Airflow in Fractal Pop Air

[Tinman_72]

Greetings,

I am in the process of a i7-13700k / rx7800xt build in a Fractal Pop Air mid tower case. I had originally bought a Noctua NH-D15 to cool the cpu. Once I realized I have to remove the motherboard anytime I want to remove the cooler or memory, I decided to go with an AIO. (Thermalright Frozen Notte 240, purchase pending.)  I have never built with liquid cooling before so this is my first time.

Upon researching my mounting options, I see there is quite a bit of back and forth on where to mount. I don't want to flip fans around because they are aRGB and I don't want to purchase new fans to change the direction of them. Using existing fans and adding the AIO at top will result in the following:

 

The arrows on the GPU are to indicate that it is not a closed airflow card. I am also assuming that fans generally come as pusher fans on AIO's.

 

This seems to be the mainstream option and I am guessing this will suffice. However, I have always preferred to have an extra fan as intake to prevent dust build up inside the case. (All intake fans will be filtered.) To fulfill this desire I am thinking I will purchase one reverse flow fan so the rear is an intake instead of exhaust. But looking at all the other exhaust on the back, should I be worried about warm air from GPU and PSU getting sucked in? The tower will be sitting on top of my desk so maybe this is not a problem.

I also considered mounting the AIO in front but from what I have read, this would make the front an exhaust and I would lose view of the beautiful aRGB fans that are currently there.

Basically I am not sure if I want to purchase a reverse rotation fan to keep dust to a minimum or keep it as is and have to clean it out every six months to a year. I am also open so other suggestions but I am already a little over budget and don't want to spend more than I already have. (Well pending the AIO, of course.)

Thank you in advance for your consideration.

Edited November 10, 2023 by Tinman_72
I can't spell

[Zando_]

Just run the top AIO as intake if you want more intake fans. Tis better that way anyways, as the radiator gets the freshest air possible.

[Dedayog]

7 minutes ago, Tinman_72 said:

Greetings,

I am in the process of a i7-13700k / rx7800xt build in a Fractal Pop Air mid tower case. I had originally bought a Noctua NH-D15 to cool the cpu. Once I realized I have to remove the motherboard anytime I want to remove the cooler or memory, I decided to go with an AIO. (Thermalright Frozen Notte 240, purchase pending.)  I have never built with liquid cooling before so this is my first time.

Upon researching my mounting options, I see there is quite a bit of back and forth on where to mount. I don't want to flip fans around because they are aRGB and I don't want to purchase new fans to change the direction of them. Using existing fans and adding the AIO at top will result in the following:

 

The arrows on the GPU are to indicate that it is not a closed airflow card. I am also assuming that fans generally come as pusher fans on AIO's.

 

This seems to be the mainstream option and I am guessing this will suffice. However, I have always preferred to have an extra fan as intake to prevent dust build up inside the case. (All intake fans will be filtered.) To fulfill this desire I am thinking I will purchase one reverse flow fan so the rear is an intake instead of exhaust. But looking at all the other exhaust on the back, should I be worried about warm air from GPU and PSU getting sucked in? The tower will be sitting on top of my desk so maybe this is not a problem.

I also considered mounting the AIO in front but from what I have read, this would make the front an exhaust and I would lose view of the beautiful aRGB fans that are currently there.

Basically I am not sure if I want to purchase a reverse rotation fan to keep dust to a minimum or keep it as is and have to clean it out every six months to a year. I am also open so other suggestions but I am already a little over budget and don't want to spend more than I already have. (Well pending the AIO, of course.)

Thank you in advance for your consideration.

Not sure you have the correct understanding of dust.  It's pretty much magical and will accumulate where it wishes.  Extra fan or not.

 

Otherwise... yes.  Standard fan layout is fine.

[Tinman_72]

1 minute ago, Dedayog said:

Not sure you have the correct understanding of dust.  It's pretty much magical and will accumulate where it wishes.  Extra fan or not.

 

Otherwise... yes.  Standard fan layout is fine.

Yes, it will but much less if it is not being sucked into every crack and crevice in the case. 

 

3 minutes ago, Zando_ said:

Just run the top AIO as intake if you want more intake fans. Tis better that way anyways, as the radiator gets the freshest air possible.

This would mean flipping around the fans and losing the "functionality" of the aRGB or buying even more reverse rotation fans. Or am I missing something?

[Zando_]

4 minutes ago, Tinman_72 said:

This would mean flipping around the fans and losing the "functionality" of the aRGB or buying even more reverse rotation fans. Or am I missing something?

Yes, if you don't want to flip them, you'd need to get 2 reverse fans instead of the 1 you would need anyways if you want to flip the rear exhaust. And you'd end up with a better airflow setup than trying to shove all the exhaust out the radiator that's trying to cool your CPU.

