Let's talk about CH160 Air Cooling Configurations.

[@neonspecter2730]

I do hope to see rear intake becomming a more accepted and mainstream option in future cases; for example larger perforations/vent holes and an included optional dust filter. Most of the time it really is the best set up for air coolers, especially with flow-through graphics card designs.

[@constantinosschinas4503]

For real, rear intake is the ONLY logical setup for air cooling. Cannot understand what the MF's (manufacturers) are doing all these years.

[@random-zr5km]

Great video and thanks for the fast follow up! A 7min video is very adequate for this, good choice. As for the video itself, these cooling and airflow videos are always sooooooo incredibly educational and I learn a lot each time. Had no idea there are aftermarket mesh filters for the rear, so thx for the links!

[@All_Eyes_On_G]

I went with a rear intake and top exhaust with the magnetic filter on the intake like you suggested. I didn't go with front exhaust because I was able to mount 2 SSD drives onto the back of my psu. The trade-off for tenps is storage. Thanks for the great video! I am looking forward to your build video with this case.

[@nickjacobsss]

Do you think using a full size assassin iv would be more or less beneficial than the smaller assassin iv S + rear fan?

[@8lack8bird]

I've seen this being a topic on SFF Forum years ago (for the Ncase M1), and the most optimum result is: REAR INTAKE + SIDE/TOP EXHAUST (near the PSU area). In this case it's an even easier solutioun, if you don't mind the hot air blowing into you.

[@kert1842]

Did the same with my Asus AP201. Rear + 2x bottom intake, 3x top exhaust. Works like a charm

[@ICmikeyP]

I'm subbing because you addressed this so quick.

[@mycustardlove4168]

Why is this channel not HUGE, excellent video, as ever

[@nsuinteger-au]

He'll be rising to the top soon. Stay focussed.

[@SatchmoBronson]

Was waiting for this. Great vid!

[@ailluinthethyra6139]

There's also more overall cooling potential left on the table. You could use a 120mm dual tower cooler with vertical offsets(Thermalright PA 120, PS 120 and all their variations) to allow for 2 top exhaust fans. You can then cram in a Phanteks T30 in the middle of the dual tower cooler and you'll probably achieve the best combined thermals.

[@linksh0t263]

Would like to see this, since I’m planning on using a PA 120 in this case

[@fidenciociprian6151]

Yeah I'm planning on using that air cooler as well and but two fans at the top

[@nootonian4149]

so if I go for a ps120se should I even go with a back case fan if I mount the 2 fans at the back of the heatsinks?

[@linksh0t263]

@@nootonian4149 if the heat sink fans are blowing air out the back, I don’t think you meed to put a back fan. I’ve seen people just use the heat sink fans as the exhaust already

[@nootonian4149]

@@linksh0t263 I'm trying to intake from the back for best temps

[@hangilchoi3115]

Hi! I really love how thorough your details were in the video. I was wondering how practical it would be if there was an intake fan top, with exhaust fan in the back? More of a curiosity for me

[@TBarSystems]

Wouldn't be very effective. The down force of air would conflict both with the front intake getting to the CPU cooler as well as the updraft exhaust from the GPU. Since you're force air downwards, the turbulence are then opposing each other. If anything that top fan slot should be left unpopulated. This configuration here; rear intake, front/ top exhaust, is the most optimal.

[@zetter5888]

Gearseekeres already tested it, makes no difference/a couple degrees worse

[@iamCarlo99_ECE]

Can we compare the Assassin IV and Assassin 4s as cpu coolers with this case CH160?

[@ziptieracer]

Thanks for this info. Do you think the results would be similar with a Founder's card exhausting out of the rear of the case right below the rear intake setup?

[@shooby02]

Probably my futur case, in white, with the Deepcool Assassin 4S for CPU fan. And with the Air Panel 100 accessory to replace the glass panel cause I'm not a fan of glass panel and I prefer a good airflow.

