[SOLVED] Best fan config for my case?

Flame1

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Aug 8, 2017
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Hello, recently I have bought the NZXT Kraken x62 and while playing the new NFS game I have noticed that my cpu temperature was at 72 degrees celsius which I thought to be quite high, Im running a ryzen 7 1700x overclocked to 3.9Ghz at 1.36v.

My case is Phanteks Eclipse P350x

This is my current fan configuration:
View: https://imgur.com/a/ye9LrFa

Those are my current kraken x62 settings:
View: https://imgur.com/EIc0Txk


Should i mount my fans in another way, or change my radiator fan speed or pump speed?

I would also like to add that I have to keep my tempered glass panel off because if I dont the gpu gets really hot. With that TG panel on in the witcher 3 I get about 78 Degrees celsius and without it the temperature goes way down to around 65 degrees.
 
Solution
You can always tell direction of flow from a pc fan. If you look at a fan, it has 2 sides, one is pretty and often has led or rgb rings etc. All you'll see is fan blades. This is intake side (pulling air). The other side is the ugly side. No RGB rings, several struts, wiring, back of the motor and spec sticker. That's the exhaust side (pushing air). On the radiator, you'll want to see the ugly side on both fans. Rear/top exhaust you'll want to see the pretty side facing in.

Barty1884

Retired Moderator
You're pulling air in from the rear, and in from the top?
You're a little counter productive there - hot air naturally rises, so ideally those top two should be exhaust.
Similarly, pushing the air out through the restrictive front panel will probably see a decent amount of it pulled back in.

Ideally, have the Rad on the front panel pulling air into the case, and the top two + rear as exhausts.
 
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Sagittariusss

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Feb 7, 2017
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You're doing the exactly opposite of what you should be doing.

This is how your configuration should look like.

wOXJSID.png
 
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Karadjgne

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Just turn your fans around.

The kraken (especially in silent mode) runs lower rpm fans. Generally, fans below @ 1200rpm work better in pull, so just flipping them around is a bonus. No need to mess with the pump or rad.

The top/rear should be exhaust. As said, heat has a natural tendency to rise, so exhaust from the gpu is going to want to go straight up. Top fans as exhaust just make that easier to happen, providing a more consistent flow of air through the case.
 
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Karadjgne

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I can understand the logic on that. General concensus for years was that any aio should be as exhaust because you didn't want to blow hot cpu air into the case, it'd affect the gpu temps. True. But not to any great extent in any mid tower with decent airflow ability. The temp of the coolant usually runs @ 6-10°C above ambient, it takes a massive amount of energy and time to raise even 1°C, so what you are cooling is not the 60° cpu, but the 34° coolant. I had to run my 3770k at 4.9GHz on x61 for over ½ hour Prime95 100% load to finally get the coolant to 40° with a 23° ambient. Cpu sat at 72° the whole time. Gpu went up 2°C. Gaming loads 55° cpu, 32-35° coolant.

Basically, it doesn't make much if any difference if the aio is intake or exhaust, and the bigger the rad, the greater the airflow area and less concentrated the exhaust energy, less affect it has on interior temps. So no worries having that as an intake.
 
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There has also been instances where higher end processor temps are lowered significantly by taking the top exhaust radiator and moving to the front for cooler intake, due to heat generated from the graphics card passing through the rad. In this senario, intake/exhaust rad mounting has a considerable impact on component temperatures. Adversely, a system that has a lower 65w tdp Ryzen chip that doesn't show any difference in temps based on multiple fan/rad configs would benefit having the cpu rad mounted as top exhaust thus lowering graphics card temps, via unobstructed front intake air flow. It depends on the components being used, as not all systems are created equal. This does even factor use case scenarios. If you are gaming at 4k, you might want to prioritize air flow to your graphcis card whereas if you are rendering 4k video and processor intensive tasks, definitely mount your rad as intake. The only scenarios i've seen where there is no difference what so ever are in very large cases with many well positioned fans to ensure optimal air pressure. This is why I encourage end users to find out the truth for their own systems.
 
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JaSoN_cRuZe

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Mar 5, 2017
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I would suggest to mount the AIO RAD in front of the case, to pull in fresh air from outside to the radiator, make sure the radiator is faced towards the front panel/dust filter so it easier to clean the fin stack.

