Where do you mount GPU Radiators?

Phlorge

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 19, 2014
Messages
507
I have an all in one cooler for my CPU and am going to get an EVGA hybrid and return my EVGA ftw 1080 because of all these thermal mod issues.

I am currently using a top mounted radiator for my CPU and was wondering where I should put the radiator for the GPU. I have seen online that there is some debate on whether front mounted is bad for overall temperatures of your case.
 
Mount it to the front. The effect on your case temps will be minor, if you can even measure it.

People get waaaaay too passionate about a 1C difference in temps.
 
I would mount it to the back with a push/pull fan setup if you case can accommodate it.
 
I would mount it to the back with a push/pull fan setup if you case can accommodate it.

whats push/pull setup? I have an evolv ATX so theres a fan in the back already. Im guessing I would just put that in the front? Also it doesnt look like it would fit in the back with the top radiator there?

Mount it to the front. The effect on your case temps will be minor, if you can even measure it.

People get waaaaay too passionate about a 1C difference in temps.

I might go with this - theres an empty spot above the two case fans
 
whats push/pull setup? I have an evolv ATX so theres a fan in the back already. Im guessing I would just put that in the front? Also it doesnt look like it would fit in the back with the top radiator there?



I might go with this - theres an empty spot above the two case fans

It's a setup where you have the radiator sandwitched between two fans. The fan between the case and radiator pulls air away from the radiator and out the case. The fan on the other side of the radiator pushes air into the radiator.
 
putting it in the front doesn't really make any sense?

4Mo9SS5.jpg
 
Put it in the back, don't do push/pull (two fans on a single radiator) if the fans are different.
 
Back or top if you can fit it. I had to put mine up front in push/pull simply because I didn't feel like cutting out the grille from my current case to be able to mount it in the back. I use an AIO for my GPU but air cooler for CPU so the back area is a bit cramped.
 
The idiocy suggesting front mount is discarding the fact that this will make your gpu hotter, as it then has to contend with the case heat not being expelled as fast as it can generate new heat into the system. (That is, unless you have a great rear exhaust setup, but then you'd certainly have a spot for the rear mount, wouldn't you?) This goes against the main benefits of any wc loop, in that it's supposed to isolate your cooling needs to the system's hottest areas and leave the rest of your components unaffected (i.e. motherboard, HDDs, RAM, etc.).

In the scenario you can't rear or top mount, upgrade to a better air cooling solution such as the Arctic Cooling series which are quiet at load. Or upgrade your case, as that will help tremendously for any future upgrades.
 
The idiocy suggesting front mount is discarding the fact that this will make your gpu hotter, as it then has to contend with the case heat not being expelled as fast as it can generate new heat into the system. (That is, unless you have a great rear exhaust setup, but then you'd certainly have a spot for the rear mount, wouldn't you?) This goes against the main benefits of any wc loop, in that it's supposed to isolate your cooling needs to the system's hottest areas and leave the rest of your components unaffected (i.e. motherboard, HDDs, RAM, etc.).

In the scenario you can't rear or top mount, upgrade to a better air cooling solution such as the Arctic Cooling series which are quiet at load. Or upgrade your case, as that will help tremendously for any future upgrades.

In real world use it actually doesn't make much of a difference. I used to have a back mounted GPU radiator in a Fractal Define R3 case and now have the same radiator front mounted in a Fractal Define S. Haven't noticed any real difference in temps, at least not enough to care.
 
In real world use it actually doesn't make much of a difference. I used to have a back mounted GPU radiator in a Fractal Define R3 case and now have the same radiator front mounted in a Fractal Define S. Haven't noticed any real difference in temps, at least not enough to care.
Usually, the air coming off a radiator is only a couple degrees warmer than ambient. While it's not optimal, it does not matter much, as you said. Many are using cpu coolers on top as exhaust, warm air going through the radiator without any issues.
 
putting it in the front doesn't really make any sense?

4Mo9SS5.jpg


I mounted mine like this... it looks okay the problem I have is how crowded it is now with the tubes from the AIO CPU as well. the cables connecting the radiator are so thick.
 
putting it in the front doesn't really make any sense?

Actually it makes a lot of sense to put it in the front, espcecially if your CPU us also water cooled. Because if it's in the front the cold air outside the case is cooling the radiator instead of the warm air inside the case being pushed trough the fins. And dumping the heat inside the case is not a problem, because the most heat sensitive parts are already cooled by outside air (GPU+CPU) the rest of the components won't really mind a few degrees difference in the inside temp.
 
or you could have them both pull air into the case and vent the air out top if it's possible with the case.
 
In the case of internal (in the case) water cooling i think the most cool
setup is cpu and gpu radiators top and rear and many good fans in the front
and bottom.

So the most heat that is generated in the GPU and CPU will be localized
in the top and rear rads and expelled from the cool air that intake fans draw in.
That air will warm up from the mobo parts , chipset , memory etc but that
increase of the ambient tmp will be low and the cooling of the rads will work ok.
 
In the case of internal (in the case) water cooling i think the most cool
setup is cpu and gpu radiators top and rear and many good fans in the front
and bottom.

So the most heat that is generated in the GPU and CPU will be localized
in the top and rear rads and expelled from the cool air that intake fans draw in.
That air will warm up from the mobo parts , chipset , memory etc but that
increase of the ambient tmp will be low and the cooling of the rads will work ok.
first post necro, lol. welcome to [H].
https://hardforum.com/threads/the-h-ard-forum-rules.760666/

i have mine setup front/back intake and top is exhaust. seems to work good as they only get fresh air. mobo temps are only a couple C higher.
 
first post necro, lol. welcome to [H].
https://hardforum.com/threads/the-h-ard-forum-rules.760666/

i have mine setup front/back intake and top is exhaust. seems to work good as they only get fresh air. mobo temps are only a couple C higher.

Sorry!!. To my defense, i wasnt remotely thinking about the dates . I read the conversation , (as dozens more in the internet because its first time that i am thinking adding water cooling in one of my builds) i liked the arguments so i thought to add an idea i had.
Also the idea to put as exhaust the gpu rad at bottom and the cpu rad at top seems cool to me.
I wonder if there are cases accepting rads (bigger than 140) at the back.

I found a post with that setup.
https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/koo9o0/recommended_cpu_and_gpu_aio_radiator_placement/
 
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