Be Quiet 500DX
- Thread starter Rob43
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Was a faulty case. Swapped it out and now my board fits perfect.
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I know I am reviving this from the dead but is that the 240 or 280 Artic Freezer II?
I have this same case and a 3090, I am wanting to put this cooler in but I am trying to find what a 280 mounted in front would look like clearance wise in that exact configuration. If you have a 280 posted on the photo above, it looks like I could accomplish what I’m trying to achieve.
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That is a Arctic Freezer II 280mm. The case has had that Asus 3080 and also an FE 3080 in with a 3800x and then a 5800x (hot little CPU).
Today it has an Arctic 240mm in the top and a 5800x3d with a FE4090 (a similar size to the FE 3090)
I did this as initial sizing suggested the 4090 would not fit but having done it the 4090 would fit with that 280mm in the front, all be it with a few mm to spare. However, the 240mm rad really does a good job so I'll be leaving it like this. The 4090 does not get anywhere near the temps of the 3080, and the 5800x3d is cooler than the 5800x too.
So I would say it depends on your usage as if I did this again I would go with the 240mm/top. I initially had the 240mm in with the 4090 and the 5800x (which is hot) and it coped just as well as the 280mm as mostly I game. The main reason to go 280mm and have it at the front (won't fit in top due to clearance) is if you are doing sustained heavy CPU loads where you need more heat-soak, otherwise I would go 240/top and give the GPU the benefit of cool air. The AIO headers are the same so and all the radiators give you is more heat capacity and surface area to dissipate heat build-up.
The other thing you can see in this pic is the extra 120mm fan I have in the front at the bottom, while the top two are 140mm. You have to file/sand off a few mm on the 120 to get it to fit. I did this with teh 280 to get extra bottom airflow in as the radiator does restrict it a bit.
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Oh I will have to look into that 120mm fan trick to help out my GPU. I currently have the two 140mm that come with the case in front as well. I may do that when I get the AIO and it sounds like I need to decide on 240 top mount vs 28 front mount. My CPU temp has always been my priority mainly because my GPU just never gets hot. I never see GPU temps above 65 degrees because I have a pretty good undervolt applied that keeps the power draw down, but if I add a radiator in the front that could change. My current air cooler on my CPU does well to keep the CPU in the mid to low 60s but if I am playing a CPU intensive game like DCS it is nothing to see it spike to the high 70s. So I guess I would need to see the difference in GPU temp if I added a radiator to the front vs how much of a difference top vs front mounting the radiator would make on CPU temps.That is a Arctic Freezer II 280mm. The case has had that Asus 3080 and also an FE 3080 in with a 3800x and then a 5800x (hot little CPU).
Today it has an Arctic 240mm in the top and a 5800x3d with a FE4090 (a similar size to the FE 3090)
I did this as initial sizing suggested the 4090 would not fit but having done it the 4090 would fit with that 280mm in the front, all be it with a few mm to spare. However, the 240mm rad really does a good job so I'll be leaving it like this. The 4090 does not get anywhere near the temps of the 3080, and the 5800x3d is cooler than the 5800x too.
So I would say it depends on your usage as if I did this again I would go with the 240mm/top. I initially had the 240mm in with the 4090 and the 5800x (which is hot) and it coped just as well as the 280mm as mostly I game. The main reason to go 280mm and have it at the front (won't fit in top due to clearance) is if you are doing sustained heavy CPU loads where you need more heat-soak, otherwise I would go 240/top and give the GPU the benefit of cool air. The AIO headers are the same so and all the radiators give you is more heat capacity and surface area to dissipate heat build-up.
The other thing you can see in this pic is the extra 120mm fan I have in the front at the bottom, while the top two are 140mm. You have to file/sand off a few mm on the 120 to get it to fit. I did this with teh 280 to get extra bottom airflow in as the radiator does restrict it a bit.
What kind of temps are you seeing with the 5800X3D? Did you mount the AOI block in the offset position for the AMD CPU? I have that CPU as well, I mainly play DCS World which if you haven't played it is a military flight simulator that is very CPU intensive. They actually just released the first version of multithreading today so that is helping with performance but now that I am using more cores instead of single core like the sim used to us, I am getting temps in the high 70s, which I know for this CPU is fine but I also plan to add VR to my flight sim rig in the near future which as I am sure you know is very taxing.
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The FE 3090 is 313mm long, while the FE 4090 is 303mm long so I don't think you can fit it in with the front mounted Arctic Freezer II.
I use the AIO in offset position, this is especially helpful.
To mount front or top is quite the debate. I was very much for front mounting but after being forced to top mount I am a convert.
I think even if your GPU is hot, with good airflow it does not hurt the CPU that much. Just mount the AIO as forward as you can and have a fan at the top of the front as that pushes cool air straight under the AIO and the hot GPU air gets pushed to the rear of the case (with the 500DX you can have a 140mm exhaust)
I have rehoused my 5800x + FE 3080 in another case and I put a top mounted 240mm Freezer II in and it is just fine (case I used would not take the 280 and I preferred the better airflow on the GPU).
With the 5800x3d the 240mm is more than enough in my view.
If you are air cooling then the main difference going Freezer II will be the offset, as that increases the heat transfer potential (so a few degrees) and a radiator does take longer to become heat soaked. AIR/pipes are faster to respond but tend to get heat soaked sooner. Also with an FE 3090 the hot air from the GPU rear fan gets blows straight into the air cooler.
If I remember right the 5800x would run in the 60-70, it just gets hot if you even look at it. With something like Cinibench R23 long run it will push into low 80s. This is same with either AIO and I would say the difference in long runs was only a few degrees.
The 5800x3d is cooler and tends to stay in the 60s. With top end from Cinibench R23 (like teh 10min run)
If you have a 5800x3d you can undervolt the cores using PBO2 Tuner, and I have mine at -30 on each core. It runs at 4450MHz with this. It is also useful for dialling in core undervolts as you don't have to reboot to change bios.
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Just tested mine and I think the 240mm top mounted will be fine.
5800x3d did a max of 73C in Cinibench R23 10min multicore run, room temp was 20C
Also in Cyberpunk 2077, 4k all max, Dlss Quality and Frame generation.. max 52C CPU @ 38-40% usage hitting 4450MHz on clocks, GPU-4090 was 61C @99% usage.
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Thanks for that info and running those tests! I did some measuring and I would have enough room to mount the radiator in front and it would leave me with just barely over 8mm of clearance between the rad and my 3090 (Gigabyte Gaming OC) so that configuration would work. After seeing your tests though it seems like a 240 top mounted is more than capable of taming the 5800X3D and that would allow me to keep my front fans dedicated to keeping my GPU cool. Both the CPU and GPU are undervolted so that helps. My only concern is I have the MSI Mag X570S Tomahawk motherboard which has very tall VRM heat sinks. I don't know that the radiator and fans could be mounted far enough left (towards the glass side of the case) to allow for VRM clearance. The radiator and the fans would 100% hang down below the VRM so if its too wide it will hit. I'll have to try and take some measurements and see if that will be an issue.
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I have an Asus B550-F and that also has a chonky heatsinks. Looking at it the radiator will miss your big heatsink and be a few cm clear of the lower ones. You can always sight down from teh top of the case where the 120mm radiator would line up.
Here is a pic of how I fitted mine, as I pulled it as close to the front as possible.
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The 280mm in the front is always an option.
Also a £40 Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE would be fine too I expect.
Also a £40 Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE would be fine too I expect.
According to the review from Gamers Nexus, top performance and great CPU Cooler. Was quieter than the NH-D15, and more efficient. Not by great margin, true, but considering its price, the go to cooler.