Heater cores out of favor?

D

Devilpup

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Sep 4, 2002
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I got out of watercooling a long time ago and don't have a lot of serious intrest in getting back into it, but I do like looking at other people's systems from time to time. One thing I noticed is that no one is doing the old "use a heater core as a radiator" thing anymore.

At first I thought this was due to dedicated pc radiators coming down in price, but looking around I still see them at $65+. If I remember right, the heater core I had was good enough for passive cooling at the time and only ran me about $40 shipped.

Has anyone gone through the trouble of using the non-traditional radiator or is everyone just springing the extra cash for the convenience of the dedicated units?

Sorta makes me a little...sad. Or nostalgic.
 
I think a combo of cases coming built to accept the standard rad sizes plus the convenience of more or less plug and play into a system has helped them gain widespread adaption compared to the old school heater cores.
 
plus IMO, more people do it for the looks just as much for the performance/quiet. Heater cores are not pretty.
 
Specialized radiators can have their fins "tuned" for certain RPM-ranges of fans. Heater cores like the old Bonneville one I used are made without any efficiency or airflow design at all. All a heater core has to do is heat the air moving through it, not extract every last Joule of heat energy.
 
RickyJ said:
Specialized radiators can have their fins "tuned" for certain RPM-ranges of fans. Heater cores like the old Bonneville one I used are made without any efficiency or airflow design at all. All a heater core has to do is heat the air moving through it, not extract every last Joule of heat energy.
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unless you post specific scientifically sound research, I'm calling bullshit. The bonny heater-core is built in such a way that it is extremely efficient at transferring heat to air, the lovar fin design and much more surface area of the fins put any of the thinner purpose made H2O rads to shame, all other things being equal.

and when I say research, I might buy the company press release saying the newest black ice pro is tuned to certain RPMs. What I want is for you to back up your statement that that makes it better then the bonny heater core.
 
Omegas said:
plus IMO, more people do it for the looks just as much for the performance/quiet. Heater cores are not pretty.
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I think this is more likely to be true than any difference in performance. I guess people are more willing to pay for convenience + looks these days.

I kinda miss the old ghetto wc threads where people showed off systems with the water running through a copper pipe coiled up in a bucket. The whole plug and play, self-contained systems are just boring.
 
topcat989 said:
The bonny heater-core is built in such a way that it is extremely efficient at transferring heat to air, the lovar fin design and much more surface area of the fins put any of the thinner purpose made H2O rads to shame, all other things being equal.
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I agree. I still use my Bonny HC in my Sandy Bridge system and it works great. It's in a shroud so it's not ugly and keeps temps well below those I often see posted by people using the skinny modern rads. The huge surface area and low flow restriction are great.
 
LOL For my first venture into water cooling I did consider the old school approach of using a heater core but instead went with a pair of dual 80's (thick buggers).... I'm not completely sure but my thoughts are that most people just don't want to mess with fabrication beyond tightening screws and securing wires with zip ties... Its nothing against them they just want to play that latest game rather than fiddle with the coolant system..

Its going to be a while before i build another wc tower but i have been wanting to get my hands on an engine radiator (from a sedan) from a junkyard and use that (after a good cleaning).....
 
topcat989 said:
unless you post specific scientifically sound research, I'm calling bullshit. The bonny heater-core is built in such a way that it is extremely efficient at transferring heat to air, the lovar fin design and much more surface area of the fins put any of the thinner purpose made H2O rads to shame, all other things being equal.

and when I say research, I might buy the company press release saying the newest black ice pro is tuned to certain RPMs. What I want is for you to back up your statement that that makes it better then the bonny heater core.
Click to expand...

Isn't the fin density rather high on the heatercore? You'd need fairly high CFM fans to extract good performance from it relative to the "quiet" radiators sold with less dense fin setups.

Absolute performance with no care for noise, the heatercores should definitely beat anything out there though.
 
I have a black hawk helicopter heater core that's around 8 inches thick with super high fins per inch. Low speed yate looms barely do anything to it.
 
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