[@miguelmc2289]

That’s a really good airflow test video, thank you. There’s definitely some peculiarities about this case. Surprised about the results on the CPU (Rear exhaust) with the front fan as intake with top as exhaust configuration: they’re so closed to one another you’d think the top one would immediately exhaust the air from the intake but it seems that it works well for the CPU. Meanwhile, for the same config, GPU temps get worse by adding an exhaust fan compared to no top exhaust... go figure.

[@constantinosschinas4503]

Would be interesting to test without top but with front and rear fans as thick as possible. Great video comparison that will silence many "creators" out there.

[@Weezedog]

How sturdy is the front fan mount? Video’s I’ve seen seem to show it’s only mounted on the right side with a bracket and the other side of the fan just flops around a bit.

[@MachinesMore]

Pretty flimsy. Needs to have an additional bracing point on the other side of the front panel.

[@im_a_blobfish]

would there be a noticeable CPU temp drop when using a flowthrough gpu with rear intake since hot air from the gpu would go through its PCIE bracket, rise up and get sucked into the cpu cooler?

[@MachinesMore]

There will be some re-intake, but some blower exhaust will disperse out into the ambient air. In my experience rear intake is better than having the flow through section almost completely enter the cooler (glass panel makes this really hard to avoid otherwise).

[@SausyGuyFinn]

Curious how good this case would be with a Noctua D15

[@yanni-duff]

yea definitely looking forward to seeing builds with the CH160 and the new D15

[@Jeff_Jaguar]

How does this compare to the NR200? Better? Worse? Or about the same?

[@RockDeer-Island]

Make me wonder what if deepcool release v2 with reversed motherboard inside, gpu will be thankful for more clean air from top 🤔 Maybe can try smaller cpu cooler but exhaust fan at top-back configuration too 😅

[@gatfatf]

By the way everyone, if you go for a massive cooler like the AK620, be content with only using one of the fans in the tower if you want to have a regular thickness 120mm fan on the top and side simultaneously.

[@sparkplugbarrens]

Really interesting, I was wondering about the optimal config for this case. Could you do this for the ap201? I couldn't find any airflow config tests for that case on KZbin and on reddit everyone is contradicting each other 😂

[@EksCelle]

I think with an ATX PSU in front having a rear intake and top exhaust is the best option for the CPU since it cannot get fresh air from the front. With an SFX PSU and the option to mount a front fan though, I would be interested in seeing how the CPU temps would be with a duct directing the front fan flow straight into the cooler so it doesn't pick up any of the heated air from the GPU. However, unlike competitors like the Ncase M1 and Cooler Master Nr200, the CH160 has no side panel ventilation, which would help the GPU cooling. A shame, really- I would definitely pick up this case if it had a mesh or solid side panel rather than glass. I would like to see these tests ran again with a different CPU cooler, every reviewer i've seen look at the CH160 has been using the Deepcool Assassin 4S (likely because Deepcool sent it with the case for review) I'm wondering how different the CPU temps would be with a more traditional dual fan cooler, like a Thermalright Peerless Assassin or a Noctua DH-15.

[@Quivver77]

Can you please do this test with a flow through cooler like the 4070 super founders edition? I know you mentioned it but testing would show the best possible config. What about CPU air cooler drawing air from the top and exhausting at the back with the flow through also doing the same and an additional intake in the front / or top exhaust.

[@ImFindingYou]

hey in the other video u showed temps for Notua A14x25 is that true?

[@sophisticatedbeaver3569]

Is it okay if I use Deepcool AK500 Zero Dark High Performance?

[@crispineda4630]

Random Question: assuming you don't have a power hungry CPU. Can you use a smaller cooler. And have a setup that mimics the NR200 setup of Bottom Intake and Top Exhaust? or you cannot add another top fan above the CPU?

[@MachinesMore]

Of course. You can do all that especially with a smaller cooler. Plenty of smaller and more affordable 120mm towers.

