My son bought this PC and the seller said the “watercooling something” should be moved. He doesn’t remember and I wasn’t there. Can I ask the hive mind here for an ELI5?
My son bought this PC and the seller said the “watercooling something” should be moved. He doesn’t remember and I wasn’t there. Can I ask the hive mind here for an ELI5?
22 Comments
https://preview.redd.it/5fdl7lqmci8f1.jpeg?width=474&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7075fc037ee101471ea1f16659a90389d16b51fb
Generally, you’re going to want to have the AIO (water cooler) mounted on the top as an exhaust fan for longevity and performance.
The CPU water cooler, the fan with those two hoses, is also serving as the only exhaust fan. This means the cpu is not being cooled by cold fresh air but hot internal air. It should be moved to the top as an intake and a new fan should be purchased to exhaust out the back.
Either that, or the cpu cooler fan back there is currently an intake, and the pc is using the positive pressure to exhaust out the top. This might be fine depending on temps, use your own judgement
I’d have to assume they meant the water cooler wasn’t functional and needed to be replaced. Which is very honest of them.
I agree, water coolers are mostly for aesthetics. They have a pump that can go bad, fluid that can get low, lots of points of failure. An air cooler only has one, the fan. And even if the fan stops spinning it will still cool decently well. I’d replace it with something from Thermalright.
The radiator at the back should be mounted to the top of the case for optimal cooling.
People here have already stated how the AIO should properly be mounted or how it is probably done for.
But in any case, I suggest you just take that AIO out and replace it with something like a Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE (BEST) or an Arctic Freezer 34 or a Deepcool AK620.
120mm/140mm radiator AIOs suck, you can get much better performance from cheap air coolers.
Just take the all in one cooler and throw it away. They are nothing but problems. Get a normal heatsink for $30-40 and you’ll never have to worry about it again other than to occasionally blow the dust out.
I would just check temps. If they’re fine, no need to change anything. It’s fine the way it is and if things are being upgraded gradually, no sense spending money on another cooler right now.
The ‘JayzTwoCents recap of the GamersNexus video’ about AIO placement.
https://i.redd.it/b5i5e59f7k861.jpg
via [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/knuf97/jay_simplified_the_gamers_nexus_aio_orientation/).
There’s more nuance and info in the multiple GN and Jayz videos, but that’s the short of it.
The radiator position is fine; it might be slightly better at the top, but whatever ‘gains’ you might get probably wouldn’t be worth the effort of moving the rad.
Be aware that 120mm AIO are usually not the best option for cooling as they can perform worse than decent air coolers. There are some really good air coolers that can compete with 240/360mm radiators (2x-3x the size of this one) for a smaller price tag and less complexity. If your temps seem a bit high, you might want to reevaluate the cooling.
This looks weirdly similar to my pc.
Same motherboard and WiFi card, similar case and layout.
What I didn’t do though, was butcher the AIO.
you are fine like this, dont worry..
I’d recommend replacing the water cooler entirely. The thing with the tubes leading to the radiator with the fan on the left there. You’ll want to remove that and the cpu block. Then get a cheap air cooler like a thermalright peerless assassin or phantom spirit.
If temps seem fine I would simply rotate the fan 180 degrees so the pipes are at the top. That way you dont change anything except the efficiency of the cooling system
Sorry I’m tired. Ignore this pipes lower is better. Air will be trapped above the circulating system
I’ve had my rad/fan/piping similar like this for 9years on my pc, zero issues. Works fine, optimal temps.
If it works, it works. Everything else and opinions on the “best way” is just that. Opinions.
My only change is rad/fan placement. I have the fan on frame, pulling outside air onto rad not rad, fan.
I tried both ways, no diff in temp
Depending on TDP of CPU you could get air cooler 50$ max on amazon that has nothing but fans that could go wrong
That’s the setup I have. It’s fine. It doesn’t need replacing. When I build my next PC, I’ll probably do it differently, but I have no regrets. It looks good and cools just fine, and quietly.
current config seems okay. top of the radiator is higher than pump. tubes down is correct for front/rear mount. top mount is good and in most cases its the only proper option since you can’t mount 240-280-360 aios to front tubes down. 120 aios are trash and worse than decent air coolers and bigger aios, as i said should be mounted at the top ideally. but in your case you don’t “have to” move it.
you can move it to the front or front/top to get fresh/fresher air if ur cpu temps are bad. might improve a bit but overall 120 aios are bad. i’d just get a dual tower air cooler. like peerless assassin etc. if its cooling enough, wouldn’t touch it.
As long as the tubes are down and the top of the rad is higher than the pump, its fine
Folks treat a 120mm AIO as if it’s a crime against humanity without even asking what it’s cooling or what the temps are.
If it’s not thermal throttling and it’s not leaking then, congratulations, you have a totally fine liquid cooler in a totally fine position like most everyone else who owns a liquid cooler.
Its fine the way it is. Top of radiator is above the pump, and hoses at bottom of the radiator. This is the second best mounting orientation, although you’d usually be doing it this way as an Intake from front for cool air. Top is going to be the best as exhaust.
I’d also put a fan on the rear, and if there isnt 3 fans on the front, and if possible, I’d add some there as well.
But should be fine leaving it as is.
Might even consider getting a cheap air cooler. There are some good ones that would perform much better than this tiny little AIO. (I forget which ones are typically recommended, ive only used AIO’s for a while now)
I have a 2014 Alienware with that same setup. You will b fine. It’s been running non stop since I bought it. Still going strong. The only thing that has been giving me problems is the 8990 on it. Amd driver crashes very frequently. Probably just needs to b reinstalled but I been lazy. It’s only a productive PC anyway but it was the one I mainly games on til 2023 when I built a new one
It’s fine where it is, tbh.
Just get rid of it entirely and buy a pa120