Question Help with 360mm Radiator Fan Configuration for Ryzen 9 5900X Build

[Gaff1]

Hey everyone,

I’m in the process of upgrading my water cooler and could really use some advice. Currently, I have a Ryzen 9 5900X paired with a small water cooler, but I’m looking to swap it out for a bigger 360mm radiator to improve cooling performance. I’m also mindful of maintaining the aesthetics of my case, here's my situation:

My case already has 3 fans installed in the location where the radiator will go, and I don't want to throw away these brand-new fans since they are in perfect condition and I’d prefer to use them if possible.

Here's what I’m thinking: I would like to mount my case fans in a push configuration on the front side of the radiator, which will be visible, and use the included radiator fans in a pull configuration on the opposite side.

My goal is to maintain a nice clean build without sacrificing performance or airflow. Is this a reasonable setup? Will it cause any airflow or cooling performance issues?

Would love to hear your thoughts and any advice you might have on this!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

My case already has 3 fans installed in the location where the radiator will go, and I don't want to throw away these brand-new fans since they are in perfect condition and I’d prefer to use them if possible.
Make and model of your case? Radiators need fans with high static pressure fans. Case fans that are good for airflow in a case are horrible as radiator fans and vice-versa.

Here's what I’m thinking: I would like to mount my case fans in a push configuration on the front side of the radiator, which will be visible, and use the included radiator fans in a pull configuration on the opposite side.

My goal is to maintain a nice clean build without sacrificing performance or airflow. Is this a reasonable setup? Will it cause any airflow or cooling performance issues?
Might want to include images of your current build too. What radiator/watercooling kit/AIO are you looking at?

 

[Gaff1]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

My case already has 3 fans installed in the location where the radiator will go, and I don't want to throw away these brand-new fans since they are in perfect condition and I’d prefer to use them if possible.
Make and model of your case? Radiators need fans with high static pressure fans. Case fans that are good for airflow in a case are horrible as radiator fans and vice-versa.

Here's what I’m thinking: I would like to mount my case fans in a push configuration on the front side of the radiator, which will be visible, and use the included radiator fans in a pull configuration on the opposite side.

My goal is to maintain a nice clean build without sacrificing performance or airflow. Is this a reasonable setup? Will it cause any airflow or cooling performance issues?
Might want to include images of your current build too. What radiator/watercooling kit/AIO are you looking at?

Here is a picture of my current build
I'm not looking for any specific aio, just need to upgrade as a 120mm is not enough for my cpu

 

[Lutfij]

We will also need to know the make and model of the case as well as the fans. To me it looks like the fans on the motherboard are exhausting air. You might want to flip them to intake but those RGB fans(I'm assuming) have horrible static pressure ratings.

 

[Gaff1]

We will also need to know the make and model of the case as well as the fans. To me it looks like the fans on the motherboard are exhausting air. You might want to flip them to intake but those RGB fans(I'm assuming) have horrible static pressure ratings.

I dont think me saying the make and model of the case and fans is going to help, as i don't live in the us and its a brazilian company, but both the case and the fans are made by KBM which is a sub-brand of KaBuM

The 3 bottom fans are intake and and the rest is exhaust.

And yes i know that these rgb case fans have horrible static pressure, that why i want to know if i can use them as push just for looks and have the actual radiator fan as pull to not loose performance

 

[Lutfij]

You don't use fans that have bad static pressure as either push or pull fans. You use the same high static pressure fans for push or pull or push/pull to get the best results out of your watercooling gear.

You can read through this;
https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...-watercooling-sticky-v2-0.331454/post-3502928
and this;
https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...-watercooling-sticky-v2-0.331454/post-3502937

 

[Gaff1]

i will use the included fans as pull so it will have good static pressure, but to keep the same design i want to use my case fans as push just for looks, will that be bad compared to just the 3 static pressure fans?

 

[Paperdoc]

Using those fans as you propose should not HARM cooling by the rad, but may add only marginal help with air flow. You are doing this for appearance, not performance. I presume the location you propose is on the right-hand SIDE of your case where there are now 3 fans in a vertical column.

3 bottom fans intake, the rest are exhaust. Not properly balanced. But when you convert those three right-hand side fans to INTAKES into the new rad, that will improve things.
Make SURE that the fans on BOTH sides of your rad are blowing in as intakes!

 

[Gaff1]

Using those fans as you propose should not HARM cooling by the rad, but may add only marginal help with air flow. You are doing this for appearance, not performance. I presume the location you propose is on the right-hand SIDE of your case where there are now 3 fans in a vertical column.

3 bottom fans intake, the rest are exhaust. Not properly balanced. But when you convert those three right-hand side fans to INTAKES into the new rad, that will improve things.
Make SURE that the fans on BOTH sides of your rad are blowing in as intakes!

