Question AIO on CPU/GPU setups?

[sobakowa19]

I am doing a system refresh since I just got a 3080ti. I had a 2080 on a hybrid kit and water is just better. Without doing a full custom loop, I have an order with ModMyMods for an alphacool eiswolf gpu aio and a EVGA 360 clc (aio). I would do a custom loop but Im afraid I dont have the patience, I have a degenerative brain disease and its hard for me to focus on small, intricate tasks for more than 15 minutes without getting a migraine and feeling like crud. I want a full loop, but 2 aio's is about as good as I can get ha...

My case is a Lian Li 011 Dynamic Evo (so there is plenty of room for the excess tubing and just overall a lot of room), currently I have the 3080ti on a vertical mount and its staying at 72-74 c under stress/benchmarks with a slight overclock (which is accecptable just the fan noise is killing my OCD). The CPU which is in the 360 aio is just a Ryzen 5 3600x which when under load/stressed is around 60-64 c (which again is fine by me). In that case if you know, you know.... I have 3 side fans as intake, 3 bottom fans as intake, 1 120mm fan exhaust out the back and the 360 rad/aio/fans exhausting out the top.

Any tips for the future mounting of the eiswolf gpu aio when it comes? Can i mount the GPUs AIO on the bottom of the case (the pump for the eiswolf is on the GPU waterblock where the fittings are in a typical loop)? Would it be good to do that? I would assume that getting fresh air and pulling it into the case would be good for that GPUs radiator and the CPUs AIO should I leave it top exhaust or move it to side intake?

There are a few ways of going about "cooling" and was just curious if anyone in the know would be able to give a few pointers so I dont have to spend a week testing out all that.... spending literal hours just to do simple things means for me it will take days on account of my "affliction". Thanks to anyone with words of advice, much appreciated.


EDIT: After thinking about what I just said, having a pump be above the radiator/source of liquid.... that is really dumb so pretend that I didnt say that (shows just how much thought I have put toward this ha)

 

[Phaaze88]

I imagine this is for games, looking at the signature, and the kind of power the cpu and gpu are capable of drawing...
Gpu AIO, top exhaust. Cpu AIO, side intake.


Why have such a high power gpu dump its waste heat in the PC like that? Most setups already do this - you have the chance to do it differently, and be more efficient as a result.
I'm stumped at how many times cpu AIO top mount is recommended when it has to deal with the heat from everything below it - especially some 300w+ gpu below it... defeats part of the purpose of putting an AIO on the cpu.
The gpu is(usually) the biggest heating element by far.

3600X will pump and dump far less power into the PC if its cooler is set to intake Vs a 3080Ti in the same scenario, leading to cooler chassis ambient temperatures, which will look nicer for all the other hardware inside...
Most of this is made moot regardless of temperatures - power use over time is what determines how fast your room heats up, but you have air conditioning for that anyway, yes?
Or there's a DIY air duct to direct the PC's exhaust directly out of the room... sounds like a bit much...



FYI: I'm currently running a dual AIO setup with:
-7820X direct die with Alphacool Eisbaer Aurora 360. Replaced stock fans with Phanteks T30-120s. Front intake.
-1080Ti Gaming OC with NZXT Kraken G12 and Fractal Design Celsius S36. Top exhaust.
Inside a CM H500P Mesh which I DIY'ed a mesh window for the top panel. I didn't bother with a rear fan, as I found from testing that it did practically nothing, whether exhaust or intake. It can get fresh air from there, but using a fan wasn't helping.

Gpu liquid cooling is awesome, for sure - AIO or custom. Too bad it has far less attention than cpu AIOs, which I've been less impressed with... going back to cpu air cooling once the AIO dies or starts making loud noises.
[TL;DR marked in blue.]

 

[sobakowa19]

Ah, good points.... So the CPU aio intake cause it draws less power/heat into the case but then exhaust that thru the GPU aio. Interesting.... That sounds like a good plan. What are your thoughts on tube ports mounted down or up?

 

[Colif]

I'm stumped at how many times cpu AIO top mount is recommended when it has to deal with the heat from everything below it - especially some 300w+ gpu below it... defeats part of the purpose of putting an AIO on the cpu.
The gpu is(usually) the biggest heating element by far.

10c difference on CPU just depending where you put radiator

CPU AIO won't raise temps as much in case either. Especially if GPU on water too.

 

[Phaaze88]

10c difference on CPU just depending where you put radiator

CPU AIO won't raise temps as much in case either. Especially if GPU on water too.

10C is a lot, and yes, it does depend on what the user uses the PC for, and the hardware too: cpu, gpu, chassis model and design, and fan layout.
Liquid can't go against physics. It doesn't matter if the gpu/cpu were running at 50C or 80C, the power consumption, which is pretty much the essence behind 'PCs are space heaters', doesn't change. [For some cpus and gpus, cooler temperatures mean slightly higher power use.]
If a 300w gpu is dumping its heat into a PC on air, a liquid cooled one(if the rad and its fans are positioned as an intake) will warm the chassis ambient and other components inside at the same rate.

But if things continue to progress with gaming gpus getting increasingly power hungry and cpus getting more power efficient... I would find the validity of top mounted cpu AIOs questionable, or just [redacted].



