Best Rad & Fans

Franco_cov

Franco_cov

Franco_cov

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Also what is the fastest and best 120mm fan to get as I am using 3 fans that came with a triple rad alphacool cheap water kit and maybe basic fans?? is there such thing as the fastest and silent 120mm fan out there as to get as much cooling from my rad? or better still is there a triple radiator that is a must to get ?

I use the 3 fans on top of my rad which sucks the heat out through the top of my cosmos s case..

Any Ideas ??
 
You can't answer the fan question without the radiator question. Some radiators work better with slow/quiet fans, other radiators need high speed/high air pressure fans to get the best out of.

With radiators it all comes down to the fins and how dense they are.

The best rads imo are still the thermochill ones with are very unrestrictive to water flow.

The best fans are the 38mm San Ace but they ain't quiet and they are almost impossible to find for sale (and not cheap either)

see my thread on san aces for a link to a roundup of 30 fans. See Martins Liquid labs http://martin.skinneelabs.com/ for radiator tests.
 
Can you also explain why this is an issue for you? Have you not had water cooling that long, i.e. maybe set it up in the winter and now the hot ambient temps of late are causing problems, in which case upping fan performance is just one option, albeit with greater noise? Or have you had it a while and it has gradually worsened, which may indicate it just needs some maintenance? I am betting it is the former. I don't know much about the alphacool kit but it might not just be the rad which is the problem, it may also be a combination of the block/pump and rad, i.e. just a general overall performance thing. If you are sure the rad is the weakest link and are thinking of changing the rad then make sure you know what metal your block is made out of before you buy anything. If it is anything but copper, and you buy a brass rad like the thermochill, then you are mixing metals which is a big no no in water cooling if you can avoid it.
 
Or another potential scenario.....

..... You went water-cooling because it was Über-cool and now you find that it's not as cool as you heard? Most temperatures reported on forums are crap.

The only scenario where you should change your rig is if it is unstable and lower temps make it stable.
 
MikeTimbers said:
Or another potential scenario.....

..... You went water-cooling because it was Über-cool and now you find that it's not as cool as you heard? Most temperatures reported on forums are crap.

The only scenario where you should change your rig is if it is unstable and lower temps make it stable.
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A bit harsh to be fair. Temps backed by ibt or prime 95 100% load screenshots are fine. People claiming is to be taken with a pinch of salt.

The other scenario for changing rig is to have the same or better cooling with silence.

With my 4ghz cpu I can run passively with just working and browsing the net. Pure bliss.

Whacked on 6v fairly quiet mode and I can keep my 4.5Ghz cpu at 39c load under prime95 and 46C under ibt for gaming.

Whacked on full 102cfm tornado wind tunnel mode I can keep my 1.53v 4.9Ghz cpu under control for benching.

Best of all worlds.

As always people do not research water cooling and assume it is better than aircooling. I was one of those and although I did some research (not enough as I now know) I got lucky as I bought a complete half decent 2n hand rig for £60. In fact, the only things changed from that rig has being the fans and the cpu block.

It's like saying that you are going over to air cooling and buying an air cooler with no research.
 
MikeTimbers said:
Or another potential scenario.....

..... You went water-cooling because it was Über-cool and now you find that it's not as cool as you heard? Most temperatures reported on forums are crap.

The only scenario where you should change your rig is if it is unstable and lower temps make it stable.
Click to expand...

This probably explains the poor water cooling performance he is getting, imo cheap and watercooling don't go together well

Franco_cov said:
I am using 3 fans that came with a triple rad alphacool cheap water kit
Click to expand...
 
Greebo said:
A bit harsh to be fair. Temps backed by ibt or prime 95 100% load screenshots are fine. People claiming is to be taken with a pinch of salt.
Click to expand...

I stand by my comments. How many times do I have to see people quoting idle temps? Or "full load" being defined as when running something that is single-threaded or gpu intensive. "Stable" as being a successful 1m SuperPi?



th_Silly_avatar_by_Dicx.gif
 
Has the OP been saying anything about stable temps in another thread? I don't see it in the first post here.
 
You would be surprised how many water cooling solutions do not outperform good air coolers - a decent kit like a Swiftech H20-220 Apex can outperform a Titan Fenir by 8-12 degrees (lab test here) at full load so it REALLY depends on the quality of your components.
 
I don't know what the components are in your kit but i have a Alphacool Extreme lll (120.3) radiator and it has 20 fins per inch which means it needs high speed fans to get the best out of it. I am shortly changing mine as i want a quieter loop. I narrowed the choice down to the Feser 360 (?FPI), Thermochill PA120.3 (10FPI) (new version with standard 15mm fan spacing) and the XSPC RX360 (8FPI). All are low resistance and work well with low rpm fans. I decided on the Thermochill in the end and have one winging it's way to me now. This will be the only component in the watercooling loop that i have changed since i set it up 4 years ago.
 
Best radiator and fans is a hideously difficult question, as is rather covered already by people who know far more than I.

Feser xchanger radiators with scythe s-flex 1600rpm (25mm). Is this considered a reasonably sensible pairing?
 
