Front Rad Airflow

[H20Newb]

I'm a relative watercooling newb, I've done one build in a CM 690 II (pull 240 top, push/pull 240 bottom) which basically mirrored exactly the configuration TTL described for that case in his video.

I'm trying to plan for my X99 build and most of the cases I'm looking at (760T, 540 Air, 450D) are configured to support a rad on top and a rad in front, but not really a rad at the bottom (without modding). This presents me with a conundrum, should I intake through the front rad or use the front as an exhaust?

If I use the front as an exhaust, I'm worried I might not have enough air coming in (flip the rear 140 exhaust?), but if I use it as an intake, I'm worried about heating the non-actively cooled components in the case with warmer air after coming through the rad.

I've read a lot of post comments online saying to just use the front as an intake, but they seem to ignore or not mention the side effect of warming other components in the case.

There seem to be a lot of cases that set up for this config (top & front rads), have there been any reviews or tests regarding the temperature deltas in the case? Anybody had success putting a filter on the rear 140 and using it as an intake?

Thanks for any help or suggestions.

 

[son of spanner]

for the most part there's no right or wrong way intake or exhaust its just what works best for you I would say though I've found that I get the best temp wen I use front fans as intakes and top fans or rear fans as exhaust as you know hot air goes up and cold air falls so by running front fans as exhaust your not working with the flow of heat , most of the components don't need that much cooling some don't need any its not like they work as hard as cpu or gpu most of the boards ive used I found that the mosfets sit around 30c / 40c with no issue

at the end of the day it don't matter how you config your fans or loop it will only work as good as how hot your room is

 

[JR23]

I think you may be over thinking it just a touch. While yes it's true a radiator on an intake will add 'some' heat to the air it won't be a great deal otherwise the second radiator would be useless, if you think about it, it would add the heat lost in the first radiator back into the coolant . If a radiator was so biblicaly efficient it could just dump out 80c air immediately radiator space would not be a problem. As long as you have got some decent flow over the passively cooled components you will be good and most things can tolerate far higher temperatures than you will subject them to. And whatever the case with water cooling the temps inside your case should be better than with an 80c GPU sitting in there.

Having been working with a 750D for a while which is internally identical to a 760T a radiator in the bottom isn't really an option, there's not enough clearance for the end tank at the front or the PSU at the back. The best your ever going to fit in one is two 360mm's or if you really try hard two 420mm's, which to be honest is about right for the hardware you can fit inside. (i'm assuming that you would remove all of or part of the optical bays here. If you don't the top radiator would block the top bay and you could only fit a 240/280 in the bottom) Also I guess if you really tried hard you could fit a 240 in the floor, a 240 in the front and a 360 in the top but that would leave nowhere for your pump or drives to go neatly. There's lots of potential in the 760T/750D platform if your willing to cut it up a little IMO. The Air 540 looks pretty spacious but I don't really know if it could accommodate the thickness of radiator as easily. There are other brands of case too, just saying

But yeah ultimately intaking through the front and exhausting through the top is the logical thing to do with them, most cases are designed that way and have the dust filtering set up to do just that.

JR

 

[Xrqute]

In from front, back and floor and exhaust through the roof. Heat rises so why fight it just let it flow that way!

Remember to keep your case positively pressured. So more fans blowing into the case then fans blowing out. Helps keep you case free of dust.

 

[RadeonHDx]

I don't really think I can add anything to what already been said. Simply, If it needed to be cooled actively then it would, they're passive for a reason.

 

[johnctz]

here's my 760t

i got only 1 intake Scythe GT AP31 (lowered at 2000 RPM) at the back, blowing the ram with fresh air
front and top fans are all exhaust *GT AP15

 

[H20Newb]

Thanks for all the replies and advice. Thanks a ton for the 760t picture and description. That's the precise scenario I was contemplating. Do you feel it works well? 2000 RPM a little loud? Did you ever try using the front as an intake to see what the difference was?

Thanks!

 

[johnctz]

its hard to switch the orientation of the fans now, my intention was to reduce dust getting inside the system. already replaced the rear fan with AP15. still looking for a dust filter to put in there.
maybe 2-5deg diff if the front fans where intake. push/pull with scythe GTs are overkill, i only got 1-2 deg improvement.

cpu temp
ambient 28c
idle 34c
load 80c @1.35V
gpu
idle 35c
load 44c

 

[shambles1980]

my front case rad is exhaust. my rear rad is exhaust. intake is from side fans.. doubt it helps. but if im running ibt you can feel the warm air from the exhausts.