Enthoo Primo - additional radiator question

CageyH

CageyH

CageyH

Associate
Joined
28 Nov 2011
Posts
155
Morning all,

As the owner of an Enthoo Primo (yes it is old, but it still suits my requirements) with an Alphacool 420 radiator in the roof, and an EKWB CE280 radiator in the base (I like the 140mm fan sound signature) I am looking at fitting an additional 240mm radiator in the front/side of the case, and would ideally like to move my drain port here, so I need a multiport radiator.

The idea is to decrease the fan noise, by having additional cooling capability, and the new rad will be fitted with some Noctua 120mm redux fans that I already have (they were fitted on the HDD cage). The HDD cages are being removed, so my favourite place is the side mounted position, with the fans acting as an exhaust.

Current fans fitted to the 280mm bottom radiator are EK Vardar Evo ER on the bottom, and Artic P14 on top, on a phased curve, with the Vardars kicking in when temperatures approach a Delta T of 10 degrees. The 420mm rad has Noctua fans (NF-A14 PWM IIRC) in a pull config. I could add additional fans on the bottom, but gains will be marginal on a 30mm radiator. The front intake has another two Vardar Evo ER fans, and an exhaust is another Artic P14 (The artics are RGB as they are the only visible fans).

My current watercooling covers my RTX 3080 and my i9-9900k running a modest overclock. There are no plans to change this at the moment, as the PC does everything I want.

My thoughts were to add an Alphacool 240mm radiator, but I am not sure I could move my drain port to the bottom, due to clearance issues, which means that the Hardware Labs SR2 MP may be the best option. Has anybody got any old photos of a 240mm radiator fitted to the side of a Primo?

Is there any disadvantage of fitting the 240mm radiator to the front position as an intake? With this and the 280mm radiator acting as intakes, the case temperature will rise, but will it only be a few degrees or more? Any ideas?

That is a long winded post just to ask if I can fit a drain port underneath a radiator in either of the front positions on an Enthoo Primo?
 
I had a look, but could not find anything useful, probably due to the age of the case, and most of the linked photos are no longer showing.

Anyway, having second thoughts, as I ran CPU Burner on 7 cores/14 threads and Fur ark V2 for three hours. Delta T is never greater than 10. I don’t think I need it.
 
The drain port has always been a problem, especially with the EK CE 280 radiator in the bottom.
There are only two ports, so some manhandling is required to drain the system completely.
I like the idea of going through the bottom of the case, so I will investigate when I fit the radiator.

Thanks for the idea. Even if I just cut a hole for access to the drain, it will be better than what I have now.
 
My Primo is sat on a box section trolley, with an open base to allow for proper air flow.
But manhandling it to drain the system certainly builds up the muscles.

My 2nd hand Alphacool UT60 has fallen through. The guy sent me some pictures, and loads of damaged cooling fins.
So for a little bit more cash, I bought a Corsair XR7, as I want quiet cooling. This seems to be a good compromise.
If I fit the radiator with the fittings at the bottom, I can also add a drain port, but the final plan it to change the EK CE280 to an Alphacool UT60/Monsta, as the HWL radiators don’t fit in the bottom section of the Primo, and fit a 2nd drain port to be sure I don’t have to do gymnastics when I drain the loop.
 
The Corsair XR7 240mm rad has been fitted in the position on the side, with the two Noctua NF-S12B redux-1200 PWM fans configured in pull configuration. Fans set to a constant 850rpm. Other fan curves have been lowered to take into account the additional cooling capacity.

Result is after CPU burner running on 14 threads on my i9-9900k, and Furmark 2 running at the same time, the Delta temperature remains at 10 degrees, but the fans are much quieter.

The goal has been achieved.
 
Do you think there is any value in replacing the Noctua Redux NF-12SB 1200 with Artic P12s?

I don’t know why PC fans are so expensive, so I don’t want to feed the greed….
 
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