Question Would putting my liquid cooler in this position cause problems in my case? Picture Here

Cassius101

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Aug 29, 2013
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I wanted to put my liquid cooler where the red lines are. A guy I know told me that isn't good because the 3 front fans blowing air into the computer would blow air through the radiator and that would mess it up. Is that true? Fans blowing air through a liquid coolers radiator is bad? This isn't my PC but it is the same case. Coolmaster TD500 MASTER BOX.

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Tech Junky

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3 fans for intake on the front push warm air into the case / if you switch them to exhaust out the front then it should be fine. If you add 2-3 fans on the top of the case to draw cool air. It's not optimal but, it still works fine.
 

In2Photos

Golden Member
Mar 21, 2007
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Um, you're supposed to blow air through the radiator. That's how it cools the liquid inside. What size is your AIO cooler? 240 like the picture or 360?
 

Cassius101

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Um, you're supposed to blow air through the radiator. That's how it cools the liquid inside. What size is your AIO cooler? 240 like the picture or 360?

Yes it is the 240 one like in the picture. I was worried it might be too small to fit on the case I have the COOL MASTER BOX TD500. I am paying a computer business to build my PC, I have parts to build a low end and high end computer but I am new to PC building and I rather a professional build the high end gaming computer.

This person is cooling their GPU with a triple cooler but its the same case, black version but it shows you can install a cooler vertically like that which is where I wanna put my dual CPU cooler.

9hado5ok62f81.jpeg
 

In2Photos

Golden Member
Mar 21, 2007
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What CPU are you going to use in the "high end build"?

The case you have supports up to 360mm radiators on the front and top of the case. The 240 that you have will fit fine. I would probably use it on the top as exhaust. The 3 included fans would stay on the front as intake. You could add 1 more fan to the rear as exhaust if you want.

BTW your PC builder should be able to answer all of your questions. If they can't, find a new builder. There are plenty of tutorials on YouTube for building a PC as well.
 

Tech Junky

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building a PC
The process is pretty intuitive if you use pcpartpicker to narrow down the options like focusing on the CPU / RAM / GPU and that should limit your options for the MOBO's which will dictate the case options. Add your preferred cooler to reduce the case options even further. Things tend to get more slim with the addition of major storage and needing the mount locations to cram a few drives into place.

Window vs no window depends on how ADD you want to be with any lighting options. Or obsessive about the internals by being able to see your handy work.

It's pretty hard to F up a build if you figure out the methodology of what you're trying to accomplish.
 

Paperdoc

Platinum Member
Aug 17, 2006
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ALL liquid cooling systems for CPU's consist mainly of a pump that circulates a fluid through a chamber held tightly to the CPU chip to pick up heat there and then moves that heated fluid to a radiator. At the rad there must be fans to blow air though its fins to remove the heat and transfer it outside the case. Note that there MUST be air flow through the rad, and so fans are NORMAL for this.

To cool ALL of the components inside a computer case there needs to be air flow through the case. The most common way to arrange fans for this is to mount some fans inside the front mesh cover to draw cool room air in (Intake fans), and other fans at the top and rear to blow the warmed air out (exhaust fans). That's a front-to-back (and top) air flow pattern.Normally whether or not you use an AIO system there are additional fans solely for air flow through the case. Complete AIO (All-in-One) liquid cooling systems come with rad fans supplied, and that rad-plus-fans set needs to be mounted on an outside opening for air flow through it. It may be mounted in the front as an INTAKE of cooler room air, OR it may be mounted in the top panel as an EXHAUST fan set. Since the set has its own fans, anyway, one simply does NOT mount additional fans in the same place. The rad fans take on two roles: air flow generators for cooling the RAD and its liquid, and air flow generators for overall case air flow. In fact the temperature of the liquid flowing through the rad is not very high, so the air exiting the rad after picking up heat is not hot, and IS suitable for picking up more heat as it circulates inside the case. Because of this modest heating of air as it passes through the rad, it makes little difference whether the rad is in the Intake or Exhaust position.
 
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Cassius101

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What CPU are you going to use in the "high end build"?

The case you have supports up to 360mm radiators on the front and top of the case. The 240 that you have will fit fine. I would probably use it on the top as exhaust. The 3 included fans would stay on the front as intake. You could add 1 more fan to the rear as exhaust if you want.

BTW your PC builder should be able to answer all of your questions. If they can't, find a new builder. There are plenty of tutorials on YouTube for building a PC as well.


I call it high end since it is a Gigabyte 6800XT and a i7 12700k.

