Radiator Worries

Wilst

Wilst

Wilst

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Joined
11 Oct 2007
Posts
134
Location
Notts
I’ve been reading these forums for ages but now I need a bit of advice from the guys in the know. So first post please be nice!

I’ve decided to take the plunge and I’m going watercooling. The problem I have is that I have 2 black ice GT Stealth 360 rads which are going to be mounted in the front, 1 is for the CPU and the other is for the graphics card (I’m not going to put a Northbridge block in as the ds4 has a heatpipe jobby which is doing OK) I think the best way is to run these as 2 separate loops. My worry is that if there run one behind the other the heat from first is going to be dumped into the second one to the point where it can’t work rather than just run a bit hotter. The front rad was going to be the CPU loop and the second rad for the graphics loop, I don’t mind the second rad being a bit hotter as it’s just graphics.

So I guess I’m asking if the second rad will manage the graphics card, how bad will temps be for the second rad? And if it would take a second card in crossfire and still have accetpable temps?

The only alternative I could think of was to have both rads sucking air into the gap between them and putting a hole in the bottom of the case to exhaust it. I don’t like the idea of that because I’d have to start chopping holes in my case and I don’t think I would have room to run push pull fans on both rads and no hope of raising the fan up off the rad surface. Whereas in series I could fit fans at the front, in between and at the back of the rads.
Any other ideas without putting them outside the case which im not really keen on?

I was planning on running yate loons (D12SL-12) at 6 to 8 volts around where they become inaudible, will they provide enough airflow at that voltage?

Lots of questions hopefully all you clever people can give me lots of answers:p
Thanks
 
Generaly people dont stack rads for that very reason...... the airflow over the second one will be seriosly compromised. Look at a PA120.3 if you can, much better performance due to its thickness than the GT Stealth, and a 120.3 will handle both your E6400 and X1900XT and you can just run one big loop (well, not even that big!) and save money on the extra pump (which arent cheap), the 120.3 might even handle another card in CF, depending upon your temps. A 360 loop for EACH CPU and GFX is really overkill, especialy with a simple C2D and a non CF setup, and TBH there really isnt internal space for all those rads. Hell, even a PA 120.2 would prob do a decent enough job with the C2D and X1900XT if you dont intend to OC insanely, which by your sig i guess is the case (only a modest 3Ghz OC on air on a E6400..... most people push to 3.2-3.4 on air with C2Ds, i've managed 3.6-3.7Ghz on a good day with my TRU120A)
 
Hi Wilst :)

I take it you have the GT Stealth rads already? Are you thinking of mounting them both internally on top of each other at the front of the case? What case do you have? What waterblocks and pumps?

I can't remember figures of hand but I am pretty sure the X1900's run a bit toasty, add a second card and they will dump more heat that your overclocked dual core, maybe even a clocked quad core. You are talking an extra (at a very rough guess) 150w of heat at least possibly being dumped into a second loop, and into the case.

2 loops is the best idea as you said, provide the information above and we can give you more specific advice.
 
Thanks for the quick responses

I did really want to run a single PA120.3 but i simply didnt have the room its about 40mm higher and just wouldn't fit in my case and i really dont want to have to move to a huge case. Now that the prices of second hand master cards is getting more reasonable I doubt i will be able to stop myself which is why i went a bit overkill on rads.
Ive had it overclocked a lot higher and stable but i just leave it at that because it will do it happily at stock volts and it's fine for day to day. When it goes underwater il really start pushing it, 4Ghz seems like a nice target:D
When i realised i couldn't have a PA120.3 i started looking for alternatives and the BIX GTS looked the best as the BIX GTX wants a lot of airflow and swiftech's were either all sold out or wanted far too much money..
As for kit i already have the 2 rads as they came up cheaply and i have a EK fullcover waterblock for the card. Then i was planning on running a swiftech GTX for CPU, Swiftech micor res's and D-tek DB1's with 3/8 tubing all inside an antec 900. The rads will both fit in at the front.
From the reading ive done a single x1900xt at stock is about 100w and about 140 overclocked hard. A e6400 @ 3.6 with 1.5vc would be around 160watts
 
yeah its not a problem as ive been meaning to build a seperate DVD/HD caddy thing to sit on my desk anyway.
 
