I have an NZXT H510, paired with an x570 Aorus Elite, Ryzen 7 5700x, Zotac RTX 5070 Solid OC, NZXT 120mm AIO (that acts as an exhaust) and one other exhaust cabinet fan.
Before anyone says it, I know the 5700x doesn’t require more cooling. That’s part of the reason I purchased it. But i’ll be moving to the 5950x or 5900x soon. and that has almost double the power draw.
The few questions are:
Is my case ass? And do i need a new one?
What AIO should I go for, that is a sweet spot between aesthetic and performance.
if i dont need to change my current cabinet. what should my orientation be for the AIO? It’ll be minimum a 240mm or 360mm right? so it cant be in the back. it’ll either have to be on top as an exhaust, or in front as an intake right? which is better?
My current setup has negative air pressure. Since i have no intake fans and only exhausts. With what I know, that’s not too bad. cause i’m not getting bad temps. only dust is an issue.
Any tips? Or anything you’d like to share is most welcome.
It all comes down to what you are willing to spend. For 5950X, you will definitely need to upgrade not only AIO but also the case, or it will quickly turn into a heat chamber if you are indeed putting the CPU under full load for an extended period.
H510, when released itself was never performance focused case.
You dont need AIO for 5950X. Something like Deepcool AG620 will do. But if you do want to go for aio, a basic 360 AIO like Corsair Nautilus 360 RS should be around 8k. If you dont have that much budget, there are cheaper options like Thermaltake LA360, which is a decent budget 360 aio around 6.2k
But you will need a case upgrade. Can consider something like Lancool 207, which is heavily discounted right now with some shops.
Its up to you. I do not like NZXT H series cases or Cooler Master Masterframe because both of these skip dust filters. The mesh those cases have is not small enough to filter fine dust we get here. ITs fine in countries where dust is not an issue, but a nightmare in almost any part of India.
H6 Flow also heavily relies on the front angular intake fans for proper air circulation. So adding AIO there is not ideal. AIO has to go at the top in the ideal configuration. These cases are not ideal in Indian conditions. I get tons of dust even in AC room that has self closing door.
Coming to AIO, Again, I perfectly understand people choosing some parts for looks or performance or even brand value. But Kraken 240 will look very odd if you are going with H6 Case or even any other case with provision for 360 AIO at top. It is also priced like many other high-performance, good-looking 360mm AIOs with some even with full ARGB and LCD screens. So keep your options open. A good top-tier 360 AIO will outperform most top-tier 240mm and in fact, allow you to run fans at lower RPMs, which will be quieter than 2 fans spinning at higher speeds to cool the CPU.
H6 was novel and stood out a couple of years back, but there are plenty of other high-quality cases that look better and outperform it on airflow and cooling performance as well as dust filtration. So unless you really want to go for it for the particular looks alone, look at othet options before deciding.
These cases look cool on youtube and american and western youtubers go gaga over these, but in real life, systems running daily for hours, we have to consider usability factors.
