New Case, AIO & Fans Please HELP

[enzoray]

Hello fellow PC enthusiasts,

I built this PC in 2021, and it’s still going strong—I absolutely love it.

Here's my current setup:

• CPU: i9 12900k
• RAM: 32 GB Corsair Dominator Platinum 5600 DDR5
• Motherboard: MSI MPG Z690 Wifi
• GPU: RTX 3090 FE
• Storage: 3x Firecuda 4 TB (these are incredibly fast)
• Case: Lian Li (see photo)
• CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooler II (360)
• PSU: Corsair 850 Watt

I’ve had to replace the cooler twice already and several fans since I leave my PC on 24/7.

I'm looking to make the following changes:

• Case: The current one is too loud and too open, leading to dust issues.
• AIO: This is my second AIO, and it’s about to fail. Is there a better option I can buy?
• Fans: I want to max out on quality fans for the new case.

Bonus considerations:

• I'm open to upgrading the RAM to 64GB or 128GB.
• I'm also considering a new PSU.

These specs are still performing well, but I’m planning a full upgrade when NVIDIA’s 5000 series is released—potentially, though not necessarily.

Thanks for your suggestions!

 

[jaslion]

Whats wrong with the cooler?

 

What case? That pic is hard to see what it is.

 

Loudness depends on your parts and how well they are cooled. Getting a more closed case will only increase temps, thus the pc gets louder and worst case of all likelyhood of overheating goes up which means worse performance.

 

What are the fans you have now?

 

Keep in mind the 2 fans at the bottom are doing exactly fuckall. One is pulling air from a closed piece of metal aka basically no air and the other is pulling air from the bottom which in most lian li cases is at best poorly ventilated so it does almost nothing too.

 

Front aio doesnt help gpu temps either.

 

But firstly what is wrong with the cooler?

[PDifolco]

24 minutes ago, enzoray said:

Hello fellow PC enthusiasts,

I built this PC in 2021, and it’s still going strong—I absolutely love it.

Here's my current setup:

• CPU: i9 12900k
• RAM: 32 GB Corsair Dominator Platinum 5600 DDR5
• Motherboard: MSI MPG Z690 Wifi
• GPU: RTX 3090 FE
• Storage: 3x Firecuda 4 TB (these are incredibly fast)
• Case: Lian Li (see photo)
• CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooler II (360)
• PSU: Corsair 850 Watt

I’ve had to replace the cooler twice already and several fans since I leave my PC on 24/7.

I'm looking to make the following changes:

• Case: The current one is too loud and too open, leading to dust issues.
• AIO: This is my second AIO, and it’s about to fail. Is there a better option I can buy?
• Fans: I want to max out on quality fans for the new case.

Bonus considerations:

• I'm open to upgrading the RAM to 64GB or 128GB.
• I'm also considering a new PSU.

These specs are still performing well, but I’m planning a full upgrade when NVIDIA’s 5000 series is released—potentially, though not necessarily.

Thanks for your suggestions!

 

 

AIO are doomed to fail in 3-4yrs if working 24/7, if you want something more durable get an aircooler

But if it works why trying to fix it ?

Airflow may not be very good on your setup, you should rather put the rad top exhaust so the front intake fans will be more effective

 

[enzoray]

1 hour ago, jaslion said:

Whats wrong with the cooler?

 

What case? That pic is hard to see what it is.

 

Loudness depends on your parts and how well they are cooled. Getting a more closed case will only increase temps, thus the pc gets louder and worst case of all likelyhood of overheating goes up which means worse performance.

 

What are the fans you have now?

 

Keep in mind the 2 fans at the bottom are doing exactly fuckall. One is pulling air from a closed piece of metal aka basically no air and the other is pulling air from the bottom which in most lian li cases is at best poorly ventilated so it does almost nothing too.

 

Front aio doesnt help gpu temps either.

 

But firstly what is wrong with the cooler?

Check out this case: Lian Li Lancool II Mesh RGB.

It’s fantastic with excellent ventilation, including from the bottom. The entire case is perforated, allowing the two bottom fans to be effective.

Here’s my current fan setup with MSI fans:

• 2 at the top (exhaust)
• 2 at the bottom (intake)
• 1 at the back (exhaust)
• Push/pull configuration on the front with an Arctic Cooler II using 6 fans (3x Arctic Cooler and 3x MSI)

However, after 2 years, the cooler is starting to fail, and I never upgraded to better fans for the system.

While the case is great, it requires a lot of maintenance to keep dust-free. The front AIO setup is the only suitable configuration for this case, which is why I'm considering a change.

On a positive note, my PSU has been performing exceptionally well at 850 watts, even with a 3090 pulling nearly 450 watts when overclocked.

 

 

[jaslion]

22 minutes ago, enzoray said:

Check out this case: Lian Li Lancool II Mesh RGB.

