I'm running a Core i7-13700K with an EVGA RTX 3080 Ti Hybrid inside a be quiet! Silent Base 802. The GPU radiator is mounted at the top as exhaust, while the front fans provide intake and the rear fan exhausts. The bottom intake is blocked, and I usually have two hard drives installed in the lower front area, which also restricts airflow.
For the CPU, I'm still using a Noctua NH-D14 with an LGA1700 mounting adapter. It has worked reasonably well, especially because the processor is heavily undervolted, but modern games and warmer summer temperatures are making the system hotter and somewhat noisier than I'd like. The 3080 Ti also produces considerably more heat than the RTX 4070 Ti I previously used.
A friend has offered to sell me a Corsair 240 mm AIO at a low price. The problem is that the GPU already uses a top-mounted radiator, so the CPU radiator would probably need to go in the front as intake. I'm wondering whether running two AIOs is a sensible layout, whether the CPU radiator should go in the front, and whether a 240 mm AIO would provide a meaningful improvement over the NH-D14.
My priority is a cool and quiet system. Should I try the inexpensive CPU AIO, keep the NH-D14, or eventually replace the power-hungry GPU with a more efficient air-cooled model before changing the CPU cooling setup?
2 Answers
Running two AIOs is not inherently a problem. With your current layout, I’d leave the 3080 Ti radiator at the top as exhaust and mount the 240 mm CPU radiator at the front as intake. That gives the GPU’s large heat output a direct path out of the case, while the CPU radiator receives outside air instead of air already warmed by the graphics card.
The tradeoff is that the CPU radiator will slightly warm the air entering the case, but that is probably preferable with a hot 13700K and a 3080 Ti. The hard-drive cages are likely a bigger airflow restriction than the second pump would be.
That said, the NH-D14 is still a capable cooler, so don’t expect a 240 mm AIO to automatically reduce temperatures by 20°C. If the AIO is genuinely cheap, it’s reasonable to test it, but I wouldn’t replace the GPU solely to avoid using two AIOs. Consider a more efficient graphics card later if you want lower power consumption, noise, and overall case heat.
There’s nothing wrong with having two AIOs as long as the radiator placement and airflow make sense. Both the CPU and GPU should remain within their normal thermal limits, and the extra radiator fans will still move air across the motherboard, memory, and storage area.
Before changing coolers, check actual temperatures under sustained CPU and GPU loads rather than judging by how warm the case feels. Modern Intel processors can normally operate into the high 90s under heavy workloads, while graphics cards generally have limits in the upper 80s. Undervolting, sensible power limits, fan curves, and cleaning dust from the system may improve noise and temperatures as much as replacing the NH-D14.
That makes sense. My experience with the 4070 Ti showed that switching to an AIO isn’t automatically better than air cooling. The NH-D14 performed surprisingly well when the graphics card produced less heat, especially for overall system temperatures.
I’ll probably look at a more efficient GPU when prices and my budget make that realistic. I had better overall temperatures with my previous 4070 Ti, even while using the NH-D14, so the GPU’s heat output clearly makes a difference. I may try the 240 mm AIO if the price is low, but I’m not expecting a massive improvement anymore.