[SOLVED] Is it okay to put fans on either side of radiator?

[wharris1985]

I purchased the corsair icue 220t case for a new build with some spare parts. I wanted to use the corsair h1100i pro which said it was compatible. Thing is, it will only fit in the front which is where 3 rbg lights are. I figured I could mount the radiator on the front with the lights in front of the radiator pulling air through. It would have 3 fans in the front with the radiator behind two pulling air in, 2 fans on the top, one on the back as exaust out of thr case. This is what the case recommends airflow wise. Just wondering if its okay for the fams to he infront of radiator. Probably a dumb question byt want to be safe.

 

[Darkbreeze]

You do not want to use those fans with the radiator because they do not have sufficient static pressure and other characteristics that you would want to see on radiator or heatsink fans. In this case, they are GROSSLY inadequate. You want to use the fans that CAME with the radiator, OR use even better separately purchased fans. In this case, the ones that came with it are likely fine because depending on the specific model of H100i Pro, they are likely very decent fans.

Do you have the regular H100i Pro and not the H100i Pro RGB?

 

[wharris1985]

[URL="http://www.bestbuy.com/site/corsair-hydro-series-h100i-pro-liquid-cpu-cooler-120mm-liquid-cooling-system-with-rgb-lighting-black-gray/6265053.p?skuId=6265053[/URL]"]www.bestbuy.com/site/corsair-hydro-series-h100i-pro-liquid-cpu-cooler-120mm-liquid-cooling-system-with-rgb-lighting-black-gray/6265053.p?skuId=6265053[/URL]

This is the cooler that I have. I installed the radiator behind the fans that are installed in the front of the case. Thankfully i read your post before I turned it on. If these fans arent sufficient for cooling the radiator, can you recommend corsair fans that I can use to replace the fans that came with the case? I'm pretty sure the stock fans are these:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/corsai...-lighting-black-white/6356250.p?skuId=6356250

Is it possible to purchase the same type of rgb fans that will match the current stock fans? I have completed the build and it would suck to restart. It would be a disappointment to have one rgb fan in the front instead of 3 if I reinstalled the fans that came with the cooler.

Thanks for responding and your help!

 

[Darkbreeze]

Ok, wait. Did you buy this cooler from somebody and it DIDN'T come with fans? You do NOT have the fans that CAME with this cooler out of the box?

 

[wharris1985]

Ok, wait. Did you buy this cooler from somebody and it DIDN'T come with fans? You do NOT have the fans that CAME with this cooler out of the box?

No, I bought this cooler and still have the fans that came with it. The case has 3 rgb fans in the front. The fans on the cooler are not rgb. I was looking for a way to keep the cooler and keep the rgb lighting in the front. So i removed the fans that came with the cooler and mounted the radiator behind the fans on the case that are rgb.

 

[wharris1985]

Ok, wait. Did you buy this cooler from somebody and it DIDN'T come with fans? You do NOT have the fans that CAME with this cooler out of the box?

I purchased a new mobo and cpu. While doing so bought the h115i and replaced the cooler. So i made a new build with old mobo,cpu, and cooler.

 

[Darkbreeze]

What graphics card are you using in the build, specifically? Are you sure there are no clearance issues for that with an AIO installed, because this case, much like the Define C and Meshify C from Fractal, DO have some issues with very long cards.

What CPU and motherboard are you using in THIS build?

 

[wharris1985]

What graphics card are you using in the build, specifically? Are you sure there are no clearance issues for that with an AIO installed, because this case, much like the Define C and Meshify C from Fractal, DO have some issues with very long cards.

What CPU and motherboard are you using in THIS build?

I'm using the i7 7700k and rtx 2070 super. I have it all installed and while its tight everything fits. I did the build on pc part picker to make sure everything was compatible (not sure if thats 100% accurate, but hasn't let me down yet.) Ive read online that the sp120s are sufficient for the radiator but being 3pin fans i would have to adjust settings in bios. Do you thinking purschasing pwm fans such as
https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categ...al-Light-Loop-RGB-LED-PWM-Fan/p/CO-9050092-WW

Would be better ?

