Airflow in WC case?

Still just looking at WC (except for my first minor try using the AquariusII). One surprise was radiators at the bottom front of the case, which is what the AII does, and I have also seen it in pics of other setups. It would seem that such a design moves hot air from the radiator INTO the case. That is, unless the airflow is reversed from typical aircooling and the bottom front is exhausting air. In that case, the fan(s) in the back of the case must be blowing in. Except the PSU, which must always be blowing out. That would seem to split the air moving into the case, some going out the PSU, some going out the front. Nothing much cools the drives?

The best solution I guess is getting the radiator completely out of the case or at least on the upper back of the case so that airflow is normal. Do I have this right?

Certainly moving a rad external is a viable way to go, but you can achieve good temps with incase units as well. As you mentioned, I had to reverse the flow of two fans and take one offline in order to move enough fresh air into my case to feed my rad (4-fans) and PSU (3-fans). I even stumbled onto near-neutral pressure (no dust in the seems of my case) in the process. With my current config I get 32c idle, 38c max load. That ain't bad for an incase unit. GL on whatever you decide.

Its always good to have cool air going into the radiator. Whether that cool air comes from the back of the case to the front of the case does not matter a whole lot. Those who put there rads incase usually desire a one box setup that is easier to move and looks neater in most cases than tubs, fans, rads, pumps, and external boxes going every which way.

Neatly configured external boxes tend to look better. And as all external setups they have the advantage of always pulling cool air into the radiator and exhausting it into the room instead of the case.

The funny thing I've noticed about water-cooling is that it seems to bring up the ambient of my computer room much more that fan-based cooling ever did. My box can actually give central-air a run for its money now. I don't now if that makes sense or not.

Well, you do have the pump added heating while you still need big fans for the radiators and some airflow in your case.

Actually, my mb/case temps hover around +/- 24c (read from four sensors) and my pump is barely warmer than my hand. These temps were the same before I went water, strangely enough. Just moving air in and out of the case doesn't seem to be the issue either. I've got a total of 10 case fans (2x120-8x80), plus 3 in my PSU. Having water moves heat out of my case well (which was expected), but then that wasn't a problem before I had water. It just seem to me that my ambient room temp should be the same as it was before water, and it isn't.

On the bright side, my heating bill should be lower this winter.

The only reasons a watercooled setup should put more heat into a room are:

The heat of the pump.

The increased overclock (and voltage) you are now able to run as a result of the watercooling setup.

The only reasons a watercooled setup should put more heat into a room are:

The heat of the pump.

The increased overclock

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agreed..... mostly

However since wc is much more effective at the dissipation of heat... your room temp/wc setup temp will equalize in far less time, resulting in the appearance of putting off more heat.

of course there is this too.....

All that heat that your cpu is holding in because the hsf can't get it out: the wc setup, being more effective, lets you move that heat to the room.

RedViper said:

On the bright side, my heating bill should be lower this winter.

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You are still paying for the electricity to generate that heat whether it comes from your computer or house heater.