Question Help with GPU Mounting, Fan Placement and Cooling

vulcanrvn90

Reputable
Apr 23, 2018
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4,510
Hi,
Hi I've asked questions regarding this before but I was looking for a little bit more help with a couple of ideas I recently came up with. I currently have a case that is similar to a Lian Li PC-011 Dynamic but it is smaller, just slightly but smaller. Now I didn't anticipate my new GPU (EVGA RTX 3070 FTW3) being so long and as a result I had to remove my middle radiator fan, this has been bugging me and I've been trying to find a solution for what to put there. After doing some research and asking around on here I came to the conclusion that removing the push-pull configuration from my radiator might actually be quite plausible with an potentially small or unperceptable decrease in overall cooling. Obviously transitioning to either a push or pull config will give me enough space to put the third fan back on and and actually look proper. This is only part of my overall issue though, as you can see on the top and the bottom there's only two fans as well. I initially thought I'd be able to fit three but the case is just slightly not long enough or wide enough. Which brings me to my ideas. My eventual goad is to get a 3080 TI or when a better water block comes out for my 3070 I plan on water cooling that as well. As you can see though I'd be limited to a 240 mm Radiator on either the top or bottom, or I can add two 240mm radiators to the case effectivly bringing my cooling capacity to one slim 360mm and likely to regular 240mm for a grand total of 600 mm of radiator. Now while that is a potential solution I also had a couple of other ideas I wanted to run by you guys and see what you thought.

1. Mount the GPU where my 360 degree mm radiator currently is and move my radiator to either the bottom, top, or into the rear compartment. I already measured it and I can fit my radiator plus a set of normal height fans into the rear compartment without modification.

1a. Mounting my GPU where the radiator is currently, and mounting the radiator either on the top or bottom which would open up the case quite a bit. I would be able to not only install another 360 mm radiator to either the top or bottom but I would also be able to have three fans effectively on the top, side and bottom which should help with cooling quite a bit. Now the rear panel of the case both in the front and in the back have two 80mm fan mounts. I know that leaving that side part of the case as an intake from the research I've done is the most effective for overall cooling of the entire case but if I put the GPU there with a water block and then install two fans for the rear and the front making the rear fans into an intake and the front fans into in exhaust I feel like with the additional fan on the top and bottom it would pretty much equal itself out. If the performance isn't quite up to par as I would like worst case scenario I could always Mount three additional fans on the rear panel because I have a vented area directly behind that side radiator mount on the back panel.

2. As I said I'd leave the GPU where it is and mount a 240mm radiator to the top, bottom, or a radiator to both the top and bottom for the GPU Cooling.

3. Vertical Mount the GPS you in the traditional sense and cover-up all my pcie slots and move my hyper quad card to the bottom one and hope that it all fits which I don't think that it will.

All that said I could always just switch my case to the actual 011 dynamic but the reason I bought this case instead of that to begin with was because this one is slightly smaller, and I absolutely cannot stand the unnecessary thick black bars on the glass. As you can see on my case when you look it up (Inter-tech C-701 Panorama) my glass only has black bars on the top, rear, and in the bottom and on the front it's just glass, the manufacturer also removed the pillar there that you would find on the 011 making for a very seamless visual. All that coupled with the fact that I paid $120 to get this case powder coated white makes me want to keep it all its flaws and all.

However my eventual end game for this case, is to eventually either replace the glass panels or install an electric switchable mirrored film / glass. I love the pcmr edition of the 011 but I thought it could also have a really cool feature if Lian Li wanted to include it. Which was make the glass electronic switchable privacy glass, wear when you flick a switch the glass goes from opaque to clear. After much research I actually found a company that developed a switchable glass that goes from mirrored, to opaque, to clear which is absolutely amazing. Adding that with a relatively small statistic panel would be the perfect case for me. And with that the 011 would not only have everything I wanted but would also be the perfect size for compatibility. I can do those mods to my current case and assuming I can figure out this sizing issue with the GPU, radiator and fans then this case would actually be the perfect case.

I'm super curious to see what you all think, if you made it this far I applaud you, Thank You.

Photos: View: http://imgur.com/gallery/jD0mBVN
 

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
Not my forte per se but one immediate note: the coolant tubes do not appear to be full.

And the bottom fans are apparently being restricted by requiring air flows to come up from the gap below the case.

Plus I am really not sure about the overall current fan placements and air flows.

Also this: "I absolutely cannot stand the unnecessary thick black bars on the glass. "

Never let form get in the way of function. A working and stable system is usually the requirement - not a pretty system.