So I put together my new build last night and have a question.

Here is how I set up my radiator/cooler for my i5-6600K:

Fixed.

Is this correct? Would it be better to have the fans on the other side? Or would it be better to have the fans pulling in? In my manual for the H100i it said to use them as intake, but that didn't make sense to me.

Am I correct in assuming that my current setup will create negative pressure, but will make the radiator collect dust and be harder to clean? I found a Linus Tech Tips video about this, but honestly I'm a bit confused. He says it would be better to have the fans as intake against the case (I think), but this doesn't make sense to me...

This post was edited by Incendiary on Aug 10 2016 08:44am

First off you keep drawing the arrows on the vid card the wrong way. Those vid card fans are intakes.

Linus is right. Becuase with an AIO water cooler, the motherboard components, like the caps and VRM's do not get cooled as well as they do with an air cooler on the CPU.
So yeah, have the rad fans as intake.


They can also be run as exhaust, but your motherboard temps will be a little bit higher.


/e Also, as intakes you will need dust filters on the rad fans.

This post was edited by Ghot on Aug 10 2016 08:38am

haha I actually initially had them as that, but I googled if they were expelling into the case or onto the heatsink and I guess I misread.

So I just need to change the direction of the fans on the rad? I don't need to actually switch positions between the rad and fans, correct? Also, wouldn't having those fans as intake create a lot of positive pressure and thus dust INSIDE of my case instead of just on the radiator? It sounds like I have to choose between having a dusty radiator or a dusty case...

How beneficial would it be to double-up the fans on the opposite side of the radiator and do a push/pull setup?

Yeah, it will be positive air flow, but your GPU and PSU will use that up, no problem.

/e Yes, the GPU fans blow "into" the vid card...on the heat sink. On reference cards, the air is expelled out the back of the case. On non-reference cards, they just sorta leak air all over the place.

This post was edited by Ghot on Aug 10 2016 08:46am

Ok. So will the single exhaust fan be enough? Also, what about the idea of using a set of fans on the other side of the radiator? Unnecessary?

Unnecessary.

/e The case has tons of holes to leak excess air, so one exhaust fan will be fine. Remember, the vid card and PSU will be helping to exhaust air also.

What case do you have, out of curiosity? Is that a Corsair 540 Air?


/ee Actually with that case, you could use the rad fans as exhaust, if you wanted.

This post was edited by Ghot on Aug 10 2016 08:59am

Pull if you want no dust.

Push if you want the aesthetic of your fan.

Literally zero difference between the two.

As long as you have adequate intake cfm, you don't need to worry about VRM's, NB/SB, ect.

The way you have it setup is just fine.

This post was edited by HyphyIll on Aug 10 2016 09:49am

Yeah I watched a few more videos and talked to a few people via PM.

It seems LTT and some others agree that using the H100i's 2 fans as exhaust with them mounted to the case (with the radiator mounted to the fans on the inside) is the best way to do it for easiest cleaning and airflow purposes.

Now I'm trying to figure out if I should replace the Corsair 540's case fans with anything higher powered. Looking to stick to Corsair brand. I like the looks.

This post was edited by Incendiary on Aug 10 2016 11:13am

Corsair AF for your intake and exhaust
Corsair SP for the radiators

Actually, depending on the FPI of those AIO rads you could probably get away with AF fans.