Question Radiator placement with 5800X & RTX 3080 ?

[Ripthruster]

SO I have watched several vids discussing placement where front mounting a radiator in an AIO will help the CPU cooling but will have a negative effect on GPU temps, while top mounting the rad will help get heat from GPU out but that hurts CPU cooling as the hot air exhausts through. Which should I choose if I'm planning to use a 5800X with my current RTX3080. Even undervolted the GPU puts out quite a bit of heat. My case is a BQ! 500DX ATX mid-tower. It has lots of mesh and good air flow but the top can only accept a 240mm AIO. Up front I can fit a 280mmAIO or a 360mm AIO if I relocate a HDD.

My gut feeling is to go front mount with a 280mm as the heat generated from the CPU will have less of an impact ont the GPU than the GPU's heat would have on GPU cooling were the rad on top. Currently Air cooling a 6700K OC'd with a Dark Rock Pro 3. I have an AM4 bracket so I know I can use this if I had to, but would like to go with a smaller & cleaner look that water cooling gives. Most reviews say 5800X is a beast to cool so was curious who else has this combo of a 3080 and 5800X that could give me some advice. What's my best option if I don't want to have a giant twin tower air cooler or merely adequate cooling with a slimmer single tower cooler?

 

[Lutfij]

I'd get a 360mm AIO and have that at the front with fans set to intake. If you did a custom watercooling build, I'd have suggested that you have the radiators mounted outside of the case. You can't do that with an AIO though. What sort of fans are you working with? The ones that came bundled with the case?

 

[Ripthruster]

Currently I have 2 X 140mm up front as intake. 2 X 140mm Up top as exhaust and 1 X 140 rear exhaust. Also the 2 X 140mm fans of my DRP4 on CPU. Would rathe use a 280mm Rad so as not to have to move hard drive to somewhere else but it can be done if the difference is significant. Front are Silent wings high speed PWM. Top exhaust are the Pure wing 2 that came with it. Same for the rear exhaust.