Help with cooling for Mesify C

[btng]

I really need some help when it comes to the best cooling setup for my build. My build so far:

 

Case: Mesify C TG

MB: Asrock x399 Taichi

GPU: Threadripper 2950x

AIO: Enermax Liqtech T4 240mm (65mm deep)

Memory: 8x16GB G.Skill Trident Z RGB

SSD: 1TB Samsung Evo 970 M.2

GPU: EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti XC ULTRA GAMING (length: 269.2mm)

 

1. I have searched online for if I should put the CPU cooler in the front or at the top. It seems to be 50/50 about what people are recommending. What are your takes on this?

 

2. Also, what other fans should I get?

 

3. Which ones should be intake and which ones should be exhaust?

 

4. Should I get additional fans or radiators? Size?

 

5. If I would put the AIO radiator in the front. How much space is recommended between the radiator and the GPU?

 

Budget is not a problem (within limits). Prefer stuff that is easy to install since I am not a computer builder.

 

Any help / input is much appreciated!

 

 

[Void Master]

Put the radiator on the top .(But be sure to not cover it from outside)

Set the front fans to suck air in and rear fan(s) to blow air outside .

[Derrk]

front intake will give you slightly better temps, though marginal. downside of front intake is that your gpu will be getting the warm air coming out of the rad.

top rad agrees with physics the most, because heat rises or something weird. 

Either mounting point would be fine. Personally, i'd recommend top mount for your case, because you want 120mm fans going through the rad

 

front fans should be intake, top and rear should be exhaust. especially in mesh C

[btng]

1 minute ago, Derrk said:

front intake will give you slightly better temps, though marginal. downside of front intake is that your gpu will be getting the warm air coming out of the rad.

top rad agrees with physics the most, because heat rises or something weird. 

Either mounting point would be fine. Personally, i'd recommend top mount for your case, because you want 120mm fans going through the rad

 

front fans should be intake, top and rear should be exhaust. especially in mesh C

So 2x120mm fans at the front and 2x120mm fans at the rear?

[Derrk]

Just now, btng said:

So 2x120mm fans at the front and 2x120mm fans at the rear?

i think mesh c can fit 3x120 in front. I'd recommend 2x140 for front, 2x120 high static pressure fans for top w/ rad, and 1x120 for rear

[btng]

Just now, Derrk said:

i think mesh c can fit 3x120 in front. I'd recommend 2x140 for front, 2x120 high static pressure fans for top w/ rad, and 1x120 for rear

 

[btng]

3 minutes ago, Derrk said:

i think mesh c can fit 3x120 in front. I'd recommend 2x140 for front, 2x120 high static pressure fans for top w/ rad, and 1x120 for rear

The AIO comes with fans. I should still use them, right?

[Derrk]

Just now, btng said:

The AIO comes with fans. I should still use them, right?

if they perform fine, then yes. AIO fans aren't always the best. If your temps are suffering, you could swap them out after the fact

[btng]

Any brands that I should aim go for when it comes to high-quality fans?

[Jurrunio]

1. Top, to give the coolest air to the graphics card.

 

3. Front intake, rear exhaust. What top should be depends on whether you want less dust or more cooling performance. No clear winner here.

Just to clarify, having top as intakes means you get a lot more intake air than exhaust air. This builds up air pressure and prevents dust from seeping into the case through gaps without air filters, for example the PCIe slots. However, the amount of airflow is still lower than having top as exhausts, hence reducing performance. It's not related to 'hot air rises' phenomenon others might said, since any decent fan should outpower this effect.

 

4. Fill in all the empty fan mounts. As for choice of fans, I myself usually use Corsair ML series for both intake and exhaust because they are very quiet even under full blast thanks to the maglev bearing. Any disadvantages in pressure or airflow can be negated by simply running them at a higher speed. Otherwise fans like the bequiet silentwings 3 (general purpose) or Noctua NF-A (general purpose), NF-F (pressure optimized), NF-S (airflow optimized) are good options.

 

2 minutes ago, btng said:

The AIO comes with fans. I should still use them, right?

if you want the absolute best performance, then swap them out. Stock fans are about 90% as good as replaced ones.

