Rule of thumb - 120 per component?

AP2

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jun 25, 2007
Messages
1,570
Just curious does the rule still applies today with the hotter components like 9900k, 2080ti, etc... or is there a better guideline to follow,
 
The 120mm per component rule of thumb was always a MINIMUM.

In general it depends on what you want. If you plan on using fan control, 120mm per component can still get you a silent build at idle, but those fans will likely need to get pretty fast and loud at load to keep things reasonable.

The thing with water cooling setups is that every setup is different, so I can't tell you what your experience will be, but let me give you a data point based on my system, and maybe others will chime in:

I'm still using my old 32nm hexacore Sandy-E 3930k at 4.8Ghz and 1.445v. This sucker generates a lot of heat, as does my Pascal Titan X.

In my system I have a 45mm thick 3x140mm (420) rad up top in a push config, and a 2x140mm (280) Monsta (87mm thick) rad in the front in push-pull.

My temperatures are pretty good. I set my Aquaero to adjust fan speed to keep my coolant at ~33C, which means my GPU never goes above 39C even at full load overclocked. My CPU gets hotter, but there is no avoiding that. It puts out a ton of heat.

In this configuration my fan speeds and noise levels are very dependent on ambient temp. In the summer, my fans (Noctua iPPC 2000 PWM) will rev up pretty high and get noisy during full load gameplay. In the fall and winter they usually top out at about 800rpm at full load (still with the GPU under 40C) and emit only a very low and tolerable whoosh which is totally inaudible through my open-backed Sennheiser HD650 headphones with game sounds in the background.
 
The 120mm per component rule of thumb was always a MINIMUM.
.

This. I’ve always gone by it (or 140s depending on the case) and never had a problem. I don’t typically push the oc, and things running warm at full load doesn’t bother me. As long as it’s within spec and I never hear a fan spool up, I’m good.

If you want to really OC, you’d have to push it. If you are running anything notoriously hot, you’ll probably want to increase as well.
 
Echoing the above posts, I think 120 per component minimum is basically the breakover point vs just getting a big air cooler. I once did a shoebox water build using a SG06 (mITX), a Xeon quadcore, a midrange GPU, and a 120mm radiator at the front. However, air cooling was still the better choice in the end (technically, in the end, a better case was the better choice), and the water build was mostly for fun.

At 120mm per component, air cooling starts to lose the performance ground vs water. Anything less, and you better have a good reason (like an early mITX case with poor airflow).
 
The better guideline to follow is to cram radiator into every available cubic centimeter afforded by your case. If that seems like it'll be insufficient, consider a new case as part of your watercooling project.
 
Thanks for the confirmation - ended stuff the case with as much radiators it could fit.
 
Back
Top