dose it have to be 120.3?

square_nothing · 5 Apr 2009 at 22:32

I always se people of this forum saying that it is crucial to have a 120.3 rad for any decent water cooling setup, I don’t think I will be able to fit on in my case and don’t like the idea of it being outside the case, how would a wc setup with a 120.2 rad compare to a good air cooled setup or to a 120.3 rad.

I was thinking, would 2 X 120.2 rads be better than one 120.3 rad it will have more surface area to cool the water? The rads would be strapped together and treated as one thick rad with a push/pull fan setup, using ~1200rpm fans.
Taking a brief look at the dimensions it would be about 17cm wide, this if from using 2X25mm fans(120mm) and 2X60mm rads (120.2).

My main concern with this setup is it could limit the flow of water, but this should be soled easily be using a good pump?

If this setup is feasible and would offer performance as good as a setup using a 120.3 rad I may be getting watercooling shortly.

MikeTimbers · 5 Apr 2009 at 22:43

don't try to put two 120.2s back to back, you'll get next to no airflow through them. as to whether you need a 120.3 it dpends on the heat load. A PA120.2 is as good as many cheap 120.3 rads so two PA120.2 rads would easily cool pretty much anything you have. Even better is to use two 120.2s in two loops. this separates your heatload between two separate sets of cooling.

square_nothing · 5 Apr 2009 at 22:49

MikeTimbers said:
don't try to put two 120.2s back to back, you'll get next to no airflow through them. as to whether you need a 120.3 it dpends on the heat load. A PA120.2 is as good as many cheap 120.3 rads so two PA120.2 rads would easily cool pretty much anything you have. Even better is to use two 120.2s in two loops. this separates your heatload between two separate sets of cooling.

The two loop idea might work well in my case (artic 900L), i always assumed because of the lower velocity of the water it will have a dramatic effect on the cooling, what sort of pump would be needed to get good enough water flow for this setup? Would a 600lph pump be enough or would more heavy duty equipment be needed?

With either one or 2 loops what would the minimum separation needed to get good airflow, what about having fan>rad>fan>rad or would this still have the same problem?
Or would I need to separate the rads totally to benefit from them?

Bubo · 6 Apr 2009 at 09:50

As Mike Timbers says there is no method of sandwiching two rads together that will give you anything but poor performance compared to having them totally separate, infact I saw once test recently where a guy tried every sandwich configuration you can think of and in one scenario, I can't remember which, it actually performed worse than a single rad on its own, but all performed worse than separated rads. It is a complete non starter.

square_nothing · 6 Apr 2009 at 10:39

Bubo said:
As Mike Timbers says there is no method of sandwiching two rads together that will give you anything but poor performance compared to having them totally separate, infact I saw once test recently where a guy tried every sandwich configuration you can think of and in one scenario, I can't remember which, it actually performed worse than a single rad on its own, but all performed worse than separated rads. It is a complete non starter.

hmm if this is the case i think ill have to eather get a new case or use one 120.2 rad or i could mutilte my case and allow it to take the rads on the sides of the case.

thanks for the help guys stoped me waisting a lot of money

!TIMMY! · 6 Apr 2009 at 10:45

I had a 120.2 rad on the outside of my case, and it was a bit loud for my liking. So I bought a new case and popped a different 120.2 rad in the roof and it is able to cool my oced Q6600 and NB fine.

I would recommend a 120.3 rad if you decide that you want to add a GPU in the loop.

reflux · 6 Apr 2009 at 10:48

120.2s aren't rubbish; they just don't have massive expansion possibilities; got a 120.2 cooling my i7 nicely, but if I wanted to add a GPU to the mix, I don't think the radiator would take the strain.

square_nothing · 6 Apr 2009 at 10:48

!TIMMY! said:
I had a 120.2 rad on the outside of my case, and it was a bit loud for my liking. So I bought a new case and popped a different 120.2 rad in the roof and it is able to cool my oced Q6600 and NB fine.

I would recommend a 120.3 rad if you decide that you want to add a GPU in the loop.

thats the thing, i want to add a gpu cooling later on, my case will not accomidate a 120.3 rad and the only way i can have 2X 120.2 rads is with heavy modingto the case.
the best option atm looks like getting a simple cpu loop with a 120.2 rad and upgrading case and add another rad and gpu later on.

btw what is your clock, voltage and temp of your cpu?
thanks

square_nothing · 6 Apr 2009 at 10:51

reflux said:
120.2s aren't rubbish; they just don't have massive expansion possibilities; got a 120.2 cooling my i7 nicely, but if I wanted to add a GPU to the mix, I don't think the radiator would take the strain.

out of interest is this doable without running the fans to high? i dont want to have fans running above 2000rpmout of interest is this doable without running the fans to high? i dont want to have fans running above 2000rpm

!TIMMY! · 6 Apr 2009 at 11:02

Lapped (I didn't do it) Q6600 @ 3.6ghz, 1.375v + special vid add (around 1.39v according to OCCT), temps in Prime95 will reach the high 60's. NB @ 1.405v and temps load in the 40's.

