Building PCs from my first abacus, but Newbie to watercooling

[kennethsross]

Watercooling newbie question.

Building a new desktop PC - mainly photo-editing (big RAW files) and a wee bit of video.

i9-12900K. 64GB Crucial DDR5 - 4800. Stock Intel video for a couple of months until I get the pennies for a 3070 / 3080.

Here's the Question. I plan to watercool with a 360mm Arctic Liquid Freezer II in the front of an MSI Sekira 100P case.

Here's the newbie question: Does the radiator / fan block replace the three front fan, or does it go on top of them? If it replaces, do two or three of them then go on the top.

Appreciate your help, guys.

 

[kennethsross]

Thanks!

 

[kennethsross]

personally if you only have one radiator I would always put it in the roof as an exhaust if possible. but clearly a 360 rad will not fit in the roof of that case. the 100P looks like there's not a lot of room from front to back so a 3070/3080 might be a tight squeeze once you have a rad and fans in the front.

So maybe a 280mm Liquid Freezer II on the roof?

 

[kennethsross]

Just check clearance as the Arctic Freezer uses a slightly thicker radiator than other AIOs. The most common issue is interfering with the VRM’s heatsinks.
The 280mm will perform pretty close to the 360mm AIO, so if you have to go for it, you wouldn’t be concerned about rad area as much. Going for a 240mm would be another case.

I've got the case out, put the M/B in position, and you're right, a 280 will not clear the VRM heatsink.

But it does look like I can mount a 280 on the front, with pipes at the bottom. Is that a big loss, over top-mounting? (where clearly nothing more than a 240 will fit the case in the top position)