Get rid of fan shrouds and go push pull?

3t3P · 23 Apr 2020 at 18:12

Got GT three pin 1400rpm typhoons in PULL exhausting air out the top of my case. The underside of the fans are connected to phobya 20mm 120mm fan sized spacers which are then connected to the top of the XSPC radiator.

Between all interfaces is insulating foam to provide a proper seal.

The setup works well but was constructed in an era where people used spacers/shrouds as the dreaded 'deadzone' was doing the rounds.

Now my rad, RX360 V1.0 is;

1) 60mm thick and 2) has built in plenum chambers of 8mm or so on both sides 3) a low FPI Rad I think it's only 8-10 FPI at the most i.e it's easy to 'drive'/doesn't need loads of static pressure

I am wondering out of boredom really if doing away with the phobya spacers for some fans in PUSH on the underside of the rad to feed the Gentle typhoons is worth doing?

I'm thinking really it will look cool but am not expecting miracles with temps. Maybe 2-3 degrees if I am lucky.

For what it's worth i'd add 120mm RGB NB E-loops in PUSH.

Thoughts and feelings watercoolers?

Just about see the spacers in this pic:

3t3P · 23 Apr 2020 at 22:07

Turns out I don't think this is feesible as the phobya spacers are 20mm thick. If they are switched instead for 25mm thick fans the radiator will strike the motherboard upper components.

So only way to get fans on the inside would be to get rid of the GT's, which seems daft.

Edit some of the GT fan bearings are now intermittently noisy...

clone · 29 Apr 2020 at 09:35

Push pull gives very little benefit anyway mate I've tryed it and wasn't to impressed.

alec · 29 Apr 2020 at 09:40

What about reversing fans so that they take cool outside air and blow into radiator?
Achieve two things. Fans will work in push and radiator gets cooled by colder air.
Ambient air inside case is several degrees warmer than outside.

clone · 29 Apr 2020 at 09:49

What I would do is fit the rad to the case no fans.then put your fans on the inside pulling cool air from the outside,that way you cool the rad and it will blow air over the components,don't worry if the air is a little warm this won't be a problem
,this is how I'll be doing it when I get the rest of my bits.

3t3P · 29 Apr 2020 at 10:26

Yeh push pull on charts can be better but not always and even then not too much to write home about.

I think the fans are good as they are, working in the direction of heat rising rather than fighting it.

What complicates matters is the screws holding the MNPC Tech CNC grille at the top of the case actually screw into the GT's. So I can't use traditional radiator screws into my case as I then wouldn't be able to use the grille.
You'll see in the pics below, I actually had to mod the GTs so the radiator screws could be put in. Fans that have no connecting plastic between the mounting holes on either side are there fore ideal.

Here you can see the mounting mechanism I had to arrive at. MNPC tech screws above into the GTs. Then separate radiator screws underneath.

Here you can juuust see the top of the radiator screw bolting the GTs to the radiator through the spacer.

I am still considering RGB Eloops in push on the underside of the rad just need to figure out how I will mount everything. I may need to replace the phobya shrouds with 20mm fans so that I can still screw into a fan from the top of the case.

So I could put something like GS120 (20mm thick) fans for the grille screws to screw into, put these fans on super low so they're quiet.

marlies · 4 May 2020 at 16:48

Have a look at Noctua NF-A12x15 (chromax if you want all black), they should resolve your clearance issue. They have the same CFM as NF-F12 (used to be one of the go to 120mm radiator fan after the GT was EoLed, and before NF-A12x15 came along), but lower static pressure (should suffice for a low FPI radiator like yours).

Also, fans are better at pushing air against resistance than pulling, you should get a low single digit degrees of improvement if you just reconfigure your current setup (it will make cleaning harder).

You might be able to go with normal 25mm thick RGB fans on the push side too if that tickle your fancy depending on clearance afterwards.

3t3P · 8 May 2020 at 00:08

Thanks.

I think the GT bearings are ok.

Noise I was hearing was GPU coil whine from folding. Did sound like it was from a fan hub though at one point!

For now system stays as it is. Interesting re fans being better in push, suppose males some sense. However I'd did seal everything with insulation strip so it's much more efficient than is typical in pull.