Have I enough rads?

[Korsun]

Gents,

Currently gathering bits up to begin my build. I am going to water cool a 3770k and 2 x GTX670 2048 windforce cards.

I have 2 radiators for my loop;

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-160-EK&groupid=962&catid=1523
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-004-BX&groupid=962&catid=1523

The cards are being cooled by EK FC680 GTX+ full cover blocks with backplates. The pump I'm using is a XSPC D5 vario.

My question is, do I have enough radiators to keep this cool?

 

[davido_labido]

yeah should do... depends on what fans you are using obviously...

 

[Korsun]

Hi Davido, thanks for the quick response. As for fans I have 4 x Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm 1850 RPM's for the radiators

 

[davido_labido]

id say you would just get away with it.... but id wait till more experienced people answer, your fans are decent enough so i dont see why not..


if your clocking thte 3770 id deffo get more though, they do run warm

 

[Korsun]

I am currently clocking the cpu...................

 

[Sayso]

yeh should be fine the 3770K and 670 are all down the low power end for PC parts, a lot will depend on RAD placement and use of fans (in/out push/pull etc) might be worth playing about to get best temps.

Remember idle temps will go up across everything when you have a loop in series but stress temps should see a drop, even if temps dont drop it will be a lot quieter than before (you dont mention in your post why you are watercooling???) being able to keep your fans on low.

The one thing i have noticed going back to air cooling is how load GPUs are its the only thing pushing me back towards water cooling.

Post benchies when you have it up and running.

 

[OLDPHART]

Both rads you can use low rpm fans which keeps the noise down, l'm using the Zaward 140mm 900 rpm fans on my rads very quiet with good temps.

Zaward Golf Fan 120mm AFNS-C025L-R420 - black-£7.99

Dimension - 120x120x25mm
Rated Voltage - 12V
Rated Current - 0.25A
Input Power - 3.00W
Fan Speed - 1200 RPM ± 10%
Max.Air Flow - 48.48 CFM
Noise Level - *****17dBA*****
Life Expectancy - 26,000 hrs
Bearing Type - Sleeve bearing
Colour - Black
Net Weight - 142g

Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm 1850 RPM-£14.99

Weight 200 g
Dimensions 119 x 119 x 25 mm
Air volume at full speed (12V), CFM ±10% 58.0
Noise level at full speed (12V), dB(A) 28.0
Fan speed at full speed (12V), RPM ±10% 1850
Bearing Type Double Ball Bearing
MTBF 100,000 hour at 35°C or 60,000 hours at 60°C
Accessories 4-pin Molex Adapter, 4x Screws

 

[ubersonic]

As people have said you will be fine

Both rads you can use low rpm fans which keeps the noise down, l'm using the Zaward 140mm 900 rpm fans on my rads very quiet with good temps.

Zaward Golf Fan 120mm AFNS-C025L-R420 - black-£7.99

Dimension - 120x120x25mm
Rated Voltage - 12V
Rated Current - 0.25A
Input Power - 3.00W
Fan Speed - 1200 RPM ± 10%
Max.Air Flow - 48.48 CFM
Noise Level - *****17dBA*****
Life Expectancy - 26,000 hrs
Bearing Type - Sleeve bearing
Colour - Black
Net Weight - 142g

Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm 1850 RPM-£14.99

Weight 200 g
Dimensions 119 x 119 x 25 mm
Air volume at full speed (12V), CFM ±10% 58.0
Noise level at full speed (12V), dB(A) 28.0
Fan speed at full speed (12V), RPM ±10% 1850
Bearing Type Double Ball Bearing
MTBF 100,000 hour at 35°C or 60,000 hours at 60°C
Accessories 4-pin Molex Adapter, 4x Screws

The difference is you can slow the GT's down with a fan controller or the motherboard and they will be quieter while still outperforming the Zawards, and last a lot longer too.

 

[OLDPHART]

As people have said you will be fine
The difference is you can slow the GT's down with a fan controller or the motherboard and they will be quieter while still outperforming the Zawards, and last a lot longer too.

Who wants to keep adjusting a fan controller not me, and what proof do you have that they will be quieter and perform better at the same speed 900rpm + out last. There's plenty fans out there that are better and cheaper than Scythe, you can buy a Rolls Royce and still end up with a bag of broken parts.

Last night the boss had the heating on[help] ambient room temp 23.5'c core temps-55 to 59'c i7-920:4.2ghz/ 6970-950/1350 48'c playing BLOPS II after a few hours- Hardware Labs Black ICE Radiator GT Stealth 420+Zaward 900rpm fans.

