Question CPU Air Cooler in a Dual Chamber Case?

[edo101]

Hi all, I am looking to replace my Phanteks Eclipse P500A with the MONTECH King 95 PRO

I was watching a review and the guy mentioned he does not recommend putting a CPU air cooler in a case like the Montech. For those familiar with these type of cases is there a reason for this?

I have always use air coolers because the idea of an AIO scares me. I'm worried about losing cooling performance. And my first time testing one was not really impressive lol. Very loud.

The case seems to have good reviews, is it any good? Are air coolers ok for this type of case?

The reason I am looking to replace my case is that I lost the packing box and shipping it between cities (which I do every half year) without it's packing box has taken a toll. Otherwise the case for the most part is nice. I need HDD spaces and 2.5 SSD spaces which it has. cable management can be a lil dodgy though in the back,

 

[USAFRet]

What reasoning did he give for this?

 

[edo101]

What reasoning did he give for this?

Lol he gave no reason.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3C8nm1d_jQ


^That's the review. 7:38 is where he mentions it. And cooling is at 11:40

 

[USAFRet]

Lol he gave no reason.

Personally, I'd say just ignore him.

 

[RAIDGoblin]

if you put incoming fans on the bottom, and outgoing ones on the top and back it looks like the airflow would be fine for an air cooler, I too am puzzled by this, perhaps he only said you should use an AIO because it looks like the top space is designed for one? or for aesthetic reasons? also with a big tower cooler you might not have room for the back case fan, but there would still be room for at least 5, maybe 6 case fans, I wouldn't have thought you would have a problem

edit: just a thought, if you regularly need to ship your PC would it not be better to get a case with mesh sides instead of the glass?

 

[geofelt]

What cpu and gpu will you have installed that you need to cool?

I see nothing wrong with that case for air cooling.
Two included 140mm intakes will provide plenty of cooling air that will eventually exit somewhere.
Not the traditional front to back airflow, but it will work.


Tempered glass might concern me if you regularly ship the case.

 

[edo101]

if you put incoming fans on the bottom, and outgoing ones on the top and back it looks like the airflow would be fine for an air cooler, I too am puzzled by this, perhaps he only said you should use an AIO because it looks like the top space is designed for one? or for aesthetic reasons? also with a big tower cooler you might not have room for the back case fan, but there would still be room for at least 5, maybe 6 case fans, I wouldn't have thought you would have a problem

edit: just a thought, if you regularly need to ship your PC would it not be better to get a case with mesh sides instead of the glass?

I need the bottom fan spot for my HDDs. So I am onyl left with top, front and side. Case's front glass panel can be replaced with a metal mesh front that comes with the case. In this situation what would you recommend? I was gonna do Side and top for intake and then just one exhaust out the back? Or would you do front and side for intake and then top and back for exhaust? My cooler is the Noctua NH-D15. Considering the fact that I don't intend on ever throwing away my case's packing box, I think I should be fine shipping it around since I'd assume the box and packing it comes in are good for shipping around lol

What cpu and gpu will you have installed that you need to cool?

I see nothing wrong with that case for air cooling.
Two included 140mm intakes will provide plenty of cooling air that will eventually exit somewhere.
Not the traditional front to back airflow, but it will work.


Tempered glass might concern me if you regularly ship the case.

I have a 10850k and a 4090. I occasionally throw in my 2080Ti for retro 3D Vision games. And I was gonna find a way preserve the original box and packing the case would come so shipping wouldn't be an issue no?

geofelt​

RAIDGoblin​

 

[thestryker]

AIO will be better than an air cooler when using just side intake, but both are going to be suboptimal in that configuration period.

I would think that a case with that much glass would be a bad idea to ship often just due to more pieces to break if nothing else. It does look like you could do a front intake with mesh panel, but I imagine you wouldn't be looking at this case if you were planning on that.