Yeah... i know intake and exhaust are not properly balanced, but i bought the case with the fans for convenience and it came like that, the only reversed fans are the bottom ones, i was thinking of putting the radiator fan on the top, so i could flip the fans and not ruin the looks if i needed to change from exhaust to intake.

Making the top rad intake would make my case fans be pulling instead of pushing air and i don't know if its better for my airflow fans to be push or pull if i will have a static pressure fan on the other side

 

[Phaaze88]

Here is a picture of my current build
The 3 bottom fans are intake and and the rest is exhaust.

Are those bottom fans reverse blade? If not, they're also exhaust.

 

[Gaff1]

Are those bottom fans reverse blade? If not, they're also exhaust.

yes, its 3 reverse fans

 

[Paperdoc]

By the way, be careful of using the term "reversed" fans. The common way to "reverse" is / was to turn the whole fan over to make it blow in the right direction. But now we have LIGHTED fans and most have their lights showing mainly to one side. So turning one over means pointing the lights the wrong way sometimes. To avoid this you now can buy fans made with BLADES designed to blow in the "reverse" direction so the lights ARE on the right side, but the fan blows the direction you want. For those bottom fans, the key thing is: are they blowing air INTO the case or out? By your posts we are assuming they are INTO your case.

Now you specify your plan is to replace the top three fans (currently exhausts) with an AIO 3-fan rad, PLUS keep those existing fans somehow. By FAR the practice is that such a rad should be arranged with EXHAUST fans blowing OUT of the case. From the photo it appears the existing fans all have lights visible on the INSIDE of your case and all are mounted to be EXHAUST fans. IF you proceed with your plan that means the top three will need to be mounted on the INSIDE of your new rad to continue to blow outwards (through the rad) while visible inside the case, and the rad's included new fans will need to be mounted on the TOP of the rad (between rad and case top) as "pull" fans. Not ideal for those new fans, but do-able for appearance.

Still not a good flow balance - maybe even worse since the new rad fans will increase air flow OUT of the case. I suggest you consider this. DISconnect the top fan at the front on the SIDE panel (just below the new rad's front fan). At least, disconnect the MOTOR cable, leaving its lights operating for visual appeal if you wish. That fan and the rad's front fan pair are just competing with each other in the case top front corner for air to blow out so turning one off will reduce the air exhaust flow only slightly, and you already have too much exhaust. But you should keep ALL the fans on the rad operating.

BEFORE proceeding, check the space available. You propose to mount the new AIO rad and fans NOT right up against the top, but down further to allow keeping the old fans up there. So will the assembly still fit in over top of the other things near the case top interior?

Further note: your photo shows that all your fans now are the simpler plain RGB, not the newer ARGB design. If you plan to power and control the new rad fans from the same lighting source so they look the same, those new fans must also be the plain RGB type (4-pin connector, 12 VDC power line). Of course, if the new fans have NO lights, or if you plan NOT to use any lights on them, this does not matter,

 

[Gaff1]

By the way, be careful of using the term "reversed" fans. The common way to "reverse" is / was to turn the whole fan over to make it blow in the right direction. But now we have LIGHTED fans and most have their lights showing mainly to one side. So turning one over means pointing the lights the wrong way sometimes. To avoid this you now can buy fans made with BLADES designed to blow in the "reverse" direction so the lights ARE on the right side, but the fan blows the direction you want. For those bottom fans, the key thing is: are they blowing air INTO the case or out? By your posts we are assuming they are INTO your case.

Now you specify your plan is to replace the top three fans (currently exhausts) with an AIO 3-fan rad, PLUS keep those existing fans somehow. By FAR the practice is that such a rad should be arranged with EXHAUST fans blowing OUT of the case. From the photo it appears the existing fans all have lights visible on the INSIDE of your case and all are mounted to be EXHAUST fans. IF you proceed with your plan that means the top three will need to be mounted on the INSIDE of your new rad to continue to blow outwards (through the rad) while visible inside the case, and the rad's included new fans will need to be mounted on the TOP of the rad (between rad and case top) as "pull" fans. Not ideal for those new fans, but do-able for appearance.

Still not a good flow balance - maybe even worse since the new rad fans will increase air flow OUT of the case. I suggest you consider this. DISconnect the top fan at the front on the SIDE panel (just below the new rad's front fan). At least, disconnect the MOTOR cable, leaving its lights operating for visual appeal if you wish. That fan and the rad's front fan pair are just competing with each other in the case top front corner for air to blow out so turning one off will reduce the air exhaust flow only slightly, and you already have too much exhaust. But you should keep ALL the fans on the rad operating.

