optimal radiator placement?

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vapb400

Gawd
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Sep 19, 2004
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Looking at watercooling my processor, chip, and graphics, I was looking at the DD stuff and have read several reviews on it, and it looks like it will meet my needs. I currently have an Antec SLK3700BQE case (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-129-140&depa=1).

I was looking at all the pics and noticed there isn't really a prominant placement for the radiator. I was looking at the black ice extreme II for a radiator, where would be the best place to mount it. I have about 11inches free on the top, so w/ hoses/barbs the extreme II might be just slightly too big. My case has 2 120mm fans, one in the front and one in the rear, there is currently no fan in the front. Should i just go with a normal black ice extreme and mount it at the front? Should i go with a black ice micro (extreme II if it will fit) and mount it on the top (doesn't seem like a particularly good place thermally, but I've seen alot of people with them at the top so i dunno). Or would i be best off moving the 120 fan up front and have it bring air to a normal black ice extreme in athe back? Or the last config, get an ice extreme II and just lay it on the floor of the case, that seems fairly common. Which would i notice the best temps?

Thanks for your time :p
 
Ok well as for where to mount the radiator, your pretty right, theres not many places on the case that officially give you better temps. I look at it more a questiong of how you will be passing the air throught the radiator and which method suits temps better. As for air flow, everybody has their different methods, some people push air from inside the case through the rad and out the case, some draw air in through the rad and into the case. Some people have a push pull combo on their rad. (these are all dual rads im talking about, specifically the push/pull scenario) As for which method works the best for temps, i know for a fact push/doesnt get good temps and actually may give worse temps ( i read a huge thread about this debate some time back and it proved worse to have push/pull). I personally think that having the fans pull fresh and cool air in from the outside of the case is the best scenario, simply becuase air outside of the case is undoubtedly going to be cooler than air inside the case, and will help you acheive your ambient temperature level.

As for where to put your radiator, i would personally put mine in the top or the front of my case drawing air from outside into the case because this provides for better airflow from the front/top half of your case to then be taken out the exhausts in the back of the case. For mounting it on the floor, logically you would need to have your case up off the ground, or else how are you going to get air? Thats how i would do it. I have mine at the top and the front.

As for which radiator you should get, if your only doing a single radiator, definitely go with a single 120, a single 120 is more space efficient and i think gives better cooling and flow than even a dual 80as it would have to cover less surface area. If your going to get a dual defnitely go with a dual 120, they give the best cooler per surface area and you will get the best performance out of a dual 120. So all in all, get a dual 120 and try to find a way to mount it in the front or the top of your case. You are of course going to have to mod ur case to get it in both those positions but it looks and functions the best there.

Hope this helped.

Bryan-
 
Well with my case, i could fit a dual 120 rad in the front, vertically, but only 1 fan would have access to clean good air, the other would be blocked from the outside air (behind a door/3.5 bays) Would it still be worth it to get a dual 120 if i had to use it in that configuration? or would i just be wasting money? Since i already have 120mm mounting in the front it would go
rad<fan<case<air if you were looking at it from the side right? also use an exaust 120mm fan in the back? I don't want my case to look different from the outside if i don't have to.
 
DSC00111small.JPG

There's my single Black Ice 120mm mounted in the front opening of my C^3 case. It's got a fan mounted behind it, pulling air through the radiator.
 
so you suggest the fan behind the radiator instead of infront of it? Looks good, btw how is that PSU workin for u, looks so good, but have heard some bad things about them.

Thanks for all your help, i really appreciate it.
 
vapb400 said:
so you suggest the fan behind the radiator instead of infront of it? Looks good, btw how is that PSU workin for u, looks so good, but have heard some bad things about them.
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If you mount the fan in front of the radiator, you'll be pulling warm air from inside the case through the radiator, and exhausting it out the front. I liked the idea of pulling cool outside air through the front of the case and then exhausting it out the back. At some point I'm going to put a 92mm fan or two blowing out the holes in the back. That way I should get pretty good air flow through the case.

That power supply powers an AMD FX-55 processor, 6800GT video card, 2gb of ram, my pump, my fan, and two Raptor HDs without any problem. Hasn't been running for long, though. I guess we'll see how it holds up.
 
would i notice a big difference in the maze4 cpu block vs. the tdx cpu block?
 
vapb400 said:
would i notice a big difference in the maze4 cpu block vs. the tdx cpu block?
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No idea. I'm running the TDX in mine, but this is the only watercooling setup I've ever had. My processor temps are 38-39 C (reported by ABIT uGuru).
 
vapb400 said:
Well with my case, i could fit a dual 120 rad in the front, vertically, but only 1 fan would have access to clean good air, the other would be blocked from the outside air (behind a door/3.5 bays) Would it still be worth it to get a dual 120 if i had to use it in that configuration? or would i just be wasting money? Since i already have 120mm mounting in the front it would go
rad<fan<case<air if you were looking at it from the side right? also use an exaust 120mm fan in the back? I don't want my case to look different from the outside if i don't have to.
Click to expand...


Like i said, you most likely will have to mod the case. Thats what i did to mine. Modded the crap out of it. :)
 
Externally mounted is ideal, but just about anywhere will give you good temps.
 
I've got the 3700AMB. I'm running one of 2Fresh's dual 120mm radiators as sold out of the for sale and trading forum here. He barbs heatercores and paints em and such. Always has em for sale. I highly recommend his product. Anyway, I poked two 120mm blowholes in the top of my case and pull air through the rad, exhausting, and I intake with the front and rear 120's. It takes up 1.5 bays, making 2 un usable. It works quite well I think, as I'm near 2.5ghz on my AXP2100+. 2.468Ghz to be exact at 1.9volts and myCPU Diode temps never get out of the mid 30's as read by mbm. I've been toying with the idea of adding another single 120mm rad to the intake on the rear so that I could add a pelt to my vidcard, but thats a whole other post all together.
 
Meh, I work out a lot. I know everyone says this, but it wasn't exactly hard. Just takes time, the proper tools, and the ability to ignore that little voice in the back of your head going, "This is a brand new case, and you are gonna fugg it up!" My biggest problem now is tryign to figure out how to wedge more radiators into the interior or this case. I don't mind having my modifications visable, but I don't like stuff that alters the over all line of the case, ie an ugly radiator peaking out of the case. At most I want people to have a feeling of , "Look at the big fans" then pop off the side to reveal the real beast within.
 
Mark305TBI said:
If you mount the fan in front of the radiator, you'll be pulling warm air from inside the case through the radiator, and exhausting it out the front.
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Not if you flip the fan around so that it's pulling cold air from outside and pushing it through the radiator. (however this configuration has been shown to produce more noise and worse performance than pulling air through the radiator)
 
I have a mini-tower so I mounted it externally using Swiftech's Radbox. Look a lil' ugly but hey, it works :D
 
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