240 radiator for i7 920?

[XKaan]

I currently have a dual-pass 360 radiator for my 4870X2, and I'm about to order a 240 for my i7 920. It will be going into an ATCS 840 case, probably attached to the hard drive cage, or laid flat if I cut the cage.

I've looked through the worklogs, and it seems a few builders chose the Black Ice stealth.

Recommendations?

[woffen]

I don't know which 240 you should get, but I think you should assign the 360 to the cpu and the 240 for the gpu. The cpu will need to be as cool as possible to reach higher clocks while the gpu wont care that much.

Is there a limit to how thick the rad can be?

[millertime359]

It depends one what your overclocking goals are and if you don't mind running some high speed fans on that rad.

+1 on woffen though.

Put the 360 on your CPU and get a 240 for your 4870X2

[SoulsCollective]

Definitely +1 for swapping the order of rads. While my 920 isn't the coolest running chip, at 3.8/HT/Turbo under an EK-Supreme, MCR320 with Scythe S-Flex Fs at full speed and an MCP655-B, my load temps hover around the high 60s and hit 70+ on a hot day (and it's winter down here, so ~20C ambients). With an MCR240 I'd have to drop my OC down. A 240 rad, however, will be perfectly capable of handling a GTX295/4870X2/SLi/Crossfire setup.

As for which radiator, it depends on your priorities. Assuming you need a slim rad, your choices are basically Swiftech and Black Ice. Those two split the market pretty evenly along low noise/high noise - the MCR rads have a relatively low FPI count, so are best suited to quieter, lower CFM fans, whereas the BI rads have a higher FPI count and so need more powerful fans to get the best out of them, but also can dissipate more heat when coupled with those more powerful fans. As above, we really need to know whether you need thin rads or whether thicker is an option.

[XKaan]

Wow, thanks for the input guys!

In my situation, I'm currently parting out my old rig, and putting together the new one. (Build log this weekend!)

Right now I have a Q9450 and 4870X2 on a single dual-pass 360. It does the job, but man my case is noisy! (TJ-07) On a hot summer day if I don't have the AC on the fans are always running high. I am looking for a nice balance between noise and cooling capability. I bought the ATCS 840 because of the 230mm fans. I figure they can keep air moving through the case without spinning too high.

As for thickness, if I just bolt fans on one side of the rad then I could fit almost anything. If I do push\pull then it might be tight. My power supply is a Corsair 850HX. It's long, but not so long that it will mess up my plans.

Thanks for the advice on switching the rads, I'm doing it.

[PiLsY]

-1 for swapping rads...Unless youre going over 4.2ghz @ high vcore you wont need more than a 240. The 360mm would be far better served cooling your gfx.

The i7 really doesnt care about heat that much, I get no overclock difference between 240mm rad, 360mm rad and 240+360mm rad. All exactly the same cpu oc. However ive noticed that the shader clocks on my gfx cards really do like the extra cooling and I can go higher on shaders if I give the gfx the best cooling. As is I've gone back to one loop with T line/res > pump > 360mm rad > gfx > nb > 240mm rad > cpu.

Im not saying it wont impact your temperatures running the cpu on a 240mm rad, I just think you'll gain absolutely nothing on your cpu from using the 360mm instead, whereas you stand a good chance of grabbing a few extra hz on your gfx.

Don't take anyone's word for it though - just give it a try before you settle on your permanent setup. A quick hour of testing (dont worry about being clinical either) should show you if youre going to get any advantage from the 360 over the 240 on the cpu. I'd be shocked to see more than a 4 or 5c difference in linx at peak load and max overclock, and even more shocked if that temp difference resulted in any change of overclock.

Also push/pull wherever possible on your rads, you'll see a good temp drop. If not push pull then with high rpm push/shroud, with low rpm pull/shroud. Either way i'd live with the tight clearances and either get a shroud+3 fans or 6 fans push/pull.

Looking forward to hearing how you get on in the work log :).