Do l need better fans no, the point of custom water cooling is good temps, stability and silence.

 

[ubersonic]

Who wants to keep adjusting a fan controller not me,

Or me, I use my motherboards BIOS to control my fans, but even if some people go the fan controller route you can just set and forget, no need to adjust, hell you can even use a 7v adapter cable.

and what proof do you have that they will be quieter and perform better at the same speed 900rpm + out last.

The fan specs, the GT's dwarf the Zawards in performance and if you turn the speed of the GT's down so they are as quiet as the Zawards they will still have higher performance. As for out lasting them, the difference in MTBF is obvious however what it doesn't reflect is that the Zawards use sleeve bearings so if you fit them "lying down" instead of "standing up" then their lifespan will be negatively affected.

There's plenty fans out there that are better and cheaper than Scythe

For use as a case fan yes, but for fitting to a radiator, no not really.

 

[andybird123]

it depends what temps you want and how much fan noise you are willing to tolerate, I would say that 4 x 120mm is a bit on the tight side for 2x670's and a CPU... you already have windforce's which are amongst best clocking and the quietest 670's anyway, so I'm not sure you will see any much benefit from watercooling them, particularly on such a tight tolerance in terms of rad space

but then I sit very firmly in the "massive rad / low speed fan" camp
I'd rather spend £90 on a single big external rad and £5 per fan, personally

 

[OLDPHART]

Or me, I use my motherboards BIOS to control my fans, but even if some people go the fan controller route you can just set and forget, no need to adjust, hell you can even use a 7v adapter cable.


The fan specs, the GT's dwarf the Zawards in performance and if you turn the speed of the GT's down so they are as quiet as the Zawards they will still have higher performance. As for out lasting them, the difference in MTBF is obvious however what it doesn't reflect is that the Zawards use sleeve bearings so if you fit them "lying down" instead of "standing up" then their lifespan will be negatively affected.

For use as a case fan yes, but for fitting to a radiator, no not really.

As to the above again where's your proof, l could say the Zawards would out perform/quieter than GT's at 1200rpm, who says they are no good as rad fans --> You.

As for lasting it would all depend on quality of production and materials used.

To andybird123 -

Quote " but then I sit very firmly in the "massive rad / low speed fan" camp
I'd rather spend £90 on a single big external rad and £5 per fan, personally"

+1 - my rads a 560 Black Ice GT Stleath[4x140mm fans set to pull] which l got new very cheap and it performs very well. Its mounted externally which gives better temps, easier to install and maintain.

Next build going for a Phobya Rad[massive] using 4x180mm low rpm fans now that's big.

 

[ubersonic]

but then I sit very firmly in the "massive rad / low speed fan" camp
I'd rather spend £90 on a single big external rad and £5 per fan, personally

Same here, Running a PA120.3 atm cooling a GTX670 FTW and an overclocked 3820, temps never go over 50 and thats with 800RPM cheapo Slipstreams dropped to ~500RPM for complete silence

As to the above again where's your proof, l could say the Zawards would out perform/quieter than GT's at 1200rpm

My proof is the performance figures supplied by Scythe and Zaward, look them up, the GT's have more than double the performance of the Golfballs as standard, that margin will shrink if you slow the GT's down but it won't disappear.

who says they are no good as rad fans --> You.

Nope, I said they were not as good as GT's like you tried to infer, not that they were no good, big difference. The Zawards are good fans, but for the price, and they will do a good job, but they are simply not as good as GT's and trying to claim as such is a tad silly, they have lower performance (even when the GT's are slowed to be quieter) and will not last as long (paying less for a fan you have to replace sooner is false economy).

 

[OLDPHART]

Nope, I said they were not as good as GT's like you tried to infer, not that they were no good, big difference. The Zawards are good fans, but for the price, and they will do a good job, but they are simply not as good as GT's and trying to claim as such is a tad silly, they have lower performance (even when the GT's are slowed to be quieter) and will not last as long (paying less for a fan you have to replace sooner is false economy).

The Zaward Golf Fan 120mm AFNS-C025L-R420 - black was picked for silence then cooling + price, but l could have picked the one below to be used with a fan controler to compare with the GT-

Zaward Golf III Fan 120mm ZG3-120D - black/blue £8.99 -
Dimension - 120 x 120 x 25mm
Fan Speed - 2000±200rpm
Bearing Type - Duro bearing
Max.Air Flow - 95.4 CFM
Noise Level - 30.9 dBA
Operation Voltage - 12V
Life Expectancy - 60,000 Hrs
Net Weight - 124.5g
Colour - frame: transparent black ; blade: blue
LED - N/A

Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm 1850 RPM £14.99 -
Manufacturered in Japan
Only 21.0 dB(A) at 1850 RPM
Weight 200 g
Dimensions 119 x 119 x 25 mm
Air volume at full speed (12V), CFM ±10% 58.0
Noise level at full speed (12V), dB(A) 28.0
Fan speed at full speed (12V), RPM ±10% 1850
Bearing Type Double Ball Bearing
MTBF 100,000 hour at 35°C or 60,000 hours at 60°C

We will leave it at that shall we.

