hey waterlogged, lets stop just saying the MCR is the king in all your posts. You got Swiftech stock or something? It's all you focus on anymore.........
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hey waterlogged, lets stop just saying the MCR is the king in all your posts. You got Swiftech stock or something? It's all you focus on anymore.........
Stock in Swiftech?. . .no. I also haven't said it's the "king".
Dollar for dollar, it performs as well as anything else on the market (except the GTX), so why spend more than you have to?. .and please don't say anything about a better paint job or better construction because if you do, you'll earn an ignore. The money you save on a MCR can be used on something else like more stupid BP fittings or another rad or better fans or even saved in the bank to put towards the next build/upgrade.
But its true, mcr is really good for the price it has.
No one can deny it.
Im between thermochill, SR-1 or swiftech. Swiftech for the price/performance, thermochill and SR-1 for the quality/performance/aesthetics
I still stick by what I said earlier. I have (owned) Swiftech rads and they aren't bad, but they aren't top quality (paint/design/construction) like the SR-1's.
Which is why my statement earlier is still a valid one. If the OP is on a tighter budget, then the Swiftech makes much more sense for him. If he isn't on a budget, and is looking for a rad with top notch construction/paint/design, then again, you can't go wrong with the SR-1 series.
If you've ever held both in your hands and compared them side by side then you quickly see the differences between the two. Now performance wise, yup, you are right, they're neck and neck!
EDIT:
I'm kinda new to whole LC scene, I've completed one build so far, but in my many months of lurking and reading and scouring all the info I could, Thermaltake was one of the brands that everyone tried to stay away from. Why is Thermaltake being recommended now? (or is this sarcasim that is going completely over my head :D)
I have not shopped for a Rad in some time but I am currently back in the market. My Thermochill 120.3 is performing ok with the 3 X 480 SC's but they are currently at stock settings and idle at 33C and load at 50C. So once I start clocking these 480's up I am pretty sure I am going to need some more Rad. If price was not a factor and Med-High speed fans were to be used to obtain max performance what 480 Rad would you guys recommend then? I was looking at the Feser X-Changer 480mm Xtreme Performance Radiator . The SR-1 and XSPC were also on my list to look at. But because noise isn't really a factor for me being that you hear the compressor running from my Phase unit anyways I was thinking about getting a HWLabs GTX480 and use Scythe UK3's since I already have 4 of them sitting here. What are your guys thought on this? Thanks...
Well, I've been water cooling since '03 and have a BIP I, BIX I X-Flow, BIX II X-Flow, BIGTS 120, Thermochill PA120.1, PA120.2, and a MCR120. Construction wise, the MCR isn't any different than the Black Ice rads. They all use brass tubes, tanks and fan mounts with copper fins. The Thermochill have brass tubes and tanks, copper fins and steel fan mounts which doesn't really seem to improve or hurt the rad at all, just makes it a little heavier. The GTS is the only one that still has a decent looking paint job (probably due to me not using it because it sucks). Paint is cheap and you can do some interesting things with a custom paint job yourself or you could get some professional painter to powder coat or electrostatically coat it with epoxy paint with the money you saved on the rad.
I just put together a loop with a Thermochill PA 120.4. Guess when you see such good results from the 120.3 you'd think the big brother is just better. Here's to product reliability.
Not sure if you saw this, but I am pretty sure this would seal the deal for the Swiftech:
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/swmcqupo4xbl.html
$70
I order two mcr 420, i think it and 1 degree and better looking dont worth 140 bucks more really
While agree with waterlogged about how good the swiftech stuff is, I think in your case you do need a HWL 480GTX. That thing dominates all when paired with high airflow fans.
And while 2 QP420s would probably perform better than a single 480gtx, not many people have that much room in their case
BTW, i'm running the HWL 480gtx and i have 2 swifty qp 320, and the difference i see is that some of the paint has chipped of the swifty and some parts are noticeably not black. Same deal with the HWL 480gtx but to a lesser extent. However, i do find some fin damage with the 480GTX, but it doesn't leak.
Quality wise, i'd give a slight edge to HWL, but bang for buck = swiftech all the way. Their gpu/cpu blocks are awesome too (bought the XT for 55, and mcw 80 for 44)
Thanks for the input. I think I am going to go with the HWL 480GTX. Is there a place I can buy a pre-made shroud for it? Also what Rad grills are you guys using for your 480 Rad's? I only found the Bitspower 480 Rad grill and the MNPCTech Pro-line 4x120mm Rad grill. The Bitspower has a mesh that I am not real excited about and the MNPCTech is stupid expensive at $90.00. Any other options out there?
MNPCTech Pro-line 4x120mm
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...g480-SL_01.jpg
Bitspower 4 X 120mm Rad Grill
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...480A-SL_01.jpg
I've used MCR 320, PA120.3, PA 160 and even a BIX something or rather...
honestly... i have to vote for MCR as well.
not only for the price... but also for the amount of space it requires to cool on par with the other THICKER rads...
as for paint jobs... meh... yea, HWLabs had much nicer paintjobs... but thems mofos are THICK...and fitting em in the case was tough.
HWlabs are not just THICK, also WIDE (fighting now with HWL's 140mm rad shroud width being centimeter wider then 5.25 enclosure space unlike 140mm rads of other vendors :( )