Noctua NH-D15 vs Lian Li Galahad 360 AIO

[MikeGold]

So I've built my PC recently with 14900K and Noctua NH-D15. 
My temps are 35 idle, 60-65 gaming, 88 encoding video (thermal throttling at some times) on stock settings.

I've decided that maybe I should get AIO to get better performance and after a discussion in here ordered Lian Li from Amazon.

Now I'm having my doubts (while waiting for delivery of Lian Li). Will AIO really give me better cooling performance and more importantly less thermal throttling?
I'm not planning to overclock my CPU. Will it be much louder?

How should I direct intake and exhaust of fans if I'll decide to install that AIO on the side wall? Currently I have bottom and side "in" and top and back "out".

Lastly any advice for the guy that never used water cooling in the past and wants to avoid newbie mistakes?
Thanks in advance :).

[DoctorNick]

12 minutes ago, MikeGold said:

So I've built my PC recently with 14900K and Noctua NH-D15. 
My temps are 35 idle, 60-65 gaming, 88 encoding video (thermal throttling at some times) on stock settings.

I've decided that maybe I should get AIO to get better performance and after a discussion in here ordered Lian Li from Amazon.

Now I'm having my doubts (while waiting for delivery of Lian Li). Will AIO really give me better cooling performance and more importantly less thermal throttling?
I'm not planning to overclock my CPU. Will it be much louder?

How should I direct intake and exhaust of fans if I'll decide to install that AIO on the side wall? Currently I have bottom and side "in" and top and back "out".

Lastly any advice for the guy that never used water cooling in the past and wants to avoid newbie mistakes?
Thanks in advance :).

 

That's actually pretty good temps for 14900k on a NH-D15. But yes you can get better temps. You can check out gamers nexus' review on the new liquid freezer III which also includes the trinity. Temperature difference from NH-D15 to top AIO will be bigger on 14900k, because of the higher TDP. Liquid freezere III comes with a contact frame. You could add a contact frame to your current setup. Idk how much difference it would make IRL: 

 

[DoctorNick]

@MikeGoldThis is much easier to compare than the video and far more updated CPU wise. AM5 and Intel 1700 (13700k):

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/arctic-liquid-freezer-iii-240-black-aio-liquid-cpu-cooler/7.html

[PDifolco]

32 minutes ago, MikeGold said:

So I've built my PC recently with 14900K and Noctua NH-D15. 
My temps are 35 idle, 60-65 gaming, 88 encoding video (thermal throttling at some times) on stock settings.

I've decided that maybe I should get AIO to get better performance and after a discussion in here ordered Lian Li from Amazon.

Now I'm having my doubts (while waiting for delivery of Lian Li). Will AIO really give me better cooling performance and more importantly less thermal throttling?
I'm not planning to overclock my CPU. Will it be much louder?

How should I direct intake and exhaust of fans if I'll decide to install that AIO on the side wall? Currently I have bottom and side "in" and top and back "out".

Lastly any advice for the guy that never used water cooling in the past and wants to avoid newbie mistakes?
Thanks in advance :).

Having your chip 5C cooler won't give any more performance unless it was 100C (throttling) previously...

[MikeGold]

34 minutes ago, PDifolco said:

Having your chip 5C cooler won't give any more performance unless it was 100C (throttling) previously...

 

It's more about efficiency. I don't need more processing power as it is an overkill of a setup as it is for me. It's more about limiting throttling a bit. The more videos I see on the subject the more confused I get. In the past I was building on air cooling only and Noctua was always the way.

[PDifolco]

1 minute ago, MikeGold said:

It's more about efficiency. I don't need more processing power as it is an overkill of a setup as it is for me. It's more about limiting throttling a bit. The more videos I see on the subject the more confused I get. In the past I was building on air cooling only and Noctua was always the way.

If your chip is below throttling temp (100C) it works at its max "power" (as setup in BIOS, voltage, clocks...)

Increasing cooling in this case will give 0 performance, unless you oveclock the chip to make use of the new thermal headroom

 Also an AIO make the case inside cooler overall (cause hot air is pushed out), usually resulting in better VRM and GPU temps, but again this has usually no direct performance impact unless other components were at max "operating" temp

 

[MikeGold]

6 minutes ago, PDifolco said:

If your chip is below throttling temp (100C) it works at its max "power" (as setup in BIOS, voltage, clocks...)

