End of Year PC Build

rewindbutton has been on point, and I didn't read to the end so apologies if this has been mmentioned -

You are fighting convection. Invert your exhaust to the top, intake on bottom. Even if you are using an AIO and the radiator is on top, your GPU will be cooler in this configuration with a negligible increase in CPU temp, vs how you have it where the GPU will suffer.

My case, L-L PC011B, has three Noctua Chromax A12x15 as intake on bottom (two of them blowing cool air directly into the intake fans on the 3070 Gaming X-trio), the three Corsair ML120 fans that came with my H150i as intake on the side (too loud as rad fans) and 3 Phantek F120MPs (great fans, very pleased) as exhaust on the radiator. This is the final version of this build, and I am happy with it.

I initially tried to build it as radiator side intake, but the size of my GPU prevents this. I had to use thin fans on bottom regardless of direction they flow, as full size fans down there impede motherboard I/O.

I then built it as you intended, with airflow fighting convection. My CPU under simple CPUID benchmarking was 1°c cooler, and the GPU 7° warmer. These results were reflected in some gaming tests (CP2077, ME3MP, Alpha Protocol (lol)). I found this unacceptable, and reassembled an almost third time.

So, FWIW, try to use convection in your airflow design.

Ok then lets see...
Now to choose the fans...
First throwing away the Rosewill fans -junk not using.
Now as to setup... maybe this:
Maybe get Noctua NF for intake -I think that is 1200 RPM
And go with the NF Industrial 3000 RPM for Exhausts?

Interesting case... Never used a 230mm fan before, might be really quiet if it moves air well, low rpms, but I don't know anything there.

Here is the cooling potential of that rig, according to neweggy -



Looking at that, and considering your plan for a horizontal layout, there is no "bottom" intake. So, for an all air cooled rig, avoiding a vortex is a little tricky!

Sorry if you have already explained this, but why are you wanting to go horizontal with this? I believe it is not optimal for best cooling, but you may have a valid reason.

3.

This thread is going so fast I can't keep up! I'll just make a few general comments.

- illusivechad has a point about convection, but since the case is laying flat, this shouldn't be an issue. He's also right about making adjustments after the build, if the cooling isn't up to snuff.

- to balance the fans, check the manufacturer's spec sheets for cfm ratings.

- I like the split design, it's the best one yet and gives you more granularity. Dell used to make cases like that.

- you'll always get turbulence when the air flow hits a wall. In the case of the split design, it shouldn't matter much though.

- I thought you were going to cut the bottom of the case open?

One thing that I would recommend is to update your BIOS to the latest version (F13h) so it gets the AGESA 1.2.0.2 microcode update.

AGESA 1.2.0.2 actually fixes most of the PCIe 4.0 and USB connectivity problems. You definitely want to have that.

Unfortunately B550 only supports Ryzen 3000, 4000G (OEM only), and 5000 CPUs. To use the Athlon 3000G, you need to use an older chipset like the B450 or X470.

Still, your mobo might be able to complete the POST with the 5800X if it already came with a relatively recent BIOS. Otherwise, you can use Gigabyte's BIOS flashback feature, I think it's called Q-Flash.

check the manufacturer webpage, using a different PC and look up your model/series.  For example, Gigabyte lists their BIOS versions and dates of release.

www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/AMD-B550

Yeah, I knew that was the page, and I'm glad you found it....I just looked it up in a hurry.  But I'm glad you found it.

Very happy with my Aorus x570 board. Need to pull my mobo speaker out though (didn't come with the board, so not their fault), getting tired of that chirp hehe.

I have an old Lian-Li PC33 case laying around. You should buy it from me and mod that, the thing is awesome.

Wait, it's not for sale! Because it's awesome. But you are inspiring me to mod it for better cooling 8)

My final intuition about your cooling design with that case in a horizontal config -

The "top" fans should be your exhaust. If you use them as intake, and the traditional "back" and perhaps another side/front fan, you run the risk of creating a hot loop into your cooling system. The intake on top will be drawing in hot exhaust as much as it will fresh air.

This being my interpretation, I would max out your exhaust with 120/140mm fans out the "top" panel, and everything else as intake. Should actually create a good cooling I think. As rewindbutton has said, this will require balancing your fans either by rating or by settings. You may want a Corsair Commander or some other real PWM controller with a software interface, beyond your BIOS fan settings, but that depends on your concerns with noise.