Interesting plan..... You cert need to post some pics of the build! Since you already have the rads then discussion of the PA's is kinda unneccecary.... what pumps are you planning to use though, as they can make a big diff.

Think about the DTek Fuzion rather than the Apogee..... very little diff in performance, and with the nozzle kit it can out perform a GTX, but it's derin/copper rather than aluminium, so no galvanic corrosion from mixed metals.

If you have the two rads facing front in the drive bays, have you though about how you are going to route the tubing to the foremost rad, as won't it be overlapped by the one behind it? You might also need something punchier than 6/8 volts yates to get enough fresh air into that setup.
 
For pumps I was planing on using D-tek db1s as they should give around 1.1 GPM with the stuff in the loops using a flow rate estimator, that should put me ahead of where the performance curve really drops off. I thought about using DDC pro's instead but there a bit too wide and a chunk more expensive plus i think it would be a tiny performance gain.

As for the Apogee i know that the d-tek provides near identical cooling but i think the Apogee just looks soo much better (I know it's sad). My understanding was that the apogee was double electroplated but then again mixed metals is always a bad idea so il have to think about it.

For the tubing to the front rad i was sneakily going to run it underneath the second rad there should be room after some aproximate mesuring if not il bodge it around the side or maybe use smaller tubing.

The fans are a big worry especially as there are going to 2 rads i was hoping that 3 sets of them would manage but the more i look at how tight those fins are the more i worry. I might just have to put them on a fan controller and run them faster when its under load working hard.

Now that you've asked for pics im going to have to do the job properly and route all my cabling out of sight, maybe even paint my case:eek:
 
You would need some 38mm panaflo jobs with all that restriction. TBH I wouldn't bother with the second rad at all.
 
I'm struggling to find any panaflo or other 38mm fans in the uk would i have to go outside the UK or am i just not looking hard enough? If moved to a single rad would it really handle 2x1900xt and a clocked e6400? I'm not sure about airflow, i might have to pull some fans out of my case and see how much air 3 of them could shift through 2 rads. I would really like to try and keep the cpu on its own loop for some crazy clocking but if i can't, then i can't:(
 
Well after a bit of experimenting with fans i think i should get enough airflow through the 2 rads, although its not great i think it will be enough, especially if i build some shrouds for it. After failing to find any Panaflos or other 38mm fans in UK or easily avalible from the US I think il just stick with yate loons. I might have a look at a T-balncer to do fans dynamically as well which should sort temps out.

I was hoping you could have a quick look at what i was planning on ordering and make sure i wasn't missing anything or making a bad choice. This is also the loop order i was planning on.

Cpu Loop

Apogee GTX or D-Tek Fuzion + nozzles, still unsure
Swiftech Micro res
D-TEk DB1 pump
Stealth 360 Rad (already got)

GPU Loop

EK fullcover block (already got)
Swiftech Micro res
D-TEk DB1 pump
Stealth 360 Rad (already got)

Then 9x Yate Loons, 3/8, a few more barbs, pretty UV dyes, fan filters and i think i'm ready:)
 
It might be worth experimenting with the rads out of the case before you go mad trying to fit everything in. I would want to know what the temps were with 1 triple rad in one loop versus the 2 rads in two loops.

You might find that the 2nd rad makes very little difference...
 
I know it would be good to do a bit of testing before but i can't beleive a single rad would take a CPU and 2X x1900xt(planning on getting a second) and still give good temps, especially for the CPU. The other problem is that for it all too go in a single loop i'd need a DDC with a top rather than a DB1 but if i then wanted 2 loops i wouldnt be able to fit a second pump in easily because there so wide.

The big problem is im really attatched to the idea of having a triple rad just for the CPU. Although I'm really lazy i will try and do some testing to compare the 2 as it could be quite interesting. Just need to find the time to do it all now.:rolleyes:
 
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