AIO?

[Diesel]

Preparing to buy the next part I need for my build. Either an AIO or an air cooler. I'm leaning towards an AIO but I'm wondering what are the chances of leaks?.

I'm wondering if it is more common than I think or rare enough that I should keep it in mind but not worry to much about it. I'm considering getting the Corsair H115i RGB Platinum per PC Gamer's recommendation in the link below.

https://www.pcgamer.com/best-cpu-coolers/

My parts:

Cooler Master Mastercase H500 RGB Mesh Front Air Intake

ASUS AM4 TUF Gaming X570-Plus (Wi-Fi) ATX Motherboard with PCIe 4.0

AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3rd Generation 12-core, 24 Thread, 3.8 GHz unlocked CPU

EVGA Super XC Ultra Gaming NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super 8GB GDDR6 PCIe 3.0 GPU

Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 1TB PCIe 4.0

Corsair RMX Series RM750x


I don't have ram yet, but will have at least 32GB.

 

[Colif]

I have a Corsair H100i RGB PLATINUM 240mm AIO myself, it is probably overkill for my 3600x but it sure keeps CPU cool, average temp for last year at idle is probably 40c, cooler than that in winter but averaged out by summer.

I don't think its a concern since I haven't thought of it. I haven't seen any signs myself. PC just over one year old.

why not get corsair ram and make rgb matching slightly easier. Unless you don't care about rgb ram.

 

[Diesel]

I have a Corsair H100i RGB PLATINUM 240mm AIO myself, it is probably overkill for my 3600x but it sure keeps CPU cool, average temp for last year at idle is probably 40c, cooler than that in winter but averaged out by summer.

I don't think its a concern since I haven't thought of it. I haven't seen any signs myself. PC just over one year old.

why not get corsair ram and make rgb matching slightly easier. Unless you don't care about rgb ram.

I might do that. Here's the thing about my case. The Cooler Master Mastercase H500 that I have is not ARGB, just RGB. What would I need to do if I wanted to convert it to ARGB?

Also, I could have sworn that my case supports a top mounted, 280mm radiator but it supports it front mounted but I don't think that I want to front mount it. My case supports a top mounted radiator in 120mm, 140mm, and 240mm. This makes the platinum a no go but they do have an Corsair Hydro Series iCue H100i Elite Capellix in 240mm with RGB pump and fans. I'll have to search for some reviews of that AIO in 240mm.

 

[Colif]

Unless case comes with a fan header, the main difference is the fans. If you wanted to swap it to Argb you just put different fans in as far as I know.

I could be wrong about that. I would ask on here to be sure - https://forums.tomshardware.com/forums/cases.77/
it appears your board can run either, I assume. its hard to tell.
It lists AURA RGB headers as well as Addressable Gen 2 headers. Mine does both as well (Gigabyte Aorus X570) but it at least says it does both types more clearly.

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/SocketAM4/TUF_GAMING_X570-PLUS/E15235_TUF_GAMING_X570-PLUS_UM_WEB.pdf

 

[Diesel]

Unless case comes with a fan header, the main difference is the fans. If you wanted to swap it to Argb you just put different fans in as far as I know.

I could be wrong about that. I would ask on here to be sure - https://forums.tomshardware.com/forums/cases.77/
it appears your board can run either, I assume. its hard to tell.
It lists AURA RGB headers as well as Addressable Gen 2 headers. Mine does both as well (Gigabyte Aorus X570) but it at least says it does both types more clearly.

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/SocketAM4/TUF_GAMING_X570-PLUS/E15235_TUF_GAMING_X570-PLUS_UM_WEB.pdf

I believe it does. I haven't built a machine since the early 2000's so this is all new to me. Maybe I should front mount an 280mm AIO. Correct me if I'm wrong but the fans would face the front giving me ARGB lighting settings on the Corsair H115i RGB Platinum and I wouldn't think the replacing of the Cooler Master stock 200mm fans with a front mounted 280mm AIO would negatively impact the thermal performance of this case.

 

[Colif]

My AIOis front mounted and its fans are inside case behind the radiator pulling air through it into case - see below.
I can't really see the RGB through the front of case so I have it set up so I can see through sides instead.

the heat generated by CPU is so small in comparison to fresh air that using AIO as intake is fine, it is better idea than having it as exhaust above GPU that might feed it hot air.

