CH270: Air Cooler, Horizontal GPU | Generated by AI
Question: With the Deepcool CH270 (vertical mATX, rear-connector support, 360mm AIO compatible) locked in, what cooling do I actually buy?
Answer:
The CH270’s headline features — vertical GPU riser, 360mm AIO support — don’t change the two fundamentals from earlier: R5 5600 needs a modest air cooler, and the MI50 needs its own dedicated shroud fan since it has no cooling of its own. What changes is how they fit this specific case’s airflow path.
CPU: skip the 360mm AIO temptation, go air.
65-88W boost load on a 5600 doesn’t need liquid cooling — that headroom is there for people running 105W+ chips. An AIO adds a pump failure point and cost for zero real gain here, and in a vertical case, radiator/pump orientation and tubing bend radius add complexity you don’t need.
- Pick: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE (~¥100-150) or ID-Cooling SE-224-XT, same as before — confirm clearance against CH270’s side panel spec if it’s a windowed vertical case (usually 165-170mm CPU cooler height is fine on this model)
GPU: the vertical GPU mount changes your shroud fan orientation — check this before buying.
This is the part specific to CH270. Vertical GPU mounting (via riser cable) typically rotates the card 90°, which changes which direction is “up” for airflow relative to the case’s front/side intake. Your MI50 shroud fan needs to draw from wherever the case’s fresh intake air actually is post-rotation, not just “front to back” like a standard horizontal mount.
- Before ordering the shroud: confirm whether you’re actually using CH270’s vertical GPU riser or mounting the MI50 horizontally in the standard PCIe slot. If vertical, the card’s side panel (normally facing right/left in standard orientation) now faces up/out toward the case’s side intake — your shroud duct direction should match that.
- If you mount MI50 horizontally (standard slot, skip the vertical riser) — simpler, shroud design stays as discussed, standard front-to-back case airflow feeds it directly. This is the safer option unless you specifically want the aesthetic of vertical GPU display, since the vertical riser mainly benefits GPUs with side-exhaust blower designs, not custom-shrouded compute cards like this.
- Fan/shroud pick: unchanged from before — 40mm 12V blower matched to MI50’s onboard header spec, mounted in a printed shroud (Thingiverse/MakerWorld designs referenced earlier)
Case fans: CH270 likely ships with 1-2 fans stock — add front intake if it doesn’t already have 2-3x120/140mm, since that’s what feeds both the CPU cooler and (if horizontal) the GPU shroud. Check the box contents; if it only ships with a rear exhaust fan, add 2x front intake fans (~¥80-100 total, any basic 120mm PWM set).
My recommendation: mount the MI50 horizontally in the standard slot, skip the vertical riser gimmick for this card, air-cool the CPU with the Peerless Assassin 120 SE, and keep the 360mm AIO mount unused — you don’t need it and it adds no value for this workload.