Sorry guys,

Should have been more clearer... :)

Ok I bought the Alphacool kit as I knew nothing about watercooling but then a month or so after I realised that there was nothing too a water cooling setup and began replacing piece after piece after my pump and resevoir that came with the kit broke and the silly bracket you use to hold the cpu block in place was again stupid and fidley so I basically replaced everything apart from the rad and 3 120mm fans (thats all thats left of my original aplpha cool kit)

My setup now comprises as follows:-

Pump: 12V Laing DDC1+ Ultra 18W
Reservoir: Laing DDC Top/w Reservoir (XSPC)
CPU: XSPC Edge Acrylic CPU Waterblock

Hose 3/8"
Fesser UV Liquid cooling

Now previously I had a 4870x2 included on this loop with an EK full cover waterblock and both my cpu and gpu temps were fine (around 45c)

But since then my card became defective and got a refund and have now purchase 2x HD4890 ASUS Voltage Tweak model and have now purchased 2 EK Full waterblocks and am going to add this to the same loop and I feel it should be ok temp wise as it handled a 4870x2 but while I was draining the system etc to fit these cards was wondering is it time to replace my last part of my old kit if you like.

Now I dont know what metal it is and I cant remember if there was any obvious labels to tell me anything about the rad or fans so hence why I am asking is there a better solution ??

Thanks for yur feedback guys and hope you can supply more now that I have given more information (Which I should have suppied in the first place )

Eagerly awaiting your feedback so I can order stuff if required asap ;)
 
If it was me and I had the cash I would just say sod it and buy one of the known good rads mentioned in this thread, since you will have everything in bits its the ideal time to make a big change like this. If need be you can fiddle about with new fans as and when. Also since you aren't sure what metal that rad is made of I would also take the opportunity to takes the tops off all your blocks and check them out too.
 
Franco_cov said:
Sorry guys,

Should have been more clearer... :)

Ok I bought the Alphacool kit as I knew nothing about watercooling but then a month or so after I realised that there was nothing too a water cooling setup and began replacing piece after piece after my pump and resevoir that came with the kit broke and the silly bracket you use to hold the cpu block in place was again stupid and fidley so I basically replaced everything apart from the rad and 3 120mm fans (thats all thats left of my original aplpha cool kit)

My setup now comprises as follows:-

Pump: 12V Laing DDC1+ Ultra 18W
Reservoir: Laing DDC Top/w Reservoir (XSPC)
CPU: XSPC Edge Acrylic CPU Waterblock

Hose 3/8"
Fesser UV Liquid cooling

Now previously I had a 4870x2 included on this loop with an EK full cover waterblock and both my cpu and gpu temps were fine (around 45c)

But since then my card became defective and got a refund and have now purchase 2x HD4890 ASUS Voltage Tweak model and have now purchased 2 EK Full waterblocks and am going to add this to the same loop and I feel it should be ok temp wise as it handled a 4870x2 but while I was draining the system etc to fit these cards was wondering is it time to replace my last part of my old kit if you like.

Now I dont know what metal it is and I cant remember if there was any obvious labels to tell me anything about the rad or fans so hence why I am asking is there a better solution ??

Thanks for yur feedback guys and hope you can supply more now that I have given more information (Which I should have suppied in the first place )

Eagerly awaiting your feedback so I can order stuff if required asap ;)
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If you are going to run cross fire set up with these two cards it would be worth considering a seperate loop for them, especially if you intend to OC. If you intend to OC the CPU on the same loop the heat dump into the loop is extreme.

More important is that by running two loops in the event of failiure or upgrade the entire system does not require a total strip. . As to your above W/C items that is more than suitable.

My personal preference as a water junkie is a Thermoachill rad combined with yate loons DSH12s. As well as valve taps if isolation is required.
 
Well the gpu blocks are copper as I aint fitted it yet and the cpu is obviously copper but dont know what the rad is made off ?

In terms of a 2nd loop i wont have the room for a 2nd rad, res and pump ??
 
If you are restricted, unable to have, or consider a second loop, the alternative would be to air cool the cpu with an excellent after market cooler. If you intend to OC the air cooler would be sufficient to attain good clocks and maintain temps. Although it may be worthwhile to see what the above posters suggest. The advice and suggestions put forward will provide a perspective allowing you to plan ahead and consider. If done properly you will have a trouble free system. Without good forward planning it can become a nightmare!
 
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Franco_cov said:
Well the gpu blocks are copper as I aint fitted it yet and the cpu is obviously copper but dont know what the rad is made off ?
Click to expand...

Then you simply have to find out one way or the other. Adding perfectly good copper gopu blocks to a loop which "might" have an aluminium rad is not a sensible idea. Just buy a new rad now. When you take off the existing rad you can check what its made off. You could probably tell just by its weight. If it is definately brass then you wouldn't absolutely need to take the tops off your blocks to check them. And if it is brass, and assuming its not an absolutely garbage rad, then consider adding it to you loop externally mounted, since you say you don't have room for a second loop internaly, the next best you can go for is more rads mounted outside.
 
If it's a Extreme lll rad then it's not aluminium. The rad is brass with copper fins, just like most other rads. The Alphacool kits were actually very good. Crossfire should not be a problem. I have run a pair of highly overclocked 7800GT's on mine along with the NB and CPU, both of which are overvolted and overclocked. I would go with a Thermochil PA120.3, the new ones with the 15mm fan spacing's.
 
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