current best air coolers

[Peat Moss]

Question for anyone knowledgeable in physics: Is there any difference between having fewer but wider heat pipes (e.g. 8mm x 4 pipes) vs more but narrower heat pipes (e.g. 6mm x 7 pipes) ?

 

[bluestang]

Whichever covers or creates the most surface contact to the base and fins for dissipation.

 

[doyll]

Question for anyone knowledgeable in physics: Is there any difference between having fewer but wider heat pipes (e.g. 8mm x 4 pipes) vs more but narrower heat pipes (e.g. 6mm x 7 pipes) ?

Bigger diameter pipes have more volume for vapor movement from evaporator (base) to condenser (fin area) surface area and surface area in evap area of pipe and condenser area for heat transfer and wick surface area to wick coolant from condenser back to evaporator area.

Below shows the general idea. Keep in mind inside surface area is less because of thickness of pipe. Wick area is even less. Gravity effects wicking action too.
7x 6mm heatpipes = 131.88mm surface & 197.83cubic mm per mm vs 4x 8mm heatpipes = 100.48mm surface & 200.96cubic mm volume per mm
7x 6mm heatpipes = 131.88mm surface & 197.83cubic mm per mm vs 5x 8mm heatpipes = 125.6mm surface & 251.2cubic mm volume per mm

 

[blackmomba]

Hey guys need your advice,

I have to cool a 5800x and 5800x3D

I picked up 2 PA 120s but they dont have enough clearance for the DIMMs I got. I don't want to mount the front fan higher or in the back. I tried and it looks weird

If I wanna keep this RAM, do I have to rule out all dual tower coolers?

If so, I guess I'd have to switch to a single tower cooler.... Any recommendations?

Also, about AIOs, CanadaComputers has DeepCools Castle EX240 for 79$ Canadian dollars. No issues with RAM clearance but I've never used an AIO before. Last rig I Watercooled was a custom loop that I didn't want to maintain anymore.

Im stuck

 

[doyll]

Hey guys need your advice,

I have to cool a 5800x and 5800x3D

I picked up 2 PA 120s but they dont have enough clearance for the DIMMs I got. I don't want to mount the front fan higher or in the back. I tried and it looks weird

If I wanna keep this RAM, do I have to rule out all dual tower coolers?

If so, I guess I'd have to switch to a single tower cooler.... Any recommendations?

Also, about AIOs, CanadaComputers has DeepCools Castle EX240 for 79$ Canadian dollars. No issues with RAM clearance but I've never used an AIO before. Last rig I Watercooled was a custom loop that I didn't want to maintain anymore.

Im stuck

Could you mount fan in middle pulling air thru front tower and fan on back pulling air thru back tower, or just run single middle fan? I've found single middle fan on twin towers cools as well as 1x fan on twin towers at same noise level. Noctua says their NH-D15 (2x fans) only cools 1-3c cooler than NH-D15s (1x fan). That is only a full speed, because single fan moves a little less air at same speed than 2x fans at same speed, but speed up single fan about 50-100rpm to same noise level as 2 fans and they cool the same.

I would not go the CLC kind of AIO route. Most of the AIO/CLCs on the market are the pre-assembled and filled liquid cooling systems with pressed fittings, no fill port, aluminum radiator, etc. and are not repairable. But not all AIOs are CLCs. Some AIOs (like Swiftech Drive 3 and Alphacool Eisbaer) have copper radiators, threaded fittings, fill port, etc/ so can be serviced and repaired if needed. CLCs cannot be serviced and/or repaired.

 

[hititnquitit]

I agree with going the single fan route as well. The temp difference is tiny with the PA 120. You'll only lose a couple of degrees. If like most cases you have an exhaust fan directly behind the heatsink it will essentially act as a hsf.
I have had to mount my fans on the rear of the PA120/se because of ram issues as well. It looks weird at first but you get used to it.
If you're deadset against a single fan set up I've had really good luck with Noctuas U12A for fan clearance but its alot more than the PA120.

 

[Peat Moss]

Bigger diameter pipes have more volume for vapor movement from evaporator (base) to condenser (fin area) surface area and surface area in evap area of pipe and condenser area for heat transfer and wick surface area to wick coolant from condenser back to evaporator area.

Below shows the general idea. Keep in mind inside surface area is less because of thickness of pipe. Wick area is even less. Gravity effects wicking action too.
7x 6mm heatpipes = 131.88mm surface & 197.83cubic mm per mm vs 4x 8mm heatpipes = 100.48mm surface & 200.96cubic mm volume per mm
7x 6mm heatpipes = 131.88mm surface & 197.83cubic mm per mm vs 5x 8mm heatpipes = 125.6mm surface & 251.2cubic mm volume per mm

So if I understand this right, 8mm x 5 pipes would wick more heat away than 6mm x 7 pipes?

 

[xDiVolatilX]

Ya i agree with the above posts I would just run it with 1 fan in the middle and then supplement it with another case fan or better optimized air flow around it somehow. There's always a way lol.

 

[blackmomba]

Thanks for the insight guys.

 

[blackmomba]

I ended up spending much more for a noctua nhu12s.I wanted the DeepCools AK500 but I couldn't find it quickly.

I thought about the PA 120 and using it with a single fan, even noctua demo their dual tower model with a single fan. Maybe I'm weird but I really want to use push pull even if it makes little to no difference. I like the look too much I guess. I'll use the PA 120 in another build with some less tall DIMMs. Price is too good