This will be slightly bad for GPU but good for CPU temps, MSI Gaming X cooler will handle your GPU very well so do not worry for your GPU.

I myself mount my AIO in similar fashion, to handle my 4.9Ghz OC of 3570K using EVGA CLC 280 and it is very effective and my GPU rises to high 60's during gaming which is fine.
 
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Flame1

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Aug 8, 2017
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You're pulling air in from the rear, and in from the top?
You're a little counter productive there - hot air naturally rises, so ideally those top two should be exhaust.
Similarly, pushing the air out through the restrictive front panel will probably see a decent amount of it pulled back in.

Ideally, have the Rad on the front panel pulling air into the case, and the top two + rear as exhausts.
Just turn your fans around.

The kraken (especially in silent mode) runs lower rpm fans. Generally, fans below @ 1200rpm work better in pull, so just flipping them around is a bonus. No need to mess with the pump or rad.

The top/rear should be exhaust. As said, heat has a natural tendency to rise, so exhaust from the gpu is going to want to go straight up. Top fans as exhaust just make that easier to happen, providing a more consistent flow of air through the case.

So from my understanding, I have 2 options:
View: https://imgur.com/hHoy9Nl


Which of these 2 should I use in my case?
Im a little bit concerned with option 2 because doing this seems like its going to make the GPU situation even worse by blowing hot cpu air into it.
Or is that not how it works?

Thanks.
 

JaSoN_cRuZe

Honorable
Mar 5, 2017
457
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10,890
So from my understanding, I have 2 options:
View: https://imgur.com/hHoy9Nl


Which of these 2 should I use in my case?
Im a little bit concerned with option 2 because doing this seems like its going to make the GPU situation even worse by blowing hot cpu air into it.
Or is that not how it works?

Thanks.
Option 2 better for CPU, Sagitariusss option is better for GPU and slightly bad for CPU since hot air from all your internal components get carried through the fin stack of the radiator.

Just select the option based on which hardware you want the temps to be lowered.
 

Flame1

Honorable
Aug 8, 2017
206
6
10,615
You're pulling air in from the rear, and in from the top?
You're a little counter productive there - hot air naturally rises, so ideally those top two should be exhaust.
Similarly, pushing the air out through the restrictive front panel will probably see a decent amount of it pulled back in.

Ideally, have the Rad on the front panel pulling air into the case, and the top two + rear as exhausts.
You're doing the exactly opposite of what you should be doing.

This is how your configuration should look like.

wOXJSID.png
I can understand the logic on that. General concensus for years was that any aio should be as exhaust because you didn't want to blow hot cpu air into the case, it'd affect the gpu temps. True. But not to any great extent in any mid tower with decent airflow ability. The temp of the coolant usually runs @ 6-10°C above ambient, it takes a massive amount of energy and time to raise even 1°C, so what you are cooling is not the 60° cpu, but the 34° coolant. I had to run my 3770k at 4.9GHz on x61 for over ½ hour Prime95 100% load to finally get the coolant to 40° with a 23° ambient. Cpu sat at 72° the whole time. Gpu went up 2°C. Gaming loads 55° cpu, 32-35° coolant.

Basically, it doesn't make much if any difference if the aio is intake or exhaust, and the bigger the rad, the greater the airflow area and less concentrated the exhaust energy, less affect it has on interior temps. So no worries having that as an intake.
Option 2 better for CPU, Sagitariusss option is better for GPU and slightly bad for CPU since hot air from all your internal components get carried through the fin stack of the radiator.

Just select the option based on which hardware you want the temps to be lowered.
Neither is good or bad. Again...one is optimal for your setup.

I really just want to say thank you so much for your inputs and help, I greatly appreciate it and I wish I could pick multiple best answers.
I will now try option 2 to see how much that will improve the temps. Thanks again.
 

Karadjgne

Titan
Ambassador
You can always tell direction of flow from a pc fan. If you look at a fan, it has 2 sides, one is pretty and often has led or rgb rings etc. All you'll see is fan blades. This is intake side (pulling air). The other side is the ugly side. No RGB rings, several struts, wiring, back of the motor and spec sticker. That's the exhaust side (pushing air). On the radiator, you'll want to see the ugly side on both fans. Rear/top exhaust you'll want to see the pretty side facing in.
 
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Solution