[Derrk]

1 minute ago, btng said:

Any brands that I should aim go for when it comes to high-quality fans?

noctua nf-f12

I've used corsair sp120s before too, and i think theyre pretty good, but a lot of people don't like those fans

[Jurrunio]

2 minutes ago, Derrk said:

I've used corsair sp120s before too, and i think theyre pretty good, but a lot of people don't like those fans

SP120s are very good if you're deaf

[Derrk]

Just now, Jurrunio said:

SP120s are very good if you're deaf

they're cheap which is what i like about them. pretty quiet at lower rpms. the ones that come on corsair's AIOs are way loud

 

4 minutes ago, Derrk said:

a lot of people don't like those fans

^^

[btng]

6 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

1. Top, to give the coolest air to the graphics card.

 

3. Front intake, rear exhaust. What top should be depends on whether you want less dust or more cooling performance. No clear winner here.

Just to clarify, having top as intakes means you get a lot more intake air than exhaust air. This builds up air pressure and prevents dust from seeping into the case through gaps without air filters, for example the PCIe slots. However, the amount of airflow is still lower than having top as exhausts, hence reducing performance. It's not related to 'hot air rises' phenomenon others might said, since any decent fan should outpower this effect.

 

4. Fill in all the empty fan mounts. As for choice of fans, I myself usually use Corsair ML series for both intake and exhaust because they are very quiet even under full blast thanks to the maglev bearing. Any disadvantages in pressure or airflow can be negated by simply running them at a higher speed. Otherwise fans like the bequiet silentwings 3 (general purpose) or Noctua NF-A (general purpose), NF-F (pressure optimized), NF-S (airflow optimized) are good options.

 

if you want the absolute best performance, then swap them out. Stock fans are about 90% as good as replaced ones.

11

I am just worried that the radiator on top will interfere with the RAM-sticks in any way. But I guess I will see that when I actually build it. Still waiting for some parts.

 

So when replacing the fans in the AIO, I can just get any fan with the same dimensions or are the fans on AIOs special in any way?

 

 

[Jurrunio]

1 minute ago, btng said:

So when replacing the fans in the AIO, I can just get any fan with the same dimensions or are the fans on AIOs special in any way?

any 120mm fan will do.

[brob]

1. CPU rad should be in the front intake. While this raises the internal temp of the case a couple of degrees it means the cpu gets the most benefit of cool air. Meaning slightly better cpu temps.
2. The aio provides fans and the case comes with two 120mm fans. Put the aio in front. The front stock fan can either be moved to the bottom front mount or the top. Personally I would leave it at the front so that the top vent can be kept closed to improve noise levels. It also brings more cool air into the case and should help with feeding cooler air to the gpu.
3. Front and bottom intake. Rear and top exhaust.
4. Not necessary.
5. Depends on the gpu design. While rare these days, some gpu have PCIe power connectors on the front edge, rather than the top. Those cards need about 20 mm clearance. Otherwise 1 mm is fine.

Make sure the memory is on the motherboard QVL using all eight memory slots. If not check the G.Skill RAM Configurator for an appropriate 8x16GB kit.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Threadripper 2950X 3.5GHz 16-Core Processor  ($898.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
CPU Cooler: Enermax Liqtech TR4 II 240 Addressable RGB AIO Liquid CPU Coole, Support 500W+TDP, Overclocking, AMD Socket TR4 Ready, ELC-LTTR240-TBP  ($139.99 @ Newegg) 
Motherboard: ASRock - X399 Taichi ATX TR4 Motherboard  ($323.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.SKILL TridentZ RGB Series 64GB (8 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2933 (PC4 23400) AMD X399 Desktop Memory Model F4-2933C14Q2-64GTZRX  ($986.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo 1.0TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($297.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11GB XC ULTRA GAMING Video Card  ($1250.00) 
Case: Fractal Design - Meshify C TG ATX Mid Tower Case  ($99.98 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Corsair - RMx (2018) 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($102.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $4100.91
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-09-21 12:43 EDT-0400

[btng]

Great! Thanks so much for all the insight.

 

I see that the reviews of the Enermax Liqtech TR4 240mm are very mixed on Amazon. Many complain about leaks. I would like to avoid that.

 

Any other suggestions instead of that AIO that is of higher quality? Would like to avoid RBG as much as possible though

[brob]

1 minute ago, btng said:

Great! Thanks so much for all the insight.

