Dual Radiator Setup for O11D XL

MNiceGuy · Jan 23, 2020

Currently I have an O11D XL with a watercooled 3950X and an OC'ed 2080 Ti. Cooling is handled by dual 360mm radiators driven by a D5 pump.

I have a 360x40 on the floor positioned as intake and a 360x27 on the roof set up as exhaust. The only system fans are the 6 ML120's mounted to the radiators. This is a very common sight in various O11 XL show builds I've looked at.

Generally cooling performance is good but I noticed the other night when playing a CPU/GPU demanding game, the temps would start to creep up over time. I also noticed the air coming out of the case was quite warm. I decided to take the remove the case side panel and noticed GPU temperature immediately reacted and started decreasing for a total drop of almost 10*C.

I'm confident that when the CPU/GPU thermal load is enough the top radiator is dramatically impacted by the warm exhausted air from the second radiator. I assume this is creating a very warm environment inside the case where motherboard VRMs and the chipset cooler still rely on cool air. Time for change.

I was hoping to stick to a 6-fan setup for this case because I'm not fond of the 'sea of fans' look of the 9-fan setups but if that's what's needed then so be it. I was thinking of going with both radiators set up as exhaust with 3-fans on the side serving as intake. I recognize this will create negative pressure and run slightly heated air through the radiators but I think it's better than running radiator exhaust through the inside of the case.

Anyone else faced this? Is there another option I should consider?

Section31 · Jan 23, 2020

My PC-011 XL also has dual rads (two thick HWL 54mm instead). I use the 9 fan layout so the bottom and side mounted radiators with A12x25 acting as intake. I have three LianLi Bora Digital RGB fans cooling down the motherboard area (two intake/one exhaust). My temperature are very good.

chas1723 · Jan 25, 2020

Radiators should be intake if at all possible to get the best temps. If you have good enough exhaust then your case will only be a few degrees above ambient as the heat will not have a chance to build up.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

MNiceGuy · Jan 29, 2020

I've added 3 fans on the side as intake and then flipped the bottom fans around to act as intake. The idea being the system should get fresh ambient air from the outside which is then pushed out through the radiators on the top and bottom.

I considered the opposite arrangement: intakes top and bottom with exhaust on the side. This would create positive pressure and give the radiators the coolest air available BUT I think the increase in internal case temperature would be significant.

Using some very rough estimation from each component's TDP as a guide, at full-tilt I'm looking at 430-470W of heat output (3950X: 100-140W, OC 2080Ti: 330W). Sure the VRMs and chipset get warm on X570 but I don't think the byproduct is comparable to the combined radiator exhaust. During extended sessions, the metal of the case itself will begin to feel warm to the touch.

Hopefully this will pay dividends. I haven't gotten the loop back together yet but I'll be sure to report back my findings once I do.

Shawnb99 · Jan 29, 2020

Get a temp sensor for the water so you can tell if that’s the problem or not

Moose-Tech · Jan 30, 2020

chas1723 said:
Radiators should be intake if at all possible to get the best temps. If you have good enough exhaust then your case will only be a few degrees above ambient as the heat will not have a chance to build up.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Amen Brother! I listened to that advice and got noticeable cooling on my loop delta (3.5C to 4.5C) from that info.

Moose-Tech · Jan 30, 2020

MNiceGuy said:
I've added 3 fans on the side as intake and then flipped the bottom fans around to act as intake. The idea being the system should get fresh ambient air from the outside which is then pushed out through the radiators on the top and bottom.

I considered the opposite arrangement: intakes top and bottom with exhaust on the side. This would create positive pressure and give the radiators the coolest air available BUT I think the increase in internal case temperature would be significant.

Using some very rough estimation from each component's TDP as a guide, at full-tilt I'm looking at 430-470W of heat output (3950X: 100-140W, OC 2080Ti: 330W). Sure the VRMs and chipset get warm on X570 but I don't think the byproduct is comparable to the combined radiator exhaust. During extended sessions, the metal of the case itself will begin to feel warm to the touch.

Hopefully this will pay dividends. I haven't gotten the loop back together yet but I'll be sure to report back my findings once I do.

Not sure how you have your case set up, But I was able to get a 120mm fan, epoxy three bar magnets to the sides of the fan, and position it over my empty PCIE slots (in exhaust onexterior of course). People always forget about those PCIE slots - take the covers offs and and you can move a crap-ton of air through there.

When used in conjunction with another rear exhaust you could probably exhaust at least 50% of your heat load from the bottom rad, thus boosting your ambient intake from the side fans to the top rad. Especially if you have a Vertically mounted GPU which would further direct air flow.
That sounds like a workable solution to me.

I have my case set up with a front intake 280 x 30 and a top intake 280 x 30. Exhaust fans are rear 140mm and a 120mm (over PCIE). I also use an external 280 x 45 radiator and fan setup. Games and benchmarks are all single digits now. Somebody said "Radiators love fresh air" and this a true statement for custom cooling.

