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Gamemax CLAW 460 Cooling Setup: Best Fans, AIO & Airflow

Gamemax CLAW 460 cooling setup guide for South African builders: optimize fan placement, choose the right AIO or air cooler, reduce temps and noise, and pick local parts 🇿🇦🧊

01 Nov 2025 | Quick Read | 👤 GPUGuru

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Gamemax CLAW 460 Cooling Setup - Best Fans, AIO & Tips

So, you’ve snagged the awesome Gamemax CLAW 460 case for your new build. Lekker choice! But before you start smashing records in Apex or Warzone, let's talk about the one thing that can bring any high-end rig to its knees: heat. A poor cooling setup can throttle your performance and shorten the lifespan of your components. This guide will walk you through creating the ultimate Gamemax CLAW 460 cooling setup for frosty temps and max frames. ❄️

Understanding Airflow Basics in the CLAW 460

Before we start mounting fans, let's get the basics right. The goal is simple: get cool air in, get hot air out. The Gamemax CLAW 460 is a modern ATX case with a mesh front panel, which is fantastic for airflow. Your mission is to create a clear, unobstructed path for air to travel through the case, cooling your components along the way.

We're aiming for "positive pressure." This just means you have slightly more air coming into the case (intake) than going out (exhaust). This helps push hot air out of every little gap and also reduces dust buildup. For the CLAW 460, this is the key to an efficient cooling setup.

The Optimal Fan Configuration

So, what's the best fan layout? After countless builds in the Evetech labs, we’ve found the sweet spot for the Gamemax CLAW 460 cooling setup.

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Recommended Fan Placement:

Front: 3 x 120mm fans (Intake)
Rear: 1 x 120mm fan (Exhaust)
Top: 2 x 120mm or 2 x 140mm fans (Exhaust)

This configuration pulls a massive amount of cool air from the front, directing it straight over your motherboard and graphics card—the hottest components in your system. The rear and top fans then work together to efficiently expel the hot air generated by your CPU and GPU, preventing it from stagnating inside the case. This balanced approach is the cornerstone of a great Gamemax CLAW 460 airflow strategy.

TIP FOR YOU

Don't Forget the Dust Filters! 🔧

The CLAW 460 comes with dust filters on the front, top, and bottom. Clean them every month or two with a soft brush or compressed air. A clogged filter suffocates your PC, restricting airflow and causing temperatures to climb. A clean filter means a happy, cool computer!

Choosing Your Cooler: AIO vs. Air

The next big decision is your CPU cooler. Both All-In-One (AIO) liquid coolers and traditional air coolers have their place.

An AIO like a 240mm or 360mm radiator offers excellent cooling performance and a clean, modern look. An air cooler, on the other hand, is often more reliable (no pump to fail) and can offer fantastic performance for its price.

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The choice often comes down to the heat generated by your other components. If you're running a power-hungry graphics card that dumps a lot of heat into the case, an AIO that exhausts CPU heat directly outside is a brilliant move. Whether you're on team green with the latest NVIDIA GeForce graphics cards or rocking a powerful model from the AMD Radeon lineup, managing that GPU heat is critical for overall system stability.

Perfecting Your Gamemax CLAW 460 AIO Setup

If you've decided on an AIO, placement matters. For the CLAW 460, you have two main options: front-mounting or top-mounting the radiator.

Our recommendation is to top-mount your AIO as an exhaust.

Why? When you top-mount the radiator, the fans push the CPU's heat directly out of the case. This keeps the internal case temperature lower, which is great news for your GPU. Some high-performance cards, especially certain MSI graphics cards with their robust cooling solutions, still benefit immensely from having the coolest possible air flowing over them from the front intake fans.

A front-mounted AIO (as an intake) will give you slightly better CPU temperatures, but it does so by pulling air through a hot radiator and blowing that pre-warmed air over your other components. For a balanced gaming rig, keeping your expensive graphics card cool is just as important. ✨

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Your Ultimate Cooling Checklist

To summarise, here’s your blueprint for the perfect Gamemax CLAW 460 cooling setup:

Intake: Use three 120mm fans at the front.
Exhaust: Use one 120mm fan at the rear and two 120mm/140mm fans at the top.
CPU Cooler: Choose a high-quality air cooler or an AIO.
AIO Placement: If you choose an AIO, mount the radiator at the top as an exhaust for the best overall system temperatures.
Maintenance: Keep those dust filters clean!

Follow these steps, and your rig won't just look cool... it'll run cool, too, giving you the smooth, high-performance gaming experience you paid for.

Ready to Build Your Coolest Rig Yet? A proper cooling setup is the secret to unlocking your PC's true potential. Don't let thermal throttling slow you down. Explore our massive range of PC cooling solutions and find the perfect fans and AIOs to keep your system frosty.