HELP! Which radiator

Greebo

Greebo

Greebo

Caporegime
Joined
20 Jan 2005
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Co Durham
I am in the process of upgrading my watercooling slightly while I am swapping mobos.

I thought I ha an unbranded dual radiator and decided a newer more modern one might give me better temps (I bought the old radiator 2nd hand)

I ordered a new XSPC 240 rad (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-021-XS&groupid=701&catid=193&subcat=1041) as my maximum thickness is 35mm and the high flow appealed to me and it gets reasonable reviews.

However, I have now stripped down my system and on looking closer at the old radiator it is a Black Ice Pro.

Putting it side by side with the new one, although it is not as thick (6mm less - 29mm vs 35mm) it is wider, has 12 rows vs 11 rows of the new one and the fins are about twice the density.

Now for my dilemma. Is the new radiator going to perform worse? I am struggling to find hardly any reviews of the old black ice pro so hard to compare on paper.

I don't want to try the new radiator as I won't be able to return it under 7 day rules if it is worse.

Rest of system is a xspc v3 cpu block and swiftech mcp655 with head upgrade.

I really want to rebuild my computer tonight/tomorrow so quick answers would be greatly appreciated.
 
I would have thought that the new one would be better although in reality I suspect that you won't see much difference at all.

The Black Ice one that I had had much a much denser fin design than the other rads I have had and I always thought that it would restrict air flow a little, even though there is more surface area to cool. That may be why you got good results with those new fans. I never got the chance to do a back to back.

Also, a deeper rad should be better. It's a shame that you can't fit in a 56mm one really.
 
I know. It would just ruin my case layout :(

Well I have worked out the cubic size and my old one is 3915 mm3 and the new one is 4200 mm3 but the fin surface area is going to be half on the new one.

I'm guessing the new one will be good with slow rpm fans but my old one better with the San Aces in theory.

Decisions, decisions. :confused:
 
Fan dependent presumably, low fin density will work far better with low static pressure fans, and probably make less noise. High fin density will cool better only if you can force air through it fast enough.

I see a mention of san aces, which suggests the high fin density is a better idea. How interested in sound are you?
 
JonJ678 said:
Fan dependent presumably, low fin density will work far better with low static pressure fans, and probably make less noise. High fin density will cool better only if you can force air through it fast enough.

I see a mention of san aces, which suggests the high fin density is a better idea. How interested in sound are you?
Click to expand...

Already have them and fitted. :D At 5v they are quieter than my xilence redwings at 12v.
 
Well considering that the MCR220-QP is generally reccomended to be a better radiator than the Black Ice Pro II, and the MCR220-QP has a much worse pressure drop and flow rate than the XSPC RS240 you should be better off.

The XSPC RS240 is really the best of the single row radiators of that thickness.
 
Well back up and running. Fans at 5v gives me 25c idle and 39c after intel burn test at 4ghz so pretty happy.

Decided to keep my old rad.
 
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