 

[wharris1985]

Also, the motherboard is the Asus Prime Z270-A

 

[wharris1985]

Dark Breeze, you've helped me a ton with the understanding of this after reading up on the difference in static pressure between the radiator fans that came with the cooler and the SP120's in the front of the case. I planned on buying more RGB fans for the case regardless. So i'm hoping this solution would work. If I purchased the fans in the link above which are PWM fans (not sure if these are the correct fans with static pressure) and mount all 3 to the front (including to the radiator. Then moved the fans from the front to the top and back of the case, I would then be able to have RGB fans in every fan location in the case. Would this be good enough for the cooler?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Anyhow, if there are no clearance issues, I would highly recommend using the fans that came with the radiator. Here's why.

Those fans that came with the case are weak, for use with radiators or heatsinks. They are only 52CFM fans with 1.45mm H20 static pressure. Fairly weak for a fan that needs to maintain good airflow and PRESSURE through a restriction like a radiator.

The fans that came with the radiator, by comparison, have The Maglev fans which have 75CFM each but, more importantly, they have 4.2mm H20 static pressure, which means they will not stall, or slow down, or react to the resistance of backpressure when air tries to force it's way through the fins on the radiator, which greatly increases not only the life of the fan itself, but the amount of air that actually makes it through the radiator to do the work of transferring heat off the radiator fins into the case to be carried out by the top and rear exhaust fans.

At low speeds you will probably not notice much significant difference in temperature. Under loads, when the fans are at half to full speed, there will be a major difference in cooling performance between the fans that came with that case and the ones that came with that radiator.

If looks are the only important factor, then by all means use them. If cooling performance is AT ALL important to you, then forget about the RGB factor, and use the fans that came with the radiator because they have more than three times the static pressure of those case fans.

Or, get different fans, although the fact is that even the RGB version of those same Maglev fans, have much less performance than the non-RGB version. It's unavoidable, at least so far, because some of the room needed for the electronics required to stuff the RGB controls under the hood of those fans requires that a smaller, less capable motor be used. Any fans that have both RGB and non-RGB versions, will always have better performance, usually by a lot, on the non-RGB version.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Now, if there was ROOM in front of your graphics card to do so, you could keep the case fans in front, put the radiator behind those and then put the fans that came with the radiator behind the radiator. SO the case fans would be pushing AND they would be assisted by the much higher CFM and static pressure of the other fans that would be pulling on the other side of the radiator and reducing the the amount of resistance that the front fans would need to overcome so that the lower specs of those front fans wouldn't be AS important of a factor. I don't think you have room to do that in this case though if you have a decent length graphics card.

On cases where you can put the front fans between the front panel and the front plastic shroud on the front of the case, and then the radiator and the pull fans on the other side of the frame, it works, but this case doesn't have that ability.

 

[wharris1985]

So with what i've leared from you. Are the fans on my H115i cooler that I put in my main build that much worse than the case fans on the new build? The reason I'm asking is, if the fans on the H115i are just as good as the fans on the H110i I would swap them out. The RGB fans on the 115i are on the top of the case on my other build and you can't even see them. These fans are on the front of the case and they are clearly visable.

 

[wharris1985]

There isn't any room between the cooler and the GPU. So installing the fans on the back aren't an option. The only option I have are to use the fans that came with the cooler OR swap out the fans from the 115i to the 100i. If that works that would be cool.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Which H115i do you have, regular, Pro, platinum?

 

[wharris1985]

Which H115i do you have, regular, Pro, platinum?

Sorry, its the h110i rgb 120mm platinum

 

[wharris1985]

Sorry, its the h110i rgb 120mm platinum

H100i platinum *

 

[Darkbreeze]

So they are both H100i coolers, but one is Pro and one is Platinum?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yes, you can use the RGB Maglev fans from the Platinum on the Pro cooler and move the fans that came with the Pro cooler to the new build. They have the same specs, which is surprising, because normally RGB and non-RGB fans don't, but we'll go with what their product pages say which is that both coolers have the same static pressure and CFM ratings for their fans PLUS those fans did come with the radiator so they are designed for it. Swap the fans and you should be fine.