 

[Diesel]

My AIOis front mounted and its fans are inside case behind the radiator pulling air through it into case - see below.
I can't really see the RGB through the front of case so I have it set up so I can see through sides instead.

the heat generated by CPU is so small in comparison to fresh air that using AIO as intake is fine, it is better idea than having it as exhaust above GPU that might feed it hot air.

Gotcha. Does the fan placement on AIO, either at the front of the case or like your setup behind the radiator mater, or is it just personnel preference?

FYI, I planned on positioning my PC on the desk just like yours to reduce the chance of it getting knocked off the desk.

 

[Colif]

Gotcha. Does the fan placement on AIO, either at the front of the case or like your setup behind the radiator mater, or is it just personnel preference?

there is little difference between push and pull
push - fans in front pushing air through
pull - fans behind pulling air through

mines on desk to give it better chance of fresh air, and maybe less dust. added bonus is I can see inside it as well. Last pc was in same place but no glass side panel. So PC would have gone there regardless. its front is facing away from me.

 

[Diesel]

Thanks everyone. I'm set on going with an AIO. I'm thinking of getting the Corsair H115i RGB Platinum 280mm but only if I can front mount it properly with the hoses down like shown in the build below.

Can anyone confirm if the Corsair H115i RGB Platinum has enough hose length to front mount the radiator with the hoses down like shown in the photo below with the hoses being able to comfortably reach an AMD Ryzen CPU on a ASUS AM4 TUF Gaming X570-Plus motherboard in a Cooler Master Mastercase H500 RGB case?

 

[Lutfij]

The first image in this build;

https://pcpartpicker.com/b/7BJbt6

shows that the AIO in question is mounted to the front with the tubes towards the bottom, with the end tank above.

The majority of the builds tend to have the AIO mounted to the top, with fans set to exhaust.

 

[Colif]

Not arguing about where Rad should be, since mine is on the front
but that shot has rad wrong anyway, the tubes attaching to the rad from block should attach at top of rad, not at bottom

 

[Lutfij]

^ stellar point, had to show this to my client when I was rebuilding his system. The older case was an MC600P, sold by a shop who built his system, the AIO barely had enough tubing length and the radiator's end tanks were far lower than the pump block. I had to push him to purchase another chassis to get the AIO seated higher than the pump block.

 

[Colif]

All these people with top mounted, did they test to see which is better or just go with what everyone else does? It looks good up there, but is it actually better?

that shows front can be up to 10c cooler compared to top. Any evidence to show otherwise?

Note: the NZXT AIO have the pump in the radiator so its possible the cable position shown works for theirs but it wouldn't for the Corsair he wants to use. the cables don't look that bad running up anyway.

Actually, I am wrong. If you can run it so the tubes go in the bottom, that is best outcome as air will never get sucked into the pump then. As long as pump is below top of rad, you fine. My cable wouldn't have reached the base easily, the gpu would be in the way.

Can anyone confirm if the Corsair H115i RGB Platinum has enough hose length to front mount the radiator with the hoses down like shown in the photo below with the hoses being able to comfortably reach an AMD Ryzen CPU on a ASUS AM4 TUF Gaming X570-Plus motherboard in a Cooler Master Mastercase H500 RGB case?

It is a shame dimensions don't give internal ones
LWH - 525 x 228 x 502mm (Incl. Panels) https://www.coolermaster.com/catalog/cases/mid-tower/mastercase-h500-argb/#specifications
LWH - 538 x 233 x 465 mm (Just using my case as a comparison - https://www.fractal-design.com/products/cases/meshify/meshify-s2/black/)

its possible it will fit with cables down but you will really need to try it at time. I can't be certain, but your case is 13mm shorter in length than mine but that could be externally and not internally. I can't in my case as gpu gets in the way

 

[Brian Boru]

Has anyone tried modding a small fridge to make a PC case? That should make this whole debate redundant.

GF suggested it: "Love the rustic look from last case mod, retooling the unneeded birdhouses [we got a cat], so shaving & sawdusting the floor. Now that you've zapped grandma [long story—over-amped walker, stairs…] you should add some sparkly metal shavings to future the place up a bit, by modding her fridge."

