How much radiator do i need?

J

JumpingJackson

Weaksauce
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Oct 31, 2004
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I want to get back into watercooling as i havent been in the game since my 1.4ghz Amd Thunderbird OC'd to 1.8ghz :)

Right now i have a i7-920 @ 3.8ghz and a 5850 which i want to watercool and overclock

How big of a radiator would i need to cool these 2? What if i also want to add in a second 5850?

I may want to get another 5850 later on once they come down in price.
 
i would say 1 3X120 rad for each. i would do seperate loops myself. and nowthey have 140mm radiators so you can have th same performance with less sound. for quiet thats the way to go.
 
A 360 each??? Haha. you dont NEED a 360 for each i mean come on, would be good though.
Say what a 240 for the i7 @ 3.8Ghz seeing as it'll be low voltage and pretty cool and 360 for both 5850's?
 
It depends on what kind of temps you want. If you want a good clock on your i7, I would run a dedicated 120.3 rad for that alone. If you don't really care about overclocking your 5850's, you could probably run a 120.2 in a separate loop. I would definitely separate.
 
A 120.2 is all you need for your CPU and one 5850. The 5850 will probably raise the temps by 5 - 10 degrees, but your load temps shouldn't top about 70-80 degrees under a Prime95 or similar load. Adding a larger radiator will mitigate the temperature increases slightly.

If you went with 2 graphics cards I would think a 120.4 could cool everything and keep your load temps reasonable. Ideally you would probably want a 120.2 CPU only loop and a 120.2 or larger GPU loop. The space constraints are probably going to be your limiting factor.
 
i would do a 3x120 for the video cards, and a 3x120 for the NB/SB maybe ram, and cpu, otherwise just a 2x120 would do it (though temps would be about 10-15C higher, still cold though :D )
 
Soa summary of the previous posts:

total rad area with single or multiples
3x120= decent for CPU and 1 5850, don't expect phenomenal temps
4x120= plenty for CPU, NB, GPUx1. Good enough but not great for 2x GPU
5x 120= Good for CPU, NB, GPUx2. Good temps all around
6x 120 in dual loops= Max out OCing
 
What cases would work well with 2x 360 rad's? Right Now i have a P180.

Also have a P6T Deluxe rev 1 What waterblock for the north bridge?
 
you can get a HAF 932 and mount one inside and one outside on a rad box or something...
 
flogge said:
Soa summary of the previous posts:

total rad area with single or multiples
3x120= decent for CPU and 1 5850, don't expect phenomenal temps
4x120= plenty for CPU, NB, GPUx1. Good enough but not great for 2x GPU
5x 120= Good for CPU, NB, GPUx2. Good temps all around
6x 120 in dual loops= Max out OCing
Click to expand...
I cannot argue with that, but the question of "what case & where will they be mounted" is the next question. Although ... I have thought (but *only* thought) that my next WC system may put the radiator(s) in a separate box external to the PC case.This does allow for the greatest flexability, but realistically all of that is not necessary.

I reused a case on the current system so I already had a 2X120 mounted & available on the back of the case. Not a bad configuration, but I think that the design would be better on top of the case with the fans mounted inside & the radiator mounted either on top of the top plate or flush to (best IMO).

So I am saying, figure out the case & where you can see mounting the radiator. BTW there are 2x & 3x140 radiators also. More width the better, but can't guide you as to who or where to get those.
 
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