EDIT: It doesn't help that cpus have extra layers, compared to gpus, which are naked dies; each extra layer reduces cooling efficiency of the cpu cooler, whether air or liquid.

 

[Colif]

i was just agreeing with you

 

[sobakowa19]

I just watched a video by Greg Salazar and he came to the conclusion/decision to have both as intake....

View: https://youtu.be/jxnNOlRGp-c


I'm also curious as to buying the alpha cool aio (so I can use the disconnects and have essentially a full loop). Thoughts?

 

[DSzymborski]

I would avoid putting an AIO on the bottom; I'm just not a fan of having the pump above the radiator.

 

[sobakowa19]

Yeah I don't know why I thought that was a good idea... If air bubbles get to that pump it's no bueno...

 

[Phaaze88]

i was just agreeing with you

Ugh! Sorry, I got carried away.
/smacks own head

I'm also curious as to buying the alpha cool aio (so I can use the disconnects and have essentially a full loop). Thoughts?

I'd pass on the expansion feature. The flow rate of one of those AIO pumps pales in comparison to what a single Laing D5 pump can do. Think 70-something liters per hour Vs at least 1000.
With a fully assembled custom loop, much of that flow rate is lost... connecting 2 Alphacool AIOs will see something similar.
I'd think it's better off to use them separately.

 

[sobakowa19]

Ugh! Sorry, I got carried away.
/smacks own head



I'd pass on the expansion feature. The flow rate of one of those AIO pumps pales in comparison to what a single Laing D5 pump can do. Think 70-something liters per hour Vs at least 1000.
With a fully assembled custom loop, much of that flow rate is lost... connecting 2 Alphacool AIOs will see something similar.
I'd think it's better off to use them separately.

That's kinda what I was thinking but if both aio's have pumps? Would it really matter tho?

 

[Phaaze88]

That's kinda what I was thinking but if both aio's have pumps? Would it really matter tho?

Flow restriction - flow rate goes down the more connections, twists and turns you have in the loop.
An AIO's flow rate is already considered low, and multiplying them doesn't double it.

 

[sobakowa19]

Looking at it, I think imma move the cpu aio to the side as intake with tubes at top... when the gpu aio comes (its on back order anyway) ill put that up top with the rad tubes near the front of the case, with it running as exhaust.

 

[sobakowa19]

Right now I have my GPU air cooled which is a 3080ti and a 360 aio for the CPU which is just a Ryzen 3 3600x. I have on back order an alphacool 360 aio for the 3080. Currently I have the CPU aio at the top of the case in a pull with the fans exhausting air out of the case... 3 120 fans on the "side" as intake, 3 120s on the bottom as intake and a 120 in the back as exhaust as well....

Im thinking of moving the CPU aio to the side and keep it as intake, putting (when it comes) the GPU aio up top as exhaust and leaving the bottom and back the same. Would that be a good air flow and cooling setup? Thoughts?

 

[Phaaze88]

No need to make a duplicate thread about this.
1)The general recommendation is front/side intake, and top + rear exhaust.
2)Bottom intake fans sometimes helps, but due to physical obstructions and dust, requires that area to be maintained more frequently than any other, because dust will block it more easily.
3)There are exceptions to #1, but you need to be willing to do your own testing. Dual AIO isn't common either - all the more reason to do your own testing.

IMO: All is well as long as the gpu AIO isn't set as an intake into your PC.

 

[sobakowa19]

thanks for your time, im really "antsy" looking at all this cause i just want it. thanks again

 

[Karadjgne]

Higher airflow is more necessary with an air cooled heatsink than with a radiator. Aircoolers, either cpu or gpu are constrained by physical limitations, NH-D15 is about as big as it gets but still has less overall surface area than a 240mm rad. So keeping it fed with ambient air becomes more essential because the warmer the ambient air, the more it affects a smaller surface.

As far as which where, power consumption is the answer. At best, the cpu will use @ 240w. The gpu will be over 300w. Cpu intake, gpu exhaust. Unless you have a way to put a ton of air into the case, in which then you'd set cpu and gpu as exhaust.

 

[oorensan]

Hi there,

I've installed my system on a O11 Air and I wonder what do you think about my airflow setup with dual AIO (no dust filters anywhere, I regularly clean the case)

Thanks!

 

[sobakowa19]

I have same system... But Ryzen 5 3600x and in the 011 dynamic evo. That's the best configuration I found with the aio for the cpu (in my case) on the side pulling air in. Fans at bottom pulling air in. I have the alphacool eiswolf GPU aio radiator mounted at top as exhaust as well as a 120mm at the back for exhaust.

 

[Karadjgne]

Push/pull on an aio doesn't yield real results. Those rads are slim and have a lower fin density, so with a halfway decent rad fan offer very little in the way of restriction. The only purpose of adding a second fan was because back in the day, fans sucked. Their output was a wide band cone that created a lot of turbulence in a rad, so the second fan helped pull the air back through straight.

Generally, at best you might see a 1-2°C difference in temp per component after adding the 3x fans to the rad which realistically does nothing more than add potential noise output and complicate wiring.

A 45mm or 60mm or high density water cooling rad with split fins is a different story.