I'm trying to figure out the best fan setup for my top-mounted 360mm AIO radiator in my Fractal North XL case. I'll have three intake fans in the front and one exhaust fan. My CPU will be the 9800X3D paired with a 5070ti, and I'm using the ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III Pro cooler.
I'm wondering if I should go with a push or pull configuration for the fans and whether a 360mm AIO is really necessary. I plan to enable AMD's Precision Boost Overdrive, but I'm not considering much overclocking. My concern is that the 360mm AIO will add another fan, possibly increasing noise. Any suggestions?
4 Answers
If you're mounting it on the top, I'd suggest pushing air through. Since hot air tends to rise, pushing can be beneficial, but realistically, it doesn’t make a huge difference. One downside is that pushing can collect more dust, meaning you'll need to clean it a bit more often. But if you have easy access for cleaning, it shouldn't be a problem!
Honestly, either push or pull will do just fine. The most important thing is to keep safe temperatures. As for the AIO, most people don’t *need* a 360mm version unless they're in some pretty niche scenarios. Since the 9800X3D usually stays under 100W for most tasks, you could easily get by with a smaller setup, like a 240mm AIO. It would definitely keep things cooler without adding too much noise to your build.
From all the tests I've seen, push or pull really doesn't affect performance in any significant way. As for needing a 360mm AIO? Probably not! I run a 280mm radiator and it keeps my 9800X3D cool. The main reason I've thought about upgrading to a 360mm is to quiet things down by using lower RPM fans for my setup. If you go with a 360mm now, you’ll be prepared for any future upgrades too.
You could easily use a 240mm AIO or even a decent air cooler with the 9800X3D and you'd be just fine. The ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III Pro is great though, and it can handle higher wattage if you ever upgrade your CPU. But if you want a quieter experience, a 360mm AIO can help run the fans at lower RPMs, which might actually be quieter overall.
So theoretically, I could end up with a quieter system using a 360mm compared to a 240mm, right? I figured three lower RPM fans would be noisier than two, but this makes me rethink!