[SOLVED] CPU cooler be horizontal or vertical ?
- Thread starter wm3797
- Start date
Solution
Is your power supply on top or bottom?
if your case's back is near the wall, perhaps bottom to top. you know it depends, may be you're facing the windows, so better get air in from back. may be you have a heater next to your feet, then take air from front or top.
does your gpu make a lot of hot air? see where that air goes and try to exhaust it shortest way.
so does power supply have zero fan mode, does it blow hot air and which direction it is going.
top of motherboard is hotter, not only where cpu is but also the vrams that regulate voltage get very hot.
if there's enough space behind your case for air to escape, front to back is better.
you better get the hot air from cpu out with the shortest path. so as your cpu cooler blows the hot air, it must be very close to an exhaust fan.
so by horizontal you mean the cooler fan is parallel to the motherboard? then if you have the option of vertical and can take the hot air with an exhaust fan at the rear of the case, that's a big plus. if top of your case is open and can have fans, again vertical cooler is better. however if you don't have those ventilation points, then there's a fan on side panels and if they're your best exhaust fans you've got, then use the horizontal cooler fan.
Also backside of cpu gets very hot. if you can blow air on that spot, it's good. I put a thermal pad with 5mm thickness and placed a heatsink that cools the backside of cpu. well if you put your finger on that heatsink, you'll like the idea 💡
don't worry about thermal pads that after a while seem to leave some moisture behind. that is oil not water, it's not electrically conductive and it is used in thermal pastes as well.
also if you can somehow, touch that heatsink at the back of your mobo to the case panel, that would make the case panel act as a giant heatsink, so you don't bother add an extra fan there, probably there's not enough space for that. some use thermals pads inside their laptops to connect the hot parts into direct contact with the metal body of the laptop. you can tyr doing that with back of your motherboard on the hotspots. that's just an option, I do that for my cpu and as I said, it gets warm so it's working.
Em, side panel fans are intake, so if you use horizontal, you blow air on the cpu, then hot air will be covering your motherboard. let's ignore that it makes the motherboard warmer, but it also makes taking that air away from cpu harder. so again vertical fan is better.
www.howtogeek.com
How to Manage Your PC’s Fans for Optimal Airflow and Cooling
Building a modern desktop PC is surprisingly easy, thanks to modular parts and a lot of solid engineering. It’s often explained as “LEGO for adults.” But managing the air cooling system within a PC is considerably more complex. We’re talking about physics, thermodynamics, all sorts of fun...
www.howtogeek.com
See where the heat is in your system, figure out how to get it out of the case, add fans where air can be pulled in. Evaluate your design choices and modify.
The real way to do this would be to install everything and find out the thermal profile of the whole thing and use thermodynamics to properly place the fans, but not many people can do that at home without using the computer. 😀
The real way to do this would be to install everything and find out the thermal profile of the whole thing and use thermodynamics to properly place the fans, but not many people can do that at home without using the computer. 😀
- Oct 6, 2014
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Front to back the PSU or nothing else matters.
EDIT you should check memory clearance before buying memory and a cooler.
geofelt
Titan
- Oct 9, 2006
- 56,035
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Moot point.
With your case and cooler, the only orientation of the cooler is horizontal.
With fans directing airflow towards the top or towards the rear.
Rear is best. That gets airflow through the cooler and out the back quickly. with all ram slots filled, that is best anyway.
What is your cpu that you need to cool?
You should probably include a couple of front intake fans to provide the airflow to let the cpu cooler do it's job.
I like 140mm fans, they move more air quietly than 120mm fans.
If you do not have a discrete graphics card, you need only minimal front intake capability.
With your case and cooler, the only orientation of the cooler is horizontal.
With fans directing airflow towards the top or towards the rear.
Rear is best. That gets airflow through the cooler and out the back quickly. with all ram slots filled, that is best anyway.
What is your cpu that you need to cool?
You should probably include a couple of front intake fans to provide the airflow to let the cpu cooler do it's job.
I like 140mm fans, they move more air quietly than 120mm fans.
If you do not have a discrete graphics card, you need only minimal front intake capability.
geofelt
Titan
- Oct 9, 2006
- 56,035
- 4,840
- 174,240
You have a very nice case for air cooling.
By all means, put in a couple of 140mm front intakes.
And, a 9700K can definitely use good cooling.
If you already own the hyper212, give it a try.
Otherwise, I would opt for a stronger dual tower air cooler like the noctua NH-D15s.
By all means, put in a couple of 140mm front intakes.
And, a 9700K can definitely use good cooling.
If you already own the hyper212, give it a try.
Otherwise, I would opt for a stronger dual tower air cooler like the noctua NH-D15s.
geofelt
Titan
- Oct 9, 2006
- 56,035
- 4,840
- 174,240
The first requirement is to have sufficient height available.
Your case is fine with 163mm.
