3x 120 radiators internally, or a single external 360 radiator?

I am just getting into water cooling but have done ridiculous amounts of research the last few days. My PC specs are in sig but the relevant things are that I've got an Antec P180B case, E6600, 8800GTX. I know they are old components but I don't really feel the need to upgrade since I don't play games much any more! Plus it will make it cheaper for me to buy the blocks for old components Yesterday I managed to pick up a brand new still in sealed box EK full face block for my 8800gtx on another forum for £25

I have been looking around at pictures of water cooled P180 cases to get ideas and have come down to 2 options. Either this, which uses 3 internal 120 radiators, which appeals to me because everything is internal:


Or this, which is mounting a 360 radiator externally at the back of the case:



I am planning to get a Laing D5 pump, not sure on cpu block yet, MasterKleer 7/16 tubing, Swiftech MicroRes, and I have already got the EK block for my 8800gtx. And ive got a box load of about 7 Yate Loon D12SL-12 orange fans so will be using a few of them on the rad. So the systems above are basically using identical equipment as I am planning.

The main reason for water cooling my PC is to make it as silent as possible. Not super low temps, super overclocking etc.

Which would you guys recommend I go for? 3x internal 120 rads, or a single 360 external rad?

I am leaning towards the 3x 120 radiators because then everything is internal to the case. Considering my PC is in my living room I want to avoid an external radiator if I can. But if you guys think that 3x 120 radiators is really bad then I might be persuaded to use the external 360 rad.
But what would actually be the difference between 3x 120 rads, and a single 360 rad? I know that nobody would be able to answer that accurately, but would it just be a few degrees difference (less than 10 degrees diff)? because with the internal 3x 120 rads even if it is a few degrees hotter, surely all the components are all still well within their temperature limits? and much cooler than my air cooling atm. My CPU (overclocked to 3.3GHz) gets to 70 degrees (thats the core temp) when running Intel TAT and my 8800GTX gets to 100 degrees when using OCCT. So surely the 3x internal 120 radiators would still get much lower temps than I am currently getting?

Thanks!

If that was the case I had to use I would externally mount the rad. You could also get away with an RX240 for your CPU and GPU if you don't plan on upgrading anything soon.

I'd lean towards external as well. It's a simpler setup so less chance of things going wrong, and has a better likilhood of being reuisable when you upgrade to a new case without extensive modding. Most 120's are slightly larger than 120mm, which means they won't fit in adjacent fan slots.

It would also be A LOT easier to clean the rads if they were externally mounted.

I think you guys have persuaded me to use an external rad, I think I might use Koolance Quick Disconnects on the rad's tubes too so I can easily remove the rad

Im going to go for something similar to this:


Im going to get my case powdercoated, or just spray it matt black like above. Only differences between my plan and the above pic are I will be getting an EK X-Top for the Laing D5 pump (so that I can move the outlet from the top down to the front of the pump next to the inlet), so that the pump fits into the upper HD cage and is hidden (the case in the picture has had the upper HD cage removed) and I will be mounting the MicroRes on the left hand side below the rear exhaust fan. Then I will be sleeving every single cable in my case black, and using EK black compression fittings for my tubing.

AdvanSuper said:

This is what I was going to suggest as well so it won't look like everything is on top of each other.

Click to expand...

Yep, I swear I have looked at every watercooled P180 there is, I have a folder on my PC saved with every watercooled p180 I found lol. But I was surprised that nobody had done this yet. I think it will look so much neater when the pump is hidden away in the HD cage