Front v Top radiator placement

[jimthebob]

I know this subject is probably like beating a dead horse at this point but here's yet another video pitting the against each other. What made this one interesting to me personally is the case he used is basically the same for all intents and purposes as my Fractal Design R5 and his cooling methodology is, again, about the same as I have in mine.

When I put my computer together, I went through the same debate with front v top rad placement and settled on top. This video I think has given me something to do this weekend as I have an open cooler video card.

Hmm...Thoughts on this guys?

Link:



Link straight to results, be sure to pause:

 

[Emission]

Front, with fans mounted in 'pull' and the radiator mounted to the case.

I use a Fractal Design Define S with a custom loop, and mounting my radiators as such netted me the best results.

 

[Bandalo]

Both

 

[Nebulous]

I always mounted my rads in the front, but then when I started losing hdd racks ( still have spinners), then I opted to mount my rads on the top. Always in push/pull configs. I noticed with the rads mounted ontop, I had a harder time bleeding as apposed to the rad mounted in the front.

I noticed very little temps difference if any.

 

[pendragon1]

the only down fall and I'm not sure if it is really that big of a deal is that when you have them front mount you will get pump surges. my h110i gt is mounted at the front and I get occasional air bubbles through the pump and I can see it in hwinfo64 with a drop from 2800rpm(normal speed) to about 1000 then a spike to 3500 and then it evens out to 2800rpm.

 

[jimthebob]

the only down fall and I'm not sure if it is really that big of a deal is that when you have them front mount you will get pump surges. my h110i gt is mounted at the front and I get occasional air bubbles through the pump and I can see it in hwinfo64 with a drop from 2800rpm(normal speed) to about 1000 then a spike to 3500 and then it evens out to 2800rpm.

Maybe your rad is a little low on fluid? I wouldn't think you'd get air bubbles from such a setup. I've got a Nepton 280L and had it front mounted in my previous case and never had this issue.

I always mounted my rads in the front, but then when I started losing hdd racks ( still have spinners), then I opted to mount my rads on the top. Always in push/pull configs. I noticed with the rads mounted ontop, I had a harder time bleeding as apposed to the rad mounted in the front.

I noticed very little temps difference if any.

You started losing HD's when you had your radiator mounted in front of them?

Both

Very nice system!

 

[Nebulous]

You started losing HD's when you had your radiator mounted in front of them?

There was room without the fans. Once I mounted the rad with the fans, I had to remove the hdd cages to have clearance. Didn't matter if i was going push, pull or push/pull.

Then i had to mount the hdds in the 5.25 bays with adapters.

 

[Emission]

the only down fall and I'm not sure if it is really that big of a deal is that when you have them front mount you will get pump surges. my h110i gt is mounted at the front and I get occasional air bubbles through the pump and I can see it in hwinfo64 with a drop from 2800rpm(normal speed) to about 1000 then a spike to 3500 and then it evens out to 2800rpm.

Sounds like a possible issue with the setup or the liquid being low. My res sits in the middle between two radiators at the front, mostly full, and I never get any surging on startup.

 

[pendragon1]

Maybe your rad is a little low on fluid? I wouldn't think you'd get air bubbles from such a setup. I've got a Nepton 280L and had it front mounted in my previous case and never had this issue.

Sounds like a possible issue with the setup or the liquid being low. My res sits in the middle between two radiators at the front, mostly full, and I never get any surging on startup.

well my h60 and h110i both have tiny bits of air in them. if you shake your aio and cant hear any sloshing there's air in it. in a properly bled custom loop it would be less likely to happen. I even have the rad barbs higher than the cpu block and it still happens. I just checked my hwinfo and in the last 36 hrs ive had a low of ~900rpms, an average of 2800 and a high of ~4500rpms. so an air bubble obviously went through at some point. air collects at the highest point, in my case its the top of the rad where the barbs are. I don't want the block to be the highest point otherwise the air will collect there and definitely cause problems. this way the bubble passes through the block so quick I don't even see a temp change just the pumps rpm change.

 

[Emission]

well my h60 and h110i both have tiny bits of air in them. if you shake your aio and cant hear any sloshing there's air in it. in a properly bled custom loop it would be less likely to happen. I even have the rad barbs higher than the cpu block and it still happens. I just checked my hwinfo and in the last 36 hrs ive had a low of ~900rpms, an average of 2800 and a high of ~4500rpms. so an air bubble obviously went through at some point. air collects at the highest point, in my case its the top of the rad where the barbs are. I don't want the block to be the highest point otherwise the air will collect there and definitely cause problems. this way the bubble passes through the block so quick I don't even see a temp change just the pumps rpm change.

It's an aio, so you want the barbs to be below the cpu block. Air will collect at the top of the rad, but it shouldn't be so much that you pull an appreciable amount of it in on startup.

Have you tried this?

 

[jimthebob]

There was room without the fans. Once I mounted the rad with the fans, I had to remove the hdd cages to have clearance. Didn't matter if i was going push, pull or push/pull.

Then i had to mount the hdds in the 5.25 bays with adapters.

Ok, I interpreted what you said wrong. I thought you meant HD's started dying, not losing the capacity to have them

 

[Nebulous]

Ok, I interpreted what you said wrong. I thought you meant HD's started dying, not losing the capacity to have them

Lmao! It happens. I should have been more clearer in my description. Where the hdd cages were, I had to remove them in order to mount the rad with fans in the front, then relocating the hdds to another location

 

[pendragon1]

It's an aio, so you want the barbs to be below the cpu block. Air will collect at the top of the rad, but it shouldn't be so much that you pull an appreciable amount of it in on startup.

Have you tried this?

I had the same surging but more often when the rad was lower. I have it in an antec one case that ive modded to take it in the front, which makes it difficult to get lower anyways. too much rad surface would be blocked and the case only has room at the front for a 120mm. so what I did was at the top of the rad it is push/pull 140mm and the inside fan is supporting the rad by sitting inside the 5.25 bays. then I have a 140mm on the outside pushing through to a 120mm mounted in the case front. so I loose a little bit of efficiency on the push pull on the bottom but the top is unrestricted.
I cant move it to the top due to mobo clearance issues either. its is really my only option with this case.

https://hardforum.com/threads/meet-frank-120-and-280mm-aio-in-antec-mid-size.1919646/

 

[Emission]

Oh yeah! I posted in that thread!

 

[pendragon1]

you were the one and only, nobody appreciates frank like we do.

 

[bal3wolf]

suprised front rad didnt make gpu hot i have all my rads as intake right now lol with a 140mm in the back as exhaust.

 

[pendragon1]

who me?!

it did, by only a degree or two. the air temp coming off the 280 at the front was never more that ~32c. case temps is what i wasn't happy with.
I had the rad for the gpu sucking air in from the back but just switch it back to exhaust. the single top 120mm fan wasn't pulling the hot air out quick enough with the front and back as intakes and my case temps were getting up to 35c+. so ive changed things slightly and now have the gpu exhausting out the back and I have a fan on the side to blow fresh air to it and over the cpu socket area. so the front warmer air mixes with the side cold air before hitting the gpu rad and/or being exhausted out the top. works good case temps are like 26c idle, under 30c at full loads.

edit room temp is 22.5-23c