CPU Cooling and Case compatibility question

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Tschrom

Tschrom

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Dec 21, 2016
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Hey all,

So, I'll be updating to the Ryzen series CPU here soon, and will likely be overclocking the CPU.

Now, in the interest of cooling, I'm looking at getting a water cooling kit. I'm currently air cooling with the Hyper 212 Evo, but I dislike the bulky stainless steel look that clashes with my streamline black/blue theme plus I don't really want to use air cooling if I'll be overclocking a brand new CPU.

On to the question at hand, I currently use a Corsair Spec-Alpha case, which based on Corsair's own product video, can fit an H100i cooler on the front in a pull config. In the interest of efficiency I want to setup a push/pull which clearly can't be don't via front panel intake, based on their video.

Does anyone know if you can install said cooler in a push/pull if installed on the top exhaust on the Carbide series Spec-Alpha case? Or perhaps I'd be better off getting a new case in general? Any input/opinions would be appreciated. I want to avoid as many store trips, shipping waits, and returns as possible.

Thanks.


 
Solution
Ecky
The 1700 already turbos to 3.7ghz, and 4ghz is just about where most top out even with the best watercoolers.

The Noctua D15, just as an example, is not in the same league as the Hyper212. The D15 actually outperforms most watercoolers up to twice its price, while at the same time producing less noise. Having water in it doesn't automatically make a cooler better - the D15 has heatpipes that contain water, but use phase change to transfer heat rather than a noisy, failure-prone pump. It's up to you whether the added noise and cost of a watercooler is worth moving the cooling surface to a different part of your case.

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Ecky

Ecky

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Feb 3, 2013
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I don't think an expensive watercooler is going to be cost effective. Zen has so little overclocking headroom even with good cooling that you're going to gain almost nothing, and that money can be better spent elsewhere. If you don't mind that it's not really benefiting you and are not constrained by cost, I'd recommend one of NZXT's watercoolers, but it will be only fractionally better than options 1/2 to 1/3 the price. Otherwise, grab a Noctua or Cryorig tower cooler.
 
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Tschrom

Tschrom

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Dec 21, 2016
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But those tower coolers are basically like what I already have with the hyper 212. I want to move away from the bulky stainless tower heatsink sitting on top of the cpu. I've seen a lot of examples of people overclocking the 1700 from 3.0 to 4.0 or more GHz, I'd call that pretty good headroom for overclocking on a new to the market cpu.
 
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Ecky

Ecky

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Feb 3, 2013
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The 1700 already turbos to 3.7ghz, and 4ghz is just about where most top out even with the best watercoolers.

The Noctua D15, just as an example, is not in the same league as the Hyper212. The D15 actually outperforms most watercoolers up to twice its price, while at the same time producing less noise. Having water in it doesn't automatically make a cooler better - the D15 has heatpipes that contain water, but use phase change to transfer heat rather than a noisy, failure-prone pump. It's up to you whether the added noise and cost of a watercooler is worth moving the cooling surface to a different part of your case.

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Solution
Ditt44

Ditt44

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Mar 30, 2012
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I agree with Ecky, but it sounds like you are more focused on looks than performance related issues like noise and risk. If you like the water cooler simplistic look, then you've mostly made your choice. There are a number of fine air coolers out there to choose from. If you are set on a radiator mount, you may end up looking at a new case that better suits your aesthetic preferences and gives you more options for mounting locations.
 
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Tschrom

Tschrom

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Dec 21, 2016
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For me, noise is a non-issue. It's drowned out by whatever I have happening at any given time anyway. Aesthetics is pretty big part of my build. I don't want to end up looking like a color blind kindergartner threw the thing together, I would like some assemblance of professionalism in look and build. And as I originally stated, I already intend on going with water cooling, I just wanted to know if the cooler would fit the way I want it to, or if a new case would work better. Regardless of how good a noctua cooler may be, I could easily pass up the puke brown fans they couple with all their products.
 
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Ditt44

Ditt44

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Mar 30, 2012
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hahaha I couldn't agree more about Noctua. They could cause ice to form inside my PC and I wouldn't use them. Why on earth would you make a great product and then say "Hey, with all this competition out there, let's pick the most unholy color combination possible and call it a day!". WTHF are they thinking?
 
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Tschrom

Tschrom

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Dec 21, 2016
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Really!? I guess I haven't searched hard enough then. I appreciate the opinions, and apologize if my OP was a little misleading, but despite going with an AIO for now, the ultimate goal for me is to build a custom loop so I can do some massive CPU/GPU/RAM overclocking. However I'm still new to liquid cooling in general and I figured an AIO is a good place to start to get a good idea of the potential pros and cons of liquid cooling.
 
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