 

[RAIDGoblin]

I need the bottom fan spot for my HDDs. So I am onyl left with top, front and side. Case's front glass panel can be replaced with a metal mesh front that comes with the case. In this situation what would you recommend? I was gonna do Side and top for intake and then just one exhaust out the back? Or would you do front and side for intake and then top and back for exhaust? My cooler is the Noctua NH-D15. Considering the fact that I don't intend on ever throwing away my case's packing box, I think I should be fine shipping it around since I'd assume the box and packing it comes in are good for shipping around lol

you should be fine with just one exhaust, the case with the glass panel still has enough mesh to bleed the extra air from more intakes without a problem, but that configuration is less than perfect, because hot air rises it's usually preferred not to have incoming fans on the top. If you can't use the bottom fan spaces, for an air cooler you would likely be better with the back and top back fan being extract, and two fans on the mesh panel at the side being intake, but that's still not the best. see this video:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-3yXrtC01o


there is two drive bays hidden in the back panel next to the PSU space, unless you have more than two drives, you should just be able to make use of that, and have incoming fans in the bottom, and extract on top, if your mobo allows you should then have the tower cooler orientated so the fans blow upwards so all the air is moving in the same direction, if you have some intakes on that mesh panel part way up the side the mobo mounts to as well, you can probably leave out the fan that's next to the io plate if it gets in the way of the cooler, you'll have between 3 and 5 incoming and 3 extract. In this configuration you should be fine with the glass panel

Don't forget, if you ever have any major problems with air flow you can switch to the provided mesh panel, that's probably why they include it, and with regards to shipping, yes the box it comes in is designed to protect it but I guess it is still risk, you have already successfully shipped a glass case so I would have thought you'd be fine, if you like the glass use it, and if it ever has an accident you can switch to the mesh

 

[edo101]

you should be fine with just one exhaust, the case with the glass panel still has enough mesh to bleed the extra air from more intakes without a problem, but that configuration is less than perfect, because hot air rises it's usually preferred not to have incoming fans on the top. If you can't use the bottom fan spaces, for an air cooler you would likely be better with the back and top back fan being extract, and two fans on the mesh panel at the side being intake, but that's still not the best. see this video:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-3yXrtC01o


there is two drive bays hidden in the back panel next to the PSU space, unless you have more than two drives, you should just be able to make use of that, and have incoming fans in the bottom, and extract on top, if your mobo allows you should then have the tower cooler orientated so the fans blow upwards so all the air is moving in the same direction, if you have some intakes on that mesh panel part way up the side the mobo mounts to as well, you can probably leave out the fan that's next to the io plate if it gets in the way of the cooler, you'll have between 3 and 5 incoming and 3 extract. In this configuration you should be fine with the glass panel

Don't forget, if you ever have any major problems with air flow you can switch to the provided mesh panel

So hot air rises up and thats why top is typically used for exhaust? I have 4HDDs and 2 sata SSDs. I need two of the bottom fan slots which removes the possibilit of having fans at the bottom. Unless I can mount fans on the last open slot on the HDD bracket (not sure I can).

So what that leaves me with is two intake fans that cann be either on the side or front. I have 4090 so I am not sure if it'll let me have both side and front intake fans due to clearance. So in this case I am thinking 2x side intake and 3 intake from the top? and the 1 exhause at the back. You think that's good? Or could I do 2 intake up top and 1 outake at the back of the top. So 2 intake up top, 1 outtake up top bacj and 1 outtake at back. Then the two side intake?

 

[thestryker]

If you're using an air cooler you certainly do not want 3 intake at the top. If you're using side intake those should be your only intake and then the fan at the back, and maybe a single fan top rear as exhaust. If you're doing front intake you could possibly add an intake fan top front, but if you're using front intake just buy a case better suited.

Another option if you're sold on a dual chamber case would be the Lian-li O11 Dynamic Evo RGB as the HDD mounts are on the side so you could still use bottom intake.

 

[RAIDGoblin]

So hot air rises up and thats why top is typically used for exhaust? I have 4HDDs and 2 sata SSDs. I need two of the bottom fan slots which removes the possibilit of having fans at the bottom. Unless I can mount fans on the last open slot on the HDD bracket (not sure I can).

yep, hot air rises, this is really why you don't put intakes at the top, you can still have a front to back airflow, but intakes at the top doesn't usually work so well because it's competing with the natural air movement

you should be able to get an intake in the HDD position you don't use, it looks like you should be able to fit a full size fan and 2 HDD's, but if you can't you could use a smaller fan and just make use of one hole (or drive screws through the mesh). You could then have two intakes on the front and one on the bottom at the front, and two extracts, one at the top back and one at the back. That layout would probably be OK, but the only real way to know would be to try it

The thing that puzzles me is Montec claims there is room for 8 hard drives in this case? there's no proper diagram, but this is what they say:

"KING 95's dual-chamber is designed to accommodate 8 hard drives, dual power supplies, and flagship 4090 graphics cards. It offers over 35mm of cable management space, optimizing cooling and providing robust hardware support."
https://www.montechpc.com/en/products_detail.php?nid=385

