120mm aio for RTX2080

Hello all,

I have the RTX2080 temporarily housed in a deepcool Macube 110 [reviewed]

Still having a heat pocket issue around the GPU, until the system is re-homed in a new case was looking into cooling the RTX2080 with a 120mm AIO & NZXT kraken G12 bracket. The benefit is that I can direct the hot air out of the back of the case to reduce the hot pocket the GPU sits in. The part im not sure about is will a 120mm radiator be enough to cool the 2080?

Cheers

 

mmmm... this is an interesting (and dangerous) thread for me I've been contemplating watercooling and was looking at custom loops, this is likely a much cheaper alternative if it works well, at only about $300 give or take depending on which coolers you might use. Even just a waterblock can get 50%+ of that before you get into the rest of the kit!


That case looks very similar in design and layout to my Cooler Master NL400 with the GPU sitting at the bottom of the case as well as having a 240mm AIO for the CPU mounted in the top for the same reasons you mention in moving the heat load directly outside the case.

Which leads to one issue and a question:
Will you have enough clearance on the CPU for an AIO and it's water pipes which will be poking straight down in that piece of metal above the PSU?
Secondly, although using a 120mm AIO means you can mount it to the rear exhausts o don't have the issue, if you had to use a 240mm (or even a 360mm) setup what is the impact of putting either the CPU or the GPU radiator as an intake? Is one preferable to the other?

 

In regards to the last bit, having the GPU on the intake would mean the case intake temps now factor a 210w tdp increase of temps, the CPU fans would then draw already warm air through them.
I could reverse the CPU rad fans but then I'd have the components blasted by 310w tdp

 

RAMBLE

That sounds like a good way to look at it. So take the lower thermal load, put that on the intake side and put the higher load on the exhaust....

But the next logical thought is that all the components in an air cooled system already have all the thermal load from everything sitting internally that needs to be exhausted... this would make for a really interesting test scenario! What actually works best?

In theory a good air cooler is only limited by the ability of the case to expel (and replace) the hot air.
and from what I read, AIO's are about as efficient as good air coolers, but neater and maybe quieter thanks to their larger size and surface area?? (at least for CPU's anyway).

When it comes to GPU's there appears to be a much higher heat load and stock cooling solutions that can leave a lot to be desired. Maybe that's the future of custom cooling... GPU solutions.

So maybe better cooling on the GPU side is a better place to spend your money.


Having the GPU on the intake side means it's getting the coolest possible air and best performance, but it also means it's still pushing all that heat load internally and onto all the components.
The CPU cooler now has to start from a warmer base and the case still has to get rid of all that heat, but it's also the much lower heat load so might cope better like this?

Flipping that and putting the CPU on the intake side means it's now getting the coolest air and making the GPU rad work harder, but how much harder??

In both scenarios the solution is to push the fans a little higher to increase cooling capacity, but are we talking about adding 5% or 50%?

If you went with a fully custom loop with a single 360mm radiator that's likely front mounted anyway in many smaller cases ... well, does that result in the same problems?

Or if you were to use two radiators, which in my case would be 240mm on top and 240/360mm in front, you'd run the hottest water through the top mount then through the front mount before going back to components in order to move the most heat outside the case...


In any case, the G12 needs to be updated (or modded) to fix the 3000 series anyway... so I might just sit and wait until that happens to ensure VRM and VRAM are getting cooled enough.

/RAMBLE

 

It's a good ramble!

Ideally I'd prefer the CPU rad on the intake but even that worries me. Playing flight Sim on max settings I can feel the heat the 5900x expels through the top rad, it's very hot. Then I realise the GPU will be twice that. Considering the GPU will be taking in warm air I doubt it will cope well. But that is the current situation that the GPU sits in a dead section of the case taking in its own hot air anyway. Leading back to the original question that would a 120mm radiator that could effectively draw air away from that area be more efficient than the stock cooler sucking in its own hot air.

 

Are you thinking of a 120mm AIO because you already have it? Also able to elaborate more on where your heatpocket is as even with a G12 you want the 92mm fan fed with some good air to keep the VRMs cooling.

Could just run side panel off if it's a temp home too

 

Along those lines, I was thinking about what would be required to replace the glass side panel (approx 365 x 300mm) with a perforated metal of some sort or a perspex/polycarbonate panel with a big arse fan on it.

Where would you even buy such a thing?


I've seen lazer cut things like this (although without the logo), but I expect that these would be somewhat expensive.

 

Another option would be to 3D print a side panel myself. My printer isn't large enough to do it all in one hit, but if I were to create four panels, the outside corners would use the stock mounting holes and the inner four corners could be locked together with four screws and a mounting plate...
I've put together a pretty rudimentary design... I think I would want to add extra brackets along the joins so it doesn't flop around, but I have to measure those to make sure I leave enough gap from the edge so it clears the case bits. I could go all ghetto and just print holes and use a bunch of cable ties for a different look.

I am in two minds, do a carefully measure everything and allow proper holes in the print for securing it all... or I could just print them and drill holes manually knowing that the screw heads would cover them all up anyway. I think I will go back and allow mounting for 140mm fans in there too.

Based on a quick and dirty mockup, its about 40 hours or so of printing and about 250grams of plastic (which is about $10 worth).