How much radiator is REALLY needed? Single 120mm vs. Dual 140mm!

M

Mut1ny

[H]ard|Gawd
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So my old Corsair H70 gave out the other day. LUCKILY a friend of mine had a Kraken X60 he wasn't using anymore (I know, right???).

But the problem is that there is no chance it will fit in my case and I like my Cooler Master N200. Running mATX. I like compact.

So having said all this I'm considering selling it and going back to a single 120mm. Running my 5820K @ 4.5GHz right now and while stress testing the 120mm couldn't hang, in normal usage and gaming it never went above 70C.

So how would something like a H80i compare to something like the X60? TweakTown has the H80i cooling better than the X61 on an overclocked 4770K but that doesn't really compare to a 5820K with two more cores.

So, yeah, thoughts?
 
Wouldn't bother with a single 120mm rad on such a cpu, unless you don't care about the noise. A h100i on my 3570k @4.4GHz is barely enough to keep temperatures low enough at acceptable noise levels. Your case supports a 240mm radiator in the front, why don't you go with that?
 
A 280 rad has ~20% more area than a 240, and a 240 has 100% more area than a 120. So you're looking at two different leagues of cooler.

A 5820K would be alright at 4.5GHz on a 120 AIO, but it won't be ideal. You'd be running high-temps under load. You're better off on the 280, finding a way to MAKE IT FIT. Get out the dremmel, figure it out.
 
if the case is able to take a 140mm up top then you can make a 280mm fit in the front. like Kazeo said, youll just need to get creative...
 
IMO, always get the biggest radiator that your case will support... always. If big enough, your fans may not even need to spin up when idling, so use the room available to you.
 
KazeoHin said:
A 280 rad has ~20% more area than a 240, and a 240 has 100% more area than a 120. So you're looking at two different leagues of cooler.

A 5820K would be alright at 4.5GHz on a 120 AIO, but it won't be ideal. You'd be running high-temps under load. You're better off on the 280, finding a way to MAKE IT FIT. Get out the dremmel, figure it out.
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A 280mm rad is like 35% bigger than a 240mm one. The difference is very, very big
 
I bought a 360mm AIO Thermaltake rad for my 5820K build. ...and I'm glad I did. $120 with max temps so far topping out around 58'C and a lot quieter than any air cooling system I've ever had before(including OEM). 4.5ghz at 1.19v to 1.20v. I know I have room to push it higher, just haven't tried yet.
 
Curious - Does anyone make a 2x180mm (360mm Rad) AIO closed loop cooler there days? or is 2x140mm (280mm rad) the limit for aio closed loop coolers?
 
Basically there are 80, 120, 140, 240 (2x120), 280 (2x140) and 360 (3x120) AIO units out there.

I have a 280 on my i7 970. The warmest core is around 41C (105F) With most of the others running between 26C(80F) and 30C (86C).
 
Chas said:
Basically there are 80, 120, 140, 240 (2x120), 280 (2x140) and 360 (3x120) AIO units out there.

I have a 280 on my i7 970. The warmest core is around 41C (105F) With most of the others running between 26C(80F) and 30C (86C).
Click to expand...

So no AIO Closed Loops with 360 (2x180) Rad that you know of?

The closest thing I have found is taking a H50 and modding it use a larger rad like a 360 (2x180). No interested in voiding warranty modding a unit. Looks like I might have to settle for 280 (2x140) rad in a AIO Closed Loop.

Thanks
 
Honestly, there's very little a 2x180 AIO is going to deliver for you that a 2x140 won't.
 
Chas said:
Honestly, there's very little a 2x180 AIO is going to deliver for you that a 2x140 won't.
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Yeah, you are right. I was only wanting to match the 180mm fans in my Silverstone FT02 case. 2x140 raad will probably fit better anyway with cable management. Any issues with cooling a 2x140 rad with couple 180mm fans?
 
Depends on if you can attach the 180's to the rad properly.
 
It's not just the surface area of the dual rads that significantly improve cooling over single rads. It's the amount of fluid available to absorb that heat. That's why custom loops are more effective in general, especially if they have a reservoir.

I've used 5 single rad AIO's of different sizes back when Corsair came out with them. I honestly think they are trash compared to a midrange air cooler, and any 120mm Noctua tower will beat the pants off them. In addition, rad fins are impossible to clean (not saying it's easy to clean air coolers) especially the thicker ones.
 
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pendragon1 said:
toothbrush and or a makeup brush and compressed air. easy.
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I was worried about scrubbing the fins with anything, but I should give that a try in the one AIO system I still maintain. I remember the fat rad in the H70 and H80 were very difficult to clean without uninstalling them first. And those units used sticky pads behind the backplate that would get ripped whenever you unmounted. Do these units still use those pads?
 
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not that I know of. my h60 doesnt have anything like that. the only thing I wish I did have was a rubber gasket to stop the air leaks around the fan edges.
 
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