I can't work out where there is room for 8, but if there is you should only need one of the bottom bays, so maybe you can have 2 bottom intake fans? just a thought

and yeah, your correct, it doesn't look like you can have side and front fans, because they overlap each-others position, it looks like it's one or the other. They're product info is misleading, it's the same as them saying you can have 8 HDD's and dual PSU's, you can't, you can only have one or the other.
[edit] I am wrong, it looks like you can have both, but the fan position on the 'fan bracket' is only any good with the mesh lid, there's a diagram on they're product page I linked above of how that works

 

[thestryker]

I can't work out where there is room for 8, but if there is you should only need one of the bottom bays, so maybe you can have 2 bottom intake fans? just a thought

5x 3.5"/8x 2.5":
3x 3.5s at the bottom, 2x 3.5s in the rear tray or 3x 2.5s at the bottom, 3x 2.5s in the rear tray
2x 2.5s panel behind the motherboard

So in the case of the configuration the OP is doing they'd have to use the back mount for the 2.5s, rear tray for 3.5s and bottom for 3.5s. The problem is that the bottom drive mount is a single unit which attaches to the bottom of the case so even if only 2 HDDs were mounted there it wouldn't matter as the fan mount would be blocked.

 

[edo101]

yep, hot air rises, this is really why you don't put intakes at the top, you can still have a front to back airflow, but intakes at the top doesn't usually work so well because it's competing with the natural air movement

you should be able to get an intake in the HDD position you don't use, it looks like you should be able to fit a full size fan and 2 HDD's, but if you can't you could use a smaller fan and just make use of one hole (or drive screws through the mesh). You could then have two intakes on the front and one on the bottom at the front, and two extracts, one at the top back and one at the back. That layout would probably be OK, but the only real way to know would be to try it

The thing that puzzles me is Montec claims there is room for 8 hard drives in this case? there's no proper diagram, but this is what they say:

"KING 95's dual-chamber is designed to accommodate 8 hard drives, dual power supplies, and flagship 4090 graphics cards. It offers over 35mm of cable management space, optimizing cooling and providing robust hardware support."
https://www.montechpc.com/en/products_detail.php?nid=385

I can't work out where there is room for 8, but if there is you should only need one of the bottom bays, so maybe you can have 2 bottom intake fans? just a thought

and yeah, your correct, it doesn't look like you can have side and front fans, because they overlap each-others position, it looks like it's one or the other. They're product info is misleading, it's the same as them saying you can have 8 HDD's and dual PSU's, you can't, you can only have one or the other.
[edit] I am wrong, it looks like you can have both, but the fan position on the 'fan bracket' is only any good with the mesh lid, there's a diagram on they're product page I linked above of how that works

So I have looked at the case as I have it here and it looks like you can have front intake, and side intake as well. Would that work for good airflow? So essentially, I'd have 2 intake side, and 2 intake front. What do you think about that?

It doesn't look like I can attach on bottom intake fan because of the bottom HDD plane being one single unit with HDD mount spaces.

So the bottom would just be HDDs, 1 out from the back, 1 out at the top back, and then 2 front and 2 side intakes? What do you think about that? my OCD is also making me think about adding 2 more outake fans so you have 3 outake fans up top (to look nice) but is that too many outakes at top that would interfere with the intakes at the front and side?

 

[RAIDGoblin]

So I have looked at the case as I have it here and it looks like you can have front intake, and side intake as well. Would that work for good airflow? So essentially, I'd have 2 intake side, and 2 intake front. What do you think about that?

you mean with that bracket rotated as the guy in the video I linked had it at time stamp 4:21? that only gives you any benefit with the mesh panel, if you are using the glass there's no where for the air to come from, but using the mesh yes you can

It doesn't look like I can attach on bottom intake fan because of the bottom HDD plane being one single unit with HDD mount spaces.

the bracket has holes in, you could mount a smaller case fan over the 3rd hole that you aren't using, it would help, or if you're that way inclined, you could cut the position you're not using off the bracket and have a case fan instead, but you would loose the option to add another drive in the future if you needed it

So the bottom would just be HDDs, 1 out from the back, 1 out at the top back, and then 2 front and 2 side intakes? What do you think about that? my OCD is also making me think about adding 2 more outake fans so you have 3 outake fans up top (to look nice) but is that too many outakes at top that would interfere with the intakes at the front and side?

adding more outward fans at the front top will probably just remove the fresh air being brought in by the intakes, so I would avoid. Also sometimes with a config like what your planning, blocking the grill directly above the intake fans can help the thermals by forcing the incoming air towards the cooler instead of letting it out again before it gets there, it's something to consider

often the only way to work out what gives the best cooling is just to build and try it in different configurations