BEFORE proceeding, check the space available. You propose to mount the new AIO rad and fans NOT right up against the top, but down further to allow keeping the old fans up there. So will the assembly still fit in over top of the other things near the case top interior?

Further note: your photo shows that all your fans now are the simpler plain RGB, not the newer ARGB design. If you plan to power and control the new rad fans from the same lighting source so they look the same, those new fans must also be the plain RGB type (4-pin connector, 12 VDC power line). Of course, if the new fans have NO lights, or if you plan NOT to use any lights on them, this does not matter,

thanks for the reply, and yes, the 3 bottom fans are blowing air into the case

i did some rough measurements and im 90% sure it will fit, the single fan in the back will not be as far out as it is now because of the radiator behind it, and the top 3 fans have room to move a few inches do the right and left

do you think if i flip the fans and make the top 3 plus the 3 aio radiator fans intake instead of exhaust, will that be better? as it will pull cold air from outside, but im afraid it might make the inside hotter and pull all the dust on top

and no, all fans are ARGB, there is a fan controller hidden in the back

 

[Paperdoc]

OK, since you are sure the existing fans have ARGB lights in them, any lights in the new fans ought to be the same.

Flipping the fans added to the rad so the entire rad assembly becomes intake fans would work better for air flow, but that does mean the lights in those three existing fans now will NOT point into the case, impacting the appearance of your system. Is that OK with you? If you do that, you may need to consider carefully which fans (existing ones, or new ones) should be mounted on the inside and outside of the rad, bearing in mind which sides are exposed to view from inside and outside the case. Related to this, note that I have never seen any info on whether WHICH side of any fan (airflow or pressure optimized) is fastened to the rad, and which side is to free air outside, makes any difference. There may be NO impact on fan performance.

Making the entire rad assembly (with its six fans) an intake system will mean that the air coming into the case is slightly warmed, while the air flowing over the rad is as cool as it can be (fresh room air). This will NOT really cause any excess heat inside the case, so go ahead if you wish. However, to place that system inside your case top is NOT a common practice. It would mean that air flow in the case is both bottom-to-top and top-to-bottom, with a mid-case weird clash of flows. A much more common arrangement is the rad inside the case front, but your case does not appear to allow this. So placing the rad assembly where the existing vertical column of fans is on the right-hand side of the case at the front would do. This makes air flow smoother from lower front to upper rear. Is there space to do it that way?

By simple fan count, making the rad system intake fans means much more air intake capacity that exhaust. But in reality, the air intake flow rate through the rad assembly is much less than fan count predicts because the rad itself is a significant air flow impediment. Net result is likely to be a reasonable balance of intake and exhaust capacity and a nearly zero case internal air pressure.

 

[Gaff1]

OK, since you are sure the existing fans have ARGB lights in them, any lights in the new fans ought to be the same.

Flipping the fans added to the rad so the entire rad assembly becomes intake fans would work better for air flow, but that does mean the lights in those three existing fans now will NOT point into the case, impacting the appearance of your system. Is that OK with you? If you do that, you may need to consider carefully which fans (existing ones, or new ones) should be mounted on the inside and outside of the rad, bearing in mind which sides are exposed to view from inside and outside the case. Related to this, note that I have never seen any info on whether WHICH side of any fan (airflow or pressure optimized) is fastened to the rad, and which side is to free air outside, makes any difference. There may be NO impact on fan performance.

Making the entire rad assembly (with its six fans) an intake system will mean that the air coming into the case is slightly warmed, while the air flowing over the rad is as cool as it can be (fresh room air). This will NOT really cause any excess heat inside the case, so go ahead if you wish. However, to place that system inside your case top is NOT a common practice. It would mean that air flow in the case is both bottom-to-top and top-to-bottom, with a mid-case weird clash of flows. A much more common arrangement is the rad inside the case front, but your case does not appear to allow this. So placing the rad assembly where the existing vertical column of fans is on the right-hand side of the case at the front would do. This makes air flow smoother from lower front to upper rear. Is there space to do it that way?

By simple fan count, making the rad system intake fans means much more air intake capacity that exhaust. But in reality, the air intake flow rate through the rad assembly is much less than fan count predicts because the rad itself is a significant air flow impediment. Net result is likely to be a reasonable balance of intake and exhaust capacity and a nearly zero case internal air pressure.

i thought about flipping the top fans because they are not that visible when looking at the whole pc, so it wouldn't matter that much, but i don't think i'll be doing that because it will pull all the dust on top and i would have to remove the whole thing a lot more frequently to clean since it would build up on top of the radiator.

mounting the radiator on the side would need to be exhaust otherwise the back side of the fans would be fully visible, but after some quick measuring i don't think a push pull rad will fit on the side because the top and bottom fans will be in the way