Radiator question

PaulyD

PaulyD

PaulyD

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First off this is going to be probably the easiest question ever!

In regards to a standard watercooling radiator can a fan be mounted either side of it?

I have a CM stacker 830 and will be installing a water cooling loop for the CPU only soon and will consist of a 120mm rad. I would like to mount this all internally. I think the ideal place would be on the side grill or at the back. However - in most pics i have seen it looks like the barbs will get in the way of this.

One other quick question based on the first - If i can mount a fan either side of the rad, would it make a huge difference if I had a fan sucking air onto the rad or sucking it from the rad? guessing sucking into the rad would be better but thought i would ask :)
 
negligible difference there mate, as you'll probably be 7ving the fans anyway, so as long as the rad is getting enough flow to keep the temps down it'll be all good.
 
In answer to your first question, the fan can be mounted either side, it depends if the shroud is fixed, or if you can choose, or even if you have a shroud.

I havnt used a CM stacker, but I had a single 120 rad in my Akasa eclipse and I coudlnt mount it on the back as the barbs did get in the way, I mounted on a front intake and it worked great

I dont think it actually makes a lot of difference where the fan is mounted, I did test mine with fans either side and didnt notice any difference in temps
 
Thanks for the quick replies.

The rad will be a Black ice GT 120 - will check now whether it can be moved etc.

Thanks for confirming that it wouldn't matter which side that the fan mounts. Would it matter though if the fan is blowing cold air onto the rad or sucking the hot air off it?
 
Thats a point! Got enough fans hanging around...

In my mind I was thinking of placing the rad where my exhaust fan is - but depending on the barbs would depend on whether its was sucking or blowing on the rad.

Think the best thing is to get the bits first, have a play and see what happens!
 
for obvious reasons cool air moving through a rad is better that hot.
but in that location you have only the hot option due to the air flow from the psu above.

Could you locate the rad under the top air vent.
Air in top/front air out rear.

As with all things have a play and see what happens - use some cardboard to direct/separate airflows for some fine-tuning
 
I should be able to mount it at the front, or hopefully on the side - guess its just gonna be getting the kit and seeing what mounting options i have and where i can fit it in.

On another note - I always thought the PSU took air from the case and blew it out the back and not the other way round :o
 
PaulyD said:
On another note - I always thought the PSU took air from the case and blew it out the back and not the other way round :o
Click to expand...

It does - that why if you had cool air coming in for the rear of the case, through the rad it would create a loop, of air between the psu and rad - not good

Which is why i said you only have 'the hot option' with both the psu and rad as exhaust
 
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Ive tried both push and pull and on my current system the push method provided better temps. However now all Rads behave the same and others have found pull using a shroud to be better. this is also the same as the positive or negative case pressure arguament, again i have experimented and found positive pressure provided the best results.
 
Thanks for letting me know your testing. I would have thought push would be better but wanted to see if having a fan as pull would drastically change the temps. All the kit has been ordered and should arrive tomorrow :) Can't wait to play with my goodies!!
 
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