull. Hard to judge by simply looking at an empty case, though...

 

 

As for RGB/lighting up the case: Perhaps it would be smarter to just buy a couple of LED strips and let them, the RGB RAM and AiO handle that? Would I need an additional controller for those strips and the AiO or can the motherboard handle that? It's an MSI Z690 Tomahawk DDR4, which AFAIK comes with MSI's Mystic Light.

 

S.

[Ralfi]

Push/Pull may not make much difference to temps (for the cost), so maybe invest in that secondary front fan for now & see if you're happy with temps.

 

Looks like you have a decent front fan there. If you like it's performance/noise, then it may be best to match that fan (if you can find the same one), so noise is in-sync.

 

I really don't understand case manufacturers who design their products with solid front panels & then advertise them with an AIO in the front...

 

As for RGB, at least with the AIO up top, you'll be able to the LEDs. & together with the RAM RGB, it may be enough. I'd hold off on the strips for now - one because you may like it as is & two, those strips can turn things tacky, depending on which ones you get..

[1sascha]

Just got back from my local, cut-throat HW-store and bought a second bequiet 140mm for the front. I wanted to put a 120 RGB in the back, but the guy behind the counter knew and had previously used my case in his own build and recommended an RGB-strip to get some light into the case.

 

So that's what I went with and I think I'll have to mount the AiO up top. With the ODD-cage installed, I don't think I'd be able to mount the rad high enough in the front, meaning that the CPU-block/pump would be the highest point in the loop.

 

But all that is still just day-dreaming anyway at this point since the bulk of my HW hasn't shipped yet and now Amazon has set the delivery-date for my monitor to April 13th - even though it's still listed as "in stock" and was supposed to arrive by Wednesday at the latest. Tried to get a hold of a person at customer support, but all I found was that stupid chat-bot they use...

 

S.

[1sascha]

Well... crap.

 

I'm still waiting for my RAM and monitor, but the rest of the stuff arrived today, so I started building. Turns out I was sorta wrong about the top mount position. The radiator fits there, even with the fans mounted. Or rather, it would fit easily if it wasn't for the huge top heatsink that MSI put on my board. That thing is just thick enough to make the installation up there impossible. Probably only by a few millimeters, but it was enough to force a change of plans. In fairness to MSI: All the Z690 boards I've looked at have similarly thick heatsinks up there, so I probably would've run into the same problem with an Asus or Gigabyte board.

 

The rad now sits in the front and I mounted its fans on the inside, sucking into the case. Could've put them towards the outside of the case, but I wanted to get at least a little bit of RGB action out of them, so...

The two 140s I moved up top as exhausts and the 120 is still in the back blowing out as well. So much for a positive pressure build...

 

When it comes to pump vs rad height, I *think* I'm barely on the safe side. The top of the radiator sits a few of centimeters higher than the center of the CPU, so I'm hoping my pump won't be too mad at me...

 

It was a bit of a chore getting there, since I had to detach the ODD-cage to be able to get the pump through there, then re-attach it which was a pretty awkward operation. Hoses are now running through the cage, just underneath the BRD-drive.

 

Now my back hurts, I got a ton of cable-management to do tomorrow and will still have to wait til Saturday at least to see if this thing will run. 

 

 

S.

 

 

 

 

 

[Ralfi]

Post pics when done.

 

Also, you could maybe try to have the top/front 140mm fan as intake….positive pressure goals achieved.

 

edit…That’s a shame about the Rad placement restriction. That case has little room for air to enter from the front, so hopefully temps are ok. Let us know if there’s much difference in temps with the front cover off.

[1sascha]

6 hours ago, Ralfi said:

Post pics when done.

 

Not the best quality, since I don't have much space around the PC to shoot, but:

Happy to oblige... although I'm not quite done yet. I still have to salvage data from two old HDDs to a newer one that I'm going to keep. Although... "new" is kinda relative here. Production dates on those three are 2010, 2011 and 2013. Until that is done, I can't finish my cable management so I'm using the PC with both side panels removed.

 

I still have to see where I'll mount the one HDD-cage I'll keep. Due to cable-length issues, I'll probably have to put it in the second position from the bottom - bottom one is just a few cm too low for the length of my SATA power-cable

Guess I'll have to get another M.2 soon-ish to be able to retire that last HDD too and remove the airflow-blockage.

 

 

Not too bad though considering that yesterday on first startup, I had a minor (well, major) freakout. The PC started up, even all the RGB was ...er..RGBing and none of the POST diagnostic LEDs on the board were lit up... but the monitor didn't get a signal. Started to try different cables, but the other DP one that came with the monitor also didn't work. Went on here and had a whole "HELP ME!!!"-post ready to go when I checked the cables a bit more closely and realized that it might have been just my own idiocy/inexperience (never used DP before). Turned out that you *really* have to jam that DP cable in there until it finally clicks in. When that happened, the monitor light right up on the next start-up.

 

 

Also managed to get XMP to work, although the board seemed to not want to give me my full 3600 MHz at first. I probably neglected to save my changes in BIOS which is a bit less self-explanatory IMO than the Asus-stuff I've been used to in the past. Oh well... it's working now, so why complain?

 

Temps seem fine to me so far. Did a quick run of 3DMark Demo yesterday, followed by one of the entire Passmark benchmark. Forgot the 3DMark score (something in the mid 4000s IIRC), but it did call the result "Good". Passmark had this to say:

... and put me in the 85 percentile overall (GPU score is letting me down, of course... CPU was in the low 90 percentile IIRC).

 

I had CPUZ and HWMonitor up of course and checked my temperature maximums afterwards, even though with the case fully open and not all cables tied down, I'm not sure how valid these results were. GPU had a max of 71 or 72°C, while the highest temp for the CPU (overall or individual cores) was just 69°C (giggity!).

Considering that all cores were at 100% during the benchmark's stress-test for quite some time, I think the AiO is up to the task and that my four year old CM MasterGel Maker-paste was still good (I checked it before using it and the stuff looked absolutely fine to me).

 

S.

[1sascha]

It's done... and I actually managed to slip the side panel on on the first try. Well, I did use a *ton* of cable-ties, so...

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not ecstatic about my cable management, but I'm not disappointed, either... considering all the crap I installed and how many cables I had to hook up and (try to) hide...

 

Did a couple more benchmarks, 3DMark and Passmark one right after the other, this time with the case closed (top is still completely open, not sure if I want to use the supplied lid to close up that bit) and the temps actually look a bit better than before. I guess this case does have some airflow, even through the supposedly restrictive front lid.

 

 

^ Temps after the two benchmarks.

 

 

... and 3DMark really does a helluva job making you want to buy a new graphics-card. Worse than a "gaming laptop", huh?`:D

 

 

S.