Is the EK-CoolStream PE 360 the best rad at this size? I am looking for one that is about this thickness for use in an InWin 303, top mounting, which has a total of 70mm room including fans. Is this the best rad for the job, or is there an alternative I should be looking at... I'm not too fussed about cost if it's going to be better.
EK-CoolStream PE 360... the best?
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No its not.
But then again, what's your question?
It all comes down to which fans you plan to use and how fast you run them.
A radiator can be designed for the best cooling with low, medium or high fan speeds. I have yet to see a radiator which wins at all three speeds as there are compromises to be made. Low Fpi benefit low speed fans, high fpi benefit higher fan speeds.
Personally I prefer Nemesis Black Ice. The EK Coolstream XE only overtakes the Black ice for cooling once your fans go above 1800 and the PE never catches up with it.
Downside is the Black ice rads dont fit all cases, the 120mm rads are actually 133m wide so can be tricky. One out of three rads i bought wouldnt fit and I had to put Mayhems Havoc in instead.
http://thermalbench.com/2015/01/05/hardwarelabs-black-ice-nemesis-480gtx/5/
if the black ice doesnt fit then the XSPC or Mayhems are your next best choice for fan speeds up to 1800 rpm
But then again, what's your question?
It all comes down to which fans you plan to use and how fast you run them.
A radiator can be designed for the best cooling with low, medium or high fan speeds. I have yet to see a radiator which wins at all three speeds as there are compromises to be made. Low Fpi benefit low speed fans, high fpi benefit higher fan speeds.
Personally I prefer Nemesis Black Ice. The EK Coolstream XE only overtakes the Black ice for cooling once your fans go above 1800 and the PE never catches up with it.
Downside is the Black ice rads dont fit all cases, the 120mm rads are actually 133m wide so can be tricky. One out of three rads i bought wouldnt fit and I had to put Mayhems Havoc in instead.
http://thermalbench.com/2015/01/05/hardwarelabs-black-ice-nemesis-480gtx/5/
if the black ice doesnt fit then the XSPC or Mayhems are your next best choice for fan speeds up to 1800 rpm
OK thanks... I am still debating best fan choice, but at the moment leaning towards Thermaltake Riing (specs here) for the aesthetics as they will be front and center visible in the case. These have max of 1500 rpm. I'm actually waiting for the software controlled version to come out... I assume they are the same specs though. At the bottom of the case I will have x3 Vardar fans with another 360 rad.
Ah OK, thanks. So the Black Ice would be preferable if it fits, failing that either XSPC or Mayhems? I haven't bought anything yet... are the Corsairs that much better then? I usually (and unfairly) discount most Corsair products due to bad experience with them in the past.
I assume you mean either the Black Ice GTS or the XFlow (not sure what the difference is here with the inlet/outlet layout and what difference that makes) which are both 29.6mm thick, as the GTX is too big at 54mm (I have total of 70mm available including fans).
I see the XSPC EX360 Slim Line is described as "low flow resistance and optimized for slow-rotating fans"... is this the model you were referring to? The other AX360 model is much more expensive but doesn't speak of the low flow feature, so I don't know how it would compare if running lower speed fans.
Also, if I were to get the Corsair Magnetic fans, which although run up to 2000rpm, are you suggesting I should be of a view to have them running well below that and therefore stick with a rad suited to that task?
XFlow is just one pass with all the coolant passing through the tubes in one direction, and having inlet and outlet in opp ends of the rad. It has lower liquid flow restriction (higher max flow rate in the loop) compared to the standard U-Flow but also has a ~20-30% performance deficit depending on airflow through the core.
xspc rx360 too thick at 63mm (sorry i didnt read your post properly and thought you meant 70mm for the rad)
Same with the mayhems Havoc.
SO of the thin rads, the best performing are the ALPHACOOL NEXXXOS ST30 and Hardwrd Labs Black Ice Nemesis GTS.
The slim line XSPC AX360 dont come anywhere near the above two.