[@crispineda4630]

@@MachinesMore So I have a Ryzen 5 5600X. If I got a smaller 120mm tower cooler could I theoretically mount it horizontally. Have the fan as intake from the bottom and exhaust from the top along with the top 120mm fans as exhaust. I have it paired with a 3060ti FE. Any recs?

[@ritviknesargi7958]

Does this case fit other popular large coolers like the Peerless Assassin or Noctua DH-15? Would those perform better than the DeepCool Assassin 4?

[@joeb3619]

Yes the case should fit them no problem. Your ITX motherboard may be a bigger problem depending on which model it is

[@trevorbarney1796]

performance increase would be negligible. You'd need some extremely low profile RAM modules to get the 2nd fan on a D15 or PA. Otherwise you're more likely to run just 1 fan which would gain you about the same thermals... maybe +/- 3 degrees which isnt that significant, especially for a gaming system where the cpu isnt getting hot at all.

[@nudexdragon7987]

Good follow up, I assumed this would be better. I've had a couple cases with similar layouts, and rear intake + front/side/top exhaust is always better.

[@nhancao4790]

Yeah the CPU cooler gets feed fresh air from the rear exhaust, while hot air inside the case from the CPU and GPU is effectively exhausted through the top/front, no recirculating hot air in this config.

[@nudexdragon7987]

@@nhancao4790 exactly. In the original config, the CPU was being fed hot GPU air. Now it's getting sucked away

[@MitchellTheMitch]

What if you use P12 Max Fans? Or Be Quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 Fans?

[@lowfuel6089]

Any thoughts on a 120mm AIO setup or is there no benefit in this case (thermals and/or noise)?

[@The11devans]

120 AIOs generally perform worse than large air coolers.

[@MachinesMore]

Big air cooler is going to be better performing, less hassle, more reliable, and on par in terms of cost to a 120. If you want liquid cooling a compatible 240 would be best.

[@SatchmoBronson]

These days, 120mm AIOs are only suitable on lower-power CPUs. Hardware Canucks did a comparison on it semi-recently and when you compare a 120mm AIO to really small air coolers, it comes out on top for noise and thermals every time. But this case is obviously not designed around small air coolers, and the class of air coolers you can fit in this case will beat a 120mm AIO.

[@kidbandes]

Can you try to put 140 fan on top?

[@fabsenbmx]

Why everyone use the same DC cooler when talking about the 160? Are there contracts?

[@miguelmc2289]

See? you got there by yourself

[@hazem_khalil]

Perhaps there are but that's just how the case was featured when it was released. It was designed around their large air-coolers. AIO doesn't work in this case so ofc if the reviewers are going to show air-coolers, they're going to use this cooler for the visual appeal of them matching.

[@michaelbardjrgensen9467]

What camera do you use?

[@andrewvirtue5048]

Focus on camera _angle_ and then post editing to "cinematically" crop the edges. You can also "crop" the edges by zooming in slightly, in post editing.

[@Star_Gazing_Coffee_Lover]

Id love this case but my 7900 xtx wont fit.

[@trevorbarney1796]

That's a good thing because there's no active cooling for the GPU anyways. With a 355w TDP, you'd be sentencing your card to a very hard life in this case.

[@paulbarriosduque1101]

Damn

[@fartmachine5000]

I hope mesh and filters on the back and top of cases starts to become more normal.

[@nudexdragon7987]

Can always just get a stick on filter and cut to size

[@trevorbarney1796]

Why? Filters impede airflow. I personally remove all dust filters from my systems for improved thermals in trade of for servicing the system every few months. Which you should be doing anyways.

[@miguelmc2289]

@@trevorbarney1796damn if you clean your PC every couple months you’re OCD or you need to clean your house more often lmao or you need to put those filters back on. On the temperature side, is it really bothering you running 3°C hotter? If that’s the case, need to remember not everyone runs an overclocked 7900X…