Increasing cooling in this case will give 0 performance, unless you oveclock the chip to make use of the new thermal headroom

 Also an AIO make the case inside cooler overall (cause hot air is pushed out), usually resulting in better VRM and GPU temps, but again this has usually no direct performance impact unless other components were at max "operating" temp

 

 

So while you mentioned the case temperature to be lower, could you please tell me how to point the fans when I install the AIO? 
Currently I have bottom and side intake, top and back exhaust. I will be installing AIO on the side. I guess it should be on exhaust as well then? Won't I have a negative pressure then? (I've attached picutre of my setup in my original post)

[PDifolco]

4 minutes ago, MikeGold said:

So while you mentioned the case temperature to be lower, could you please tell me how to point the fans when I install the AIO? 
Currently I have bottom and side intake, top and back exhaust. I will be installing AIO on the side. I guess it should be on exhaust as well then? Won't I have a negative pressure then? (I've attached picutre of my setup in my original post)

I'd rather put the rad on top, fans on exhaust 

If it's on the side I'd let the fans on intake, it won't have too much of a negative effect if airflow is good, while having only 3 intakes vs 7 exhaust gives bad airflow and negative pressure increases dust buildup

[Mark Kaine]

aios generally aren't better, may have slightly better cooling on the chip, overall airflow gets worse and vrm cooling might be limited,  tldr: they're actually worse. 

[NorKris]

36 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

aios generally aren't better, may have slightly better cooling on the chip, overall airflow gets worse and vrm cooling might be limited,  tldr: they're actually worse. 

misinformation

[NorKris]

52 minutes ago, MikeGold said:

 I will be installing AIO on the side. I guess it should be on exhaust as well then? 

Radiators should be intake

[MikeGold]

6 minutes ago, NorKris said:

Radiators should be intake

 

Thanks! Actually makes sense.

[GuiltySpark_]

11 minutes ago, NorKris said:

Radiators should be intake

Matters little in my experience. I do what makes sense for the case. 

[NorKris]

6 minutes ago, GuiltySpark_ said:

Matters little in my experience. I do what makes sense for the case. 

people have different cases and stuff, but in no test have i seen exhaust win, so the recomendation is solid. 

and the CPU is harder to cool than any other part 

[MikeGold]

6 minutes ago, NorKris said:

people have different cases and stuff, but in no test have i seen exhaust win, so the recomendation is solid. 

and the CPU is harder to cool than any other part 

 

My 4090 barely ever breaks a sweat and sits at 50-60C even under load with the Noctua sitting on it's back :).

[GuiltySpark_]

My last system had a 3090 pumping out 400W steady in gaming loads with a 360 set as exhaust above it, 5800x had no issues keeping cool under maximum boost. As long as the water temp is where it should be its not an issue. Really just depends on the case and what works. 

[MikeGold]

14 minutes ago, GuiltySpark_ said:

My last system had a 3090 pumping out 400W steady in gaming loads with a 360 set as exhaust above it, 5800x had no issues keeping cool under maximum boost. As long as the water temp is where it should be its not an issue. Really just depends on the case and what works. 

 

I'm running NZXT H9 Elite. 2 reasons why I want it on the side and not on the top are: 
1. It looks really bad on top because radiator is going down quite a bit while on the side there is a special compartment for radiator.
2. H9 Elite has glass on top so the airflow is very limited.

[GuiltySpark_]

Just now, MikeGold said:

H9 Elite has glass on top

Yeah, that was a purchasing mistake when the much better non-Elite exists.

[MikeGold]

3 minutes ago, GuiltySpark_ said:

Yeah, that was a purchasing mistake when the much better non-Elite exists.

 

I can't disagree. They should have added both options of top cover with the Elite that is way more expensive than flow.

[MikeGold]

So in the end my Lian Li Galahad 360 performance arrived today. I found out that this AIO won't fit in any possible configuration in NZXT H9 Elite case as the radiator is a few mm too wide for both side and top mounting. After a wasted evening I've decided that I'm staying with Noctua and Lian Li goes back to Amazon. Pity...

[RevGAM]

On 2/22/2024 at 9:57 AM, MikeGold said:

I'm running NZXT H9 Elite. 2 reasons why I want it on the side and not on the top are: 
1. It looks really bad on top because radiator is going down quite a bit while on the side there is a special compartment for radiator.
2. H9 Elite has glass on top so the airflow is very limited.

Front, top or side, the most important thing is cool air. Generally, unless you use A/C, you'll get lower temps with the rad intaking air on the front or side.

 

On 2/22/2024 at 10:02 AM, MikeGold said:

I can't disagree. They should have added both options of top cover with the Elite that is way more expensive than flow.

You could ask them if you can buy a better top. 

 

On 3/1/2024 at 7:08 PM, MikeGold said:

So in the end my Lian Li Galahad 360 performance arrived today. I found out that this AIO won't fit in any possible configuration in NZXT H9 Elite case as the radiator is a few mm too wide for both side and top mounting. After a wasted evening I've decided that I'm staying with Noctua and Lian Li goes back to Amazon. Pity...

You could mount the rad externally...