cooling setup in new case.. whats best??

goatbloke46

New member
Hey guys and girls .. need some opinions on a cooling setup .. I've just ordered myself a Corsair Graphite 780T case and I'll be running a H100i AIO in it. Currently I run the H100i in the top of a Carbide 300R case as the only exhaust, all other fans are intake (2x120mm front / 1x120mm rear). In the 780T I'll be able to mount the H100i rad in the top, bottom or front of the case and it also comes with 3x140mm case fans giving me the following options..

1/ stick with top mounted rad as exhaust with all other case fans as intake (2x140mm front / 2x120mm bottom / 1x140mm rear) ...

2/ put the rad in the front as intake with 2x120mm bottom also intake then 2x140mm top exhaust and 1x140mm rear exhaust ...

3/ put the rad in the bottom as intake with 2x140mm front also intake then either 2 or 3x120mm OR 2x140mm top exhaust and 1x140mm rear exhaust ...

The fans I have at my disposal are: 2xNoctua 120mm NF-F12 IPPC 2000 PWM for the rad and then for the case a selection from 2x120mm Aerocool DeadSilence, 3x140mm Corsair AF, 1x120mm Corsair standard case fan, 2x140mm Corsair standard case fan.

What would be the best way to set it up to give a reasonably positive pressure in my case? Currently I'm thinking option 2 would be the best for cooling and also looks as the 2 Aerocool 120mm fans have blue LEDs that would shine up from the bottom of the case and 2 of the Corsair AF 140mm fans have white LEDs that would shine down from the top of the case :) What do you folks rekon? (thanks for you time and input) :)
 
I would put the H100i in the roof with the two iPPC's and then have all 3 AF140's as intakes in the front and the back. Don't bother with anything in the floor unless your graphics setup absolutely needs the airflow even then I doubt it would help much.

JR
 
Thanks man :) My GPU is an Inno3D iChill HerculeZ Ultra GTX770 so it runs pretty damn cool anyways... the floor fans wouldn't help it much but I figured they would help airflow and pressure in general, but of course they will also add noise. If they won't do much for airflow then I'd rather not have the extra noise ;) .. I can always slap a strip of LEDs in the floor for aesthetics :)
 
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Thanks man :) My GPU is an Inno3D iChill HerculeZ Ultra GTX770 so it runs pretty damn cool anyways... the floor fans wouldn't help it much but I figured they would help airflow and pressure in general, but of course they will also add noise. If they won't do much for airflow then I'd rather not have the extra noise ;)

I used to run a 550D with a pair of 570 Phantoms and being a noob I thought the floor fan would help but it actually just made loads of turbulence on the floor grill and sounded nasty. The traditional 5 fan setup seems optimal for air cooled rigs with AIO's. Reverse the rear fan depending on if you prefer positive or negative pressure. I'm actually an advocate of negative but shhh... everyone on here likes positive, something about dust :D

JR
 
lol .. thats fair enough mate, everyone to their own. From playing with fan speeds in my current rig I definitely get better temps with positive pressure, the Noctuas on the rad seem to prefer it to negative.. but we're only talking 2 or 3 degrees at most. They also seem a little quieter with positive pressure but then thats probably just an aural illusion due to the case fans running faster than in a negative setup. The more I think about the more I rekon your right about the floor fans .. I'll leave them out when I do the build on tuesday .. can always experiment with chucking them in a later date if I feel the need ;)
 
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