Closed loop cooler virgin - help on first time

[Mphaker]

Hey guys

As from the title, this will be the first time I've used a closed loop cooler for my first mini-itx build as well. I've previously religiously used the CM Hyper 212+ in all my mid-large tower builds because, quite frankly, that thing was beastly in size and cooling. Are there any tips I should follow when installing this? I've been hearing a lot of stuff about proper tubing orientation, air bubbles, etc, that is making me a lot more paranoid about the difficulty of this build. This will be installed into a CM Elite 130.

Thanks in advance guys

 

[ATMINSIDE]

What AIO did you purchase?

 

[Mphaker]

Woops, can't believe I forgot that. I bought the Seidon 120M

 

[WyzeGye]

I've got the 240m. Love this thing.

 

[EarthDog]

The only tips I would follow are the instructions.

These are easy breezy man.

 

[Ajay57]

What CPU are you cooling with this?? By the looks so long as you have the pipes and rad orientated right there should be no Air trapped or bubbles as well.

1, http://coolertester.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Graph-Results-1024x739.png




I think looking at the picture the best way round would be the pipes for the pump to be at the bottom like in the picture above. Why because at least you more likely to have the water flowing around the system. And less likely to have problems with air as that would be in the top of the Radiator.

AJ.

 

[Tech Tweaker]

The main thing is to orient it in such a way so as not to pinch the water tubes.

There's no "best" way of installing as far as orientation of everything goes for a general answer with an All In One/Closed Loop Liquid Cooler. It's more a question of how does it need to be oriented in order to fit in your particular case with your particular board, memory, video card, etc.

As far as eliminating air bubbles, I normally hook the pump up to power when it is outside of the case with the radiator positioned above the pump/cooling block assembly and let it run that way for a couple of minutes to get any air bubbles out of the pump and listen to it. If I don't hear any grinding noises and the fluid appears to be flowing (feel the tubes one at a time for vibration) then all should be okay. You should be able to tell fairly easily whether there is fluid flowing through both tubes or not.

 

[Tyerker]

You probably want the fan set as an intake so it is pulling cooler air. Not certain, but I believe that if you are only using one fan, then pull is slightly better than push. So you would need to have the radiator mounted to the case, and then the fan mounted on the inside, pulling air through the radiator.

If I am incorrect in that, by all means someone feel free to correct me.

 

[EarthDog]

Depends on the rad and fan as to what is best (push or pull). He would get slightly better temps with it set to intake, though that ruins the airFLOW in the case. Most users do not need and are not looking to wring every single degree C out of their setup. I would choose exhaust and have proper interior case airflow personally...

 

[Tyerker]

Depends on the rad and fan as to what is best (push or pull). He would get slightly better temps with it set to intake, though that ruins the airFLOW in the case. Most users do not need and are not looking to wring every single degree C out of their setup. I would choose exhaust and have proper interior case airflow personally...

I have mine set as exhaust, too. It just seemed like the general consensus is intake is better.

That being said, I'm hoping to have my front 2x120 instake, then set my H60 up push/pull intake in the rear, and then have a top 200mm for exhaust. But the HAF has the advantages of mesh sides, and thus no real static pressure to speak of.

 

[EarthDog]

Logically it is for that unit. Just not the rest of the components inside the box. Now, will it hurt anything? Naaaaaaaaa, of course not, but it will make the internals run warmer since you are minimizing the amount of exhaust and pumping slightly warmer air inside the case. So the mobo runs warmer and the GPU... and for what? Will that 1-3C allow you to get 200Mhz more overclock? Not likely. That is why I say that.

I think you have it right for your HAF whatever case. regardless of the radiators I always follow a.......

Top/rear = exhaust
front/sides = intake

... for proper airFLOW.

 

[Tyerker]

Truth.

 

[Tech Tweaker]

I tried setting up an AIO liquid cooler as intake mounted to the back of my case once, didn't like it though. This was with a Corsair H60 with fans in push-pull.

It lowered my CPU temps by 1-2°C average, but raised my GPU temp by 5-7°C and my HDD temp by 2°C and chipset by 2-3°C.

I then reversed the fans so I would have push-pull exhausting out of the case and my PC was much better temperature-wise.

I think though that if the tubes on an AIO were long enough and it were possible, mounting to the front of the case as an intake would probably have acceptable temps. But most AIO units don't have a lot of length to the tubes, so more often than not this isn't possible.