Best config for my Nzxt Phantom?

Bone9

Bone9

Bone9

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Hi all I want to change my Corsair h55 so something better/quieter.

What would be the best for performance and less noise?

Currently got 1 x 200mm roof fan exhausting, h55 rad mounted to the rear (push) exhausting, 140mm intake at the front bottom and 2 x 120mm side intake fans over the hdd bays.

Shall I get another 200mm roof fan as a 2nd exhaust and mount a 240mm rad under them with 2 x 120mm pushing up?

Or replace my h55 with a different brand 120mm rad in the same location but as an intake pushing in so it exhausts through the roof with an addition 200mm roof fan?

Thinking of removing the small unused hdd bay. Any other suggestions as what would be best? Thank you.

 
That's strange, no filter at the front - that usually where air intake occurs!

Although it sounds odd, it's normally the case that you blow hot FILTERED air in through the radiator so it doesn't get clogged. However, in your case you don't want to be putting coolant pipes on the side (I assume by side, you mean the removable panel?).

The 240 rad at the top blowing out will increace CPU cooling performance, but do you need it?. If your temps are fine, your existing config of a single 120 rad at the back with case fans at the top blowing hot air out, and case fans at the front and sides blowing cold air in is just as good though

For quiet operation, get some corsair sp120 QE (quiet edition) fans for the rads. Get the AF versions for case fans. These really kick ass and with PWM control, you can turn them well down so you don't now they're on!
 
I took the leap into watercooling just november past - been meaning to post up pics recently, what I have is a thin 360mm rad on the top, removed both HDD cages on the bottom with a medium thickness 240mm rad (bought an adapter from here that lets you connect 2 ssds and 1 HDD ina 5 1/4 in bay) with my pump mounted to the bottom of the 5 1/4" bay (I do lose a fan but its worth it) - I'l see if can post a pic up actually gimme a sec.
 
The case originally didn't come with a front fan fitted. I fitted a 140mm fz140 nzxt fan. I could add a filter to the front of the fan if required?

Should I add another fan to the top?

The only reason for the water cooler upgrade is because of the noisy pump, after about 8 hrs it starts to make a slight rattle noise. A restart fixes this but its very annoying. This is the 2nd h55 I've had as the first one started to rattle constantly so rma'd it. I think I need to try a different brand of cooler to try and cure the noise issue.

Currently the h55 has this fan fitted...

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/akas...per-silent-120mm-fan-4-pin-pwm-fg-057-ak.html

The top and side fans are the stock nzxt ones.

Can someone give me some advise on how to set up my fan curve profiles for the case and cpu please? How do these look?

Cpu Rad


Front fan


Side fans


Top
 
remove both HDD bays,and place your drives into the 5.25 inch bays with some adapters.

If possible mount the aio as an intake onto the top of the case,and buy a seperate 120mm dustfilter if nessecary.
 
MrMD said:
remove both HDD bays,and place your drives into the 5.25 inch bays with some adapters.

If possible mount the aio as an intake onto the top of the case,and buy a separate 120mm dust filter if necessary.
Click to expand...

I don't mind removing the small drive bay but the large is staying. Would it be better to have a static pressure fan in the front due to the hard drive cage in the way? Also want to get rid of this cooler for one with a quieter pump, maybe a 240mm rad.
 
Bone9 said:
Just been running prime for 30 minutes and the cpu package peaked @ 90 degrees. Is that too hot for 100% use?

My system temps were fine. What do you think of the fan profiles above? When should I set the fans to go 100%?

Thinking of this in the top...

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/antec-h1200-kuhler-240mm-aio-liquid-cooler-hs-014-an.html

Or would that be no good? I don't want a corsair cooler due to the pump noise of this one.
Click to expand...

Dont use prime,it uses AVX instructions which will force a higher vcore than what is set in the bios.

Use realbench or x264,these are far more realistic barometers of real world temps under load and wont risk running silly voltages through the cpu.


Anything under 80c is fine for 24/7 use.

All aios have pump noise,its a myth that AIO'S are 'quiet',a good aircooler will give you near identical performance and a lower noise profile.Get a DH-15 or something similar if noise is a priority ;)


Bone9 said:
I don't mind removing the small drive bay but the large is staying. Would it be better to have a static pressure fan in the front due to the hard drive cage in the way.
Click to expand...

A static pressure fan in the front would be a little better if removing the large HDD bay is a no go.
 
MrMD said:
Dont use prime,it uses AVX instructions which will force a higher vcore than what is set in the bios.

Use realbench or x264,these are far more realistic barometers of real world temps under load and wont risk running silly voltages through the cpu.


Anything under 80c is fine for 24/7 use.

All aios have pump noise,its a myth that AIO'S are 'quiet',a good aircooler will give you near identical performance and a lower noise profile.Get a DH-15 or something similar if noise is a priority ;)




A static pressure fan in the front would be a little better if removing the large HDD bay is a no go.
Click to expand...

Thanks. The normal pump noise is fine it's just mine will start to rattle after its been running for 8hrs ish. So as I peaked at 90 I should upgrade my cooler then.
 
Bone9 said:
Thanks. The normal pump noise is fine it's just mine will start to rattle after its been running for 8hrs ish. So as I peaked at 90 I should upgrade my cooler then.
Click to expand...

If your using prime on a haswell cpu your gonna peak way way higher than you would ever see in real world application,test with Realbench and see what temps you get.

Running Prime on my haswell runs my cpu about 10-15c hotter than any game or realistic workload,and thats under custom water.
 
MrMD said:
If your using prime on a haswell cpu your gonna peak way way higher than you would ever see in real world application,test with Realbench and see what temps you get.

Running Prime on my haswell runs my cpu about 10-15c hotter than any game or realistic workload,and thats under custom water.
Click to expand...

I'll download realbench and test after dinner and report back. Thanks. Do you have any tip's on setting up the case and cpu fan curves please?
 
Just ran the bench mark and a stress test on Realbench.

Benchmark max cpu temp was 64 degrees.
Stress test for 15min max cpu temp was 70 degrees.

 
Last edited:
Bone9 said:
Just ran the bench mark and a stress test on Realbench.

Benchmark max cpu temp was 64 degrees.
Stress test for 15min max cpu temp was 70 degrees.

Click to expand...

^^ thats much better ;)

If your really wanting to maximize cooling potential you want to mount the AIO rad as an intake.In its current config the hot air produced by your 970 is then getting sucked in by the aio fan and passed through the radiator,for maximum cooling you want to be pulling cold air from outside the case into your radiator.
 
Bone9 said:
I want rid of this aio so was thinking of the above rad mounted in the top? What do you think?
Click to expand...

Honestly i would never recommend anyone buy an aio unless they have a very specific requirement for them(Sli for gpus,ITX build ect). I would always recommend an air cooler instead like a DH-15/Dark rock pro ect

The only aio that i would bother with personally is the Nzxt kraken range as they have variable pump speed so one of the downsides of aios is mitigated(pump noise) aswell as semi decent fans.
 
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