 

I see that the reviews of the Enermax Liqtech TR4 240mm are very mixed on Amazon. Many complain about leaks. I would like to avoid that.

 

Any other suggestions instead of that AIO that is of higher quality? Would like to avoid RBG as much as possible though

To avoid RGB, consider going with one of the Noctua TR4 coolers and Corsair Vengeance LPX memory modules. Of course, one can simply turn off the RGB if it is not desired.

[btng]

Just now, brob said:

To avoid RGB, consider going with one of the Noctua TR4 coolers and Corsair Vengeance LPX memory modules. Of course, one can simply turn off the RGB if it is not desired.

Already have bought the Trident Z RGB RAM.

 

Noctua Air coolers will at least not leak..

[brob]

Consider the Noctua - NH-U14S TR4-SP3 140.2 CFM CPU Cooler. I don't believe it has any memory clearance issues. Noctua suggests adding another fan, Noctua - NF-A15 PWM 140mm Fan (NF-A15 PWM), to improve cooling.

 

If you go this route, I'd suggest one or two additional intake fans. NF-A12x25 PWM are popular. But you might also get a Fractal Design fan that matches stock fans.

 

[btng]

4 minutes ago, brob said:

Consider the Noctua - NH-U14S TR4-SP3 140.2 CFM CPU Cooler. I don't believe it has any memory clearance issues. Noctua suggests adding another fan, Noctua - NF-A15 PWM 140mm Fan (NF-A15 PWM), to improve cooling.

 

If you go this route, I'd suggest one or two additional intake fans. NF-A12x25 PWM are popular. But you might also get a Fractal Design fan that matches stock fans.

 

Thanks! Do you know if the Noctua cooler will be a problem with the RAM sticks and their height? Or are they usually compatible with any kind of MBs and memory sticks?

[btng]

The Enrmax AIO seems to be cooling better than the Noctua Air cooler though according to Gamers Nexus: https://www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/3119-360-vs-240-for-threadripper-enermax-liqtech-vs-noctua

 

Maybe I'll go with the AIO and cross my fingers that it will not leak or break.

[For Science!]

3 hours ago, btng said:

-

Watch out though, in my Define/Meshify C, a 240 mm AIO (H100i v2) really only just cleared the LPX memories, and so if you're unlucky, may not clear the Trident Z modules.

 

 

[brob]

8 hours ago, btng said:

Thanks! Do you know if the Noctua cooler will be a problem with the RAM sticks and their height? Or are they usually compatible with any kind of MBs and memory sticks?

 

The Noctual NH-U14 TR4-SP3 does not infringe on the memory area of the motherboard. As a result it has not issues will taller memory modules.

 

 

8 hours ago, btng said:

The Enrmax AIO seems to be cooling better than the Noctua Air cooler though according to Gamers Nexus: https://www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/3119-360-vs-240-for-threadripper-enermax-liqtech-vs-noctua

 

Maybe I'll go with the AIO and cross my fingers that it will not leak or break.

 

If you want to overclock, then an aio is probably the bet choice. If you do go with one, mount it on the front as intake. If you don't plan to overclock or only do a light oc, stick with an air cooler. Even if the cpu might run a degree or two hotter, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages of an aio (noise, leak potential, limited lifespan).

 

[btng]

11 hours ago, brob said:

Consider the Noctua - NH-U14S TR4-SP3 140.2 CFM CPU Cooler. I don't believe it has any memory clearance issues. Noctua suggests adding another fan, Noctua - NF-A15 PWM 140mm Fan (NF-A15 PWM), to improve cooling.

 

If you go this route, I'd suggest one or two additional intake fans. NF-A12x25 PWM are popular. But you might also get a Fractal Design fan that matches stock fans.

 

Thanks! Will switch to the Noctua one. Seems like a safer bet in the long run. The AIO reviews are really worrying.

 

So they suggest the NF-A15 PCM to install where? Add it to the NH-U14S?

 

So to sum it up:

1x Noctua NH-U14S TR4-SP4 CPU cooler

2x Noctua NF-A15 PWM in the front as intakes

 

Where should I put the NF-A12x25?

 

Much appreciated