Water Cooling Loop

[piggin23]

Hi All
I am looking for a little help please.

At the moment I have a water loop with a Black Ice Stealth 360 rad and six Xilence Red Wing fans in a push/pull configuration in the top of my coolermaster cosmos s case. This is giving me good temps at the moment.
The problem is I am going to move to core i7 within the next few weeks and I think the temps I will be getting will be quite high and the rad I have will not take it. I am also going to add a 280 gtx into the loop. Do I change the rad for something bigger or add another rad into the loop?

Thanks in advance.

[Bugbait]

If it fits then drop another radiator in. With a good pump a decent 120.2 or 120.3 radiator should handle a CPU + GFX but a second radiator doesn't decrease flow by much and it can only help the system (again, assuming pump isn't already strained). If squeezing a second radiator in will ruin the aesthetics then try it with one first. Adding a 4870x2 into my existing water loop increased CPU temperatures by 2C at idle (can't remember load) and reduced flow by 10% (I think). I'm using 120.2x2 radiators though.

[piggin23]

I was thinking of putting a thermochill 120.3 in place of the stealth but I think I will have clearance issues with the top of the motherboard and the bottom of the fan. Has anyone had any experience in fitting this radiator into this case?

[moogle]

could be the fans you have on it isn't enough to cool it down maybe?
It seems to have alot of fins and that means the fans should have a decent static pressure rating to be able to push air efficiently through that rad. A Thermochill or Feser will help as it doesn't have dense fins meanining you can run low speed fans on it.

[piggin23]

Does that mean I should have different fans?
I know the Xilence Red Wing fans do not perform as per the manufacturers claimed performance states, but they do seam to move quite a lot of air without them being noisy.

[moogle]

Try using thicker 38mm fans if you can. Those will push the air through the rad better as they'll have a higher static pressure rating.

[F1ZZY]

If limited for space (thickness) then: thick rad and thin fans > thin rad and thick fans

The thermochill will have different fan spacing to those of others and therefore the case. I'm not sure if thicker rads will fit though, it will be tight for sure and possibly dependent on what mobo you have.

[moogle]

If limited for space (thickness) then: thick rad and thin fans > thin rad and thick fans

The thermochill will have different fan spacing to those of others and therefore the case. I'm not sure if thicker rads will fit though, it will be tight for sure and possibly dependent on what mobo you have.

True but the thick rads are like 60mm thick and unless you get a 10mm thin fan a 38mm fan + normal thickness rads (30-40mm) will still be thinner.

Anyways piggin I remember seeing someone using a cosmos case and using a thick rad on it. Take a look here

That's an XSPC RX rad with the fans on the inner (but out of the main area) part of the case. Getting that or a Feser would be better for you (instead of TC) as Thermochill use different fan spacings to the rest of the rad makers. Not sure on which beats which but from memory the 360 fesers and 120.3 thermochill perform within the same range. A 120.3 rad can handle CPU + GPU in a loop. At XS some have even been using a 120.2 Thermochill in a loop with a 4870X2 and CPU (Not sure if Quad or Dual, but pretty sure it's a quad since it is XS )

I think on the tests of the 120 RX rad it beats Feser and Thermochill at lower fan speeds so if you want to continue using your Xilence fans then it'd perform better. However I think it's a bit more expensive than Feser (Can't remember).

Anyway hope that helps and a simple test you could do is see how much clearance there is between the top and your mobo with a ruler. The Feser rad is 62mm and Thermochills 59mm.

[Webby]

All prices from Specialtech

XSPC RX Costs
120 - £38
240 - £55
360 - £72

TFC XChanger Costs
120 - £40
240 - £57
360 - £78
480 - £110

Thermochill PA Costs (if you can find one in stock )
120 - £43
240 - £49
360 - £54

As Moogle says the Thermochills have non-stanrdard fan spacing so they may be a bit of a hassle but they are the cheapest and made in the UK if that matters to you.

I would probably go for the XSPC over the Feser if only for the cheaper price tag although the Feser comes with anti-vibe for the fans so that may swing it the other way.

They are all very good rads and you will not go wrong with any of them.

The XSPC have the lowest fin count which puts them the best at low fan speeds, but means that at high fan speeds their performance is a bit off the Thermochill and Feser.

[moogle]

Thermochill PA Costs (if you can find one in stock )

Wonder why that is. Good thing I bought in advance

Don't forget the 360 and 460 come with compression fittings too I think. If not the 360 definately the 480 then.

[piggin23]

Sorry for not replying until now but I went to bed last night and was up by 05:00 to go to work for a 12hr shift. Only now got back to read what you have been saying.

Moogle - thanks for your reply. I think I have seen the system you have posted and my set up is very similar. I have done a lot of mods to the top of the case (cut away the mesh and the ribs in the top of the slide out section) so a little more cutting, drilling etc to fit a thermochill in would not be a problem. As for the cost the thermochill looks like it gives a lot of bang for your buck but the RX gives better performance. As for changing my fans, I will if I have to but the six I have are all joined together and braided. (first project I have spent a lot of time on)

Webby - thanks for all your hard work in getting all the prices together for me. Gives me the opportunity in checking out performance v cost.

[moogle]

Sorry for not replying until now but I went to bed last night and was up by 05:00 to go to work for a 12hr shift. Only now got back to read what you have been saying.

Moogle - thanks for your reply. I think I have seen the system you have posted and my set up is very similar. I have done a lot of mods to the top of the case (cut away the mesh and the ribs in the top of the slide out section) so a little more cutting, drilling etc to fit a thermochill in would not be a problem. As for the cost the thermochill looks like it gives a lot of bang for your buck but the RX gives better performance. As for changing my fans, I will if I have to but the six I have are all joined together and braided. (first project I have spent a lot of time on)

No probs

Remember the Thermochills use G3/8" tapped holes so you need a reducer or special barbs for it
If you dont mind modding your case a bit more then a Thermochill is an option. You could probably still use your daisy chained fans if you want to. I suppose in a push/pull setup it will give good performance at the speeds they run at.