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First Time Setup Radiator Question

Z

zerocount

n00b
Joined
Nov 22, 2006
Messages
51
So I love the idea of a quiet, water-cooled system. Thing is, and money is not the issue, space is kind of an issue. I am NOT going to be overclocking this system.

I was wondering if a single 120mm radiator could handle the cooling duty for the CPU, GPU, and Chipset. Keep in mind that the rad will not be exposed to the same air as the rest of the case (i.e. will be totally exterior to the case). Specs as follows:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6300
Asus P5B-E
Nvidia 7900GS

No overclock, stock speeds. In terms of cooling, was looking at:

Swiftech MCW655
Swiftech Apogee GTX
Swiftech MCW60 + Ramsinks for the GPU
Swiftech MCW30 for the Chipset
All 1/2 inch fittings and tubing
Single 120 Rad (still undecided on brand/model)

The question is: Will this setup (especially with the single rad) keep this system cool under load, without any overclocking?
 
I doubt that a single would do a very good job, especially if it's quiet your are looking for. What are your current air temps at roughly? Come summer a single rad will heat up pretty quick with ambient and even stock CPU and GPU temps.

A double would probably be a much better solution if it's viable.
 
Even at stock, that setup will dump around 180w of heat into the loop... A PA160 would do it, but not any other radiator. It's 160mm rather than 120mm.

It'll be fairly loud (at least 2000rpm fan required) and it won't cool quite as well.

Have you considered running an external rad.
 
Thanks for the comments so far folks (keep 'em coming!).

I guess a little explanation is in order. Essentially (and a worklog will be posted in Modding), I found an old wooden desk that I like. It has a pair of drawers on either side. I am taking one set, removing all drawers and hardware, and installing my pc in the drawer space on a pair of sliders, with the drawerfronts placed back on.

Essentially, it will, from the outside, appear to be nothing more than a regular desk. Inside, it will be an open-concept pc, presumably water cooled.

The watercooling will be done via a radiator in a separate "chimney," drawing air from beneath the desk, and expelling it out the rear of the desk (at the top). There will be some extremely low rpm air cooling that will positively pressurize the compartment (slightly) in order to discourage dust getting in, and moving out heat generated by other components.

I've read your comments thus far, and agree that, unless I want to push high RPMs, it looks like I will definitely need a dual radiator.

So, Arcygenical, it is kind of an external rad, in that it won't share any air with the pc comparment.
 
Hmmm ok. Well, I still think a double rad would be in order.

a PA160 will cool 7900GT's in SLI and an AMD X2 processor, but A BIP240 would still outpace it due to sheer surface area.
 
Sorry if I wasn't clear: I agree with you. I think hoping a single rad would work was some wishful thinking on my part. I am just going to have to modify my build design to incorporate a double-sized "chimney" for the rad to sit in.

Thanks again for the comments!
 
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