Intake or exhaust? H220

[jds1991]

I have my H220 expanded to cool my GPU and was wondering if intake is better than exhaust to yield better temps. What do you guys use?

 

[Tweakin]

I have my H220 expanded to cool my GPU and was wondering if intake is better than exhaust to yield better temps. What do you guys use?

I will assume you are talking about an AIO. Normally, all rads should draw from the coolest air source to be the most effective, but even then the delta is fairly small. In the case of an AIO, I would think the delta would be higher, so I would recommend to pull fresh air into the rad.

 

[jds1991]

I will assume you are talking about an AIO. Normally, all rads should draw from the coolest air source to be the most effective, but even then the delta is fairly small. In the case of an AIO, I would think the delta would be higher, so I would recommend to pull fresh air into the rad.

Thanks! I'll have to flip my fans now :biggrin:

 

[Topweasel]

I would say it depends on the case. Mine I have a 220mm and 200mm fan blowing into the case. So for me it seemed like a better idea for it to exhaust the CPU air immediately rather then dumping that CPU heat into the case and increasing the ambient for all the other parts. But a smaller cramped case with less air coming having it pull in from outside isn't a bad idea. It's how I will be doing it in this ITX system I am setting up.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I would say it depends on the case. Mine I have a 220mm and 200mm fan blowing into the case. So for me it seemed like a better idea for it to exhaust the CPU air immediately rather then dumping that CPU heat into the case and increasing the ambient for all the other parts. But a smaller cramped case with less air coming having it pull in from outside isn't a bad idea. It's how I will be doing it in this ITX system I am setting up.

This question had always intrigued me, as I continue to plan or anticipate a custom water configuration while my air-cooled systems all attempt to focus air on hot components and exhaust it quickly without mixing it with "the general case atmosphere." Water cooling truly focuses on the hottest components. If using intake air to cool radiators, there would be some slight increase in case air temperatures, but it likely doesn't matter much with even "just decent" case exhaust. But you could also deploy some intrinsically "air-cooled" modifications that focus airflow on the remaining electronics. Those modifications are also a bit tedious to custom-build for your system. If you're worried about other motherboard components getting too hot, though, it might be worth the trouble.

You can cool the CPU and the graphics cards with water. You still need reasonable airflow to cool everything else.

 

[Agent11]

I think it depends more on how good your cases ventilation is. If you have lots of intake and exhaust CFM then I don't think it really matters.

 

[Kenmitch]

I think it depends more on how good your cases ventilation is. If you have lots of intake and exhaust CFM then I don't think it really matters.

Pretty much sums it up.

If mounted to the top of your case use it as exhaust. If front mounted use it as intake. The upper exhaust mount probably would be best for overall system temps. You stated expanded so it's cooling your cpu which would be the biggest producer of heat other than the gpu.

 

[Topweasel]

I think it depends more on how good your cases ventilation is. If you have lots of intake and exhaust CFM then I don't think it really matters.

Exactly. I think my internals are about 2C over room temp even if the CPU and Video card are going at it. So it's not like my CPU is losing out by not getting fresher air. It also lets by cooling design be more natural with air flowing in from the side and bottom with exhaust going out the back and top. When the CPU is really going at it I would rather that 58C that its sitting at dumped entirely outside.

 

[Orlean]

To the OP, What CPU & GPU are you cooling with the H220 ? With the addition of the GPU you would of needed to add another radiator to accommodate the additional heat generated by the GPU since just the H220 radiator alone wouldn't be sufficient. As far as intake or exhaust, if you want to yield the best temps (CPU+GPU) using it as an intake will be the proper way to do it.