I wanted to put it vertically so I can have 3 RGB fans on top and one at the rear. If I put it at the top and my 3 RGB fans in that vertical spot it would mean the 3 front stock fans are useless. I think it is okay if it blows air through the radiator, air from the front fans would still enter he case.
 

Cassius101

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Aug 29, 2013
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ALL liquid cooling systems for CPU's consist mainly of a pump that circulates a fluid through a chamber held tightly to the CPU chip to pick up heat there and then moves that heated fluid to a radiator. At the rad there must be fans to blow air though its fins to remove the heat and transfer it outside the case. Note that there MUST be air flow through the rad, and so fans are NORMAL for this.

To cool ALL of the components inside a computer case there needs to be air flow through the case. The most common way to arrange fans for this is to mount some fans inside the front mesh cover to draw cool room air in (Intake fans), and other fans at the top and rear to blow the warmed air out (exhaust fans). That's a front-to-back (and top) air flow pattern.Normally whether or not you use an AIO system there are additional fans solely for air flow through the case. Complete AIO (All-in-One) liquid cooling systems come with rad fans supplied, and that rad-plus-fans set needs to be mounted on an outside opening for air flow through it. It may be mounted in the front as an INTAKE of cooler room air, OR it may be mounted in the top panel as an EXHAUST fan set. Since the set has its own fans, anyway, one simply does NOT mount additional fans in the same place. The rad fans take on two roles: air flow generators for cooling the RAD and its liquid, and air flow generators for overall case air flow. In fact the temperature of the liquid flowing through the rad is not very high, so the air exiting the rad after picking up heat is not hot, and IS suitable for picking up more heat as it circulates inside the case. Because of this modest heating of air as it passes through the rad, it makes little difference whether the rad is in the Intake or Exhaust position.


But the air would not be transferred outside the case if I had the liquid cooler where the red lines are. This is a problem? That means there would be hot air in the case.

7dyq3w4x42h81.jpeg
 

In2Photos

Golden Member
Mar 21, 2007
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I call it high end since it is a Gigabyte 6800XT and a i7 12700k.

I wanted to put it vertically so I can have 3 RGB fans on top and one at the rear. If I put it at the top and my 3 RGB fans in that vertical spot it would mean the 3 front stock fans are useless. I think it is okay if it blows air through the radiator, air from the front fans would still enter he case.
The case comes with 3 rgb fans pre installed in the front correct? So leave them there, put the 2 fans with the radiator up top. Now you only need 1 fan for the rear.
 

In2Photos

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Mar 21, 2007
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Suck intake on top and blow exhaust out the front. Reverse the fans on the top / front to make this happen. Otherwise just reverse the fans on the radiator to suck in combination with the intake fans on the front already.
Why fight convection? Heat rises. Bring air in the front and out the top.
 

Cassius101

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Wait are you talking about putting it on the side of the case, not the front?


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I purchased 6 RGB fans with a remote to change the RGB colors, I can fit 4 of them in my case putting them at the top and rear where the red circles are. This is why I don't wanna put my CPU liquid cooler at the top, then I won't be able to use my RGB fans. Putting 3 of my RGB fans where the liquid cooler is would seem sort of pointless since it would block air from the 3 stock fans at the front. With the Liquid cooler there at least the stock fans would blow air through it which I think should not be a problem.
 

Cassius101

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Suck intake on top and blow exhaust out the front. Reverse the fans on the top / front to make this happen. Otherwise just reverse the fans on the radiator to suck in combination with the intake fans on the front already.

Yes I think I should do this but you mean reverse as in turn the other way right? Not actually reverse the fan turning it around, that obviously won't work well since the RGB lights shine one way.
 

Tech Junky

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Jan 27, 2022
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You're both missing the point here.

1st the liquid cooler setup traditionally the fans push air from the inside out
2nd the front is usually setup to push air from the outside in

Front fans for the case = intake
cooler fans need to be moved to intake as the cooler will be sandwiched between the 2 sets of fans
Top fans will still be exhaust

1645344145443.png

Or you can do the opposite

1645344269910.png

Or you could just convert all 3 sides to exhaust and suck air from the bottom

1645344374686.png
 

In2Photos

Golden Member
Mar 21, 2007
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TRNb2FU.jpg



I purchased 6 RGB fans with a remote to change the RGB colors, I can fit 4 of them in my case putting them at the top and rear where the red circles are. This is why I don't wanna put my CPU liquid cooler at the top, then I won't be able to use my RGB fans. Putting 3 of my RGB fans where the liquid cooler is would seem sort of pointless since it would block air from the 3 stock fans at the front. With the Liquid cooler there at least the stock fans would blow air through it which I think should not be a problem.
OK, so you want to use 6 new fans PLUS the 3 that come with the case? Your case only supports 7 fans. So you want to add the radiator AND 2 additional fans to the front? So set up the radiator in a push/pull fashion? Not sure you need that for a 12700K. IMO you would be better off with just having a 360mm AIO instead of a 240mm. You could run into several problems if you try to do push/pull.