It’s fantastic with excellent ventilation, including from the bottom. The entire case is perforated, allowing the two bottom fans to be effective.

Here’s my current fan setup with MSI fans:

• 2 at the top (exhaust)
• 2 at the bottom (intake)
• 1 at the back (exhaust)
• Push/pull configuration on the front with an Arctic Cooler II using 6 fans (3x Arctic Cooler and 3x MSI)

However, after 2 years, the cooler is starting to fail, and I never upgraded to better fans for the system.

While the case is great, it requires a lot of maintenance to keep dust-free. The front AIO setup is the only suitable configuration for this case, which is why I'm considering a change.

On a positive note, my PSU has been performing exceptionally well at 850 watts, even with a 3090 pulling nearly 450 watts when overclocked.

 

 

Ok but how are you noticing its failing?

 

Does the pump not work?

 

Does it rattle really badly?

 

Anything else that is odd?

 

For the rest well switching case can fix a lot of issues.

 

Doing a all intake back exhaust in a thing like lets say a 5000d will help for example with temps as the aio is at the top and dust since there is a lot of positive pressure.

 

Either way dust will still get in of course but a yearly clean is all you need.

 

Unless your room is super dusty then a simple air purifier may be what you want.

[enzoray]

31 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Ok but how are you noticing its failing?

 

Does the pump not work?

 

Does it rattle really badly?

 

Anything else that is odd?

 

For the rest well switching case can fix a lot of issues.

 

Doing a all intake back exhaust in a thing like lets say a 5000d will help for example with temps as the aio is at the top and dust since there is a lot of positive pressure.

 

Either way dust will still get in of course but a yearly clean is all you need.

 

Unless your room is super dusty then a simple air purifier may be what you want.

Temps are all over the place. Idle specifically. This happened before and i know its nearly there.

 

Also, 1 of its fan already died.

 

12900k gets very hot and this AIO seems to be the best one around but im open having someone recommend a new AIO and Max out fans for a new case

[enzoray]

Lets remember that this pc is 24/7 ON

 

Maybe a top of the line AirCooler works best?? 12900 is not overclocked but it gets hot regardless....

[enzoray]

Fractal Mesh 2 + Arctic Cooler III 360 and some p14 fans?

[RevGAM]

I'm baffled. I see no indication of how that cooler has failed other than a bad fan and you haven't mentioned repasting it. You wrote Arctic Cooler II 360, but you must mean the Liquid Freezer.

Questions:

1. What work are you doing with this computer?
2. How high do your temps get?
3. Why is it always on? You should put it to sleep or hibernate when not in use. 

Suggestions:

• Start by replacing any bad fans, and get ones that are significantly stronger than the stock fans on that AIO. If you need suggestions, ask. Get high static pressure fans. 
• Repaste. 
• If you get the 5000D or similar, I know for a fact from testing that the best place to put an AIO is on the side. I can even tell you how to squeeze at least a couple more degrees out.
• Get a backup device or two because HDDs do not have a long life, especially if you run them all the time.
• Switch to SSD (SATA or M.2 +NVME) for at least your OS-boot drive..
• LOOK AT Tech Notice for recommendations if you're a creative type instead of just gaming.
• If you're having trouble with your virtual memory getting too big, especially if you're doing RAM-hogging work, get 64GB RAM.
• Optimize the case fans.
• Add air ducts to push fresh air directly to hot spots, and then out.
• Depending on the new case, you may need both high static pressure fans and high airflow fans. Make sure that input exceeds exhaust so you get less dust. 

[enzoray]

3 hours ago, RevGAM said:

I'm baffled. I see no indication of how that cooler has failed other than a bad fan and you haven't mentioned repasting it. You wrote Arctic Cooler II 360, but you must mean the Liquid Freezer.

Questions:

1. What work are you doing with this computer?
2. How high do your temps get?
3. Why is it always on? You should put it to sleep or hibernate when not in use. 

Suggestions:

• Start by replacing any bad fans, and get ones that are significantly stronger than the stock fans on that AIO. If you need suggestions, ask. Get high static pressure fans. 
• Repaste. 
• If you get the 5000D or similar, I know for a fact from testing that the best place to put an AIO is on the side. I can even tell you how to squeeze at least a couple more degrees out.
• Get a backup device or two because HDDs do not have a long life, especially if you run them all the time.
• Switch to SSD (SATA or M.2 +NVME) for at least your OS-boot drive..
• LOOK AT Tech Notice for recommendations if you're a creative type instead of just gaming.
• If you're having trouble with your virtual memory getting too big, especially if you're doing RAM-hogging work, get 64GB RAM.
• Optimize the case fans.
• Add air ducts to push fresh air directly to hot spots, and then out.
• Depending on the new case, you may need both high static pressure fans and high airflow fans. Make sure that input exceeds exhaust so you get less dust. 

