kecmen Posted April 11, 2020 Share Posted April 11, 2020 (edited) Hi, I've bought a NZXT kraken x63 and I have a Corsair Carbide Series 275Q chassis and Gigabyte Aorus Master X570 motherboard (links to specs are at the bottom). But I have two questions regarding installation: 1. What is the correct (or best) physical placement of radiator and fans.? 2. How to connect fans and pump to MB? 1. Basically, I have both fans and radiator inside chassi sucking the air from inside. I'm not sure though, whether the order should be: chassis, fans, radiator, rest of the PC (motherboards, power...) or it should be chassis, radiator, fans. Also, I'm not sure what should be the best airflow direction in that case. It's not clear to me from the pictures in the manual. I found few videos of how to install kraken x62 (i guess it's pretty much the same with x63), but they all say different things (fans out of the box, airflow shoud go out or in, somebody even have each fan on radiator having different direction) Currenty I have it like this - forepart of the chassis, radiator, boths fans sucking air from inside the PC and blowing it out (throught the radiator). See the attached picture. Is this correct? or would another configuration be more suitable? I also have another two fans at the end and at the top of the PC case, both sucking the air and pumping it outside. 2. Also, I wanted to ask how to connect the cooler to the MB. I connected the pump to CPU_FAN (altough some instructions say it should be CPU_OPT) and both fans to SYS_FAN[5|6]_PUMP. Is this the preferred way? This is my box:https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Cases/Mid-Tower-ATX-Cases/Carbide-Series-275Q-Mid-Tower-Quiet-Gaming-Case-—-Black/p/CC-9011164-WW This is my MB:https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/X570-AORUS-MASTER-rev-1x#kfh And here is the cooler:https://www.nzxt.com/products/kraken-x63 Any other advice regarding cooling would be welcomed Thank you for any help and have a nice day Edited April 11, 2020 by kecmen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim K Global Moderator Posted April 11, 2020 Global Moderator Share Posted April 11, 2020 1 hour ago, kecmen said: Hi, I've bought a NZXT kraken x63 and I have a Corsair Carbide Series 275Q chassis and Gigabyte Aorus Master X570 motherboard (links to specs are at the bottom). But I have two questions regarding installation: 1. What is the correct (or best) physical placement of radiator and fans.? 2. How to connect fans and pump to MB? 1. Basically, I have both fans and radiator inside chassi sucking the air from inside. I'm not sure though, whether the order should be: chassis, fans, radiator, rest of the PC (motherboards, power...) or it should be chassis, radiator, fans. Also, I'm not sure what should be the best airflow direction in that case. It's not clear to me from the pictures in the manual. I found few videos of how to install kraken x62 (i guess it's pretty much the same with x63), but they all say different things (fans out of the box, airflow shoud go out or in, somebody even have each fan on radiator having different direction) Currenty I have it like this - forepart of the chassis, radiator, boths fans sucking air from inside the PC and blowing it out (throught the radiator). See the attached picture. Is this correct? or would another configuration be more suitable? I also have another two fans at the end and at the top of the PC case, both sucking the air and pumping it outside. 2. Also, I wanted to ask how to connect the cooler to the MB. I connected the pump to CPU_FAN (altough some instructions say it should be CPU_OPT) and both fans to SYS_FAN[5|6]_PUMP. Is this the preferred way? This is my box:https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Cases/Mid-Tower-ATX-Cases/Carbide-Series-275Q-Mid-Tower-Quiet-Gaming-Case-—-Black/p/CC-9011164-WW This is my MB:https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/X570-AORUS-MASTER-rev-1x#kfh And here is the cooler:https://www.nzxt.com/products/kraken-x63 Any other advice regarding cooling would be welcomed Thank you for any help and have a nice day Your motherboard has a header for PUMP and CPU FAN / CPU OPT. I would plug the pump into the pump header ... and the two fans into the CPU FAN/CPU OPT headers. See page 27 of your motherboard manual. Your rear and top fans, if blowing air from the inside to the outside are correct. However, the front fans should be sucking air IN and not OUT like you have it (as described). Like this... ....or you can put the radiator at the top of the case (if it fits) and push air out ... placing the current top two fans at the front and pulling air in. Peresvet 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindovermaster Moderator Posted April 11, 2020 Moderator Share Posted April 11, 2020 I put my rad on the top or front. I never attached it to the bottom, but it has been done. Never seen it on the back.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel F. Administrators Posted April 12, 2020 Administrators Share Posted April 12, 2020 yeah as a general rule if you put it on the front your increasing the internal temp of the case by a few degrees as it blows of the hotter air from the rad into the case. This isn't an issue as such but may cause your GPU to suck in warm air and run a few degrees hotter which could make its fans work harder (more noise) or reduce its cpu speed by a few mhz due to temp limits. Conversely if you place it at the top the rad is drawing in warm air given off from you GPU etc and will have to run the fans a little harder (louder) or run a few degrees higher. Pesonally i have had them at the front and top of my case to see which was best. In my case with overclocking my rtx 2070 super and it being a small case I decided to put the rad at the top. It adds upto 10 degrees to my cpu temp but i don't mind as they dont go over 60 degrees on full gpu & cpu load. Jays 2 cents has a video on Youtube on the subject where he does temp tests in all three positions. I highly recommend watching it and trying both positions in your system to evaluate which is best for you Also yeah pump in the pump header - so it will be on max all the time. No PMW Fans on CPU fan header as they are usually PMW so they can change their speed due to temps My system with rad a at the front with extra fans (push /pull config) My system with rad at the top (pull only config) My system is also using positive pressure to keep the system as dust free as possible so my config has 4x fans in and 2 xfans out which activly pushes air out all vents and crevices to reduce dust build up in the system and dust only collects on the intake fans dust filters. Barney T. 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindovermaster Moderator Posted April 12, 2020 Moderator Share Posted April 12, 2020 Nice triple post, bro. 