ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 420 AM4 Front Mounting

[focus130]

Been thinking of getting the Artic Liquid Freezer II 360 for my 5950x. However, it seems to be out of stock everywhere. The 420 seems to be available. However, as my case can only accomodate a 420mm at the front it would mean mounting it as an intake not exhaust.

I know the topic has been done to death, but just wondered what people opinions of mounting like this are? My GPU is a RTX3090, and the videos I have watched suggest that it would mean increasing the GPU temperature by a few degrees.

 

[LuckyBenski]

A lot of it is about planning - that's a high TDP card, so it may result in a lot of heat inside the case if you go intake on the radiator. Good exhaust will be important.

That said, there's no reason you can't use the front as exhaust for the radiator and get intake from somewhere else. If you can get an intake or two directed at the motherboard VRMs, and something supplying air to the graphics card, you could have "inverted" airflow. Really, the convention for front intake and top/rear exhaust has been around a very long time and is somewhat dated IMO now that cases are much better ventilated.

It can't hurt to experiment - with a full water loop on my CPU and GPU, I tried front intake, as well as front exhaust with the top as intake. It was only about 1°C different. I settled on a closed top, front intake, and rear exhaust, because I found internal case temperatures better. Effectively went for a "straight through" airflow model.

I would check first though, that the 420 would actually fit. A 420mm radiator is bigger than 3x140mm fans and you'll need room for the tank and tubing to be routed.

 

[kidloco]

I have my 1080TI hooked up to a 280AIO,

Using an Artic Liquid Freezer II 360 for my CPU at the front, setup as intake.

The Kraken X63 280 is at the top, setup as exhaust.

I also have a 120mm Noctua fan at the back of the case for exhaust as well.

Temps are great. GPU will max out at 50 when really pushed. CPU is nice and low as well.