O11 vs O11 XL for triple 360

Soldato
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Just a quick question

I've seen people do triple 360 builds with the standard O11 but it does look kinda cramped inside, not sure how good the airflow really is.

Does using the O11 XL make more sense or is the standard O11 perfectly fine?

The XL seems to be an O11 that's a little bit wider and a fair bit taller, so I guess the extra height means its easier to work with the tubes?
 
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Not sure why you need triple rads? Standard O-11 is fine for 2x 360mm

I have a 500w GPU that I want to give every opportunity to not run above 45c.
Also have a 250w cpu and VRM to cool

I am open to using just two rads but then I'd want 60mm thick ones and I've been told that 60mm rads should be used with push and pull fans and the O11 isnt tall enough (cause that's 110mm for rad and fans on top and 110mm at bottom)
 
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Associate
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Just a quick question

I've seen people do triple 360 builds with the standard O11 but it does look kinda cramped inside, not sure how good the airflow really is.

Does using the O11 XL make more sense or is the standard O11 perfectly fine?

The XL seems to be an O11 that's a little bit wider and a fair bit taller, so I guess the extra height means its easier to work with the tubes?

You could go with this option

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/forums/threads/ek-external-cooling-unit-for-lian-li-o11d.18918656/
 
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"
O11D External Cooling Unit

This external cooling unit has a rather small target market as it is designed to be paired with Lian Li's O11D Dynamic Case. Sitting beneath the chassis, sharing the same design aesthetic, the EKWB solution even adopts the screw-in feet of the O11D. Inside the unit is a built-in D5 and a small distribution plate that channels the coolant between the two radiators that can be mounted inside. That is a good solution for this case if you want to max it out with powerful components as radiator space inside the O11D is limited."
 
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"
O11D External Cooling Unit

This external cooling unit has a rather small target market as it is designed to be paired with Lian Li's O11D Dynamic Case. Sitting beneath the chassis, sharing the same design aesthetic, the EKWB solution even adopts the screw-in feet of the O11D. Inside the unit is a built-in D5 and a small distribution plate that channels the coolant between the two radiators that can be mounted inside. That is a good solution for this case if you want to max it out with powerful components as radiator space inside the O11D is limited."

Why would you not just go for an XL at that point? I just can't see the value in having a separate unit for it when you're likely to have to mode some holes in the bottom of the o11 just to plumb it in.
 
Soldato
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Why would you not just go for an XL at that point? I just can't see the value in having a separate unit for it when you're likely to have to mode some holes in the bottom of the o11 just to plumb it in.

I won't be going for that because the XL is big enouugh for my needs.

However, in absolute terms - adding that unit means you can put 4 big radiators in the build (2 in the case and 2 in the external unit), the XL only allows 3
 
Soldato
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It's targeted at the o11 regular though, not the XL. I can't think of many setups that would need more than 2x 60mm 360's and a slim 360 in a single setup.

And knowing EK, the external unit will be priced high enough that buying a bigger case would make more sense
 
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On my XL build I went for:
- XE 360 bottom with 3 fans pulling air in
- PE 360 top with 3 fans pulling air in
- Rear fan set to exhaust
- Side 3 fans set to exhaust
- Front distro

At the moment all that cooling is for a 5950x (monoblock so VRM too) only as I am waiting on water blocks for 3090's. Under load, temperature of coolant never goes over 33 degrees. I have my top and bottom fans set to react to coolant temp. so they never spin more than 25-30%. Rear and side fans set to react to the higher of the motherboard temp. sensors to exhaust warm air from the case; generally these never go above about 40% and when I eventually have water blocks on my GPU's, I will run these off coolant temp. too. All in all, very quiet setup.

I would not go for the regular O11 as in my experience, XL is just about big enough for an XE on the bottom and definitely not on top. I have considered adding a third rad on the side but I don't think I will.
 
Soldato
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On my XL build I went for:
- XE 360 bottom with 3 fans pulling air in
- PE 360 top with 3 fans pulling air in
- Rear fan set to exhaust
- Side 3 fans set to exhaust
- Front distro

At the moment all that cooling is for a 5950x (monoblock so VRM too) only as I am waiting on water blocks for 3090's. Under load, temperature of coolant never goes over 33 degrees. I have my top and bottom fans set to react to coolant temp. so they never spin more than 25-30%. Rear and side fans set to react to the higher of the motherboard temp. sensors to exhaust warm air from the case; generally these never go above about 40% and when I eventually have water blocks on my GPU's, I will run these off coolant temp. too. All in all, very quiet setup.