And as for fans, the VArdar I bought are the F3-ER ones which run at up to 2200 rpm but start spinning from as low as 280 rpm. I will be using a fan controller and don't envisage them running at any more than 600rpm unless I am trying for overclocking benchmark records when I will put them on max speed.
http://thermalbench.com/2015/08/12/ek-vardar-f3-140er-140mm-fan/3/
The new type of fans, the Corsair magnetic ones, look very good and again have a massive range of fan speed.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cors...remium-magnetic-levitation-fan-fg-052-cs.html
You can get them with or without LED too.
They arent cheap though
Same with the mayhems Havoc.
SO of the thin rads, the best performing are the ALPHACOOL NEXXXOS ST30 and Hardwrd Labs Black Ice Nemesis GTS.
The slim line XSPC AX360 dont come anywhere near the above two.
And as for fans, the VArdar I bought are the F3-ER ones which run at up to 2200 rpm but start spinning from as low as 280 rpm. I will be using a fan controller and don't envisage them running at any more than 600rpm unless I am trying for overclocking benchmark records when I will put them on max speed.
http://thermalbench.com/2015/08/12/ek-vardar-f3-140er-140mm-fan/3/
The new type of fans, the Corsair magnetic ones, look very good and again have a massive range of fan speed.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cors...remium-magnetic-levitation-fan-fg-052-cs.html
You can get them with or without LED too.
They arent cheap though
Thanks, I noticed from the chart below that at the lower speeds the Nexxxos seems fairly middle of the road, while the Nemesis leads the pack. Magicool seems next after that. The problem is the Nemesis GTS doesn't seem to be easily available in the UK at all, which is a shame.
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Yeah I've dropped them a message to ask. No idea why OCUK stopped selling them... you're right they seem to be universally considered one of the best performing rads you can get!
I will be using in an InWin 303... probably x2 actually, top and bottom. How will I know if it can fit or not? Are the screw holes on the Nemesis in the same place as other rads, it's just the physical size? The 303 looks fairly roomy, based on the pics below...
I will be using in an InWin 303... probably x2 actually, top and bottom. How will I know if it can fit or not? Are the screw holes on the Nemesis in the same place as other rads, it's just the physical size? The 303 looks fairly roomy, based on the pics below...
screw holes in same place, its just the width of the rad. From memory its 133mm wide.
Looking at your pics you have lots of room width wise. I manged to fit two in my case but my third one had to fit between a frame which was only 130mm wide so no go
Looking at your pics you have lots of room width wise. I manged to fit two in my case but my third one had to fit between a frame which was only 130mm wide so no go
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The noiseblocker b12 2 fans are very good and quiet. What do you intend to cool with the setup?
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I think generally most agree the d5 pumps are the quietest so worth having a look at them or a res combo such as that.
I don't know now what the air flow is like in your case so not sure how fast the fans will need to run to be effective but at load it will likely need to be faster than 600rpm with just two slim 360s. But anything under 1000rpm is basically silent anyway.
I don't know now what the air flow is like in your case so not sure how fast the fans will need to run to be effective but at load it will likely need to be faster than 600rpm with just two slim 360s. But anything under 1000rpm is basically silent anyway.
Yeah looking at reviews it seems pretty good... far better than the InWin 805 which I was also looking at. Obviously how you set up fans and components used will have a big impact, so I want to make sure I get the right stuff for the job.
The EK pump/res combos seem to be widely used and recommended, but I don't know if that's more because it seems to be the most widely available brand? I'm not doubting their quality though, as reviews always seem positive.
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I personally don't have a combo but I do have the ek d5 separate and that has no.issues and is silent. I wouldn't worry to.much about make regarding the pump as all d5s are the same it is only the top that is different and even then the difference is minor. Also I think pwn pump is a nice idea but I'm practice you will see no issues in a Vario pump and like myself you might even end up using the pwn much like a vario. with the pwn pump I have it set in bios to 2000rpm right up to 70c on the CPU as at 2000rpm the flow seems good and the pump remains silent, I think this is setting 3 or thereabouts on a vario pump.