Stacking 2 slim rad's vs thick rad?

H

Henri108

Limp Gawd
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Dec 6, 2013
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I have never seen it done before, but would it be wise to used 2 thin rad's with the fan's sandwiched in between? Or would a thick rad give the same result?

I am thinking about 2x 30mm rad's vs 1 60mm rad.
 
Depends on the radiators you're considering and the fans.

In general, the 60mm radiator will net you better results.
 
I don't know if anyone can definitively say whether one performs better than the other. The thing that immediately pops into my head though is how hard it might be to plumb the things. A single 25mm fan in between doesn't leave a lot of room to connect the two. Even with some of the radiators with configurable inlets/outlet like the Alphacool series might be tough. Also how are you going to mount everything together? Most radiators don't allow the mounting to go all the way through, the logistics of just screwing the fan in is going to be annoyingly difficult and cumbersome.

Personally I don't think there is going to be a whole lot of difference either way, but the single thicker radiator is probably much cheaper.
 
The added flow reduction is not worth having a fan sucking hot air through one radiator only to blow it all through another.
 
Erasmus354 said:
I don't know if anyone can definitively say whether one performs better than the other. The thing that immediately pops into my head though is how hard it might be to plumb the things. A single 25mm fan in between doesn't leave a lot of room to connect the two. Even with some of the radiators with configurable inlets/outlet like the Alphacool series might be tough. Also how are you going to mount everything together? Most radiators don't allow the mounting to go all the way through, the logistics of just screwing the fan in is going to be annoyingly difficult and cumbersome.

Personally I don't think there is going to be a whole lot of difference either way, but the single thicker radiator is probably much cheaper.
Click to expand...

Martin's Liquid Lab did one such test, using different sandwich configurations vs single thick radiator. However, the site appears to be down, I guess it expired.

King Icewind said:
The added flow reduction is not worth having a fan sucking hot air through one radiator only to blow it all through another.
Click to expand...

Which is why you be smart about the flow path. Counter-current flow paths can be very efficient.

Edit: Yay for web archive. http://web.archive.org/web/20150214084857/http://martinsliquidlab.org/2012/06/08/hesmelaughs-radiator-sandwich-testing/
 
Last edited:
Tsumi said:
Martin's Liquid Lab did one such test, using different sandwich configurations vs single thick radiator. However, the site appears to be down, I guess it expired.



Which is why you be smart about the flow path. Counter-current flow paths can be very efficient.

Edit: Yay for web archive. http://web.archive.org/web/20150214084857/http://martinsliquidlab.org/2012/06/08/hesmelaughs-radiator-sandwich-testing/
Click to expand...

Good find, not only is one thicker better, one slim is better than 2 slim stacked!
 
Erasmus354 said:
Good find, not only is one thicker better, one slim is better than 2 slim stacked!
Click to expand...

Keep in mind the testing was done with rather high FPI radiators. Low FPI radiators with stronger fans would likely have different results.
 
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