Optimal fan installation with H60 liquid cooler?

[Johnson Deng]

First off, my PC specs are:
Intel Core i7 4790K Quad Core @ 4GHZ
ASUS Z97 Pro Gamer ATX LGA1150
EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 SC GAMING ACX 3.0 8GB GDDR5
Corsair RM750x Fully Modular Power Supply 80+ Gold
Kingston HyperX Fury 16GB Kit (2x8GB) 1866MHz DDR3
Crucial BX200 480GB SATA SSD
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 16MB Cache 7200RPM SATA HDD
Corsair Hydro Series High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler H60

My temps on my CPU haven't been something I've been too comfortable with lately and I've been trying to figure out why, for context, on idle the temps are around 40-50C with it spiking to around 60-75C on load/gaming.

I have one intake fan at the front and one outtake fan at the top rear. For the liquid cooler I have installed the fan and radiator at the top of my case with the fan being an intake. I'm not entirely convinced I have installed it correctly as the temps are a bit high for me. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Aeacus]

120mm rads are only for small ITX builds where there's not enough clearance for proper CPU air cooler. For normal PCs in mid-tower ATX case, only 280mm and 360mm rads have enough capacity to cool CPU as good as air coolers (heatsink + fans). In other words, you'll see higher CPU temps with 120mm rad than you'd see with mid-sized air cooler.

As far as fan orientation on your rad goes, make sure that your top mounted rad fan is pushing the air out from the top and not pulling it in. For better dust cleaning from the AIO, mount your rad fan in pull.
Here's reason why in pull, youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyC3lZ5WFMk#t=3m45s

 

[n0ns3ns3]

What case do you have ?
What is your room temperature ?
In short, the best way would be:
* mount the (wannabe) liquid cooler in front as intake with tubes on bottom. I recommend to mount the fan on the inner side so it will pull the air through rad - much easier to clean.
* if there is another spot in front, add another intake fan
* rear and top exhaust fans.
that should keep your system happy even at over 30C room temperature.

As a side note, check that there is no dust between fan and rad - clean with compressed air if needed. Also, reapplying thermal paste on the CPU is good idea if you have not done it in past year or more (or you simply using the stock thermal paste that was on the cooler)

 

[Johnson Deng]

What case do you have ?
What is your room temperature ?
In short, the best way would be:
* mount the (wannabe) liquid cooler in front as intake with tubes on bottom. I recommend to mount the fan on the inner side so it will pull the air through rad - much easier to clean.
* if there is another spot in front, add another intake fan
* rear and top exhaust fans.
that should keep your system happy even at over 30C room temperature.

As a side note, check that there is no dust between fan and rad - clean with compressed air if needed. Also, reapplying thermal paste on the CPU is good idea if you have not done it in past year or more (or you simply using the stock thermal paste that was on the cooler)

Hey, I have a Phanteks Enthoo Pro Series Full tower case.

I'm not sure I understand fully what you're suggesting with the fans but so far I've switched around the fans and put the outtake fan at the top of my case to blow air out and mounted my liquid cooler at the rear of the case where the exhaust fan was. I have the fan pulling air into the radiator at the moment, even after this setup my temps are still pretty much around the same.

My room temperature is somewhere around 23-25C give or take the weather. I have also applied thermal paste about 4-5 months ago so I don't think that should be an issue, I've also cleaned the dust out recently.

 

[Johnson Deng]

120mm rads are only for small ITX builds where there's not enough clearance for proper CPU air cooler. For normal PCs in mid-tower ATX case, only 280mm and 360mm rads have enough capacity to cool CPU as good as air coolers (heatsink + fans). In other words, you'll see higher CPU temps with 120mm rad than you'd see with mid-sized air cooler.