Thanks for replying.

I use this computer for virtual productions with vMix at a very intense level, as well as some 4K video editing. Occasionally, I do some gaming on it as well.

 

Regarding storage, I only have FireCuda 530 SSDs installed—no mechanical drives here, and I don't plan on adding any. Why do you ask? This is off topic.

 

The main issue I'm experiencing is that the cooler exhibits extremely high temperatures at idle, around 50-60°C, which is the same behaviour as last year.

 

This computer gets constantly accessed remotely for Remote Productions. Has to be on 24/7

 

I appreciate your suggestions, but please don't assume a lack of knowledge just because I'm asking for advice.

 

I'm going with this:

 

[RevGAM]

2 hours ago, enzoray said:

Thanks for replying.

I use this computer for virtual productions with vMix at a very intense level, as well as some 4K video editing. Occasionally, I do some gaming on it as well.

 

Regarding storage, I only have FireCuda 530 SSDs installed—no mechanical drives here, and I don't plan on adding any. Why do you ask? This is off topic.

 

The main issue I'm experiencing is that the cooler exhibits extremely high temperatures at idle, around 50-60°C, which is the same behaviour as last year.

 

This computer gets constantly accessed remotely for Remote Productions. Has to be on 24/7

 

I appreciate your suggestions, but please don't assume a lack of knowledge just because I'm asking for advice.

 

I'm going with this:

 

I'm here to help. Sorry you feel that way but I'm not assuming you don't know anything. Quite the contrary. The info you gave showed that you're not a novice, but you also didn't give certain info that would help us to better serve you. Advice given in advance to cover the bases.

 

The only mistake I made was thinking the FireCudas were HDDs. I didn't ask you about them, not sure what gave you that impression - I just made a recommendation based on my mistake started above. 

 

It seems you are, as I suspected, doing very heavy work, which is why I mentioned Tech Notice as a resource. Only that kind of heavy load would cause an AIO to burn out so fast. I'm not sure that Arctic is the best choice, but at least they have a great warranty. However, if you get much stronger fans, you will have much better results from that AIO because of some design... imperfections. 

 

If your idle is that high, what are your temps during full load? Please give us a screenshot showing all temps and watts. 

 

Do you still want advice?

 

I'll give you one more thing. Since you didn't indicate that you've repaste, which would be required routinely with most TIMs given the 24-hr schedule, either

• get a phase-change TIM like Honeywell PTM7950, or
• get a permanent solution like Thermal Grizzly Kryosheet.

Both are excellent products. The former will not last forever, but it will last longer than most TIMs AFAIK.  The latter will last virtually forever, but it is electrically conductive, so be careful. 

[enzoray]

45 minutes ago, RevGAM said:

I'm here to help. Sorry you feel that way but I'm not assuming you don't know anything. Quite the contrary. The info you gave showed that you're not a novice, but you also didn't give certain info that would help us to better serve you. Advice given in advance to cover the bases.

 

The only mistake I made was thinking the FireCudas were HDDs. I didn't ask you about them, not sure what gave you that impression - I just made a recommendation based on my mistake started above. 

 

It seems you are, as I suspected, doing very heavy work, which is why I mentioned Tech Notice as a resource. Only that kind of heavy load would cause an AIO to burn out so fast. I'm not sure that Arctic is the best choice, but at least they have a great warranty. However, if you get much stronger fans, you will have much better results from that AIO because of some design... imperfections. 

 

If your idle is that high, what are your temps during full load? Please give us a screenshot showing all temps and watts. 

 

Do you still want advice?

 

I'll give you one more thing. Since you didn't indicate that you've repaste, which would be required routinely with most TIMs given the 24-hr schedule, either

• get a phase-change TIM like Honeywell PTM7950, or
• get a permanent solution like Thermal Grizzly Kryosheet.

Both are excellent products. The former will not last forever, but it will last longer than most TIMs AFAIK.  The latter will last virtually forever, but it is electrically conductive, so be careful. 

Thanks for clarifying, and I appreciate the help.

 

I should have mentioned earlier that I primarily use this PC for very intensive tasks like virtual productions using vMix and 4K video editing. These activities demand high performance, which is why I'm keen on maintaining optimal temperatures.

 

Regarding the FireCudas, my setup only includes these SSDs as I avoid mechanical drives due to their limitations in high-performance scenarios.

 

To give you a better idea, the idle temperatures are currently hitting 50-60°C, and under full load, they spike to 100c. 

 

I have had a failing AIO before and its exactly behaving the same. Going for a warranty again its a painful process that takes weeks.

 

Repasting was done multiple times in the past 6 months. i Keep maintenance on this computer every 2 months - Full format and Dust/Repaste.

 

I have purchased the following for Maxing Out my z690 Board to the limit and give this computer another 5 years or more  of Life in the High Specs Performances with the 3090.