AIO - 120mm cpu cooler?

[Shrek]

MasterBox Q300L Mini Tower PC Case | Cooler Master

"The front supports up to two 140mm fans..."

 

[soundzen]

indeed, i can place 2 new 140mm fans, up front and reuse my 120mm fans - 1 at bottom next to psu and 1 at the back.
but even so, i need to swap cases from micro-atx to a bigger atx, if i want to fit a cpu AIO's radiator & fans
so now, i'm looking at cases and also at my budget... pc is silent, doesn't overheat, so i'm in no hurry - its a case in study (pun).

 

[soundzen]

ok, thanks everyone i got my answer... 120mm title has changed to 240mm LOL
i need a new case with better vent and bigger cpu cooler... waiting for a bigger budget.

 

[Shrek]

Even though your present case works fine?

 

[soundzen]

yes its called upgrading

 

[Shrek]

I'd upgrade the case by making apertures for 140mm fans and putting grids on them, for a rather industrial look.

 

[soundzen]

thx, i had a project to use these Skyrim fan grids (120mm) but my Dremel died - so i cant cut my actual case DIY

 

[Toothless]

Unless you're going to actually hit the limits the current cooler can do, it's not going to really be an upgrade.

Air coolers have a lot less parts that'll fail.

 

[PLAfiller]

A little late to the party, but I've tried that. I got a cheap 120 AIO from Aliexpress, something like €30. Came with one fan only and no second set of screws for push-pull. Pump is quiet, very quiet. But the fan is nothing to write home about. I replaced it with a Noiseblocker and the cooler is virtually silent. Currently is cooling i5-10400 in my sig and it's more than fine. If you want silent it's pretty much up to the fans.

 

[Shrek]

Fan noise is very subjective; I actually like a slight hum that tells me all is well.

But if the OP wants to experiment with an all-in-one cooler, so be it; I would worry that the lack of air flowing over the CPU might be an issue for the VRM circuits.

no second set of screws for push-pull.

Always wondered about the virtues of push-pull, certainly not twice the flow, but it does have the benefit that if one fan fails the other stands in.

 

[soundzen]

so, ive ordered a atx fractal focus 2 and artic freezer 3 aio 240mm

--- topic closed ---

 

[cvaldes]

From a performance-per-dollar standpoint, 120mm AIO coolers aren't a good value based on my experience with an EVGA CLC120 AIO.

And their modest thermal capacity only make them suitable for fairly low wattage CPUs (like an AMD Ryzen 3700X, 65W TDP) unless you tolerate more fan noise from a faster spinning fan.

A well designed 240mm AIO is a much more capable cooling solution. Some of them aren't much more expensive than 120mm AIOs so if there's room in the case, the 240mm models are a better option. I am currently using an Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360mm, Liquid Freezer II 280mm, CoolerMaster 240mm, and EVGA CLC240 in different builds. The EVGA 120mm AIO is gathering dust in a closet.

 

[de.das.dude]

heres my cpu tower and the unused grid at the back of case

View attachment 385574

i asked about aio vs tower, bc i see so many pc with aio 240 and 360mm radiators... estetics have big role, i recon.

speaking of estetics... do you have advice for my other post please? (psu cable) thanks!

modding cables - PSU

hi moders, [ PIC ] - my modular psu white cables, come wrapped in a net and held by tape at their extremities, which are rigid to bend, near their connectors. my question is: - can i carefully cut off the tape and net, by loosen up each of the wires? (knowing it will terminate my June 2024...

www.techpowerup.com

for me the reason for the 240mm AIO i have is in gaming i dont see constant CPU loads. On air, what used to happen was the fans would ramp up and down constantly creating a lot of noise. The ambient temp is hot here because i live in a hot country.

Now on 240mm AIO, thanks to the thermal mass of the water in the loop, the fans dont ramp up and down as much. And even at higher temps, thanks to the push pull my fans are still not loud like on my Hyper 212 EVO.

My fans barely spool up in normal use.

 

[soundzen]

new 240 AIO is waiting for new Fractal case.

 

[AleXXX666]

A 120mm wouldn't be worth it. You're better off getting an Assassin or similar or throwing fans on the current one.

120mm does the same or worse as your current.

plain 12600 specified at 117 W max turbo TDP. I wouldn't even bother. Even stock cooler is OK for GENERAL USAGE, though noisy. A 12900 stock cooler suits perfectly for i5 without e-cores. We don't play stress test games, do we?
So if OP wants 1-fan AIO, let it chill.

 

[soundzen]

correct! no stress games, no shooter high-fps-4k settings... just Skyrimesque chill-exploring-questing-survival-crafting games for me.

 

[Athlonite]

doesnt have clearance at the top panel (psu cables passing nearby) for the radiator + fan thickness

ever thought of rerouting them under the mobo so that they're not in the way or are they to fat to fit . ie: round vs flat
if they're round you can use cable ties around the mobo standoffs to run it along the top edge of mobo
if they're flat then you can route tham under the mobo and pop them out right next to the 8pin cpu

that would give you room for a 240mm AIO at the top of the case

or if you want to go in the front just have the fans as exhausts instead of intakes and use a good cfm fan on the rear as intake

 

[soundzen]

atx fractal focus 2 for aio 240mm location at top of case

 

[soundzen]

OK thanks @Athlonite ... im still not sure about choice between top or front therefor between intake / outake because i saw recently this idea among builders in having 1 fan extracting while other intakes on the same radiator? trends, pfff LOL

 

[Toothless]

Throw it on top. You'll feed it cool air from the front and hot air gets pushed out.

 

[soundzen]

_

- the Focus 2 was out stock, so i went for the Fractal Meshify 2, in white with aio Arctic Freezer 3 on top, extracting air... I'm quite happy with pc final look even with RGB on (but i turn them off with Asus Aura, when i need focus during game) - it's a shame that the bottom inner black plate, hides away my white Corsair psu, but it's the support for the motherboard back plate. thanks all for your feedback so far.