Help EX420 420mm Or Alphacool XT45 280mm ?

shadow007

shadow007

shadow007

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27 Sep 2010
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I'm in a bit of a dilemma and need some advice please. I can't make my mind up between the 2 radiators below please if you can let me know which will perform better keeping in mind the thickness of the radiators and size..

Alphacool XT45 280mm Radiator (45mm thick) will have 2x fans in push

XSPC EX420 420mm Radiator (36mm thick) Will have 3x fans in push

As you can see above the Alphacool radiator is 280mm in size but is 45mm thick while the XSPC one is only 36mm thick but is bigger in size at 420mm plus will have one extra fan. Depending on what radiator I go for one will have 2x fans and the other one will have 3x fans but the fans will be the same used on both radiators The Akasa Viper AK-FN063 140mm fans
 
EX has higher fin density and an extra 140mm which should quite easily overcome the 9mm difference in thickness. You will need to run fans a bit faster on there though.

Is it essential that you go for 140mm rads?
 
Last edited:
Uncle Petey said:
EX has higher fin density and an extra 140mm which should quite easily overcome the 9mm difference in thickness. You will need to run fans a bit faster on there though.

Is it essential that you go for 140mm rads?
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Hi thanks for that, I was just going for these rads as they are bigger in size more cooling surface otherwise I can go for a Alphacool XT45 240mm or XSPC EX360mm.
 
stuie said:
Is there a reason you can't fit a 420 xt45?
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Hi yes I can infact my case is also the Switch 810 and I also have a i7 3770k @4.5 plus 2x SLi GTX 680's unfortunately cannot water cool these 680's as they are the EVGA Classified's and cannot find water blocks for them anywhere online.

I see you have a 420 UT60 did you mount the fans outside the case? because am pretty sure inside would be very tight touching the top of the motherboard plus like my motherboard the Asus maximus v extreme that has the 8 pin power connector on top of the motherboard it's near impossible to fit a 60mm thick rad with fans inside the case.
 
The top 3*140s are in the ceiling of the case in pull configuration, theres a fan area designed for it.

The fronts again are at the front in pull configuration. I did add a couple extra fans in for push pull but nothing needed

976012_4869486457494_477707702_o.jpg
 
stuie said:
The top 3*140s are in the ceiling of the case in pull configuration, theres a fan area designed for it.

The fronts again are at the front in pull configuration. I did add a couple extra fans in for push pull but nothing needed

976012_4869486457494_477707702_o.jpg
Click to expand...

Wow lovely setup there I must say. Yes this is the reason why I was going for a thinner radiator so I can have fans inside the case pushing air through the radiator because I have seen online you do get a bit better performance like this it is just by a bit but definitely is. But then this becomes a 45mm thick 420 rad (Alphacool XT45) in push VS a 60mm thick 420 rad (Alphacool UT60) in pull which would perform better?
 
Still the UT60.
Push vs pull made little to no difference with my Monsta rads fwiw. Either way, you're talking about a pretty insignificant degree or two.
 
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