Tools of the commerce: I upgraded my gaming PC with a 420mm Arctic Liquid Freezer 3 AiO and vertical GPU mount, and now it appears to be like unimaginable

With Battlefield 6 on the horizon – plus loads of Borderlands 4, MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries and Hades 2 to play – I wished to improve my AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and RTX 4090 Founders Edition gaming PC to higher deal with these demanding titles.

The objective right here is to enhance temperatures, cut back fan noise and possibly make issues look just a little nicer, so I’ll be swapping the (admittedly chonky) 240mm AiO liquid cooler I presently have put in for a large 420mm unit from Arctic. With extra floor space and bigger followers, I ought to have the ability to run the followers at decrease speeds whereas nonetheless reaching a lot better cooling efficiency in these and different CPU-heavy video games.

I put aside Friday morning to make the swap, and the outcomes exceeded my expectations. I’ll share what I discovered, why I made the alternatives I did, and in addition focus on the titanic Havn HS 420 VGPU case that I’ve been utilizing for the previous six months.

Part one: Arctic Liquid Freezer 3 Pro RGB set up and mini assessment

I’ve been comparatively proud of the Hyte Thicc Q60 240mm AiO CPU cooler I’ve been utilizing for the previous few months, with its nice black/white color scheme and surprisingly good thermal efficiency for its dimension, however it does have some flaws. First, the show display screen hooked up to the CPU block made it unattainable for me to vertically mount my graphics card, because it hung down too far under the CPU socket.

More critically although, regardless of its extremely thick radiators, it is nonetheless restricted by its twin 120mm followers, which have to spin comparatively quick to push sufficient air via the thick rad. By changing this unit with a (remarkably, round $100 cheaper) 420mm Arctic Liquid Freezer 3 Pro RGB AiO with three wider 140mm followers, I ought to have the ability to hit related and even decrease temperatures whereas working the followers considerably slower, chopping down on noise.

Removing the Thicc Q60 was simple within the Havn HS 420 VGPU, because the case supplies quick access to each side of the pc and has clearly marked apertures for cable routing. The Arctic Liquid Freezer 3 Pro RGB (hereafter “new CPU cooler”) additionally has a comparatively thick 38mm radiator, so somewhat than mounting it on the facet entry panel as I did with the Q60, I’ll be putting in it on the high of the case and changing the storage covers to cowl the empty hole. A high placement additionally ensures that the pump on the CPU block is under the extent of the radiator, which is usually good observe.

Installing the Arctic cooler was simple, with the followers put in on the block out of the field within the top-exhaust configuration that I wished. The solely actual wrestle I had with the brand new CPU cooler was deciding on which approach up it ought to go. Initially, I wished to put in it with the Arctic brand on the included magnetically-attached CPU block fan the fitting approach up, however this meant that the tubes have been on the backside they usually interfered with the vertical GPU mount. In the top, I made a decision to sacrifice the aesthetics and reside with the upside-down wordmark.

With the brand new CPU cooler put in, I famous considerably decrease CPU and GPU temperatures, with each sitting round 60 levels celsius in Borderlands 4 (with round 50 % load on the 9800X3D and 95 % load on the RTX 4090), versus round 65-70 celsius CPU temperatures with the previous setup. Even at most load – eg compiling shaders in Borderlands 4, a heavy all-core process that may final a number of minutes – the followers by no means ramped as much as their most pace as they did earlier than.

As nicely because the increase to efficiency, I appreciated the shortage of a show on the CPU block, because it meant that your entire system solely requires a single fan header and a single A-RGB header to run 4 followers. The previous few high-end AiOs I’ve used from Hyte, Asus and NZXT have included shows, requiring a PCIe or SATA energy connector and USB 2.0 connections, so going again to a less complicated system was an surprising aid.

Part two: vertical GPU swap

Moving from a standard horizontal GPU mount to a vertical one supplies a little bit of an aesthetic increase, and for a big GPU just like the RTX 4090 FE I’m utilizing right here, an additional sense of stability as nicely.