1. The additional depth of the radiator plus 2 fans could cause issues with mounting the GPU.
2. The additional depth of the radiator plus 2 fans would block the top right fan.

Any chance to swap the 240 for a 360? Why are you so set on the 6 RGB fans with the controller? There are probably ports on the motherboard for controlling the RGB.
 

In2Photos

Golden Member
Mar 21, 2007
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You're both missing the point here.

I'm missing the point? Or perhaps you're doing a terrible job explaining your point?

1st the liquid cooler setup traditionally the fans push air from the inside out
2nd the front is usually setup to push air from the outside in

Front fans for the case = intake
cooler fans need to be moved to intake as the cooler will be sandwiched between the 2 sets of fans
Top fans will still be exhaust

View attachment 57665

As I mentioned doing a push pull could lead to problems with the top right fan and/or the GPU. And I feel it would look really odd having a void at the bottom.

Or you can do the opposite

View attachment 57666

Again, why fight convection? I have only seen 1 scenario where this type of setup improved thermals over front intake and top exhaust and that was in the new Lian Li 011D EVO where the GPU was top mounted in the inverted case layout.

Or you could just convert all 3 sides to exhaust and suck air from the bottom

View attachment 57667
Suck air in from WHERE? The PSU chamber? There is NO ventilation on the bottom of this case. Negative pressure applications suck dirt and debris into a case. Positive pressure or neutral are the best for thermals AND cleanliness. This is NOT a good option at all!
 

Paperdoc

Platinum Member
Aug 17, 2006
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OP, you would prefer to mount three of your six RGB fans on the top so they can be seen, and place the radiator with its fans in the front. Largely that is because doing it the opposite way (with RGB fans in front and seen easily) means the existing preinstalled case fans have to be removed and become useless.

What that misses is this: to do it your way, the existing pre-installed fans have to be left in place and then the rad with its fans mounted behind them. That is not a common arrangement, but it can be done sometimes. That results in what is called a "push - pull" fan scheme in which there are fans on BOTH sides of the rad, all blowing in the same direction (in this case, from outside through the rad to inside). Such an arrangement sometimes is used to get maximum possible cooling from the AIO system, but many people suggest (some say they have measurements to prove) that this really does VERY little to increase heat removal. However, there are two problems doing this. One us that there is no easy way to fasten the rad and its fans to the backs of the existing fans. At best, the installer would have to remove all the bolts fastening the existing fans into the front and replace them with much longer bolts to reach through the exiting fans, the rad, and the rad fans. It might be more complicated, depending on details of construction. The other is space. To do this means the rad / fan combo back surface would be about 25 mm (1 inch) deeper into your case than the original design allows. That is, they could run into HDD mounting frames or take up space needed for the long graphics card you plan to mount in a PCIe slot, or even interfere with other components and connector sockets near the front edge of your mobo.

The easy solution to the space problem us to REMOVE the pre-installed fans and mount the rad and its fans as originally intended directly against the inside front panel. That certainly will work, and the rad / fan system is designed to provide all the cooling you are likely to need. Changing to a larger 360 mm rad/ fan system in a different model of AIO would increase cooling capacity without risking crowding problems at the top front. (But note a further comment below.) Of course, this gets us back to what you were trying to avoid: the pre-installed fans now are useless. But that is exactly what you may be forced to do.

This gets us back to the discussion above. GIVEN that you may HAVE TO remove and not use the front three pre-installed fans, how best to arrange what you do use? The two options discussed earlier are: rad in front as intake, 3 RGB fans on top plus one rear as exhaust; or, rad on top plus one rear RGB as exhaust, 3 RGB fans in front as intake. From a cooling performance standpoint, either is equally effective. The difference in cooling caused by the increase in temperature of the air flowing though the rad is really minimal either way. Depending on how you plan to position your system, having RGB fans showing though your front panel may make them more visible. As your parts now are, that arrangement means you'd have THREE RGB fans at front as intake, then TWO rad fans at top plus one rear RGB fan for exhaust. Probably reasonable airflow airflow balance layout.

