Shroud

[Pilot53]

Can I put 3 of these shrouds on a 3 x 120mm radiator? Will they fit?

 

[WarMace]

umm, what shrouds do you speak of?

 

[Arcygenical]

Yeah... Link?

 

[Pilot53]

Whoops,

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/blmico.html

 

[Adidas4275]

i dont think so... the shroud is bigger than a 120mm fan and the rad is designed to hold 3x120mm fans touching eachohter

 

[Pilot53]

So what should I do for shrouds?

 

[penguin]

A friend of mine modded three of those to fit a BIX3, so it can be done, but it will take some modding.

 

[Arcygenical]

You really shouldn't need a shroud...

you can use the shell of a 120mm fan, in it's place.

 

[penguin]

You really shouldn't need a shroud...

you can use the shell of a 120mm fan, in it's place.

IIRC BillA (of Swiftech and CoolingWorks) did an article on why using the shell of a fan as a shroud is actually worse than no shroud at all. I think it's due to how the fan's housing is shaped, how it funnels down in the middle.

 

[Arcygenical]

Yeah, but even with the best of the best shrouds, we're talking about a 1-2% difference here...

 

[Rocky Mountain High]

Thermochill makes a shroud and a Neoprene gasket for triple-fan radiators:
http://www.thermochill.com/acatalog/thermochill_accessories.html
I believe that the Performance PCs website sells these accessories.

 

[annaconda]

Why do you need these? To seal air leakage.

 

[Rocky Mountain High]

Why do you need these? To seal air leakage.

One school of thought is that there is a dead air space at the center hub of a fan. Therefore the portion of the radiator in front of the fan's center hub gets no air flow. If a shroud is used to separate the fan and the radiator by just a couple of centimeters, then all of the radiator's surfaces will receive air flow. I believe that the same rationale applies to the corners of the radiator.