The hyper212 is about 158mm.
The noctua NH-D15s is 160mm.
Not to be confused with the NH-D15 which is 165mm.
Here is a link to the noctua suitability charts for 9700K:
https://ncc.noctua.at/cpus/model/Intel-Core-i7-9700K-411
Next would be the socket compatibility for a lga1151 socket.
Most coolers today will include mounts for the most common sockets, as well as decent paste.
Some coolers will have ram clearance issues if you are using ram with tall heat spreaders.
Lastly, on occasion, some motherboards may have an issue with socket proximity to a graphics card in the first pcie x16 slot. The NH-D15s mentioned is a high compatibility version that avoids such problems.
To be certain, enter your motherboard info here:
https://ncc.noctua.at/motherboards
Last edited:
geofelt
Titan
- Oct 9, 2006
- 56,035
- 4,840
- 174,240
First you will be cooling a i7-9700K, not a 9900K which is a hotter chip.
Any cooler needs a source of fresh air to let it do it's job.
That is why you need a couple of front intakes.
Ultimately, it is the size of the radiator that matters.
A twin tower cooler with a 140mm fan will have about the same surface and cooling capability as a 240 aio.
Then, how much cooling do you need?
If you are overclocking to the max, you need a top cooler.
If you will run at stock settings and let the turbo run, you need less.
Here is a cm hyper 212 @$ 40
https://www.newegg.com/cooler-master-rr-2v2e-18pk-r1/p/N82E16835103309?&quicklink=true
It has a 120mm fan and 4 heat pipes.
It will cool decently, up to a point.
You would pay $65 for a noctua nh-U12s
https://www.newegg.com/noctua-nh-u12s/p/N82E16835608040
You would get slightly better cooling with 5 heat pipes and a superior/quieter fan.
Arguably, the best might be the NH-D15s @$80:
https://www.newegg.com/noctua-nh-d15s/p/N82E16835608072
You get two cooling towers, each with 5 cooling pipes.
The fan is a larger and quieter 140mm fan.
One value of a strong cooler is not only best cooling, but quieter operation.
reread the 9700K suitability link I posted above.
Look at the characteristics of the lesser capable coolers and what it limits you to. Compare to other options.
If you read cooler reviews, look at the noise that the fans generate.
Faster and noisier fans improve cooling. That is a trade off which may or may not be important to you.
If beige color of noctua is an issue, they also come in black.
What is the rest of this prospective build?
What is your budget?
Any cooler needs a source of fresh air to let it do it's job.
That is why you need a couple of front intakes.
Ultimately, it is the size of the radiator that matters.
A twin tower cooler with a 140mm fan will have about the same surface and cooling capability as a 240 aio.
Then, how much cooling do you need?
If you are overclocking to the max, you need a top cooler.
If you will run at stock settings and let the turbo run, you need less.
Here is a cm hyper 212 @$ 40
https://www.newegg.com/cooler-master-rr-2v2e-18pk-r1/p/N82E16835103309?&quicklink=true
It has a 120mm fan and 4 heat pipes.
It will cool decently, up to a point.
You would pay $65 for a noctua nh-U12s
https://www.newegg.com/noctua-nh-u12s/p/N82E16835608040
You would get slightly better cooling with 5 heat pipes and a superior/quieter fan.
Arguably, the best might be the NH-D15s @$80:
https://www.newegg.com/noctua-nh-d15s/p/N82E16835608072
You get two cooling towers, each with 5 cooling pipes.
The fan is a larger and quieter 140mm fan.
One value of a strong cooler is not only best cooling, but quieter operation.
reread the 9700K suitability link I posted above.
Look at the characteristics of the lesser capable coolers and what it limits you to. Compare to other options.
If you read cooler reviews, look at the noise that the fans generate.
Faster and noisier fans improve cooling. That is a trade off which may or may not be important to you.
If beige color of noctua is an issue, they also come in black.
What is the rest of this prospective build?
What is your budget?
- Dec 26, 2012
- 30,759
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- 142,790
No. Not cfm. That's absolutely wrong.
Wattage. Which is not always easily visible, is the only consideration.
The I7-9700k is quite capable of 200w output, with a 5.0GH locked core OC, which is a very common practice. That's the size cooler that application would need, a 200-250w cooler just as the afore mentioned Noctua NH-D15S or beQuiet Darkrock TF etc.
If not going that route, and plan on never overclocking or pushing the cpu to its limits with heavy workloads, it'll run @ 100w output, and the hyper212 series is @ 140w capable.
So a decision must be made as to the intended purpose, if there's a possibility of any OC, go larger rated cooler. If absolutely certain of never pushing the cpu, the smaller cooler will work.
A larger cooler has more cooling surface area, so can dissipate more heat per rpm than a smaller cooler with the same fan at the same rpm. Meaning a larger cooler will not need to spin the fan as fast, quieter.
