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Setup for radiators

Pelinox

Pelinox

Pelinox

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27 Sep 2012
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Denmark
Okay, so I have a new build in my mind - but probably won't be build before Haswell and 7xx nVidia turns up. I would like to make that my first watercool project, and therefore I am planning to buy a case and rip it apart and make everything fit.

As this would be my first watercool build, I need some help with it. I am total green on this area, apart from the parts, I have little to no knowledge on how it works. Ideally, I would like to watercool both CPU and GPU(s). For this, I read you need 2-3 radiators. Now, I understand what an radiator is, and what it does, but my question is what is the best setup?

I recon the case I am buying to strip down, is big enough, so my only question(s) is, how the setup should be.

I was thinking one radiator in the bottom and one in the roof, both with place for 3 fans. But how should the fans be placed?

Should the radiator lay on the bottom, having fans on top of it, pushing hot air into the case?

Should it be on it's side, but only have either push or pull fans or ideally have both?

For the roof radiator, I assume the best thing is to have fans on top exhausting hot air out of the case?

Now, if I need 3 radiators, where would the last be placed best?

:)
 
Get a 360 radiator (3x 120mm), put it on the top of the case with 3 fans either side for pull + pull. That will do you fine and will be efficient.
 
Hmm, a extra rad forgot about the second GPU - but a 360 is good enough for CPU + 1 GPU, add a 120 or 140 and you should be good to go.

It of course matters how good airflow your case has which will ultimately decide your temps.
 
Addicted said:
Hmm, a extra rad forgot about the second GPU - but a 360 is good enough for CPU + 1 GPU, add a 120 or 140 and you should be good to go.

It of course matters how good airflow your case has which will ultimately decide your temps.
Click to expand...

How come airflow matters, when crucial parts are under water? I assume this is to have the radiators cool with cooler air?
 
Well if you have the room & money then get 2x 360, it certainly won't hurt - if I had the room in my 800D i'd get another 360 and watercool my 2nd gpu!
 
for a cpu and 2 gpu's (without knowing how hot they will run);
I would suggest a phobya 1080

it will cost only marginally more than a good 360 and will be much cheaper than any 2 other rads and will definitely be enough... otherwise I would suggest at least a 360 + 240 or ideally 2x 360's

for watercooling, you can get cases with a seperate twin 360 compartment in the bottom that will keep all the heat seperate from the other components

what case were you thinking of?

best results will result from cold air being drawn across the rads, however you would be fine with case air being pulled over and out through the rads... as long as you don't have one rad sucking air in to the case and this warm air being pushed over the 2nd rad

all fans on push is generally best, you can put 6 fans on one rad in push pull however the gains are only marginal (e.g around 1C better than push only) and it is more of a band aid for systems with not enough raddage than it is a serious performance prospect
 
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Well, I was just looking for the cheapest and biggest case I could get my hands on, so my plan is to split it completely, and just have the chasis left over.

I plan to do this using the 971B Infiltrator from LC-Power, it's pretty big, which is the only critera I had. The looks, well, let's just say it's not too smart ;)

If anyone can find one with the same size or bigger and chaper, let me know :p

I'll be doing my own aluminium exterior and maybe interior aswell.

At the moment, I'm trying to make a sketch in SketchUp, but it's my first time using it, so it'll take some time ;)
 
So which of these 2 bottom radiator setup is the better?

N09t0.webp

FsNeP.webp
 
the 2nd one - but have the fans on the inside of the rad pointing outwards

if you are basically scratch building a case based on an existing frame, take a look at the little devil cases, they have some nice features and layout for watercooling that might give you some ideas
 
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andybird123 said:
the 2nd one - but have the fans on the inside of the rad pointing outwards
Click to expand...

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Like this?
Or do you mean having the fans on the inside?

In theory, you could have dual rads like this, one on both side?

andybird123 said:
if you are basically scratch building a case based on an existing frame, take a look at the little devil cases, they have some nice features and layout for watercooling that might give you some ideas
Click to expand...
I checked, and boy, are they exspensive! I rather buy this semi-cheap case and just strip it down to it's chasis :)
 
Yeah I meant fans on the inside blowing out
And yes you could have one each side like that as well


I only meant to look at the devil cases for design ideas, not to buy one :)
Th ld cases have a space for 2 rads in the bottom exactly how we are talking about, if that helps
 
andybird123 said:
Yeah I meant fans on the inside blowing out
And yes you could have one each side like that as well


I only meant to look at the devil cases for design ideas, not to buy one :)
Th ld cases have a space for 2 rads in the bottom exactly how we are talking about, if that helps
Click to expand...

Ah I see, but say I had one or two down there, would there be a need to make holes in the side panels for air to exhaust, or is that not needed?

Most builds I've seen, have the fans on the outside, how come they choose that, if having them on the inside is better?
 
looks mainly, some people prefer aesthetics over performance

I personally don't like pulling hot air in to the case (you'll have some items still in the case relying on air for cooling - motherboard, RAM etc. so feeding them hot air it a bad idea)
you also absolutely don't want to pull hot air in over 1 rad and the push it out and over the 2nd rad, whichever way you do it, you want both rads to be the same way

if you do pull air in over the rads in to the case, you want about 60-75% as many fans on exhaust (E.g. for 6 fans pulling air in to the case you want 4-5 pushing air back out)
but still be aware that your in-case temps will be higher if you pull air in to the case over the rads

wherever you put your rads, you will need holes for air to either be drawn in to the case, or expelled
 
andybird123 said:
looks mainly, some people prefer aesthetics over performance

I personally don't like pulling hot air in to the case (you'll have some items still in the case relying on air for cooling - motherboard, RAM etc. so feeding them hot air it a bad idea)
you also absolutely don't want to pull hot air in over 1 rad and the push it out and over the 2nd rad, whichever way you do it, you want both rads to be the same way

if you do pull air in over the rads in to the case, you want about 60-75% as many fans on exhaust (E.g. for 6 fans pulling air in to the case you want 4-5 pushing air back out)
but still be aware that your in-case temps will be higher if you pull air in to the case over the rads

wherever you put your rads, you will need holes for air to either be drawn in to the case, or expelled
Click to expand...
Okay.. Was kinda hoping I could avoid holes in the side panels, guess not :(
 
you could mount the rads externally to avoid needing to cut holes for fans, this would completely remove the heat from the case as well
(this is what I've done with mine)

downside is it takes up more space and can be more difficult to move around (but quick disconnects can help with this if moving your PC is a regular occurence)
 
andybird123 said:
you could mount the rads externally to avoid needing to cut holes for fans, this would completely remove the heat from the case as well
(this is what I've done with mine)

downside is it takes up more space and can be more difficult to move around (but quick disconnects can help with this if moving your PC is a regular occurence)
Click to expand...
I don't see that as an option to be honest, I am making my own case for the looks, and having 2 big fat chunks of black on the outside ruins it for me :p
 
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