EK CE420mm or EK PE480mm Radiator

Viberious · 18 May 2017 at 13:25

I have a Primo Ethanoo case with EK PE360 and OCool 240mm (60mm) cooling my 7600k and FE 1080 system. Existing temps 30c IDLE and 60-65c LOAD (dependent on RPM setting).

The EK is running 3x Noctua NF-P12 and the OCool 2x Apache fans both running around 7-800rpm. I would like to reduce my radiators to a single unit but can't decide between getting either the 420mm or 480mm. I am toying with getting some Be Quiet Silent Wings 3 either way.

My computer is behind the living room and needs to be ultra quiet.

I've reduced the fan noise to 500rpm but still finding it noisy - hence why i may get the 420mm variant and use slower 140mm fans.

What would you recommend?

orbitalwalsh · 18 May 2017 at 14:28

480, more rad space for me personally and a lot of lovely Silent Wing 3 fans

420 should be plenty enough again to get low water temps.

I've recently started to use water temps over CPU/GPU temps as forced to use little rad space to cool multiple components .

both those should hit easily under 32c water temp, 480 would in theory allow it to be closer to ambient temp but 420 would save you a pretty penny

good read
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/posts/30710480/

Viberious · 18 May 2017 at 17:04

My dilemma is getting one to replace my 360mm with one which is silent and have sufficient rad space to allow the removal of the 240mm and its 2 fans.

I've been trying to work out which fan other than the SW3 is going to give the return for investment dropping £60 on fans which show little return against other cheaper fans, is a worry.

Viberious · 19 May 2017 at 09:42

I removed my Noctua 120mm fans last night, leaving just the radiator in place. Then added some Akasa Apache 140mm fans to the top of the primo case (fitted them temporary with bluetac just to hold them in place) to see how quiet it would be. I was quite amazed on the difference in the noise level plus is was cooler at both IDLE and LOAD. This helped my decision from a silence propsective, therefore i ordered the EK CE420mm rad and 3 silent wings 3 140mm PWM variant. Getting delivered on Tuesday so looking forward to downsizing to one massive radiator and fingers crossed ultra silent.

So hopefully this will mean going downsizing fans from 5x120mm (3x120 rad, 2x240 rad) and 3x140mm (Case) fans to potentially just 3x140 running a lot slower. Not sure if i need to run the 3x140 case fans aswell.

orbitalwalsh · 20 May 2017 at 13:27

Viberious said:
I removed my Noctua 120mm fans last night, leaving just the radiator in place. Then added some Akasa Apache 140mm fans to the top of the primo case (fitted them temporary with bluetac just to hold them in place) to see how quiet it would be. I was quite amazed on the difference in the noise level plus is was cooler at both IDLE and LOAD. This helped my decision from a silence propsective, therefore i ordered the EK CE420mm rad and 3 silent wings 3 140mm PWM variant. Getting delivered on Tuesday so looking forward to downsizing to one massive radiator and fingers crossed ultra silent.

So hopefully this will mean going downsizing fans from 5x120mm (3x120 rad, 2x240 rad) and 3x140mm (Case) fans to potentially just 3x140 running a lot slower. Not sure if i need to run the 3x140 case fans aswell.

Normally 140mm have weaker static pressure but Silent wing 3s are good at any size

As with rest of case, long as you've got more positive pressure for anti dust, your all good

Viberious · 25 May 2017 at 08:48

Well i finally installed the 420mm radiator yesterday and boy was that fun - nothing bad just took a while to fit it and install the fans. The new bolts supplied by EK were very fiddly when the fans were fitted. But overall great radiator yet again by the guys at EK. The only disappointment was the silent wing fans, yes at 1000rpm they were quiet but not £60 quiet. Plus one of them had some buzzing which meant i had to return them. So opted for my phanteks SP140 instead - similiar noise level when ran between 600-700rpm so i've decided to buy a further 3 to run them in push/pull plus these only cost me £15 for 4 so i have a spare.