Air Flow (watercooling)

str0ke

Commendable
Apr 5, 2016
4
0
1,510
Hey Guys!

I have a Question:


I have done build my costume watercooled pc.

Now i have a problem, i have 35-40° in Idle!

I think this is quiet to much ... i have a i7 5820k (normal clock).

I got the temperatures with HWmonitor,

I also want to overclock the cpu soon, but i think its is to hot for idle.


So my question is, can some one help me with the airflow?


I have 2x 480 rads with Corsair SP 120 (on both sites!!) on the rads.

My case is the Corsair 900d.

I also post a picture.


In the front of the case, i have 3x 120mm fans. They blow air from the outside in to the case.

At the back of the case, i have 1x 240mm fan and 2x 120mm. They blow the air out of the case.


All my fans on the radiator, blow the air to the radiator!


I have also a second question:
What is the best thermal paste (for the CPU) out there? (for watercoolers)



Here are the pictures:


http://www.pic-upload.de/gal-945341/telbgv/1.html


I hope someone can help me, and sorry for my bad english (isnt my first language ;)) :)
 
Solution
I am absolutely amazed your idle temperature is not higher than that!

Both the 480 radiators should be exhausting the radiator heated air from the case, and all the other fans you have in the case setup as inputting fresh air into the case.

You have an extreme amount of clutter behind the lower radiator but what Lutfij is trying to tell you is the fans on the 480 radiator are canceling each other out!

The colored ring on the Corsair fan is always on the intake side of the fan your setup has the fans blowing into each other and canceling out the airflow, You need to change that immediately.

The bottom 480 is fairly simple you just flip the outer 4 fans over and put the colored ring next to the radiator and that will setup in...

Lutfij

Titan
Moderator
In reverse order,

Best TIM is more of a preferential suggestion. I personally use Arctic Cooling's MX-2 only because I decided to buy a 30g tube thus far it's been nothing but very good results. You could look into Gelid, EK, Diamond Cooling ICD7 or Cryorig.

The airflow to your radiator is set up int eh wrong orientation. You should have one row of fans blowing air through the rad while the second row(behind the radiator) draws air away from it. This is known as Push/pull whereby you will net better temps. The setup you have now is only conflicting each other and dispersing heat through the seams of the fan housing.

Push-Pull.jpg


For reference's sake,
IMG_1001.jpg

The side where you see the fan blades exposed is the direction in which the air is fed.

You might also want to have all your fans at the front of chassis set to intake.
 

Karadjgne

Titan
Ambassador
I prefer the Gelid Extreme and Noctua pastes over others. I find them very easy to work with and quite easy to clean. Helps that they are also towards the top of more effective pastes list.

Radiators only work effectively when air is blowing through them in 1 direction. Doesn't matter which direction, just has to be 1 way, not with fans facing towards or away from each other. Fans used as intake on a radiator will show lower temps than with fans used as exhaust, simply because cooler outside air is constant. The drawback is that all the transfered heat is now blown into the case, affecting things like memory, gpu and voltage regulatory temps. Fans in an exhaust show slightly higher temps than intake, which can rise with gpu heat, but the bonus there is cooler case temps allowing for a more stable high OC.

For your case I'd use the bottom radiator as intake and the top radiator as exhaust, with all 8 fans blowing air into the case, then the top 8 blowing air out of the case. That's if you keep the case side on. If you take the side panel off a lot, I'd use both rads as exhaust.
 
I am absolutely amazed your idle temperature is not higher than that!

Both the 480 radiators should be exhausting the radiator heated air from the case, and all the other fans you have in the case setup as inputting fresh air into the case.

You have an extreme amount of clutter behind the lower radiator but what Lutfij is trying to tell you is the fans on the 480 radiator are canceling each other out!

The colored ring on the Corsair fan is always on the intake side of the fan your setup has the fans blowing into each other and canceling out the airflow, You need to change that immediately.

The bottom 480 is fairly simple you just flip the outer 4 fans over and put the colored ring next to the radiator and that will setup in exhausting the air.

The top rad will have to be removed and flip the fans over on the top side of the radiator.

Consider this your first water cooling lesson learned the hard way, Welcome to water cooling! Ryan

Edit: If you take my advice on the fan setup, I promise you that you will see an amazing drop in the temperature.
 
Solution

str0ke

Commendable
Apr 5, 2016
4
0
1,510



Hey i saw you answer my question about the airflow in a watercooling loop.

Now i want you to ask again something about it :)


I dindt understand everything because english isnt my first language.


First the radiator on the bottom:

There are fans on both sides.

In which direction should the fans (on both sides) blow?


The radiator on the top:

Here is the same.

I have fans on both sides.

In which direction should they blow?

I heard that the upper fans (behind the rad) should blow air in to the case and the fans below (the fans you can see) should blow the hot air in to the case (away from the rad.
Is this right or not?

Im sorry if the question is annoying or dumb for you ... it is my first watercooling build


I hope for a answer


Greatings
 

str0ke

Commendable
Apr 5, 2016
4
0
1,510



Thank you for your answer!

So you sayd, that i must flip the "outer" fans.
Which do you mean?

Greatings
 


The 4 outer fans on the 480 radiators, outer fans being not the 4 inner fans on the 480 radiator leave them as they are presently mounted according to the pictures you posted.

On the bottom radiator it is the fans you can fully see!

Unscrew them and turn them over and re-screw them back in place.

You will then be seeing the motor side of the cooling fan on all 4 radiator fans.

Once you do that and power the machine back up you will feel air coming out of the radiator, right now the way it is setup, you cannot feel airflow coming out of the radiator.

What are you not understanding?