Radiator, is HWLabs the best, or is there a better option now?

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zerogg

Limp Gawd
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Jan 26, 2017
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Going to be doing a new build soon, are hardwarelabs radiators still considered the best, or amongst the best, or does anyone have a better recommendation?
 
I think that you can't really go wrong with hardware labs. They are near the top of the performance lists on almost all reviews and they have a good warranty. Corsair radiators are hardware labs. The GTX Series are great for lower speed, quieter fans, but they also scale well when you turn up the fan speed. They also are not super restrictive on the water flow. Performance-PCs sells the same Hardware Labs made for Corsair model without the Corsair badging and extra cost. It's slightly narrower than the GTX series in that it's actually 120 mm wide, instead of 130 or whatever, so it fits easier into cases, but it pretty much performs the same. The 360mm unit is a great deal at $85. Hardware Labs Black Ice Nemesis L Series

Of course, you are really nothing without this: Watercool MO-RA3 360

I have a couple of built by Hardware Labs Corsair XR7 radiators, an XPSC TX series, and one of the Hardware Labs L series just hanging out in my closet after I switched to the Watercool MO-RA3. Most people don't have room for that beast though.

If you need a really thin radiator for a tight space, check out the XPSC TX series. When I bought mine a couple of years ago, they were clearing them out for $50. Now they are $79.99, but the 360 is the same price.

I used to cool a 5950X and 3080 with a Corsair 360 XR7, Corsair 240 XR7, and an XPSC TX 240 all crammed into a Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic. The 360 was at the top, the 240 was at the bottom and I had a custom grill to replace the front glass that I got from Performance PCs where I mounted the XPSC TX240. It worked really well.
 
HW Labs are good they are just really dirty, Alphacool rads are good, Watercool/Heatkiller rads are also really good
 
HWlabs makes the best scaling internal rads I've seen.

German Muscle said:
HW Labs are good they are just really dirty, Alphacool rads are good, Watercool/Heatkiller rads are also really good
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What do you mean by dirty? I have multiple GTR rads and haven't noticed anything.
 
Hwl are as good as it gets for pure performance and quality. I've tried pretty much every rad that extremerigs/TPUs wcing guru VSG has had ranked in his top 5, right up to his current iteration at TPU.

Alphacool are solid performers and so are EKs NEW rads but I wouldn't touch any of their gear with a ten foot pole nowadays.

It's always best practice to do the rad dance with new radiators to make sure to get those lovely solder flux leftovers outta there. The nastiest rad I've ever dealt with was a Alphacool Monsta 360. That thing was gross. It took 5 or 6 tries before the black nasties stopped coming out of that sob (and it wasn't even for one of my own rigs!). Haven't been able to bring myself to buy another Alphacool rad for any of my personal rigs since.

All of my new HWLs have been nice tho. As in, one good fill and shake is all it would've taken to get the little bit of crud that was in them cleared (but I always give them a few extra fill and shakes to make certain they're clean). Now the used GTR 240 I bought was a completely different story. PPCs said it was "used like new"... wayellll, externally, yes it was a beaut. Internally, that description was wayyyy off. The first flush came out a gut wrenching blackish purple wtf!?!. So it was obviously big guns time. I hit it with ol trusty CLR. Soaked it for 5 mins with straight CLR and again it came out a beautiful shade of dark purple, 😆. After that I hooked it up to the faucet until it cleared up. Then gave it one more CLR bath. It took a minute but that finally straightened it out. I can say without a doubt, the GTR series scales like nothing I've ever seen before. The more air you can slam through them, the better they cool. Those 38mm Delta finger killers you boxed up and forgot about 10yrs ago finally have something useful to pair with!!!

My EK Quantum ? (I forget the model off hand) was another really clean out of the box rad. One flush was all it needed.
 
zerogg said:
Going to be doing a new build soon, are hardwarelabs radiators still considered the best, or amongst the best, or does anyone have a better recommendation?
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I don't know if they are "the best", but they are beasts.

I do wish they had more G1/4 ports on their radiators, like how Alphacool makes theirs.
 
NightReaver said:
HWlabs makes the best scaling internal rads I've seen.



What do you mean by dirty? I have multiple GTR rads and haven't noticed anything.
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There is alot of garbage in them from the manufacturing process. Flux, etc that needs to be flushed out before use.
 
These were from a review in 2016 on thermalbench. Had to use wayback machine to find them again. Wish someone would do a new test nowadays...

Screenshot 2024-05-01 161057.pngScreenshot 2024-05-01 161137.png

HWlabs at the top almost constantly across fan rpm settings.
 
I have used XSPC rads for a long time. Never had hardly any trash in those. Never any issues either. Got a 480 in the garage if anyone is looking.
 
Most RADs are within +/- 1-5 degrees in terms of performance all are better than Air coolers and 99% of all AIO's. I'd say fan selection is more important than the rad choice. I've been watercooling 20+ years and prefer Alphacool Radiators. In terms of performance they have always been in the middle of the pack, so make that +/- 1-3 degrees from top performers. The biggest reason I like them best is for the multiple ports top bottom and both ends. They make loop configurations most versatile plus filling, cleaning, bleeding (air bubbles) and draining way easier.
Keep in mind radiators will last from build to build and case to case. I have rads 15 years old good as new. Some would say, so why not buy the best and that makes sense however ease of use means a bit more to me.
Please note, All rads need flushed before use, some need it more than others, but all need it.
 
Alphacool has fantastic price and performance. I have 4 of them and they are awesome. They come in a very large variety of sizes and thicknesses also off sized rads they have a very wide selection. For the price you can't go wrong, they are full copper and high quality.
 
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