😛 Actually, If the rad is in the front, it blows cooler air than the GPU. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim K Global Moderator Posted April 12, 2020 Global Moderator Share Posted April 12, 2020 50 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said: Nice triple post, bro. 😛 Actually, If the rad is in the front, it blows cooler air than the GPU. Nice unhelpful post? I believe what Daniel was getting at (and probably the general consensus)... Front mounted radiator = Cooler CPU but warmer internal temps (because of the radiator transferring heat into the case + restricting airflow) Top mounted radiator = Warmer CPU but cooler internal temps For example -- If you have a monstrous GPU (like a 2080ti) and lower power CPU (like a 3700x) ... you'll probably have best thermals with radiator at the top. But if you have a power hungry CPU and a ho-hum GPU ... front mounted would probably be best. ...again, it really depends on your configuration. The OP didn't state his GPU/CPU ... but from the image (the GPU) doesn't appear to be anything "special" ... so any configuration would probably be fine. Apparently he has all his fans blowing OUT ... which isn't ideal. Circaflex and Daniel F. 1 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindovermaster Moderator Posted April 12, 2020 Moderator Share Posted April 12, 2020 12 minutes ago, Jim K said: Nice unhelpful post? I believe what Daniel was getting at (and probably the general consensus)... Front mounted radiator = Cooler CPU but warmer internal temps (because of the radiator transferring heat into the case + restricting airflow) Top mounted radiator = Warmer CPU but cooler internal temps For example -- If you have a monstrous GPU (like a 2080ti) and lower power CPU (like a 3700x) ... you'll probably have best thermals with radiator at the top. But if you have a power hungry CPU and a ho-hum GPU ... front mounted would probably be best. ...again, it really depends on your configuration. The OP didn't state his GPU/CPU ... but from the image (the GPU) doesn't appear to be anything "special" ... so any configuration would probably be fine. Apparently he has all his fans blowing OUT ... which isn't ideal. Actually, a lot of Jay2Cents videos, he often links up a water loop from his CPU to his GPU, then to radiator and resevoir. You aren't raising your system temps by THAT much. Actually, it depends on HOW big your rand is, and the fan that is blowing on it. Top mounted only how large your rad is. If it is just a 120mm rad, and you have 3 fans on the front, you are still blowing in cool air. However it is a 360mm rad, yeah, it is bigger, but you are spreading out the heat more. So it's actually cooler. Top mount does not make your CPU hot. You have a big chunk of alluminum/brass on top the CPU. There's little chgace of getting heat in there. I'm sorry, I can't express myself sometimes... But, all in all, you just need to test and see what works best for you. 😉 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim K Global Moderator Posted April 12, 2020 Global Moderator Share Posted April 12, 2020 33 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said: Actually, a lot of Jay2Cents videos, he often links up a water loop from his CPU to his GPU, then to radiator and resevoir. You aren't raising your system temps by THAT much. Yea, but that is introducing water cooling to both the CPU and GPU....vs. the setup that the OP has. My post was referring to just an AIO and a regular fan-cooled GPU. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kecmen Posted April 12, 2020 Author Share Posted April 12, 2020 Hi guys, thanks for the advice and Jay2Cents videos. So, if I understand that correctly the front radiator should be pull type (sucking air from outside the box, throught the radiator and blowing it inside the box). Is that correct? In that case the other two fans (rear and top) should push the hot air out (as they currently do). In this case, do I need to just flip the fans, of do I need to also change the order (chassi, fans, radiator - in other words, where there are now fans in the picture there will be a radiator)? Also, What is the difference if would just flip the other 2 fans, so they would suck the air from outside? See the attached picture - i'm asking what situation might be the best and whether situation 3 can work (and if not, why?) Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim K Global Moderator Posted April 12, 2020 Global Moderator Share Posted April 12, 2020 Either 1 or 2. Not 3 It *really* doesn't matter if you are pushing (#2) or pulling (#1) ... might be a degree or two difference. I wouldn't do #3 ... since the temp behind/above the case will generally be warmer (warm air rises)...and you'll be introducing that warmer air into the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindovermaster Moderator Posted April 13, 2020 Moderator Share Posted April 13, 2020 Yeah, front is intake, back and top is exhaust. Doesn't matter where the front fans go in front or back of rad goes. I had actually both fans on my Corsair H80i. But I read online, it doesn't matter which way it goes, just that it is intake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel F. Administrators Posted April 13, 2020 Administrators Share Posted April 13, 2020 17 hours ago, Jim K said: I believe what Daniel was getting at (and probably the general consensus)... Front mounted radiator = Cooler CPU but warmer internal temps (because of the radiator transferring heat into the case + restricting airflow) Top mounted radiator = Warmer CPU but cooler internal temps Exactly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kecmen Posted April 13, 2020 Author Share Posted April 13, 2020 Ok, thanks guys, so I'll go with number 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel F. Administrators Posted April 13, 2020 Administrators Share Posted April 13, 2020 11 hours ago, kecmen said: 1. Reduced air flow inside the case as having to pull air through the rad - it would require high static pressure fans to work but best cpu temps 2. Conventional config used by most people - may increase GPU temps a little, best cpu temps 3. Reverse flow, depending where your PSU is you could be pulling in hot air from the rear intake - best for gpu temps But looking at your case there are only side vents on the front intake so there may be reduced airflow in all 3 options due this Whats your cpu/gpu setup? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel F. Administrators Posted April 13, 2020 Administrators Share Posted April 13, 2020 Hang on! Ive just looked at the product page here it shows the optimal location of fans for airflow.... so id say 1 as thats whats suggested 😛 kecmen 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now