Is a front-mounted H110i GTX enough air intake for a case?

[Hakiroto]

Hi, everyone,

 

I just built a new system (parts here) and I love it. I decided to front-mount the H110i GTX (in the Define R5) as opposed to top-mounting it as I wanted to keep the top vents closed and retain some of that claimed silence. So far, the system seems to be running great. I overclocked the 6700K to 4.6GHz (with a tiny voltage increase to 1.300 from 1.294) and after a few hours of stress testing the CPU didn't go over 70ºC. I'm guessing that's pretty good, right? I'm still learning about all of this as I've been out of PC gaming for 10 years.

 

Anyway, I was wondering if I did the right thing with the H110i GTX. The R5 comes with 2 x 140mm fans: one at the top/rear and one on the front. I screwed the radiator to the inside (of the front) and replaced the single front 140mm with the 2 x 140mm that came with the H110i GTX so they're blowing cold air in and through the radiator. Are these two fans (blowing through the radiator) enough intake for the case?

 

Finally, are there any 140mm fans that I could replace the standard Corsair ones with that provide the same (or better) performance but are much quieter?

 

As always, thanks in advance! As soon as I get some time I'll put some build pictures up.

[Godlygamer23]

The problem with using that as an intake is you're pulling in heat from the radiator which other components will be using, thereby increasing the temperatures of those components.

[Josephdalepi]

Hi, everyone,

 

I just built a new system (parts here) and I love it. I decided to front-mount the H110i GTX (in the Define R5) as opposed to top-mounting it as I wanted to keep the top vents closed and retain some of that claimed silence. So far, the system seems to be running great. I overclocked the 6700K to 4.6GHz (with a tiny voltage increase to 1.300 from 1.294) and after a few hours of stress testing the CPU didn't go over 70ºC. I'm guessing that's pretty good, right? I'm still learning about all of this as I've been out of PC gaming for 10 years.

 

Anyway, I was wondering if I did the right thing with the H110i GTX. The R5 comes with 2 x 140mm fans: one at the top/rear and one on the front. I screwed the radiator to the inside (of the front) and replaced the single front 140mm with the 2 x 140mm that came with the H110i GTX so they're blowing cold air in and through the radiator. Are these two fans (blowing through the radiator) enough intake for the case?

 

Finally, are there any 140mm fans that I could replace the standard Corsair ones with that provide the same (or better) performance but are much quieter?

 

As always, thanks in advance! As soon as I get some time I'll put some build pictures up.

linus likes noctua

[Hakiroto]

The problem with using that as an intake is you're pulling in heat from the radiator which other components will be using, thereby increasing the temperatures of those components.

 

Yeah, that's certainly true and the reason why I originally planned on having a top-mounted radiator all along. That was until I saw a few videos talking about top vs. front and when I decided to put the computer on the desk next to me. I'm not looking for silence but having the sound-proofed vents on the top closed will help with that I imagine.

 

With regard to heating up everything inside, I have absolutely no cages or bays in there. I have a single SSD mounted at the back so airflow is about as good as it can get. After a few hours of stress testing the CPU didn't go over 70ºC and the 980 Ti – as far as I can remember – was still in the 60s. Surely after a couple of hours of stress testing with the CPU at 100% I would've seen some affects of the other components being heated up. During such a stress test, what kind of temperature should I be hoping for on the 980 Ti? That'll give me a good idea of whether the front-mounted radiator is bad or not.

[Paralectic]

The problem with using that as an intake is you're pulling in heat from the radiator which other components will be using, thereby increasing the temperatures of those components.

But it's not much a problem at all temperature wise.

[Hakiroto]

But it's not much a problem at all temperature wise.

 

That seems to be holding true from what I've seen so far. I'm not sure if you saw my previous answer in this thread as we might have posted at the same time but I mentioned the temperature of my GPU during a stress test so hopefully that can help me decide if front-mounted is good for me. As of now, I think the setup is working pretty well.

[Paralectic]

That seems to be holding true from what I've seen so far. I'm not sure if you saw my previous answer in this thread as we might have posted at the same time but I mentioned the temperature of my GPU during a stress test so hopefully that can help me decide if front-mounted is good for me. As of now, I think the setup is working pretty well.

Yeah go for it!