Advice for 011-D airflow

Mr crowley · 21 Feb 2021 at 10:41

Hi
Using a lian-li 011D I currently have just some old gear which i'm using in the system, and i'm looking to improve it. It's currently got no fans in the bottom, 3 intake fans in the side (not very good ones really, akasa vegas R7) and a 240mm corsair H100X mounted at the top in a pull configuration with the supplied fans, there is room for a 360mm rad but as I already had this to hand i've used it towards the rear of the case and blocked off the remaining gap so cool air can't just leave the case. Also i'm currently using an akasa RGB splitter card in a PCI slot, and also an asus xonar sound card. I could potentially replace the RGB splitter now there are cables available, and I would consider getting a private 3D printer somewhere to make me an enclosure for the sound card as a compromise between having unrestricted airflow through the bottom of the case, and still being able to use it as I really like the features of it and the sound quality. I would then put it in the 2nd powers supply spot out of the way and still be able to plug cables in.

Some ideas I had are to have are to get some good non RGB noctua fans in the bottom as intake and use a 360mm rad in the side as exhaust, and I would then put the akasa fans in the top as exhaust since they would not be critical and they do look good, and consider using the rad in a push pull configuration with some RGB fans if there's room.

Another one would be a bit more traditional with a 360mm rad at the top as exhaust and all other fans as intake. this would probably mean not using the akasa fans and getting new ones as the rad would need static pressure and the whole point of this is to get better airflow which would leave nowhere for them to go, there is a possibility then of leaving the PCI expansion cards in place and not using bottom mounted fans.

It's a great case for options but since I like my PCI sound card it's always going to be a compromise, has anybody done anything similar?

bazman25 · 23 Feb 2021 at 21:30

i have the same case and I've gone for the traditional layout 360mm rad on top exhaust and the rest intake but like you i have a pci sound card below the GPU which is annoying but i cant see a way round it. Temps seem ok though but im a little disappointed with the cpu temps but this could be because i have a 3700x which ive read get a little hotter. Here's a picture of the layout https://i.imgur.com/ym9eFxp.jpg?1 The rad and side intake fans are deepcool cf120 plus fans and bottom intakes are arctics ones that came with my aio cooler

Mr crowley · 25 Feb 2021 at 19:34

Thanks for that, i'm a bit surprised a 360mm rad can't do a great job on a 3700X! I might go for the side exhaust then as at least some of the air going through the radiator will be fresh. Just means a bit more of an outlay, but it should do a nice job

southy1978 · 25 Feb 2021 at 19:55

I have 3 x corsair QL120's on the side as intake, 3 x QL 120's on the bottom as intake & 3 noctua NF-F12 ippc in the top as exhaust through a 360 rad. This is keeping a threadripper 2950x & RTX 3090 FE cooled perfectly.

Awahwah · 25 Feb 2021 at 21:10

Same setup as @southy1978 but using Vardars. Works fine.

Mr crowley · 25 Feb 2021 at 21:12

Ok that's good to know, southy that's a lot of TDP so if it can do that, it can definitely cool my 3600x and 3070

southy1978 · 25 Feb 2021 at 21:54

Should be cool as a cucumber with those parts!

pc-guy · 25 Feb 2021 at 23:59

I really think the side ones should be exhaust.

I can’t really see the value of those being intakes. How is that air going to circulate in the case and over the motherboard and cool anything other than just being sucked out by the closest top fan.

I think the correct setup for fans should be just top and bottom fans with top exhaust and bottom in. Side ones only used if you got rads there and use that as exhaust. And if you do use the sides then you don’t need bottom fans cos the -ve pressure will suck air in from the bottom anyway

one last thing is that the top is so close to the sides, some of the hot exhaust will be dragged into the side intake if that is used as intake so very inefficient.

Mr crowley · 6 Mar 2021 at 18:00

Thanks for the input, i've managed to get a lian li galahad 360 which I will side mount as exhaust, and i'm waiting for some noctua nf-p12 1700rpm fans to arrive for the intake at the bottom and all the splitter cables I need. The lian li cooler comes with splitters for itself anyway. I think I can fit the noctua fans underneath the sound card (only just!) but ill have to replace the rgb card with a splitter cable which i'm waiting for. hopefully some time next week I can put it all together, and see if the impulse gets the better of me to find a 5800x before doing the cooler!

Drumroll · 6 Mar 2021 at 20:24

Tried all that with the O11D, O11 XL and now O11 Air.
Best performance rad at the top, exhaust.
Bottom and side as intake.
More air coming in, would force the air to get out faster.
What I get from the 3900X here is that, unless running benchmarks, leaving voltage on AUTO would be fine, even with PBO on.
But if your CPU will be maxed out constantly, a simple offset negative, 0.05 or 0.1 should shave at least 10C, and boost higher. Just don't be too greed and starve your CPU of voltage.