Radiator & Fan help

LuckyBenski · 21 Feb 2019 at 17:53

Van Diemen said:
After a little reading I’m thinking of getting the Hardware Labs Nemesis GTS rads.

360 in front with a 240 or 280 top.
I’m reading that these rads are restrictive, so will the EK DDC 3.2 be powerful enough?

DDC produces more head pressure than a D5 (or copes with it better) so you should be fine. If you had a load of blocks I'd be more worried but your setup isn't overly restrictive to start with.

MaXxBoulton · 21 Feb 2019 at 17:59

When I had your case I couldn't put a 280 in the top the fans would hit the 8pin cpu power.

If you do 240 on top you can mount the fans outside but still under the top grill. Then you can put a 45mm rad in and not cover the motherboard

Van Diemen · 21 Feb 2019 at 18:15

MaXxBoulton said:
When I had your case I couldn't put a 280 in the top the fans would hit the 8pin cpu power.

If you do 240 on top you can mount the fans outside but still under the top grill. Then you can put a 45mm rad in and not cover the motherboard

I’ve had 280 aio in the top before, just had to keep all the wireing clean.

I didn’t think there was enough space to have fans on outside/top. Airflow would definitely be an issue on top.

MaXxBoulton · 21 Feb 2019 at 18:19

I did it with a 240mm and 2 corsair sp fans. I had it set as an intake. In exhaust its too restricted.

Top and front fad as intake and a 140 on back exhausting

andy_mk3 · 21 Feb 2019 at 18:49

Van Diemen said:
After a little reading I’m thinking of getting the Hardware Labs Nemesis GTS rads.

360 in front with a 240 or 280 top.
I’m reading that these rads are restrictive, so will the EK DDC 3.2 be powerful enough?

I've got a pair of GTS 360 rads on order as they seem to be very well rated. I didn't want really thick rads taking up half the case either. They are more restrictive than most other rads, but not enough to worry about on that pump.

crgnclsn · 25 Feb 2019 at 17:40

Nice choice! They're such pretty radiators too - looking at them for my next build. Good to know about the head pressure.

Van Diemen · 25 Feb 2019 at 18:14

I’ve changed up the config a little.

Got a Lian-Li O11 Dynamic on the way.
So, I’m thinking Black Ice Nemesis 360GTX & a 360GTS

andy_mk3 · 26 Feb 2019 at 20:13

Are you still going with the Vader fans? They seem good but pricey too, especially when you need 6 or so.

Van Diemen · 7 Mar 2019 at 01:53

Not sure. I’ve had to put the build on hold for a while due to work commitments.

Case arrived couple of days ago & l’ve moved my rig into it. Just not had a chance to get/sort out the rest of the WC kit.

Picked up a Black Ice 360SR2 on MM so will add a 360GTS. It’s prob going to be sometime next week until I get time to plan the build and order all the bits in.

Adam Belcher · 2 Sep 2019 at 16:22

I know I'm late to the show but I've just finished my first custom loop. I'm cooling a lightning z 2080ti a 9900k and a hero xi vrm's. I went with a mono block because the hero's vrm's are known to get pretty hot. Using an evolve x case I managed to get an alphacool v2 st30 420mm in the front and an alphacool 280mm st30 x flow in the top. The 420 is literally touching the bottom of the case. I managed to lift it so there is just enough room to slide a thin piece of paper under it. So another make could easily not fit. I chose these rads because I found online that these were what other people were using. If you go with 120mm fans/rads on top you could use much thicker rads. I also used an ek d5 pump res combo. You can easily fit this without buying additional brackets. At the back/bottom of the case you will find 2 holes that the 2 screws on the left of the bracket will screw into. If you trim a piece of plastic or metal and drill 2 holes in it, you can put it behind the wall and screw the 2 right hand screws in. Works great and is super secure without having to drill holes into your case.
Despite the slim rads this provides more than enough cooling. The lightning z is a super hot card and on its default fan curve reaches over 80c. With the fans ramped up it reaches high 60's. Now the highest temp I've seen is 45c. Playing bfv it runs about 40c. The cpu was a bit disappointing and has similar temps to the h100 v2 240mm I was using before but I suppose this is to be expected as there is now a super hot gpu in the same loop. Bfv averaging about 60c. Shadow of the tomb raider about 40c. Kinda showing how cpu demanding bfv is.
So I coulda used thicker rads if I went with a 120mm form factor but just prefer 140mm fans as they are quieter.
Just be aware the v2 versions of these rads have hole stoppers that fit flush with the rad allowing you to mount them flush to the bracket. The x flow I got has hole stoppers that don't. I was originally going to mount the fans underneath but the rad wouldn't fit flush with the bracket so I had to mount the fans on top pulling air rather than pushing it. Actually worked out quite well as both rads are now inside and visible and a bit more athstetically pleasing.
Hope this helps anyone looking to watercool for the first time. The specs for any given case are one thing but in reality not all makes of radiator will fit. These rads do. The x flow on top is particularly good as it makes routing the tubing so much easier.