I would not go for the regular O11 as in my experience, XL is just about big enough for an XE on the bottom and definitely not on top. I have considered adding a third rad on the side but I don't think I will.


I've now ordered the stuff. Gone with the XL case, an EK PE 360 triple radiator for both Top and Bottom and an EK SE 360 radiator for the side

The EK loop configurator says that this build will have a cooling power of 1400w, it estimates the heat output of my PC to be 750w and estimates the load coolant temp will be 28c but I think that depends on the room temp


What's the best fan configuration for this build? I've seen people say 3 intake at bottom, 3 intake at side and 3 exhaust at top but that's for air cooled, what about when there is radiators?
 
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You can fit a 60mm rad in the bottom and side but only a 30 in the top iirc. I did my build last weekend and have 2x 60mm's in the side and bottom with the top empty (3 rads seemed a little excessive even with a GPU upgrade on the horizon!).

What's the best fan configuration for this build? I've seen people say 3 intake at bottom, 3 intake at side and 3 exhaust at top but that's for air cooled, what about when there is radiators?

Nothing wrong with a bit of positive pressure imo, chuck all the rads on intake and leave the rear for exhaust.
 
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You can go triple 360 no issues on the XL. Much easier to run tubing too.
I would say you can go 60mm thixh bottom, 45mm side and 45mm top. Personally I used 3 45mm thick alphacool, but using a top 30mm would allow easier tubing.
The standard O11, would limit your options, click vem for an AIO (had to mod the side to allow the 360 AIO to be at the side of my O11 air (moved from a XL to an Air).
 
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You can go triple 360 no issues on the XL. Much easier to run tubing too.
I would say you can go 60mm thixh bottom, 45mm side and 45mm top. Personally I used 3 45mm thick alphacool, but using a top 30mm would allow easier tubing.
The standard O11, would limit your options, click vem for an AIO (had to mod the side to allow the 360 AIO to be at the side of my O11 air (moved from a XL to an Air).

Do you think 6 fan push/pull is possible with a 40mm rad on the side?

I'm thinking of adding more fans that way, caause I can still change my order.

Bottom: 360x40 with 3 fans (intake)
Top: 360x40 with 3 fans (Exhaust)
Side: 360x40 with 6 fans (intake
Rear: 1 fan (Exhaust)
 
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No much point doing push pull with thatuch rad area, anyway. Push pull would be only be recommended when rad is really restrictive (high density fins) or really thick (at least 60mm), or the rad area is limited and you need the most performance possible.
The side rad on mine was on the secondary chamber (PSU area), and fans on main chamber (motherboard side).
The maximum thickness for secundary chamber is 50mm. So either a very thin rad (25mm) plus standard fan (25mm), but them no reason to push pull for such thin rad, and performance wouldn't be great, just wasted space with such rad, if a thicker one is possible there, or you can try rad and fan in main chamber, and fan on secundary chamber (your push-pull), but clearance for the rad inlet can be an issue, as they'll be very close to the rad on the bottom.
Hope I made myself clear :D

Also, going soft tubing or hard tubing can change few things. Hard tubing can be trickier to work with, but may allow sharper turns. Soft tubing is easier to work with, but very sharp turns may affect the flow (kink).

My experience was with soft tubing.
 
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Do you think 6 fan push/pull is possible with a 40mm rad on the side?
Like I said, I've got a 60mm on the side currently. As the push are on the other side of the mounting, dropping the rad to a 40 means you'reo nly using another 5mm of depth and there's definitely that much spare in my current setup. I'll post a pic in a bit.
 
Soldato
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I've settled on just using 3 fans, but now I need to know what fans to use.

my thermaltake riing plus rgb fans don't seem to be very good at pressure with low rpm.

which fans can still push high airflow at like 1200rpm? Ignoring the Noctua NF-A12x25 because that fan only comes in brown - I'm only interested in plain black or black with RGB fans.

I am aware of the Thermaltake Toughfan 12, it's a A12-25 copycat that comes in black with nearly identical performance and so far this appears to be my front runner for new fans, however I can't find stock anywhere
 
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