[Tinman_72]

12 minutes ago, Zando_ said:

Yes, if you don't want to flip them, you'd need to get 2 reverse fans instead of the 1 you would need anyways if you want to flip the rear exhaust. And you'd end up with a better airflow setup than trying to shove all the exhaust out the radiator that's trying to cool your CPU.

You know that actually puts things into a different perspective for me. I don't have to buy an aRGB AIO if I am purchasing a couple of reverse rotation fans anyway, so I can save a few dollars there. And since they will be relatively easy to access I will just flip them on the AIO for now. I can purchase fancy AIO fans later when I upgrade the fronts to 140's.

 

Thanks for your input, guys.

[RevGAM]

On 11/10/2023 at 3:30 PM, Tinman_72 said:

You know that actually puts things into a different perspective for me. I don't have to buy an aRGB AIO if I am purchasing a couple of reverse rotation fans anyway, so I can save a few dollars there. And since they will be relatively easy to access I will just flip them on the AIO for now. I can purchase fancy AIO fans later when I upgrade the fronts to 140's.

 

Thanks for your input, guys.

Options:

1. Put the AIO intaking on the front, tubes down, with the fans on the side you want them on. This will produce the best CPU temps but you may need to do something to help the GC, such as a fan underneath. 
2. Reverse the airflow entirely, which can sometimes yield better results but requires a bit more fiddling with the config.
3. Go with a top air cooler and put fans where you want them, with or without LEDs 

I've just finished spending a few days looking at 360 AIOs on Amazon and Newegg. All of the <$100 ones have lights - even from the off brands. I think there might be 1-2 240/280s, though, without lights. I ended up ordering the Notte 360.

[Tinman_72]

On 11/12/2023 at 10:56 AM, RevGAM said:

Options:

1. Put the AIO intaking on the front, tubes down, with the fans on the side you want them on. This will produce the best CPU temps but you may need to do something to help the GC, such as a fan underneath. 
2. Reverse the airflow entirely, which can sometimes yield better results but requires a bit more fiddling with the config.
3. Go with a top air cooler and put fans where you want them, with or without LEDs 

I've just finished spending a few days looking at 360 AIOs on Amazon and Newegg. All of the <$100 ones have lights - even from the off brands. I think there might be 1-2 240/280s, though, without lights. I ended up ordering the Notte 360.

1. Front mount intake AIO: I considered this option, but there are no provisions for a bottom case fan. Even if I did put a fan in the bottom, this would defeat the purpose of the bottom divider. This option looks to me like hot air will build up below the GPU. 
2. Front mount exhaust AIO, reverse flow all other fans: Can I mount the AIO so that the mounting surface of the case is between the fan and radiator? I don't have the AIO in hand to see how it mounts. This is somewhat intriguing, however I still see the issue of hot air building up below the GPU. I would also have to buy more fans and then I would have the fans that came out sitting around doing nothing.

I have come up with an idea that might be crazy. The option that Zando last proposed results in extreme positive pressure. (4x120mm intake, 1x120mm exhaust) What if I flip the front upper fan to be exhaust and build a baffle between the front lower fan and the GPU. This might force most of the incoming cold air at the bottom to be sucked up by the GPU, and releasing it into the rest of the case where everything is being exhausted:

 

 

[RevGAM]

3 hours ago, Tinman_72 said:

1. Front mount intake AIO: I considered this option, but there are no provisions for a bottom case fan. Even if I did put a fan in the bottom, this would defeat the purpose of the bottom divider. This option looks to me like hot air will build up below the GPU. 
2. Front mount exhaust AIO, reverse flow all other fans: Can I mount the AIO so that the mounting surface of the case is between the fan and radiator? I don't have the AIO in hand to see how it mounts. This is somewhat intriguing, however I still see the issue of hot air building up below the GPU. I would also have to buy more fans and then I would have the fans that came out sitting around doing nothing.

I have come up with an idea that might be crazy. The option that Zando last proposed results in extreme positive pressure. (4x120mm intake, 1x120mm exhaust) What if I flip the front upper fan to be exhaust and build a baffle between the front lower fan and the GPU. This might force most of the incoming cold air at the bottom to be sucked up by the GPU, and releasing it into the rest of the case where everything is being exhausted:

 

 

The baffle is a good idea. Having the AIO on intake on top is not ideal. Flip it and have the other 3 fans on intake. You can always experiment. 

 

Using the baffle with the AIO on intake in front will deal with the GC heat just the same. 

[NorKris]

12 hours ago, Tinman_72 said:

 

 

i would try it out

but it could go like this:

Top AIO as intake is the second best option