GF isn't fussy about what's a verb and what isn't. Just wants to change the ambience to futurerustic.

 

[Diesel]

Thanks to everyone who's posted so far. While I'm considering going with an AIO, I'm also considering my air cooler options as well.

To that end I'm considering the Cryorig H7 Quad Lumi or the Noctua NH-D15S. Reviews of Noctua products are very impressive.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Thanks to everyone who's posted so far. While I'm considering going with an AIO, I'm also considering my air cooler options as well.

To that end I'm considering the Cryorig H7 Quad Lumi or the Noctua NH-D15S. Reviews of Noctua products are very impressive.

The NH-D 15S is in a different league to the Cryorig H7 for performance. H7 got that RGB tho.

At the moment I've got an NHD15-S and a Cryorig R1 Ultimate, which perform almost exactly the same.

Theres a lot of dual tower 140mm air coolers from Cryprig, Deepcool, Thermalright, Phanteks etc etc with very little difference in between them. Noctua fans have a nice noise profile though, which is the main reason people prefer them as well as them just having the best rep.

The NH-D15'S' unlike the NH-D15 is offset to prevent it from encroaching on the top PCI-E slot on most motherboards, and it loses the front fan sacrificing a few degrees C of cooling to allow the use of RAM with tall heatspreaders (all of it pretty much these days) without lifting the front fan up to balance on top of it.

Air coolers VS CLCs : Most 240mm models with aluminum radiators perform around the same as the best air coolers, especially if you normalize for noise production, as some AIOS are using very high RPM fans which make them look great on cooling charts, but maybe not so great to sit next to at full revs.

 

[Lutfij]

Has anyone tried modding a small fridge to make a PC case?
You don't want condensation to happen anywhere near PCB's. If that does happen then they need to be isolated, which is why you see a lot of thermal insulation when pursuing sub ambient temps/setups.

***READ FIRST*** Tom's HW Watercooling Sticky v2.0

Introduction Welcome to the world of watercooling. This guide is meant for those looking to get into watercooling or considering it as a cooling option and hobby. There is an incredible amount of information around the web and I am going to make an effort to consolidate as much as I can to...

forums.tomshardware.com

The CLC section is down here.

Fans bundled with an AIO will get the job done since the brand selling them need to make a profit but if you're pursuing temps while also trying to mitigate noise, you need to look for high static pressure fans. For pretty much all scenario's, Noctua get the vote. Phanteks came out with a fan made of the same material that Noctua use on their blades only difference is that Phanteks used it for the fan blades and the frame as well.

The pro with an aircooler is that you only need to replace the fan if the fan fails on the cooler. On the AIO, there are more than one failure points. If the fans fail, sure you can replace them but if the pump on an AIO fails, you can't replace that, instead wait for the RMA to come through. So it's a good idea to keep that in mind when planning for a build. Some folks can't accept/afford a downtime. Please note, that in both cooling situations, you need to make sure your case's airflow is setup right to evacuate the heat dumped by parts.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

***READ FIRST*** Tom's HW Watercooling Sticky v2.0

Introduction Welcome to the world of watercooling. This guide is meant for those looking to get into watercooling or considering it as a cooling option and hobby. There is an incredible amount of information around the web and I am going to make an effort to consolidate as much as I can to...

forums.tomshardware.com

The CLC section is down here.

The pro with an aircooler is that you only need to replace the fan if the fan fails on the cooler. On the AIO, there are more than one failure points. If the fans fail, sure you can replace them but if the pump on an AIO fails, you can't replace that, instead wait for the RMA to come through. So it's a good idea to keep that in mind when planning for a build. Some folks can't accept/afford a downtime. Please note, that in both cooling situations, you need to make sure your case's airflow is setup right to evacuate the heat dumped by parts.

Totally, the most important thing to note if you're not going to be overclocking to the edge.

Comparison on a 3900X at a relatively mild overclock, and at stock in a stress test.

The biggest air coolers do also make it harder to work in the case as they block up the RAM slots and are quite close to the GPU in most cases. They arent as easy to install either because of this.

 

[Diesel]

Thanks everyone. After much research and taking all comments into consideration, I'm considering purchasing the Scythe Fuma 2. Gamers Nexus gave it a really good review.

Now I need figure out what 32GB RAM kit to go with for the Ryzen 9 3900X.