Water cooling case shootout!

maybe .... thing is its good to have some air flowing over the components regardless ..having said that, I did turn all my case fans off in an experiment, and noticed no significant difference in temps ... but as my case fans are virtuallty silent at 12v (with the exception of the 92mm rears which run at 7v and are then silent) noise is not an issue TBH.

A radiator will certainly need some fans if you have a high end system, but a Thermochill PA120.3 with low speed yates @ 7V is near silent.

I chose my PSU for the combination of noise and stability, and have to say I feel my system is as quiet as you can get without having an entire passive system .. and better temps than air to boot ;)

I thought my aircooled system was quiet, but compared to this setup, its was a jet engine ;)

For the record my case has 3x120mm aerocool low speeds @ 12v, and 2x 92mm Antec tricools @7-8v with the 3x yate loon DSL12 low speed on the rad @ 7-8v, all controlled by rheostat Sunbeam controller.
I mounted an Evercool VC-RE cooler on the SB (thanks to someone on these forums for pointing that out) that is running @ 50% in mobo bios.
 
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lol if there was a 10 degree difference then I would probably take the fans out :p waste of power if you ask me lol.

my question is how do I know that the case I buy will fit the radiator (With fans)?
 
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Vogon said:
maybe .... thing is its good to have some air flowing over the components regardless ..having said that, I did turn all my case fans off in an experiment, and noticed no significant difference in temps ... but as my case fans are virtuallty silent at 12v (with the exception of the 92mm rears which run at 7v and are then silent) noise is not an issue TBH.

A radiator will certainly need some fans if you have a high end system, but a Thermochill PA120.3 with low speed yates @ 7V is near silent.
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Hi, agreed, that's why I went water cooled in the first place. I've got three Scythe fans on my radiator, as it is mounted internally I don't think I'll hear much from them. As for the six other case fans, I'll see what they sound like, the more recent ones Lian-Li fit aren't too bad, if they're a bit noisy I've got a couple of spare scythes I can put in there. I'm not sure if you can really do away with case fans entirely, another 10c on the nb/sb isn't a good idea, especially with the x38 chipsets. Some have found that a single fan blowing onto the notherbridge can yeild as good as results as watercooling...
Chris
 
stevenazari1 said:
lol if there was a 10 degree difference then I would probably take the fans out :p waste of power if you ask me lol.

my question is how do I know that the case I buy will fit the radiator (With fans)?
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Well, 5x case fans ... probably be less than 3-4 watts I would think, nothing that makes any odds, makes me chuckle how people bang on about power consumption in PC's, then proceed to overclock the cpu which can add a significant increase ;)

The answer to your question is research :)
Look on various forums with watercooled case galleries and you will see which cases are suitable, and various solutions to the mounting.

Like chriscatt, noise and better cooling were my reasons for the move to liquid cooling, and I am happy with the results.
The fact I can now push the hardware a little more is a bonus ;)
 
never overclocked hardware before, I think I'll do the liquid cooling task first and then move onto that. time to google "coolermaster cosmos watercool" ;)

I've read now that the coolermasters ceiling is prebuilt for radiator fan instalments so I wont have to mod the case or anything like that :)
 
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chriscatt said:
Hi, nope, I got it setup for cool air in and then out the back of the case, not sure if this is the best but in the thermochill faq it says push works best with a shroud...
Chris
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After speaking to Marci it seems that either way is good but pulling air is now the recommended way, I do things slightly different as I pull air out of the top of the case as the internals dont get very warm at all it hardly makes a difference to the temps.

I only use 3x120mm zalmans this way pulling all the air through the case.

DeadMan
 
Thinking of getting a G70 next year so i can have the rad inside my case , looks a great case for the price but i always like to see them TJ07's they are just perfect for watercooling :D .
 
Okay.. i'm dropping the v2000 as the idea of 2x 120.3's in the bottom aint gonna be an ideal solution.

Still in the running:

Lian-li PC-G70
Silverstone TJ07

How much do the G70 side/windows cost? cant seem to find one anywhere!
 
I am not sure you can buy a window for it but dont take that as definite , if i do buy the G70 next year i will get a piece of ac ryan acrylic and do it myself very easy really and i like abit of modding :D .
 
Yeah your right :)

PC-7X and PC73SL Series Window kit = 22 quid (elsewhere) OCUK does not stock it :(

G70+Window Kit= £139
TJ07+Window Kit= £199

The G70 still has the cost benefit.

DeadMan
 
DeadMan said:
After speaking to Marci it seems that either way is good but pulling air is now the recommended way, I do things slightly different as I pull air out of the top of the case as the internals dont get very warm at all it hardly makes a difference to the temps.

I only use 3x120mm zalmans this way pulling all the air through the case.

DeadMan
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Hi, yeah I know that's recommended, although there's probably only 1-2c difference in it. If I had it that way the shroud/fan arrangement wouldn't quite work out right with the case and accessibility to the hose barbs...
Chris
 
chriscatt said:
Hi, yeah I know that's recommended, although there's probably only 1-2c difference in it. If I had it that way the shroud/fan arrangement wouldn't quite work out right with the case and accessibility to the hose barbs...
Chris
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Just spinning the fans around so they pulled air out of the case would do it, it shouldent effect your shroud / Rad / barb placement at all :)

I could spin my fans around and have them blowing external air through the rad and into the case but then I would need to install fans internally to extract the warm air.
 
Hi Deadman, oh yes, didn't think of that, duhh. However would that not mean I was using warm air from the inside of the case?
Chris
 
chriscatt said:
Hi Deadman, oh yes, didn't think of that, duhh. However would that not mean I was using warm air from the inside of the case?
Chris
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From what I have noticed if you water block all the hot stuff and keep the ram cool with fans there is negligible heat being built up inside the case if minimal airflow is always present.

It works for me :)
 
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