17mm thick copper radiators - any experience?

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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.

 

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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

I've gone with the black version.

 

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Well it's arrived, damn it's thin!!






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





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






Waiting on a few more parts, but I can't wait for the fun to begin!

 

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I intend to run an angled fitting on it so it faces up, with as much tubing as the case allows to be used as the reservoir

 

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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



Routing of tubes



Huge 30mm reservoir



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)



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.

 

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Looking good!!

Would you mind sharing the components list? Trying the same concept with the NR200

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.

 

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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.







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

 

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Out with the "old" PSU




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



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



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



Fans now fit inbound of the case



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!

 

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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.



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



Route the new radiator tubes as follows.



3 x 240mm radiators should give me the temps I'm after....

 

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How is the noise on the Barrow Pump block?

Been tempted to pick one up for a while now.

I really do recommend them for ease, I can't fault it really so far! I run the pump at a fixed rpm of ~ 2,280 rpm and I sit 2ft away from it and I can barely hear it. At full tilt it's definitely noisy, and at 1,800 rpm inaudible (but not quite potent enough). It's a standard sized DDC pump though so could be replaced with any DDC pump.

Are they actually copper or just copper flavour?

Who knows!? Performance doesn't lead me to suspect that they're not copper

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!

Thanks man! Running the DDC at 2,300rpm and all 4 15mm Noctuas fans at 1,100 rpm we're looking at gaming temps averaging out at about 60 degrees on the GPU and 68 on the CPU - it's not hot by any means, but that's on an undervolted 3080 and 9900k (800mv @ 1770mhz clock 3080, fixed voltage of 1.184v CPU all-core 4.7ghz) so the GPU is only pulling 240w and not 320w+ it can pull which would generate more heat! If I'm able to run the 4 slim Noctuas at 1,000 rpm on the slim rads and the 25mm Noctuas at 900 rpm on the thicker rad and see similar temps at full power draw I'll be very happy

 

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I simply uncapped the 30mm extension attached to the fill port and attached a roughly 10 inch long piece of tubing and a funnel to it - that 30mm extension is basically an addition to the blocks reservoir now too as it's filled to the brim



When I add the top radiator I won't have access to the fillport however, so plan to do some skull duggery with an additional quick disconnect so that the loop is essentially open for filling and the turns in to a sealed loop.

 

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Build complete - for now at least

Main parts going in to complete the build are the XSPC TX240 radiator and some Noctua NF-F12 Chromax fans.




To be able to install a radiator at the top of the case I had to drop the PSU down further in to the chassis, this was done by using longer M3 screws, it just kinda hangs out in the middle of space now



This in turn gave me access to run a tube from the top radiator above the PSU and in to the CPU Block/Pump/Res




From there we loop round to the graphics card, with the fill port now capped



Having the capped fill port allows me to install the 25mm thick Noctuas on the side mounted radiator, and those fans can blow air far more easily on to the pumps heatsink - it's a snug fit!




From the graphics card we go in to the bottom port of the side radiator, via quick connect, and from the top port of the side radiator we go to the far port of the bottom rad. The loop is completed with a vertical run from the closer port of the bottom rad to the other port on the top radiator.




I can remove the side radiator now without having to mess around with anything else inside the case now - big win!

Popping off the quick disconnect I can pop on the EK pressure tester which has another quick disconnect male end fitted on, and we're holding pressure well!




I have to admit, I had a hard time filling the loop fully and there's too much air in it for my liking curently but I have ordered an external reservoir which will allow me to get it filled properly - that being said it's performing a lot better than the dual radiator setup already!

Graphics card boosting to 1995mhz (haven't touched mem clocks yet) @ 55c and the 9900k at stock running 60c. The 4 slim Noctuas on top and bottom rads running @~960rpm, 2 thicker Noctuas on side radiator running @~900rpm and a pump speed of ~2,200rpm leave me with a quiet and powerful machine - very hapy with this build now!

 

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you still got the bottom fans as exhaust? maybe the clearance from desk to fan isnt allowing them to pull enough air out? id try them as the opposite. with the gpu being in the way its not like the hot air form the rad would go far into the case anyway.

i love seeing ITX builds they are so much more satisfying than a massive case with stuff loosely packed inside. and this one is no different super impressive. ive just got myself a nr200p and am guna try squeeze my flt120 d5 inside somehow, difference is ill have 2x 360mm rad outside the case plus a smaller rad inside the case.

Thanks man, it's what I was going for - anyone can slap an O11D together and get great temps with no issues but planning an ITX build containing close to the same cooling potential in a much smaller package results in a much more satisfying end product IMO!

No, the bottom fans are intaking, the 2 on the side radiator are intaking also and then I have the 2 on the top of the case exhausting - 6 x 120mm fans and 3 radiators inside something this small still baffles me

I'll be intrigued to see how you get on with the NR200P build, especially getting that res/block combo in