Setup for radiators

[Pelinox]

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?

 

[Pelinox]

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.

So only one radiator is enough to cool CPU and possibly 2 GPUs?

 

[Pelinox]

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.

How come airflow matters, when crucial parts are under water? I assume this is to have the radiators cool with cooler air?

 

[Pelinox]

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

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

 

[Pelinox]

So which of these 2 bottom radiator setup is the better?

Spoiler

 

[Pelinox]

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

Spoiler

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?

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

I checked, and boy, are they exspensive! I rather buy this semi-cheap case and just strip it down to it's chasis

 

[Pelinox]

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

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?

 

[Pelinox]

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

Okay.. Was kinda hoping I could avoid holes in the side panels, guess not

 

[Pelinox]

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)

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

 

[Pelinox]

well whatever you end up doing, you will need big holes in the case somewhere to get all the heat out and fresh air in

Yea...

So the ideal setup would be something like this?