[SOLVED] Lian Li Cool 2 Mesh fan placement questions

[yaboibaron]

Hello all! Currently I have an NZXT H510 and am buying a lian li cool 2 mesh performance case. A few questions I have are:

1. Will this be a major upgrade in terms of noise and thermals?
2. I have an AIO 240mm for my cpu, and an rtx 3080 xc3 ultra. what would the best configuration be in terms of the fans and AIO placement?
3. My current thermals are my 3080 runs REALLY warm because off the very restricted airflow (about 80ish in some games) and my cpu which is a ryzen 3700x runs about 68 in games. so willl upgrading to this case improve them? (Also my AIO for cpu gets REALLY loud because of how fast the fans have to spin when it gets warm)
4. So worth the upgrade or not? Ty for the input people it means alot!

 

[Phaaze88]

1)It should be.

2)You have to pick your poison with the hybrid cooler; there is no best with them if you have the option to top or front mount it. Though, a heads up with front mounts:
Installing it with the tubing up is fine as long as the pump isn't the highest point of the loop. That said, it's still worse for noise and longevity Vs tubing down as liquid permeates the tubing over the years.

3)The gpu should see some improvement.
The cpu, not so much; it is temperature sensitive and will try to boost higher with more temperature headroom. You might not see any change in thermals with it.
With better airflow, you shouldn't have to run those fans as high. Understand that those fans have to be fast and loud because the radiator itself restricts air; the rad + chassis panel = more resistance.
When people replace the stock fans without taking into account the specs, they usually screw themselves with fans that don't have the extra muscle needed to push/pull air through both the rad and the chassis panel.

4)Only you can answer this one due to individual variants of 'worth'.

 

[yaboibaron]

1)It should be.

2)You have to pick your poison with the hybrid cooler; there is no best with them if you have the option to top or front mount it. Though, a heads up with front mounts:
Installing it with the tubing up is fine as long as the pump isn't the highest point of the loop. That said, it's still worse for noise and longevity Vs tubing down as liquid permeates the tubing over the years.

3)The gpu should see some improvement.
The cpu, not so much; it is temperature sensitive and will try to boost higher with more temperature headroom. You might not see any change in thermals with it.
With better airflow, you shouldn't have to run those fans as high. Understand that those fans have to be fast and loud because the radiator itself restricts air; the rad + chassis panel = more resistance.
When people replace the stock fans without taking into account the specs, they usually screw themselves with fans that don't have the extra muscle needed to push/pull air through both the rad and the chassis panel.

4)Only you can answer this one due to individual variants of 'worth'.

So Just thought of another possible solution.... Do you think replacing the corsair ML120 fans(on my radiator) with some noctua f12's should help with noise and cooling?

 

[Phaaze88]

Must be the 2400rpm model...
ML120
75CFM
4.2mmH2O
37dBA

NF-F12
54.97CFM
2.61mmH2O
22.4dBA

The latter is quieter for sure. Static pressure is great for a radiator fan too.
As far as raw power, definitely lacking compared to the former. Hmm...


I want to say/think that, as front intake, there's not going to be as big a tradeoff between the two fans.
Top exhaust though - the raw power of the MLs will definitely pull ahead for getting the cpu and gpu heat out of the case, but you're not comfortable with the noise anyway, so that's moot. But then...
And since manufacturers don't display fan curves we don't know how either performs at any speed below 100%.

You know what? Wait and see AFTER you get the chassis. The open mesh panels will allow you to run the fans at lower rpms without sacrificing too much cooling.
Play around with the fan speeds and see if you can't find a happy medium before switching fans out.