From a 200mm and 240 to one thick 360mm

james_2k · 31 Oct 2016 at 11:56

Hi guys, thinking about refreshing my pc with a new case (780T), currently use a 200mm square and 240mm slim rad,

do you think i would lose much going to a 360mm 60mm single rad (looking at the EK 360 XE)? was going to put it on the roof of the 780.

only cooling my 4770 at the moment, but it is at rather silly voltage for 4.8!

could also stick the existing 240 in the floor but, i havent been able to get some good pictures about how it sits with the psu etc.

cheers!

Aberfala · 31 Oct 2016 at 12:21

The 360 should still be more than enough but sticking the 240 in the base as well isn't going to hurt either.

Unless you have a long PSU the 240 will fit fine. It's very very tight with a PSU the size of the AX1200i but anything shorter will be OK. It's so tight that I had to use the standard PSU cables rather than the sleeved ones I bought for it and even then I had to force the rad in.

The 780T has plenty of space whatever you want to do, I have a 360 in the top, 280 in the front and a 240 in the base, all in push/pull and there's still loads of room in the case.

EXxx · 31 Oct 2016 at 12:43

usually what you want with watercooling is radiator space first, thickness second.
With that being said, some slim rads perform rather poorly. You'll also find that some thick rads almost require push pull (i had a alphacool 360 UT60)
if you're only cooling your 4770 with 440 mm or rad (slim) you won't see major improvements in your temps. (maybe slight, but nothing major as 5-10 degrees.)
4770/4790 seem to be pretty toasty.

james_2k · 31 Oct 2016 at 12:47

Thanks guys! Just at work so ill have a think about what you say and post after. @1.4somethibg volts it's running at about 40 max during games and around 60s stress testing.

I'm happy with the performance of the cooling setup, just have the itch to refresh it

james_2k · 31 Oct 2016 at 21:05

alright lads, im back, thanks again for the help!

i have the xfx 1050 black edition psu which i presume is a little shorter than the 1200 but probably not by much. thinking about maybe sticking a rad in the front rather than the bottom, but i have that now with my 200mm and id prefer colder air to be coming in. would be nice to have just one rad at the top and im sure it would do fine. i was running my current setup with my 4770k AND a gtx 690 and it was no issue with great temps. i always like a bit of extra so i can add blocks later if needed. but at the moment no plans to watercool my graphics card again

decisions decisions

Aberfala · 1 Nov 2016 at 06:43

The XFX PSU is 10mm shorter than the AX1200i so you should be OK to fit it in the bottom. I measured the gap and it's just under 210mm.

I had the same thoughts as you about not having a rad at the front so cooler air comes in but in the end decided more rad space and fans would make up for it plus the gap at the front of the case when you don't use the 3.5" cages is huge and looked odd with nothing there. I have 14 fans in total all running at less than 800rpm with the 360 at the top being exhaust and all the others as intakes including the 140mm fan at the rear. I don't know if that's optimal but it works fine with the GPU never going over 45 degrees and the CPU not hitting 40 although I do run at stock currently.

james_2k · 1 Nov 2016 at 08:30

cool thanks for checking! think i may go along with your idea and get a 280 for the front, and use or not use the 240 when it arrives for the bottom. cheers!

james_2k · 3 Nov 2016 at 14:28

new potential plan is two ek xe 360s and the evga case. would mean my old rads would be surplus but hey ho

BluD · 3 Nov 2016 at 14:37

thats what the members market is for

there's always people looking for cheap parts ya dont need.

Im guessing you've changed your mind on watercooling the GPU then?

james_2k · 3 Nov 2016 at 14:43

true that!

well i basically decided to leave the gpu on air when i got rid of my 690. not sure how long ill have the 1080, and the hassle of swapping blocks around is a bit much at the moment.

however i would like a bit of extra capacity just.. incase

james_2k · 6 Nov 2016 at 16:47

my two 420 xspc rads arrived today, with 6 ml-140 fans. evga case tubing and fittings tomorrow

james_2k · 7 Nov 2016 at 18:46

Got all the new stuff courtesy of ocuk.

cases rear panel was cracked.. sad panda, but one call to ocuk and they are sending a whole new case next day to swap out the panel and send back, amazing service thank you!!

james_2k · 9 Nov 2016 at 15:57

all done, two new 420s, what seems like a million fans and a new case!

result? no changes to cpu temperature, guess im at the limit of thermal transfer, but i was happy enough with the performance before so..

5 case fans set to 15% and the rest motherboard controlled @ around 700rpm. pretty quiet.

only bad thing is the gpu fans, bloody miss my watercooled gpu

PSU has the slider over it normally so you cant see those cables.

james_2k · 10 Nov 2016 at 11:45

it never stops, bought some more ml140s to replace the rest of the stock fans and some braided cables to replace the pcie and 24pin cables

BriT · 10 Nov 2016 at 11:57

Your CPU must be in the minus!

VKleita · 10 Nov 2016 at 12:22

First time I properly look through this post.

Love what you done with this James.

Looking good!

james_2k · 10 Nov 2016 at 19:25

BriT said:
Your CPU must be in the minus!

Not quite! hehe

VKleita said:
First time I properly look through this post.

Love what you done with this James.

Looking good!

Thanks man, appreciate your words!

james_2k · 12 Nov 2016 at 19:05

Man, its a pain to get any kind of order to the back of the case with so many wires! - the left side is just the pcie and fan cables

installed the braided extensions

now got all the fans hooked up via a couple of splitters to the pwm headers on the motherboard. 12v needed on these fans which i didnt find out till after i bought them