MNiceGuy · Feb 3, 2020

I FINALLY got my system back up and running with the new configuration. As a recap, this is with the 360mm radiators both top and bottom blowing outward (exhaust). There are three ML120 fans on the side acting as filtered intake. Fans were regulated to ~1000RPM as they were with the old configuration.

As before, I loaded up the system with Black Ops 4 (runs GPU 100% with high CPU utilization) and played for a while to make sure I gave the water a chance to reach equilibrium. Temperatures peaked at 52*C for a few moments during matches but stayed at 51*C the majority of the time. This is a 10*C reduction over having the bottom radiator as intake with the top acting as exhaust.

CPU temperature is basically the same across both versions of my loop.

While I did not measure ambient temp, I would expect it was mostly the same across both tests.

This is not a win-win for a few reasons:
1. 3 additional ML120 fans added expense to the build
2. The new setup results in a negative-pressure environment so air filtration has been compromised
3. I think these 9-fan builds look a little silly. Hopefully I can mitigate this some with the use of a radiator grill or similar

One last obvious question: Surely 61*C is not horrible for an overclocked 2080 Ti so was there a really a problem here?

Not at all but I have OCD with this kind of thing and it bothered me that I was essentially rendering an entire 360mm radiator impotent just because of how the fans were set up.

Section31 · Feb 3, 2020

Depends on your waterblock and setup you are using for the GPU. If you are using Heatkiller/Aquacomputer you should be under 50 degrees. If you are using other brands 50-60 degrees is reasonable.

saltedham · Feb 4, 2020

my non overclocked 2080 ti reaches 45c at the highest. o11 dynamic xl case, 2 ekwb pe 360 radiators. 10 corsair ml fans. with a ekwb spc pump. i read d5 is better but its doing the job. the radiators are on the bottom and side intaking air, with the fans on top and rear exhausting. ekwb classic gpu block

i would overclock but monster hunter world crashes eventually when i do.

hanzy · Feb 4, 2020

Just got a build up in running in a Dynamic XL. Have not done any super long gaming sessions yet, nothing over a few hours. Mostly have been running benchmarks and tweaking.
Reference 2080 ti(EVGA Black something or other, nothing fancy) so far overclock on that is just under 2,000mhz. Still toying around with the 3700x.

Anyways D5 PWM pump, HWL GTS 360 bottom, EK PE 360 top. Corsair ML fans on those. I have rad fans set to idle around 1300 RPM and ramping as high as 2000RPM depending on temp. Top rad is intake bottom is exhaust.
One 120mm Noctua Chromax NF S12A set to exhaust at rear of case. Set to ~800 RPM.
No fans in side compartment as I have a large flat reservoir there.
3700x w/ Optimus Foundation block.
2080 ti with Phatenks Glacier block.
Heatkiller SB Block on chipset(didn't like that little fan)

So far average GPU temp is 40-44°C max.
Ambient is ~ 21°C.

MNiceGuy · Feb 4, 2020

Thanks guys for the comparison builds. I'm on the hotter side of things but within a reasonable margin.

I might be a little warmer because I have the fans limited to 1000RPM regardless of component temperature. I like my quiet.

My loop:

EK Velocity CPU
EK Vector GPU
EK SE360
EK PE360
EK D5 PWM @ 45%
10mm ID ZMT

I was using Black Ops 4 to test thermals because it runs my system harder than anything else I have access to. I've run the game with my old 6950X and 9900K and in each case noticed that, for some reason, CPU utilization was quite high. Perhaps it's running my 3950X equally as hard and that's where some of my extra heat is coming from? Forza 7 can be configured to run the GPU to 100% but thermals are much better in that scenario.

EDIT: Typo correction

hanzy · Feb 8, 2020

Yeah its most likely due to the fan speeds. Easy enough to test. Trying ramping them up and retesting.
I don't hear the ML120's until ~1400-1500 RPM so at idle they're a bit under that. If I am gaming I have headphones on and can't hear them anyways. So that works for me.

Easy enough to test second theory with benchmarks. CPU stress bench and a GPU stress bench.

Not a exact comparison but on further testing the 3700x is ~70°C for games and depending on the benchmark up to 80°C. ~4200MHz.

Hardrock · Feb 9, 2020

I have 7 Riing 120 fans (1500 - 1700 RPM range) , EK XE 360 rad on bottom ( intake ) with EK PE 360 rad on top (exhaust). I have single exhaust fan on the back of the case.

Stock 3950X runs in the mid 40C range
Overlclocked ROG STRIX 2080ti, gaming runs mid to upper 40C range. I did a 30 min future mark GPU stress test and I got up to 57C and seemed to level off here.

I would consider adding a rear exhaust fan. You could put your EK PE rad on the top of the case as exhaust and get an EK XE (the fatrad) for the bottom of the case. This would increase thermal capacity. Also make sure you dont have the dust filter over the rad you are using for exhaust. It will just slow down airflow out of the top of the case.

