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Radiators: how much is too much?

K

Kaldskryke

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Aug 1, 2004
Messages
1,346
I imagine that there becomes a point where adding more radiator area just doesn't improve temperatures all that much more, but being a n00b, I don't have any experience to put things in perspective.

Let's take a hypothetical situation. I have a C2D X6800 and two ATi R600s (which will probably be pretty hot) in a loop with a PA120.3. Would adding a PA160 make an appreciable difference?

Just curious ;)
 
Doubtful, already having a 3x120 is about as good as it gets as far as the radiator making a difference. Adding another radiator would only benefit noise levels, as you could then run all the fans slower, pushing less air but with the new rad you could find a happy medium to keep the performance right where it is and slightly lower noise levels. This is not the case if you have a fairly poor performing setup as it is, why don't you tell us a bit more about the cooling setup (blocks, pump(s)), and what temps you are getting? Remember the liquid will only (in perfect conditions) get as cool as ambient air passing through the radiator, and the cpu a bit hotter than that under load as it still has to go from die to TIM to IHS to TIM to waterblock.
 
Nope, not really.

If anything it might make things worse, but that depends on where you mount it (ie, if you put it by your back exhaust, the warm system air won't be able to exit properly.
 
arnemetis said:
why don't you tell us a bit more about the cooling setup (blocks, pump(s)), and what temps you are getting?
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Well, my athlon XP 2600+ is at about 54°C right now with a stock heatsink :p

See, I'm hoping to upgrade bigtime around Christmas. I've got about $7000 saved up so far so I'm certainly willing to pay for watercooling. Because I have difficulties waiting patiently I've been looking at what kind of case I'd like to purchase and a large part of my considerations have been about how much radiator space is available. It then dawned on me that more isn't necessarily better and I was curious as to what I should be aiming for.

Thanks for the responses. I suppose if I don't need to go all out, my options have broadened quite a bit :rolleyes:
 
Too much is never too much. At some point you'll see diminishing returns where your load and idle temps never vary but is that such a bad thing? Not in my mind.
 
well if you got 7 grand to spare why don't u go to the next level: vapor phase change? i mean you did say you wanted to go all out
 
well I know absolutely nothing about phase change, but then again I know fairly little about watercooling too. I'll definitely check it out.
 
dasilva333 said:
well if you got 7 grand to spare why don't u go to the next level: vapor phase change? i mean you did say you wanted to go all out
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It's louder than good W/C.
 
dasilva333 said:
well if you got 7 grand to spare why don't u go to the next level: vapor phase change? i mean you did say you wanted to go all out
Click to expand...

If you are spending 7 grand on phase change you are getting ripped off. You can get a triple cascade for less than that.
 
It then dawned on me that more isn't necessarily better and I was curious as to what I should be aiming for.
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U2-UFO Opti1203 with PA120.3 mounted horizontally across the bottom of the front with fans of your choice. PA120.3 will be more than enough to cool anything you can throw at it. Anything else just adds further pressuredrop / flow restriction which only hurts performance.
 
Yeah, I care about noise levels a bit more than extremely low temps so I think I'll stick with watercooling.

The U2-UFO certainly looks nice, but I honestly don't need 10 expansion slots and space for a second PSU. I'd like to keep things in a tower format due to deskspace limitations. I was looking at the watercooled G70B from performance-pcs but decided that too might be more expansion space than I really need. I don't think I'll have more than 3 HDDs and a single optical drive.

Any suggestions for a light case with space for a 120.3?
 
Erasmus354 said:
If you are spending 7 grand on phase change you are getting ripped off. You can get a triple cascade for less than that.
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Reading comprehension .... FTW :)
 
Marci said:
Anything else just adds further pressuredrop / flow restriction which only hurts performance.
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That's only true if the second radiator is put in series. Putting a second rad in parallel with the first will actually reduce pressuredrop / flow restriction. This isn't such a good idea with what the OP was suggesting (adding a PA160 to a PA120.3). If you run parallel radiators you really want to keep your lobes identical - in terms of pressuredrop, and thermal characteristics - or you might end up wasting a LOT of radiator capacity.
 
nonlnear said:
That's only true if the second radiator is put in series. Putting a second rad in parallel with the first will actually reduce pressuredrop / flow restriction. This isn't such a good idea with what the OP was suggesting (adding a PA160 to a PA120.3). If you run parallel radiators you really want to keep your lobes identical - in terms of pressuredrop, and thermal characteristics - or you might end up wasting a LOT of radiator capacity.
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I think Marci knows what he is talking about, read his profile ;)
 
_G_ said:
I think Marci knows what he is talking about, read his profile ;)
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I wasn't saying he was wrong. Most people add items to their loops in series. In that case, he's perfectly correct. And I think it's safe to assume that is the case he was refering to. (That's what I assumed he was refering to.) After all, he does know what he's talking about. ;)

By no means was I recommending that the OP try parallel rads for his setup. I think the caveats I included spelled that out clearly. My only point was that adding a radiator doesn't necessarily add to the pressure drop.
 
To answer his question ( ;) ), an Armor would perform, look and work great. You can have it mounted in the bays, on top or on the bottom...
 
natewildes said:
To answer his question ( ;) ), an Armor would perform, look and work great. You can have it mounted in the bays, on top or on the bottom...
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Heh, I totally overlooked thermaltake. Looks like a ligher version of the stacker/masstige :)
 
Kaldskryke said:
Heh, I totally overlooked thermaltake. Looks like a ligher version of the stacker/masstige :)
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everytime you buy thermaltake, jesus christ kicks a kitten.
 
stormshadow said:
everytime you buy thermaltake, jesus christ kicks a kitten.
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That's exactly why I overlooked TT. Oh well - kittens are overrated. Catmods don't necessitate live cats.
 
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