My rad is a Swiftech MCR220 with 2 140mm Yate Loons pulling @ 1000rpm, and 2 Scythe (1 100mm and 1 120mm) pushing @ 1200rpm.

In my case I have 3 120mm Scythe fans; 2 intake (1 @ 1000rpm, 1 at 1200rpm) and 1 outake @ 1000rpm.

Overall my PC isnt quiet, but isn't too loud either, my Vortexx Neo is making the most noise.

Rest of my WC specs are:

DCC 18W Ultra with XSPC Top
XSPC Bay Res
Swiftech Apogee GTZ CPU block
XSPC Delta NB block
10/8mm tubing and compression fittings

Hope this helps.

reflux · 6 Apr 2009 at 11:08

square_nothing said:
out of interest is this doable without running the fans to high? i dont want to have fans running above 2000rpmout of interest is this doable without running the fans to high? i dont want to have fans running above 2000rpm

Mine has two Yate Loon D12-SLs, which run at 1000rpm I believe. Very quiet. Don't shift a massive amount of air, but enough for me.

square_nothing · 6 Apr 2009 at 11:38

!TIMMY! said:
Lapped (I didn't do it) Q6600 @ 3.6ghz, 1.375v + special vid add (around 1.39v according to OCCT), temps in Prime95 will reach the high 60's. NB @ 1.405v and temps load in the 40's.

My rad is a Swiftech MCR220 with 2 140mm Yate Loons pulling @ 1000rpm, and 2 Scythe (1 100mm and 1 120mm) pushing @ 1200rpm.

In my case I have 3 120mm Scythe fans; 2 intake (1 @ 1000rpm, 1 at 1200rpm) and 1 outake @ 1000rpm.

Overall my PC isnt quiet, but isn't too loud either, my Vortexx Neo is making the most noise.

Rest of my WC specs are:

DCC 18W Ultra with XSPC Top
XSPC Bay Res
Swiftech Apogee GTZ CPU block
XSPC Delta NB block
10/8mm tubing and compression fittings

Hope this helps.

nice thanks

, i was looking at the ddc18W pump seems to be rated quite highly.

square_nothing · 6 Apr 2009 at 11:39

oh also Timmy how come you are running the push/pulls at different rpm surly it would be better running at the same speed or isent it needed as the air will slow down while in the rad?

Bito · 6 Apr 2009 at 11:41

Swiftech now do a 120.2 radiator specifically designed for 'sandwich' application.....have a look at their site.

square_nothing · 6 Apr 2009 at 11:47

Bito said:
Swiftech now do a 120.2 radiator specifically designed for 'sandwich' application.....have a look at their site.

nice this is exactly what I was looking for. although I wonder if they are any good, I guess they got round the low air flow by just lowering the number of fins in the rad.
Will have to look up some revues later. if anyone has any good links to some or own one would be much appreciated.

again thanks all for the input

!TIMMY! · 6 Apr 2009 at 12:39

square_nothing said:
oh also Timmy how come you are running the push/pulls at different rpm surly it would be better running at the same speed or isent it needed as the air will slow down while in the rad?

Not 100% sure about the air slowing down in the rad, but I put the smaller fans at higher rpm so they would hopefully move the same amount of air as the larger fans; and also I ran out of space on my fan controller lol.

square_nothing · 6 Apr 2009 at 13:03

!TIMMY! said:
Not 100% sure about the air slowing down in the rad, but I put the smaller fans at higher rpm so they would hopefully move the same amount of air as the larger fans; and also I ran out of space on my fan controller lol.

ah dident se that they were different sizes, I always have to find a reasoning for everything lol.

square_nothing · 6 Apr 2009 at 13:13

After abit of looking around for reviews for the swiftech stackable rads I cant find any review that uses them stacked only people using them on their own. People seem say that they are quite thin, and the fins are reasonably spread out. one person stated that dust can easily be blown out, I am guessing this will equate to good air flow. But if the fins are spread out this will mean less surface area to cool the water and might destroy the point of having 2 rads instead of one more compact rad.