As far as fan orientation on your rad goes, make sure that your top mounted rad fan is pushing the air out from the top and not pulling it in. For better dust cleaning from the AIO, mount your rad fan in pull.
Here's reason why in pull, youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyC3lZ5WFMk#t=3m45s

Hey, as I've wrote to the other person I've switched around the fans and put the exhaust fan at the top of my case and the liquid cooler where the exhaust fan was so now the fan at the top of the case is pushing air out and the liquid cooler is at the rear of the case, the fan is also pulling air into the radiator. Even after doing this I'm not noticing any temp differences.

 

[n0ns3ns3]

Hey, I have a Phanteks Enthoo Pro Series Full tower case.

I'm not sure I understand fully what you're suggesting with the fans but so far I've switched around the fans and put the outtake fan at the top of my case to blow air out and mounted my liquid cooler at the rear of the case where the exhaust fan was. I have the fan pulling air into the radiator at the moment, even after this setup my temps are still pretty much around the same.

My room temperature is somewhere around 23-25C give or take the weather. I have also applied thermal paste about 4-5 months ago so I don't think that should be an issue, I've also cleaned the dust out recently.

That's a decent case.
What you want in your case (regardless of the cooler) is to create "natural" airflow without turbulence. That's done by making front fans intake and top/rear fans exhaust. this way the hot air is removed from the case in the most efficient way.
No to the cooler. You want to mount it in front as intake because it needs to get fresh air to have lower temps. the GPU and other components heat up the air inside the case, so you don't want to push the hot air through the rad as it greatly reduces the cooling.

 

[Johnson Deng]

Hey, I have a Phanteks Enthoo Pro Series Full tower case.

I'm not sure I understand fully what you're suggesting with the fans but so far I've switched around the fans and put the outtake fan at the top of my case to blow air out and mounted my liquid cooler at the rear of the case where the exhaust fan was. I have the fan pulling air into the radiator at the moment, even after this setup my temps are still pretty much around the same.

My room temperature is somewhere around 23-25C give or take the weather. I have also applied thermal paste about 4-5 months ago so I don't think that should be an issue, I've also cleaned the dust out recently.

That's a decent case.
What you want in your case (regardless of the cooler) is to create "natural" airflow without turbulence. That's done by making front fans intake and top/rear fans exhaust. this way the hot air is removed from the case in the most efficient way.
No to the cooler. You want to mount it in front as intake because it needs to get fresh air to have lower temps. the GPU and other components heat up the air inside the case, so you don't want to push the hot air through the rad as it greatly reduces the cooling.

So I should place the fan and radiator at the front of my case is what you're saying? Contrary to what installation guides and videos say to do? Do I still want the fan to be pulling air into the radiator if I place the cooler at the front of the case?

 

[n0ns3ns3]

the installation manual have two options:
1. horizontal - like on top
2. vertical - like front or rear. in that case, you want the tubes to be on the bottom so the air will be trapped in rad - less noise.

you can check videos on JayzTwoCents for example. they all (serious guys) advise to put the rad in front as intake to maximize the cooling of the CPU.
the GPU temp is not affected by the rad placement. but the CPU temp is 5-10C lower if the rad is placed in front as intake.

Push means that fan is pushing air through the rad.
Pull means that fan is pulling air through the rad. the fan is on the inner side.

 

[Johnson Deng]

the installation manual have two options:
1. horizontal - like on top
2. vertical - like front or rear. in that case, you want the tubes to be on the bottom so the air will be trapped in rad - less noise.

you can check videos on JayzTwoCents for example. they all (serious guys) advise to put the rad in front as intake to maximize the cooling of the CPU.
the GPU temp is not affected by the rad placement. but the CPU temp is 5-10C lower if the rad is placed in front as intake.

Push means that fan is pushing air through the rad.
Pull means that fan is pulling air through the rad. the fan is on the inner side.

okay I think I understand so what you want me to do is to place the radiator facing the case case with the fan being on the inner side pulling air through the radiator so it is easier to clean. So just to make that clear I want the order to be like: case > radiator > fan?

 

[n0ns3ns3]

you are correct