The Havn HS 420 VGPU case is designed for this, and due to this fact consists of an additional meeting that replaces the standard PCIe slots and supplies a PCIe 4.0 riser cable. The draw back is a extra sophisticated set up course of and blocking entry to your further PCIe ports, however given the rarity of second graphics playing cards or different add-in playing cards, that is most likely a commerce most builders can be fairly joyful to make.

I discovered it best to put in the 4090 into the vertical meeting first, then set up the entire deal into the case. That makes pushing within the PCIe riser cable a tad tough, however signifies that the graphics card itself does not danger being broken whenever you’re attempting to pop it into the PCIe socket. Here, the bracket is secured with two thumb screws fairly near the glass window, so it is simple sufficient to carry the meeting in place with one hand and safe it with the opposite.

The objective with vertical GPU placement is to ensure there is a good quantity of house between the cardboard and the glass, in order that scorching air leaving the cardboard has an opportunity to be directed away (on this case, by the three followers under). There’s an excellent two or three inches between the GPU and the facet glass right here, in order that’s ok for me.

I’m most likely nonetheless paying a slight efficiency penalty for utilizing a vertical GPU orientation, however one which I’m joyful sufficient with given the very modest temperatures at full burn in-game.

Part three: Havn HS 420 VGPU long-term assessment

The £200/$230 Havn HS 420 is an interesting high-end PC case that gives fairly uncommon options and a plethora of fan setups, and I’ve discovered it each bit as performant and sensibly organized because the Corsair 9000D I used to be utilizing earlier than. You have greater than sufficient house right here for a full-size ATX board with an enormous quantity of SATA storage and a 420mm AiO, and this ought to carry it in good stead for customized water cooling as nicely. There’s even a bit of additional glass included within the field to just about divide the CPU and GPU areas of the case, although I did not find yourself utilizing it.

I significantly just like the aesthetics of the case, with the rounded motif replicated throughout the highest I/O (USB-C, two USB-A, 3.5mm) and energy button, the assorted air inlets within the base and lid, the weird round rear fan mounts and so forth. The white case works nicely with the white RAM, white Arctic P14 Pro followers and white Arctic Liquid Freezer 3 Pro A-RGB AiO cooler, and I solely want that I had a white motherboard and graphics card to finish the look.

The curved glass used for the entrance and facet of the case can also be really spectacular, with a well-engineered system that slides it out earlier than releasing it. I’m not such an enormous fan of the small screws used to safe both sides, as there is not any good place to retailer these if you wish to depart the system in a state the place it is simple to drag aside for upkeep, upgrades or cleansing, and consequently I’ve misplaced them. However, not less than with them eliminated, it is simple sufficient to entry every of the mud filters.

In phrases of cable routing, the rear of the case supplies a helpful quantity of house, all cable routes are clearly labelled, and there is a surplus of tie factors and so forth. Installing followers and radiators can also be made simpler by the truth that every of the primary sections (high, facet, backside) have detachable frames, so you possibly can set up the rads/followers onto the body outdoors of the case, then re-insert the frames.

Overall, it isn’t the quietest or coolest case that I’ve ever used – I believe that I could need to discover various fan preparations, cut back fan RPMs additional and/or use further followers within the facet consumption to maintain CPU temperatures even decrease – however that is OK. The Havn HS 420 VGPU continues to be comfortably the best-designed PC case I’ve examined, with nice aesthetics and streamlined construct expertise, and I’d fortunately suggest it.

What I’ve discovered, and what’s subsequent

I’m proud of my redesigned gaming PC for now, however it’ll be fascinating to see the way it fares with next-gen graphics playing cards once they arrive down the road – particularly in the event that they once more see an uptick in energy consumption and due to this fact waste warmth manufacturing. For the extra imminent future, I’m planning to improve to a 9950X3D, which ought to supply just a little extra warmth on the CPU facet and due to this fact permit me to totally tune the followers to cope with worst-case eventualities.

I’m additionally curious to listen to your feedback and options – ought to I flip round one of many rear followers as an exhaust, as I’ve seen elsewhere on-line? Add facet consumption followers? Get in contact with an organization that can provide a white graphics card and motherboard? Clean up my cable mess? Some of those are doable, so do get in contact by way of the feedback under or by way of Bluesky.