 

[ubersonic]

The Zaward Golf Fan 120mm AFNS-C025L-R420 - black was picked for silence then cooling + price, but l could have picked the one below to be used with a fan controler to compare with the GT-

Zaward Golf III Fan 120mm ZG3-120D - black/blue £8.99 -

Still can't match the GT's performance and it's even louder.

We will leave it at that shall we.

Im really not trying to be rude/argumentative/annoying towards you, its just that people searching for keywords are going to be landing on this thread for a few years and its best the misinformation is cleaned up.

 

[Nickolp1974]

GT's all the way for me, and even though 670's dont put out a lot of heat the 3770 can, and depending on your overclock for your components your fans may be running pretty fast most of the time with those rads.
As for constantly adjusting fan speed, get an aquaero, not touched mine since i installed it, amazing bit of kit, fit and forget

 

[OLDPHART]

Still can't match the GT's performance and it's even louder.




Im really not trying to be rude/argumentative/annoying towards you, its just that people searching for keywords are going to be landing on this thread for a few years and its best the misinformation is cleaned up.

Imao, its louder by 3dba as its 150rpm faster, 95.4cfm to 58cfm = 37.4cfm better air flow, about half the price, which you could put towards a fan controller.

Misinformation me? - I'm really not trying to be rude/argumentative/annoying towards you, either.

 

[andybird123]

Next build going for a Phobya Rad[massive] using 4x180mm low rpm fans now that's big.

I just moved over to the 1260 and have 4 220mm fans on it
couldn't be happier with temps and noise (or lack there of)

though to be fair to ubersonic, fan specs on the box are utter rubbish - there are no standards to how they test so noise in particular they could be tested at 1 meter or 10 meters and they wouldn't need to qualify it on the box - and static pressure is an important metric for high FPI rads that most fan manufacturers don't even publish

GT's are independently reviewed and tested as being about the best for noise / performance... however a fan at 1500rpm will perform within a few degrees of any other fan at 1500rpm and within probably 5db when tested the same way

having said that, cost / performance wise, you are always better off going with a single big rad and cheap fans and running them slow enough that they become quieter than GT's... 9 £5 fans and a big rad are much much cheaper than 2 x 240mm fans with £15 fans and will always perform much better

I don't understand the logic of trying to keep the rads inside the case, the whole point of watercooling is to get the heat as far away from the components and outside the case as quickly as possible and bolting a rad to the outside of a case is almost as easy as bolting it inside

 

[ubersonic]

Imao, its louder by 3dba as its 150rpm faster, 95.4cfm to 58cfm = 37.4cfm better air flow, about half the price, which you could put towards a fan controller.

Misinformation me? - I'm really not trying to be rude/argumentative/annoying towards you, either.

Ahh I see where were crossing wires here, air flow is what you look at for case intake/exhaust fans, if their being bolted to a rad then air pressure is much more important (air flow is still important but not as so) and not only do the GT's have more than double the static pressure of the Zawards but a lack of pressure is the thing that always gets mentions in reviews of the Zawards (with legitreviews going so far as recommending against using them on rads in serious builds).

I don't understand the logic of trying to keep the rads inside the case, the whole point of watercooling is to get the heat as far away from the components and outside the case as quickly as possible and bolting a rad to the outside of a case is almost as easy as bolting it inside

I recently moved to an internal rad from external, I had been using a pair of external passive cooling towers which looked the dogs but took up quite a bit of space, I understand if you mount a big rad to the case externally its not as space consuming, but in all honesty my PA120.3 is overkill as it is for an overclocked i7-3820 and GTX670 FTW, the rational I used was that my system took up less space, I was able to make it silent (or at least quieter than my own breathing) and as the rad is at the top of the case and exhausting it doesn't add to system heat.

 

[OptimaLnrg]

Just to annoy you all, I use Noiseblocker E-Loops on my rads.

I run 2 x B12-2s on my folding rig rad @ 5v (starting voltage = 3.4v) and will be running 2 x B12-PS PWM on one of my main rig's rads. (possibly at 7v but likely via PWM).