Two other options exist. One might be if you change to a 360 mm rad system at the front intake position to give you even more cooling capacity for your CPU chip. That CAN produce another problem It means three intake fans at front plus three exhaust fans on top. The result at the very top front corner of your case is an air flow "short circuit" that actually reduces total air flow for the case interior, although it does not reduce cooling by the rad.You might consider this a very minor issue and ignore it. OR you could NOT install the top RGB fan at the very front to avoid this, but you want to use all the RGB fans you can. Along these lines, IF you opt for 3 RGB fans at front and one 240 mm rad on top, I suggest you mount the rad as close as possible to the REAR of the case so its front fan is not too close to the top front intake fan.

Another option I do NOT recommend, but I'll explain it. Mount the rad and its fans (240 or 360 mm) at the front, BUT replace all its fans with RGB ones from your six-fan set. Maybe use a non-lighted fan at the rear exhaust position.That puts lots of lighting at front AND top. BUT by far most multi-fan lighted sets as you have purchased are NOT the fan design to be used for rads. Rad fans need to be designed to push lots of air flow through the finned rads that cause significant resistance to air flow - these are called "pressure" fans. VERY likely what you got in that set are called "air flow" fans designed to give max air flow against very little resistance. So making this substitution on the rad is NOT a good idea.
 

Cassius101

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Aug 29, 2013
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You're both missing the point here.

1st the liquid cooler setup traditionally the fans push air from the inside out
2nd the front is usually setup to push air from the outside in

Front fans for the case = intake
cooler fans need to be moved to intake as the cooler will be sandwiched between the 2 sets of fans
Top fans will still be exhaust

View attachment 57665

Or you can do the opposite

View attachment 57666

Or you could just convert all 3 sides to exhaust and suck air from the bottom

View attachment 57667

By default the 3 front fans are pushing air into the computer right? To make it go out I would have to flip them.
 

aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 28, 2005
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This thread is FULL of BAD INFO for AIO's.
PLEASE and i say PLEASE go look at Gamer Nexus's AIO orientation Video linked below, before you overheat your CPU, or permanently damage your expensive AIO's pump.


This person is cooling their GPU with a triple cooler but its the same case, black version but it shows you can install a cooler vertically like that which is where I wanna put my dual CPU cooler.

Do not mount it that way. Steve explains it at 18:00 in the video above.
It can lead to your pump running dry or partially dry leading to possible damage in the cpu pump.
It was explained in detail with gamers nexus.

The only way you can mount it like that is if your using a true custom liquid cooler which has been completely bleed, which no AIO's are.

Always keep the cpu block either at the lowest or middle point in the height.
Always make sure the Barbs are not at the top in a vertical standing config.
You want them at the lowest point so air does not get pulled with coolant.

And NEVER lay the radiator on the floor horizontally in a AIO, as you WILL pull nothing but air and burn out that cpu pump, as well as have really poor performance.


Fan Orientation:

tldr;
FanShroudTest3-38mm2000.png


It plays very little performance impact.
Its mostly on maintaince... its easier to vacuum the the rad fins when you have nothing obstructing them then if you have a fan covering them, which is why i am a firm advocate of PULL and not PUSH, even tho push gives you a slightly better performance curve.
But remember that performance curve will get SHOT if its full of dust which you can not remove, because you have fans blocking the way.
 
Last edited:

Cassius101

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Aug 29, 2013
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This thread is FULL of BAD INFO for AIO's.
PLEASE and i say PLEASE go look at Gamer Nexus's AIO orientation Video linked below, before you overheat your CPU, or permanently damage your expensive AIO's pump.




Do not mount it that way. Steve explains it at 18:00 in the video above.
It can lead to your pump running dry or partially dry leading to possible damage in the cpu pump.
It was explained in detail with gamers nexus.

The only way you can mount it like that is if your using a true custom liquid cooler which has been completely bleed, which no AIO's are.

Always keep the cpu block either at the lowest or middle point in the height.
Always make sure the Barbs are not at the top in a vertical standing config.
You want them at the lowest point so air does not get pulled with coolant.

And NEVER lay the radiator on the floor horizontally in a AIO, as you WILL pull nothing but air and burn out that cpu pump, as well as have really poor performance.


Fan Orientation:

tldr;
FanShroudTest3-38mm2000.png


It plays very little performance impact.
Its mostly on maintaince... its easier to vacuum the the rad fins when you have nothing obstructing them then if you have a fan covering them, which is why i am a firm advocate of PULL and not PUSH, even tho push gives you a slightly better performance curve.
But remember that performance curve will get SHOT if its full of dust which you can not remove, because you have fans blocking the way.


It is too late, it is already completed. So you think this will be very harmful for my PC long term? Could lead to CPU failure?


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