[ScavAngel]

Hello, after 6 full years on a gaming laptop (Alienware 17R4), I've decided to get back into the pc building game (no pun intended), "thanks" to Starfield and some very inadequate cooling system engineering, for a portable computer of such raw power (i7 7820k + gtx1080 configuration).

Now, last Monday I ordered all the parts from online retailers, and most of them have arrived already.

The case is a Cooler Master MasterBox TD500 Mesh v2, with 3 good 120mm fans on the front, and plenty of room for the CPU AIO I bought for it: a MasterLiquid ML360mm Illusion, from the same brand.

The 360mm radiator is going to be mounted at the top of the case, with fans set as exhaust, obviously, and to close the airflow management deal, I decided to buy an extra fan to place it on the rear, ideally set as exhaust too.

This is where things gets tricky: I made a mistake.
I ordered a nice 120mm Cooler Master Sickleflow with 62CFM, and ARGB lights to go along with the rest of the rainbow clown show we call Gaming PC these days...
But it's the REVERSE edition, as I only noticed when it arrived the other day, so now if I mount it "as intended" it's going to work as an intake fan.

Sure, I can always mount it backwards, sacrificing the aesthethic and hate myself for it (I'm into design, sorry), or I could start the return process right away, and buy the standard one in the meantime, but I don't have a printer right now, nor the time to go send the package back during working hours.

I still have a couple days before I'll be able to assemble everything and power this thing up, so I was wondering... how much would I REALLY screw things up if I had a 3x front + 1x rear intake fans and 3x top exhaust fans through the radiator configuration?
Wouldn't that be good for the positive pressure at least?

I mean, if the difference in real world usage (but specifically during full load gaming sessions) is 2-3 degrees, is it worth the trouble I mentioned before? Or is it way worse than that, and I will be crucified by the gaming community?

To fully understand what will be going on inside the case, here's the rest of my hardware and a picture of where and how the case will be positioned:

PSU: Thermaltake ThoughPower PF3 80+ Platinum 1050w
Motherboard: MSI MAG x670E Tomahawk Wifi
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D
GPU: SAPPHIRE Nitro+ RX 7900XT Vapor-X OC
RAM: G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 2x16GB DDR5 7800Mhz SSD NVME: Samsung 990 PRO 2TB M.2

As you'll notice from the picture, the top shelf will separate the rear from the top of the case, and that will definitely influence whatever will be going on with the airflow, whether in or out.

Let me know your honest opinions here, the more based on experience the better.
Thank you in advance, and excuse me for the overly long post

 

[Paradigm Shifter]

So long as the hot air exhausts, it won't make an appreciable difference. I've run rear intakes before on an AIO (it helped CPU temperatures and didn't negatively impact internal temps appreciably) - just make sure that if other intakes have filters, you put one on the rear intake as well! There's no point in fussing about dust ingress if one fan is quietly pulling dust in.

Looking at it, a rear exhaust might prove a bad idea if that shelf is as close to the top of the case as it looks like it is, as hot air will get trapped in that corner.

That said, it also looks like that shelf is blocking part of the venting for the roof-mounted AIO, so that might need rethinking also.

 

[ScavAngel]

So long as the hot air exhausts, it won't make an appreciable difference. I've run rear intakes before on an AIO (it helped CPU temperatures and didn't negatively impact internal temps appreciably) - just make sure that if other intakes have filters, you put one on the rear intake as well! There's no point in fussing about dust ingress if one fan is quietly pulling dust in.

Looking at it, a rear exhaust might prove a bad idea if that shelf is as close to the top of the case as it looks like it is, as hot air will get trapped in that corner.

That said, it also looks like that shelf is blocking part of the venting for the roof-mounted AIO, so that might need rethinking also.

Thank you for your quick answer!
Yes, I was planning on ordering a dust filter for the rear intake fan, if I ended up using that solution, and that doesn't seem too crazy on this setup, based on your reply also.

On that last point though, I really don't have much choice over my case placement, meaning it has to stay there as I don't have room anywhere else on my desk... not even under it (which I would still hate, BTW).

That said, here's another pic that might show roughly how much will be "blocked" by the top shelf.
It appears to be roughly 10 to 15% of surface, although I'll know with more precision once I've assembled it, obviously.
I might decide to put input/output tubes on the front side, to minimize the impact. (But the they'll cover the RAM?)

I'm still trying to figure that out...

 

[Paradigm Shifter]

I remember struggling with case location...

That might be OK... the fan pushing air into the shelf will probably be louder as a result. I'd be half tempted to do something a little odd and mount the 360 AIO with five fans (two between the radiator and the top of the case, in the front two positions) and three on the bottom of the radiator. You'd end up with a little pocket of warmer air between the "empty" spot and the case... but if there is room, you might be able to run the fans slower as well.

 

[ScavAngel]

I remember struggling with case location... That might be OK... the fan pushing air into the shelf will probably be louder as a result. I'd be half tempted to do something a little odd and mount the 360 AIO with five fans (two between the radiator and the top of the case, in the front two positions) and three on the bottom of the radiator. You'd end up with a little pocket of warmer air between the "empty" spot and the case... but if there is room, you might be able to run the fans slower as well.

The push-pull solution sure seems like an interesting suggestion, although it requires extra fans and, more importantly, extra room on top between roof and motherboard/RAM, which I'm afraid I don't have (it's a mid tower). You're right about the possible louder output in db that that last fan might have, sure I have to check that out and see if it's negligible or unbearable. It is after the radiator and not directly blocked right after the fan though, so hopefully it's a bit dampened by it... The clearance is less than 5 mm on top, case to shelf, as I was very thorough when I chose which case to buy. I had precisely 50cm of height available, and the TD500 Mesh v2 was the best case possible in that size (for my taste).

 

[Melcar]

As long as there is an exhaust somewhere the difference will de minimal. Maybe more noise, as you will have much more turbulence inside the case as opposed to a simple front to back airflow setup.

 

[trailer park boy]

im ran my rear fan as an intake for years,,bottom and front 2 intake and top was exhaust AIO 240mm, not a game changer ,dont worry about it