I just picked up the Arctic Cooling Liquid Freezer III Pro 360 for my Ryzen 7 7800X3D and I'm planning to install it in my Lian Li Lancool 216 case. Previously, I had a Liquid Freezer II 240 mounted on top with the fans pulling air in and pushing it through the radiator. However, the manual for the new Liquid Freezer suggests mounting the fans below the radiator, sucking air through it instead. I'm a bit concerned that this could lead to pulling in hot air from the GPU area. What's the best way to set this up?
6 Answers
Thanks for all the input! I know I tend to overthink these things. I think I'll stick with the pre-assembled setup then. Keeps it easy for installation too—no need to flip fans or deal with the ARGB wiring again!
If you mount the AIO as exhaust, it might pull in warmer air from the GPU, but your CPU shouldn’t have overheating issues. It's all about balancing temperatures—front intake is ideal for the CPU while top exhaust is better for the GPU. I personally run my AIO as a front intake in a push-pull setup to keep things cool!
If you're pulling air in from outside and pushing it into the case, that could mess with the airflow from your GPU. Generally, hot air rises, so the manual's suggestion to pull air through the radiator should work fine. Sure, it might raise CPU temps by a few degrees, but nothing to panic over!
Haha, I just got the same case and cooler! Can’t wait for my 7800X3D to show up later today!
You're in for a treat! That CPU is incredible. I’ve had mine for over a year, and it’s performed admirably in all my games. By the way, I love this case too—it has fantastic airflow and is pretty easy to clean, even with a cat around! Gotta watch that fur though!
Honestly, you're stressing too much about this. The main goal is just to keep your temps in a safe range. Standard setup is having front and bottom fans as intake and the rear and top as exhaust. But if you want to mix it up, go for it! You can even test out different setups to see what works best for you, but I doubt you'll notice a big difference.
It sounds like the manual shows a common exhaust setup with air pushing out the top of the case, which is a solid approach for 360 AIOs. It's typical and works well for cooling!
Consider trying to place the radiator at the front of the case. However, your case has existing 160mm fans that might complicate it a bit, since you'd need to swap those out for smaller fans if you choose that route. Top mounting is probably simpler for you in this case.