120mm Radiator placement in Corsair 500R

[suklee]

Just installed a Corsair Hydro H55 / Kraken G10 combo on my 290x and I seem to have only one spot for mounting my radiator due to the giant Noctua NH-D14 on my CPU:

A - tubes don't fit under / over top of the heatsink.



B - power connector cables get in the way



C - this seems like the ONLY option I have for mounting assuming the tubes are long enough. I currently have a drive cage in this
Edit: C doesn't work As there aren't any holes on the bottom

D - tubes not long enough to place radiator here



Is C my only option?



(pic is not my machine, but same case & CPU heatsink)

 

[aigomorla]

what is the radiator for?

if your thinking of changing your D14 for a AIO, that would be a very poor move.
if your thinking of going watercooling for your gpu, then i would suggest you get a 120x2 and mount it up at D, and get some 3.5 -> 5.25 adapters / drive cages, so you can mount those 2 drives in your 5.25 bay up top.

seeing your setup i believe your after silence... so a 240 radiator is much better move then a single 120.

 

[XavierMace]

Yeah, the radiator really should be up front. I would also make sure you get VRM heatsinks for your card. That's known to be an issue on the 290x's when running a G10 or similar setup on the card.

 

[suklee]

No, definitely not planning to replace the d14... The radiator is for my GPU (MSI gaming 290x) and the tubes on the h55 are not long enough to reach 'D.'

The Vrm kit is on its way, my MSI gaming card had some sort of bracket on top so I left it in for now. Seems to help with Vrm temps slightly.

I went from 94c load to about 78, while not as big of a drop as I've read online I'll take it. I just need to find a place to mount the radiator! Can I move my GPU to one of the lower pcie slots without speed loss?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[aigomorla]

is the case on carpet or a hard wood floor?
if its on a hard wood floor, you can use B.

i dont understand how cables are getting in the way..

did you not use the cable management options the case has to offer?

 

[WhiteNoise]

That air cooler is .... large.

 

[tarmc]

B looks like a good option, might be cutting it really close to the cables out of the psu but might clear

 

[suklee]

B looks like a good option, might be cutting it really close to the cables out of the psu but might clear

Yeah, the cables coming out of my RM1000 PSU, even though it's modular, are in the way of the radiator/fan if I place it in B slot. I think I might be able to squeeze in a fan, but not the radiator as well. Here's another pic to illustrate... look at how tight the fit is with the RM1000 and a single fan:

 

[aigomorla]

wait STOP!!!!!!!!

120x1 radiator is NOT enough for 2 gpu's... >.<
Infact its severely underpowered.

and i didnt expect you to be using a long PSU, so your only option would be the rear where that white fan is... but again... a 120x1 radiator is NOT enough for 2 gpu's.

 

[suklee]

Oops should have mentioned that pic was just for illustration purposes. I only have one 290x 🙂


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[suklee]

and i didnt expect you to be using a long PSU, so your only option would be the rear where that white fan is... but again... a 120x1 radiator is NOT enough for 2 gpu's.

I'll try to get the raditor/tubes to fit around the NH-D14...

If I can mount the radiator between the case and my fan it might fit

 

[lehtv]

500R supports Top: (x2) 120/140mm fans. Is there not enough room on the top slot on the right side of the D14? You may have to take the second Noctua fan out.

You might be able to put the radiator above the fan slot, then put the fan under it pushing air up.

 

[suklee]

500R supports Top: (x2) 120/140mm fans. Is there not enough room on the top slot on the right side of the D14? You may have to take the second Noctua fan out.

You might be able to put the radiator above the fan slot, then put the fan under it pushing air up.

Thanks for the additional E option! 🙂 I will try this position, however I don't think the tubes can reach from the top PCIe/GPU slot. The gigantic D14 also gets in the way slightly..

Coincidentally I found my 290x was crashing completely with temps that were approaching the original air cooler (90C!), so I tightened the bracket screws a bit more and am now getting closer to 'water cooled' temps I believe, 63C during Fire Strike Stress Test and 54C in WOWs. :thumbsup:

Is there room for better temps? I'm not sure how tight the screws should be. I read someone had crushed their GPU by over tightening, while someone else said to never use screw drivers on the GPU bracket?

 

[aigomorla]

it shouldnt be too tight, but at the same time it shouldnt be too lose.

is there room for improvement?
well there is but not on the watercoolers your thinking.

you would need a real custom watercooled setup, with a real full card block, and then you can probably expect temps to be reduced by 1/2 that of air.

So more like 38-42C on loaded temps if setup correctly.
But that kind of setup would probably cost you more then the GPU itself, and wouldnt make sense on a financial standpoint.

 

[suklee]

you would need a real custom watercooled setup, with a real full card block, and then you can probably expect temps to be reduced by 1/2 that of air.

So more like 38-42C on loaded temps if setup correctly.
But that kind of setup would probably cost you more then the GPU itself, and wouldnt make sense on a financial standpoint.

Thanks, mayyyybe will try custom water cooling down the line but happy with this setup for now - if I can find a place to mount the radiator!

My Gelid VRM heatsink kit came in and VRM1 dropped to ~65C, a difference of 20C. VRM2 has risen slightly though (+5C or so). I might try remounting my MSI's black metal plate that sits over the VRM2 as well as the RAM chips:

 

[suklee]

So... I still don't have a place to hook up the single 120mm radiator yet. Only 'solution' I can think of is to replace the NH-D14 with an AIO with radiator placed up top. This will give enough clearance to mount the 120mm at "A". I could then try to sell the D14.

-OR-

I had been mulling building a RX 480 mining rig. I could replace my 290x in the tower with 1 (or 2) 480s, and put the water cooled 290x in a secondary rig.

 

[MongGrel]

That air cooler is .... large.

Yes they are.

Still wondering a bit why the OP would be trying to cram an AIO in there to begin with really, myself.

 

[MrTeal]

This is a little sacrilegious, but...

If you can't actually reach a real external mounting point, just zip tie it or screw it somewhere in your case. As long as you have some case fans for airflow, there's no real disadvantage to doing that than sticking it on front as a intake.

 

[suklee]

Still wondering a bit why the OP would be trying to cram an AIO in there to begin with really, myself.

Because my 290x GPU load temps have gone down from 94c to 60c



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk