17mm thick copper radiators - any experience?

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Soldato
Joined
19 Jan 2006
Posts
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Just curious whether any of you have had any experience with the 17mm thick copper radiators which are available through AliExpress? https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001355572417.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.591d4c4doDGu4k

They come in at around £45 delivered, but the fact that they're 3.5mm thinner than the XSPC slim rads makes them quite intriguing to me! I've ordered one, along with one of the Barrow integrated waterblock/pump/reservoirs and intend to create a dual 240mm radiator setup in a Streacom DA2, slotting this rad underneath a watercooled 3080, with a couple of Noctua 120x15mm fans.

I know some have said that because they use circular heat pipes rather than flatter squarer ones they don't have the same surface area / heat dissipation of more premium radiators but I do think coupled alongside a "good" 240mm radiator I should be seeing decent temps and low noise in a very compact system.
 
It looks as though a Chinese manufacturer has taken the tooling that watercool uses for their mora / airplex radiators and shrunk the design. Size aside, from the pipes to the aesthetic it is a very faithful copy. (We may even see the watercool version released in 2021 :D)

I wasn’t even aware these existed, but it is good news for those with smaller cases. This might even fit in the top of an nr200. The cooling probably is reduced, but on the upside there should be less flow restriction. Of course until someone tests the radiator we won’t know for sure and the expectation of poor cooling due to surface area may be offset by increased airflow. We can only speculate.

Looking forward to seeing yours. Which version did you pick up?

Airplex image for reference. Note the screw on acetal ends, particular bends on the radiator fins, tubes rather than flat channels and metal frame held together with screws. These are pretty unique radiators and immediately identifiable as watercool.

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Air flow should be good with them being so thin, I'm just hopeful they will work as I intend them to.

The perfect scenario would be both the radiator and the fans inside the case, underneath the graphics card, worst case scenario is having to actively use fans mounted on the underside outside of the case which could be / would be visible and ruin the aesthetic of the case.

I could run it passively without fans, but that would defeat the object of buying a radiator so thin :p

I've gone with the black version.
 
Well it's arrived, damn it's thin!!

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Going to have fun trying to squeeze it, plus an additional 240mm rad, and a watercooled 3080 in the Streacom DA2 case!

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But this, the star of the show, should make it possible - a CPU block, reservoir and DDC pump all in one with fill port.

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Waiting on a few more parts, but I can't wait for the fun to begin!
 
Well, there was no chance in hell I was getting the rad and fans under the graphics card inside the case - they've plenty room to breathe underneath the radiator and protruding through the bottom though.

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Okay, so it's "built" but I'm not happy with temps and clutter in the case! Got a few more parts coming to allow me to finish it off which will hopefully improve everything.

Naked 3080

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Routing of tubes

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Huge 30mm reservoir :p

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Quick connects for the radiator on the side panel, meaning I can take it in and out freely (although the PSU must be removed first before I can disconnect the vertical quick connect off the rad)

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At present I can only fit 1 x 25mm fan on the side radiator, so I'm only running with 3 fans total. These are currently setup with 1 Corsair ML120 intaking on the side mounted rad and 2 x Noctua NF-A12x15 fans exhausting on the bottom.

The plan is to run all Noctua 15mm fans, freeing up space for airflow inside the case and also switching the side to exhaust and the bottom fans to intake. I also am adding a 92mm 14mm thick Noctua fan to the rear fan mount as an intake - if this doesn't cure my temp "issues" (issues being 70c CPU temps and 62c 3080 temps) then as a setup I just don't think it works.

I plan on decluttering by removing the Molex cable from the PSU, and installing a SATA to Molex converter to run the pump - 1 less cable out of the PSU is again going to improve airflow.
 
Aegon said:
Looking good!!

Would you mind sharing the components list? Trying the same concept with the NR200
Click to expand...

This block

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001358789578.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.fe374c4dwjxiyN

This radiator

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001355572417.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.fe374c4dwjxiyN

The rest is up to you really! I opted for a Corsair XR5 240mm radiator for the side, an EK Classic 3080 block and backplate, fittings from Barrow and Mayhems X1 fluid.
 
Got a fun evening ahead of me, more juice and less noise (should run more efficiently than the current SF600), more processing power, and more airflow with less restriction. Also removing the Molex cable completely from the system in favour of this little adapter block to power the pump.

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Edit: Also means I can get the side panel on by having the fans inside the case :D

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Out with the "old" PSU

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The joys of quick disconnects, majority of the loop still assembled but side radiator off with the new slim Noctuas installed

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4 way PWM fan splitter, all Noctuas on the radiators run at the same speed

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Rather than disassemble the loop, I dropped in the 9900k while everything else was in situ

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Fans now fit inbound of the case

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Isn't she pretty!?

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Okay, so a TX240 XSPC radiator has been ordered... I won't say this 17mm radiator is a failure, moreso that I would like to reduce my fan noise further - running the radiators Noctuas at 55% is doing a fine job at cooling the 3080 and 9900k however I want more overclocking headroom and less noise. Having a denser finned radiator, with more fluid capacity and more pipes should equal more heat disappation. The build continues!
 
Okay, thought process overnight - why not slap the 17mm thick radiator in the roof if I'm adding the 20.5mm radiator to the bottom? Per the picture below of the clear version of the Barrow block, the inlet and fill ports actually share the same reservoir within the block - this means I can remove the central pipe gaining more clearance betwen the side radiator and the CPU block and run 25mm thick fans instead of the 15mm thick I'm currently running - these should be easier to source too.

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Removing this extender and tube, and then using this as my fill port will allow for the 25mm fan installation on the side radiator

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Route the new radiator tubes as follows.

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3 x 240mm radiators should give me the temps I'm after....
 
PermaChanged said:
Okay, so a TX240 XSPC radiator has been ordered... I won't say this 17mm radiator is a failure, moreso that I would like to reduce my fan noise further - running the radiators Noctuas at 55% is doing a fine job at cooling the 3080 and 9900k however I want more overclocking headroom and less noise. Having a denser finned radiator, with more fluid capacity and more pipes should equal more heat disappation. The build continues!
Click to expand...

How were the temps? not going quiet as small, 3090 and 9900k on 28mm x 360mm rad, so curious as to what temps you saw.

Fab looking build also!
 
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