Maybe post a pic of your set up.

Zfast4y0u · Feb 9, 2020

what is ur goal doing water cooling? low temps, higher overclocks or silence? i would guess silence after reading you had 60c load temps, however not sure.

pick proper case if you are going water cooling, thats FIRST. second, never ever put rads in case and then mount fans to push air into case through those rads, you can get away with this if you do dual lube and have rad dedicated to CPU only, in gaming it wont produce almost no heat to impact ur second lube with gpu's or temps inside of a case. and in other workloads i doubt it matter if it rises a bit of C on gpu's that are on idle. i have done water cooling build cpu and gpu together in same lube, and i dislike cpu temps, im about to change that. ppl want small cases and optimal temps while water cooling thats hard. also 60c on water, thats very very high but thats my opinion.

CGPhoto · Feb 18, 2020

CGPhoto

Hardrock said:
I have 7 Riing 120 fans (1500 - 1700 RPM range) , EK XE 360 rad on bottom ( intake ) with EK PE 360 rad on top (exhaust). I have single exhaust fan on the back of the case.

Stock 3950X runs in the mid 40C range
Overlclocked ROG STRIX 2080ti, gaming runs mid to upper 40C range. I did a 30 min future mark GPU stress test and I got up to 57C and seemed to level off here.

I would consider adding a rear exhaust fan. You could put your EK PE rad on the top of the case as exhaust and get an EK XE (the fatrad) for the bottom of the case. This would increase thermal capacity. Also make sure you dont have the dust filter over the rad you are using for exhaust. It will just slow down airflow out of the top of the case.

Maybe post a pic of your set up.

I am new to open water cooling and am building a new system right now in a O11D XL case with EKWB EK-KIT 360 Performance water kit. I am still figuring out parts placement.

In looking at your photo, I don't understand where your pump and reservoir are. Can you help me understand how that works for your system?

---- Never mind, I looked up the distro panel you used for the 011 case and I see the pump and reservoir are integrated into it.

BGreek · Apr 15, 2021

I am in the process of putting a system together myself and find myself having the same conundrum with the same case. I have the following parts, an Intel Core i9 10980XE, getting a RTX3090 down the road but using a GTX 1080ti now, an EKWB 360 XE(60mm thick) and a Corsair Hydro X7 360(54 mm) and a dual D5 pump front distro plate. I plan on water cooling the RTX when I get it so I will be running two separate loops. I was also thinking that I should have the bottom radiator have the fans pull air into the case and the top radiator have the exhaust out. I am not sure if I should use only 1 rear fan as an intake or use 3 side fans as an intake. My logic (if any) is that hot air rises and cold air sinks. So the bottom would pull cooler air through the bottom radiator mix with the air pulled in from either the rear or side fans then exhausted out through the top radiator. Suggestions, critiques? Thanks in advance and yes I did a lot of research but I am still confused.

Shawnb99 · Apr 15, 2021

BGreek said:
I am in the process of putting a system together myself and find myself having the same conundrum with the same case. I have the following parts, an Intel Core i9 10980XE, getting a RTX3090 down the road but using a GTX 1080ti now, an EKWB 360 XE(60mm thick) and a Corsair Hydro X7 360(54 mm) and a dual D5 pump front distro plate. I plan on water cooling the RTX when I get it so I will be running two separate loops. I was also thinking that I should have the bottom radiator have the fans pull air into the case and the top radiator have the exhaust out. I am not sure if I should use only 1 rear fan as an intake or use 3 side fans as an intake. My logic (if any) is that hot air rises and cold air sinks. So the bottom would pull cooler air through the bottom radiator mix with the air pulled in from either the rear or side fans then exhausted out through the top radiator. Suggestions, critiques? Thanks in advance and yes I did a lot of research but I am still confused.

Hot air rises until you introduce fans into the mix and screw it all up. Ignore all thoughts of hot air rises and go with what works best with your set up. I'm all for everything on intake and only rear fans as exhaust

BGreek · Apr 15, 2021

Let me see if I understand this correctly. You say I should have both the lower and upper 360mm radiators with 3 fans each pull air into the case and the one rear fan exhaust? Or do you mean I should also add 3 side fans act as exhaust also?

Shawnb99 · Apr 15, 2021

BGreek said:
Let me see if I understand this correctly. You say I should have both the lower and upper 360mm radiators with 3 fans each pull air into the case and the one rear fan exhaust? Or do you mean I should also add 3 side fans act as exhaust also?

Yes. I'd have both radiators as intake and the rear as exhaust. As for the side I couldn't say though I'd likely put them as intake as well.

Dual Radiator Setup for O11D XL

MNiceGuy

Section31

chas1723

MNiceGuy

Shawnb99

Moose-Tech

Moose-Tech

MNiceGuy

Section31

saltedham

hanzy

MNiceGuy

hanzy

Hardrock

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Zfast4y0u

CGPhoto

BGreek

Shawnb99

BGreek

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