Questions about AiO cooling the H440

[UnderwearThief]

I recently built a computer with in the H440 with the intent to overclock, but I didn't have enough money at the time to buy a CPU cooler. I decided I was gonna go with an all in one cooler, and I will be ordering it soon. I need to figure out where to put the aio in my system, and if putting it in the front will affect my GPU temps.

 

1) Where should I put this aio? Top or Front?

2) If I put it in the front, will the hot air created by it affect GPU temps?

 

Bonus question: Can anyone give me their opinion on the NZXT Kraken G10 aio GPU cooler frame?

 

Relevant Specs:

i5 4690k

Asus DCuII R9 290 OC

NZXT H440 case: 3x120mm/2x140mm fan in top and front, 1x120mm/140mm in rear

[Jodomcfrodo]

I would go with a NHD15 instead,

But if you must have an AIO, putting it at the front won't hurt your GPU temps much. I would personally put it at the top.

My personal opinion on CPU or GPU AIO's is that they aren't worth it. Either go air cooling on both or custom loop IMHO. GPU brackets have their issues and aren't worth it over air cooling and CPU AIO's are outperformed by the NHD15.

Now to the brackets (kind of jumping all over the place in this post):

The brackets for GPU's aren't great IMHO because they don't provide VRM cooling. It's better than air, but still not great.

Also, having 2 AIO's will make your system very loud. At the point of AIO cooling both your CPU and GPU, just go custom loop.

[UnderwearThief]

I would go with a NHD15 instead,

But if you must have an AIO, putting it at the front won't hurt your GPU temps much. I would personally put it at the top.

My personal opinion on CPU or GPU AIO's is that they aren't worth it. Either go air cooling on both or custom loop IMHO. GPU brackets have their issues and aren't worth it over air cooling and CPU AIO's are outperformed by the NHD15.

Now to the brackets (kind of jumping all over the place in this post):

The brackets for GPU's aren't great IMHO because they don't provide VRM cooling. It's better than air, but still not great.

Also, having 2 AIO's will make your system very loud. At the point of AIO cooling both your CPU and GPU, just go custom loop.

The reasons I was leaning toward AIO was because I dislike the look of a massive tower in the window of my case(it sits directly next to me on my desk) and that they would be quieter, although I've seen many people complain about the pump noise.

 

The GPU AIO question was more curiosity than consideration, but I was thinking about it. I do want to eventually do a custom loop, although probably not in this system.

 

Are there any air coolers you would recommend that look ok? Before I decided on an AIO, I was going to get the U12S. Although I suppose I should ask this elsewhere.

[Jodomcfrodo]

The reasons I was leaning toward AIO was because I dislike the look of a massive tower in the window of my case(it sits directly next to me on my desk) and that they would be quieter, although I've seen many people complain about the pump noise.

 

The GPU AIO question was more curiosity than consideration, but I was thinking about it. I do want to eventually do a custom loop, although probably not in this system.

 

Are there any air coolers you would recommend that look ok? Before I decided on an AIO, I was going to get the U12S. Although I suppose I should ask this elsewhere.

The NHD15 is the only one I can recommend. Quieter, better performing and less if a hassle than AIO's

[UnderwearThief]

Alright, thanks. That's probably what I'll get. As long as it will not interfere with my HyperX Fury ram

[Toto123456]

Alright, thanks. That's probably what I'll get. As long as it will not interfere with my HyperX Fury ram

Trust me on this, the reason why u bought the h440 is because of its aesthetic, so as soon as u put the nhd15 in, ur case will look like Sh$t. honestly that's why I went with the h105, even though the nhd15 out perform it by a bit and cost about £20 less

 

regarding to the performance, to get the best performance out of the h105 is to use it to pull air IN, this mean either put them in the fron or top, push air out is really bad in this case because you can't really push air out on top or front because the hot air gets trapped in the sound dampening foam and the heat doesn't go anywhere so the best thing to do is PULL air into the case. I tested this out and it gives me a whopping 7-10C different. But if I can go back in time I probably gonna go with the kraken x40 and mount it as an exhaust pulling air OUT of the case as there are no restriction at the back, no sound dampening foam, only downside is it might be slightly louder.

 

The g10 is what I am going for in this case as well, if u don't do dual gpu setup then get rid of this idea, its not worth it, just stick with air cooler for your gpu.

 

the 2xg10 + 2xH55 + H105 cost me £240 in total for FULL water cooling but the full custom loop will cost me £550 MINIMUM ( 1x360 rads, 1x240 rads, D5 pump + res, + xspc cpu block + 2xek gpu water block + backplate). the performance different is minimal, I might see different in cpu temp and vram on the gpu, this shouldn't be more than 5C anyway but it cost way less, that money you can put towards 4770k and some more ssd and ram for increased performance.

[fishy]

what Toto said

and keep in mind that all the heat from an air cooler would go into the case with gpu also blowing hot air in, so your overall temps would not be good since it takes quite some time for all the hot air in the H440 to be dumped out

i had h220 mounted on the top of the case as exhaust and the temps were ok, but i switched it to front as intake and temps are better than before

the air coming in trough the rad isn't much hotter even at full loads and the only thing that's blowing hot air all over the case is gpu

you would notice that after you end some intensive task, your cpu temp would drop instantly, whereas if the rad was mounted as exhaust, you'd still have high temps on cpu, since the air that was cooling the rad>cpu would be hot from gpu going berserk in there

 

just my experience

when i had the rad on top and was gaming, i had to take the side panel off to keep the gtx 780 lightning under 80°C

now when i have the rad as intake, i don't have to do that anymore, it never goes over 80°C

plus, in the first case (rad as exhaust on top) all that hot air from gpu was going trough the rad, making the AIO perform worse than it could

[UnderwearThief]

Sorry for the late post, I grew impatient and then sort of forgot about the thread.

 

Trust me on this, the reason why u bought the h440 is because of its aesthetic, so as soon as u put the nhd15 in, ur case will look like Sh$t. honestly that's why I went with the h105, even though the nhd15 out perform it by a bit and cost about £20 less

Yes, the H440 was entirely for the aesthetic and the silence. As for a good water cooler, I definitely want one with PWM control, so the H100i was the first thought, followed by the Kraken X60(I think that has PWM fans). Then I also need to think about where the extra case fans will go when I out in the aio. Positive pressure is a must. I hate dust(rhyme not intended).

[Toto123456]

Sorry for the late post, I grew impatient and then sort of forgot about the thread.

 

Yes, the H440 was entirely for the aesthetic and the silence. As for a good water cooler, I definitely want one with PWM control, so the H100i was the first thought, followed by the Kraken X60(I think that has PWM fans). Then I also need to think about where the extra case fans will go when I out in the aio. Positive pressure is a must. I hate dust(rhyme not intended).

 

do u know u can adjust the fan speed manually in the bios when using the 105? but if h100i is what u prefer then its ok. I got a dust filter from ebay for like £4

[UnderwearThief]

do u know u can adjust the fan speed manually in the bios when using the 105? but if h100i is what u prefer then its ok. I got a dust filter from ebay for like £4

Oh, right I forgot about the BIOS CPU fan settings. Does the H105 cool better than the H100i? Also, you mentioned wanting to instead have gotten a 140mm rad and put that on the back of the case as exhaust. Would that be a good option for overclocks and still keep the 4690k cooled enough?