 

[edo101]

you mean with that bracket rotated as the guy in the video I linked had it at time stamp 4:21? that only gives you any benefit with the mesh panel, if you are using the glass there's no where for the air to come from, but using the mesh yes you can



the bracket has holes in, you could mount a smaller case fan over the 3rd hole that you aren't using, it would help, or if you're that way inclined, you could cut the position you're not using off the bracket and have a case fan instead, but you would loose the option to add another drive in the future if you needed it


adding more outward fans at the front top will probably just remove the fresh air being brought in by the intakes, so I would avoid. Also sometimes with a config like what your planning, blocking the grill directly above the intake fans can help the thermals by forcing the incoming air towards the cooler instead of letting it out again before it gets there, it's something to consider

often the only way to work out what gives the best cooling is just to build and try it in different configurations

I see. And yeah so what I found is that yes, you can rotate the side fans to front (and use the mesh panel). Then also have two additional side intake fans. So 4 intake fans. And then 1 outtake at the back and another outtake at the top back?

Or

I can try two side intakes, two top front intake, 1 back outtake and then another top back outtake?

What do you think of the two configs?

RAIDGoblin​

 

[RAIDGoblin]

I see. And yeah so what I found is that yes, you can rotate the side fans to front (and use the mesh panel). Then also have two additional side intake fans. So 4 intake fans. And then 1 outtake at the back and another outtake at the top back?

Or

I can try two side intakes, two top front intake, 1 back outtake and then another top back outtake?

What do you think of the two configs?

The overall aim here is to try to get the extracts as near to opposite the intakes as possible, at the same time as the extracts being as close to the CPU cooler, and ideally above/same level as it. So you have a clear air flow pattern with cold coming in on one side and hot leaving on the other. The CPU cooler is the hottest part, so you're also trying to do that at the same time as not drawing hot air from the cooler over other components. Drawing diagrams always helps visualize things:

your first idea:

and your second idea:

putting an intake next to an extract can end up being pointless, because you just end up creating loop where all the fresh air from the intake is taken out again before it has chance to do anything, and if you think about it, the same is happening on the outside of the case so you have just created a loop. and intakes on the top are not so effective. Air flow wise your first idea is definitely better.

But I know you want to use the glass (not the mesh), and you don't like the look of only one fan in the top. You could always try your second idea and see if it turns out to be good enough

Or alternatively you could put all three fans in the top of the case, leave the forward two not running but still plug in the RGB, then it will look equal, use the glass panel and get a small (maybe 100mm or 70mm) case fan in black or white to match your case, use the two back HDD spaces, and the small fan in the hole in the middle of the HDD bracket space at the front. If it's unlit and color matched it won't be very visible. It will still help with airflow and you get to keep the looks, but it is a compromise and means only 3 intakes (one smaller than the other two) so won't be quite as good as your first idea, you could still try it if your second idea isn't good enough

 

[thestryker]

I can try two side intakes, two top front intake, 1 back outtake and then another top back outtake?

This will create turbulence with your air cooler's intake and likely cause more problems than anything else. If you want to do fans in the top: one in the top front for intake and one in the top rear for exhaust would likely be okay, but it will depend on where the fan(s) for your CPU cooler are in relation to the ones in the top. Basically you do not want any fans in the top of your case directly over the fans on your CPU cooler (unless the CPU cooler was oriented to exhaust out the top instead of back).

Or alternatively you could put all three fans in the top of the case, leave the forward two not running but still plug in the RGB, then it will look equal, use the glass panel and get a small (maybe 100mm or 70mm) case fan in black or white to match your case, use the two back HDD spaces, and the small fan in the hole in the middle of the HDD bracket space at the front.

HDD mounting holes aren't standard distances apart (3.5" mounting is ~96mm by ~45mm and 2.5" mounting is ~62mm by ~77mm) so it would likely require a custom mount to get any fan on there at all.

 

[RAIDGoblin]

HDD mounting holes aren't standard distances apart (3.5" mounting is ~96mm by ~45mm and 2.5" mounting is ~62mm by ~77mm) so it would likely require a custom mount to get any fan on there at all.

yep, or put some new holes in the tray that are lined up to the hole spacing of whichever fan size the OP chooses, or since the fan would be sat flat on the bottom of the case and wont be going anywhere they could just make use of one screw, or use double sided tape, not ideal but it can be done