And don't fall for the assumption that liquid is better. It's not. Air = liquid in ability. A 120mm AIO is the same 140w capacity as a hyper212. A 240mm is the same 250w capacity as a Noctua NH-D15S. The difference in temps is due solely to the efficiency of the cooler, not the capacity. Noctua specializes in fans/coolers, it's all they do, so their coolers are highly efficient compared to others. Which generally gets them better temps for the same wattage output.
Wattage. Which is not always easily visible, is the only consideration.
The I7-9700k is quite capable of 200w output, with a 5.0GH locked core OC, which is a very common practice. That's the size cooler that application would need, a 200-250w cooler just as the afore mentioned Noctua NH-D15S or beQuiet Darkrock TF etc.
If not going that route, and plan on never overclocking or pushing the cpu to its limits with heavy workloads, it'll run @ 100w output, and the hyper212 series is @ 140w capable.
So a decision must be made as to the intended purpose, if there's a possibility of any OC, go larger rated cooler. If absolutely certain of never pushing the cpu, the smaller cooler will work.
A larger cooler has more cooling surface area, so can dissipate more heat per rpm than a smaller cooler with the same fan at the same rpm. Meaning a larger cooler will not need to spin the fan as fast, quieter.
And don't fall for the assumption that liquid is better. It's not. Air = liquid in ability. A 120mm AIO is the same 140w capacity as a hyper212. A 240mm is the same 250w capacity as a Noctua NH-D15S. The difference in temps is due solely to the efficiency of the cooler, not the capacity. Noctua specializes in fans/coolers, it's all they do, so their coolers are highly efficient compared to others. Which generally gets them better temps for the same wattage output.
- Dec 26, 2012
- 30,759
- 4,553
- 142,790
Cfm is a measure of the Amount of air that moves over a particular point of area in a given minute.
Static pressure is a measure of the force of the air moving across a particular point of area.
The greater the surface area, the more dissipative capacity a cooler has, but that's tempered by not only the amount of air pushed across it, but by the pressure behind the air to actually push it across. Because of distance between and of the fins, if the fan dies not have enough SP to shove the cfm through the gap and out the back, the cfm goes nowhere, you get no flow across the fin and the air back feeds right back into the blades causing cavitation.
The more effective the fan is at pushing the air through the fin stack is what creates efficiency. Too much speed and the air doesn't absorb enough heat, less efficient. Not enough speed and the air picks up too much heat, but can't go anywhere. Less efficient. The most efficient coolers have the best balance of both cfm and sp to do the job. Which not always means a fan with high cfm or high SP, but the required balance of both.
A thin tower works better with higher cfm, lower sp. A thick tower works better with a lower cfm, higher sp fan. Balance.
Static pressure is a measure of the force of the air moving across a particular point of area.
The greater the surface area, the more dissipative capacity a cooler has, but that's tempered by not only the amount of air pushed across it, but by the pressure behind the air to actually push it across. Because of distance between and of the fins, if the fan dies not have enough SP to shove the cfm through the gap and out the back, the cfm goes nowhere, you get no flow across the fin and the air back feeds right back into the blades causing cavitation.
The more effective the fan is at pushing the air through the fin stack is what creates efficiency. Too much speed and the air doesn't absorb enough heat, less efficient. Not enough speed and the air picks up too much heat, but can't go anywhere. Less efficient. The most efficient coolers have the best balance of both cfm and sp to do the job. Which not always means a fan with high cfm or high SP, but the required balance of both.
A thin tower works better with higher cfm, lower sp. A thick tower works better with a lower cfm, higher sp fan. Balance.
- Dec 26, 2012
- 30,759
- 4,553
- 142,790
As to airflow, that's easy. Look at the case layout. And think air flow. That's not just shoving air into a case or yanking it out, it's about creating a flow of air in a specific direction. Easy in, easy out, nothing blowing it around in circles.
You have fans in front, and a fan at the rear. So air flow needs to be from front to back. Easy in, easy out. No changes in direction. So a tower cooler very much helps in this, helps to pick up air from the front and shove it towards the back.
Psu has nothing to do with this, the fan is on the bottom and draws air into the psu, shoves it out the back. It's its own ecosystem totally seperate from the rest of the pc and any airflow patterns.
You have fans in front, and a fan at the rear. So air flow needs to be from front to back. Easy in, easy out. No changes in direction. So a tower cooler very much helps in this, helps to pick up air from the front and shove it towards the back.
Psu has nothing to do with this, the fan is on the bottom and draws air into the psu, shoves it out the back. It's its own ecosystem totally seperate from the rest of the pc and any airflow patterns.
Here you said horizontal, then you suggested 2 noctua fans and 1 coolermaster that are placed perpendicular to the motherboard (vertical)
Do you indicate a fan type by its orientation to the ground, or its orientation to where it is attached to?
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