Good 120.3 Rad?

AFK_Matrix · 31 Oct 2013 at 12:51

Hi there,

I have the setup in my sig and it is around 4 years old now. I am looking at upgrading the GFX to say a 280 with probably an EK block on it and keeping the CPU with the same block. But the Thermochill rad is ancient now and I had some great fun in attaching it in my first setup so its a bit of a pita to use. But I have no idea what is a really good rad now as I know the Thermochill rad was one of the best when I got it.

Oh and its going into a MountainMods case if that makes a difference.

daveip · 31 Oct 2013 at 13:53

Didn't the Thermochill rads have fan spacing of 20mm instead of 15mm?

Is there any other reason, aside from it being old, as to why you want to swap the rad out?

AFK_Matrix · 31 Oct 2013 at 14:01

Yeah if my memory servers it had the 20mm spacing which could be another problem with getting a new one. But basically I have had to do a bodge job of attaching the rad as I modded it for my first build and its just a really ugly setup tbh.

And I would just like a rad that I can attach to my case properly and its easy to detach if I need to. Do all the rads now come with the fixing screws etc?

daveip · 31 Oct 2013 at 14:35

Yes and no - meaning rads typically come with screws that will allow mounting the fans and you'll mount it to the case via your fans if that makes sense?

Generally, most rads dont come with say 5mm screws to mount the rad to the case without sandwiching a fan in the middle. This shouldn't be a problem though as radiator screws are going to be one of 3 threads, M3, M4 or UNC6-32 (These are the same screws you'd use for hard drives I think!) and are all fairly easily obtained.

Addicted · 31 Oct 2013 at 14:41

daveip said:
Yes and no - meaning rads typically come with screws that will allow mounting the fans and you'll mount it to the case via your fans if that makes sense?

Generally, most rads dont come with say 5mm screws to mount the rad to the case without sandwiching a fan in the middle. This shouldn't be a problem though as radiator screws are going to be one of 3 threads, M3, M4 or UNC6-32 (These are the same screws you'd use for hard drives I think!) and are all fairly easily obtained.

Quite a few rads do now-a-days imo, you can see in the packaging contents which do/don't. I believe the XSPC ones do.

Avenged7Fold · 31 Oct 2013 at 14:54

Addicted said:
Quite a few rads do now-a-days imo, you can see in the packaging contents which do/don't. I believe the XSPC ones do.

for the last couple of months, EKs newer coolstream radiators come with 6mm ones for attachment without fans. I think before they never use to come with small screws but now most do.

AFK_Matrix · 31 Oct 2013 at 14:57

Well thats good news with fixing them and yeah i understand about having the fans sandwich in the middle, thats the setup i have at the moment.

So what rad would you guys recommend for cooling a CPU and GPU? Given that my rad which has 20mm spacing fits my case I assume I need a rad that has this 20mm spacing?

Addicted · 31 Oct 2013 at 15:03

I think 20mm is normal spacing, so just any 360 rad, but I'd personally want more than a single 360 for cpu and gpu.

daveip · 31 Oct 2013 at 16:17

Avenged7Fold said:
for the last couple of months, EKs newer coolstream radiators come with 6mm ones for attachment without fans. I think before they never use to come with small screws but now most do.

I must stand corrected then. Have never had short screws come with my radiators but then I've not bought a new radiator in a while.

And 15mm spacing is industry standard for 120mm based radiators. I stand by that one!

daveip · 31 Oct 2013 at 16:19

AFK_Matrix said:
So what rad would you guys recommend for cooling a CPU and GPU? Given that my rad which has 20mm spacing fits my case I assume I need a rad that has this 20mm spacing?

Mr Matrix - post us a picture of where you want the rad to go. It's hard to suggest a rad without knowing fan spacing or if its even designed for watercooling ... my old Twice7 MountainMods case had 2x120mm fans as intake but wouldn't fit a 240mm rad. Only option then is to go 2 120mm separate radiators and connect them up.