Radiator area in your ideal loop(s)?

[Odai]

Hello,

As mentioned in another thread, I am currently working on a new water cooling case to (hopefully) be produced commercially. As a result, I am looking for yet more views. I am trying to get an idea of the requirements performance users have in terms of the amount of thermal dissipation area needed.

I have attached a poll to this post, and would greatly appreciate your input again.

Assuming a system setup where all your major components are water cooled (so motherboard, CPU(s), VGA(s) etc), and a radiator "unit" is a single 140mm radiator, how many units would you require to meet cooling requirements with comfortable headroom (in total, across all loops if you have more than one)? So, for example, a single 140 would be 1 unit, 2 420s would count as 6 units etc. Of course, the various radiator products available these days have varying fin densities, material thermal transfer properties, thicknesses etc; so for the purposes of this poll, simply assume that the radiators used are of an average thickness with low fin density (suitable for low RPM fans) and a shrouded "pull" or "push" only setup is used (so fans mounted on one side only).

I appreciate many of you will be using 120mm width radiators (indeed, probably most of you), but for simplicity please do relate your requirements in terms of 120mm radiators to what they would be with 140mm radiators for this poll.

Again, thanks!

Odai.

[n00b 0f l337]

Not seeing a poll?

[Odai]

For some reason, they are posted separately. You managed to reply quicker than I could type up the poll options. It should be there now.

[defect9]

need is a relative term lol. I can get by just fine with a 2x140, but I've got 4x120 because it fit.

and then there's NaeKuh...

[Kosmic71]

I currently have a 3x120 and 3x140 radiators. So for me 2x (3x140) rads for cpu and 2x gpu.

Lots of ppl like 140mm rads used with adapters/120mm fans. I will be going that route also in the future.

[Toolius]

4x quad rads would be great
4x quad + 2x triples would be more than enough for most i would think, but then again this is XS !!

[stren]

I'm building a CaseLabs TX10-D with 2 rigs inside - it'll have 140.9, 2x120.3, 140.4, 180.3. So I guess if we put that in terms of 140's about 22 ish.

[Beriphent]

In the past, a 3x120 (360) rad was always "enough" for my moderate needs (one cpu + one gpu), so in trying to "equate" that to the 140 world, I guess a 2x140 (280) rad would have been my vote, and I think a good baseline to shoot for (at the minimum). I would guess 3x140 (420) would probably be better received though (people like having some extra headroom)...

But recently, due to wanting a more smaller rig, I am not so interested in the added trouble/expenses with watercooling GPUs anymore, and prefer just the CPU... So 1x140 would probably be "enough" for me. Though I realize this is not enough for many's standards here.

I wish you the best of luck with the case.

[Martinm210]

I don't know what your heat level is, but I aim for under a 5C delta which is only about 50 watts per 120mm section using lower speed fans.

[Annoyingmouse]

In my 'ideal' loop I'd be using a Magicool 3x180, however in reality I have a mid tower case and I wanted my loop to be all internal, so I'm using a 280 and it keeps my delta sub 7C.

[Section8]

I don't see the option for * As many as I can cram in my case.

[Odai]

Thanks again for your responses guys.

Allow me to clarify the question. I am essentially asking how many units you would require to maintain an acceptable (to you) air/water delta in your particular situation, with your particular heat load, assuming the parameters specified (so low fan RPM, pull or push only etc). As originally mentioned, the provision for significant air cooling in this case would be minimal, the question only really applies to those who would be water cooling all their major components (so including the MB, GPUs, CPUs etc).

So whilst I am sure the vast majority of us would indeed just stuff as many radiators as we could into our cases, the question relates more to what we would actually need for our particular setups and delta aims.

[gmat]

At least 4 "units" for a regular gaming system. As a rule of thumb i count 2 units per GPU / CPU in a system, so 4 units for a single card system, 6 units for a SLI system..

[Church]

I voted for 4x140 as imho reasonable for cpu and one-two SLI/CF top cards. But! This is Xtreme systems, even if not really needed, lot of people will still want to put MOAR RADS, MOAAR! So if you wish to target wider audience you have to take care about such mindset of potential customers as well
So there comes challenge, how to deal smartly with placing all of those big/lot of rads and other hwardware in reasonably compact space. It's easy to go big, but i have soft spot how few manage to do LC builds even @SFF. BTW, one of my ideas to fit wider audience/niche at one thread of LC case was to go modular.

[RCG_Bex]

I wanted 5x quads in my case but too much mod work... so I settled on 3x quads and 2x duals...

[Endgame]

I voted 6, (figuring for an OC'd SLI based system) but would really prefer 5 180mm mounts to 6 140s, as 180s use up more of the available case width thus yielding less wasted space. Of course, there is still a relative lack of 180mm rads out there, so it may be a bit premature to be gunning for 180s...

[NaeKuh]

0...

i dont use 140mm radiators... :X

Personally i dont like 140mm radiators... not enough fan selection for them.
Also u cant get a GT for a 140mm radiator.

But everyone on this forum says my LC system is wayyyyy over "average"...

It currently has 9 x 120mm of area space + 1 x 160mm spread out into 3 independent loops on 6 pumps.

[3lfk1ng]

4x 140mm.

@NaeKuh
What do you mean when you say "not enough fan selection?"
There are tons of really nice 140mm fans available.

What is it that you're looking for in a 140mm fan?

[gmat]

I think he wants 5000 rpm fans that produce over 70dBA Anything less would make him feel incomplete.

On a related note, my 6 Thermalright X-Silent's (140mm) when running at full blast are producing noticeably less noise than my 3 GT's (120mm) @ 1000rpm (which i can turn on or off with the aquaero, to figure out the difference). The Thermalrights have a much lower tone, more white noise quality.

[Church]

gmat: there are many fans that are quieter then GTs. question is - do they have as good noise/performance ratio as GTs have?

[gmat]

gmat: there are many fans that are quieter then GTs. question is - do they have as good noise/performance ratio as GTs have?

As far as performance is concerned, yeah since i'll have to tune down the GT's pretty much in order to reach the same sound tone (not speaking of sound pressure here, the tone is what's important) as the 140mm fans i am using too. Problem is their characteristic motor noise... i think it's unavoidable with double ball bearings ? My twin 3x140mm rads provide superb performance already as my water temperature can attest, all with a more pleasing sound.

[c.ruel]

What is a lower speed fan for you martin just out of interest? 1000rpm or like 600rpm!? Just curious to know.

[NaeKuh]

@NaeKuh
What do you mean when you say "not enough fan selection?"
There are tons of really nice 140mm fans available.

What is it that you're looking for in a 140mm fan?

A GT, or something near it that wont cost more then the radiator when you get 3.

To get a 140mm san ace it will cost roughly 38 dollars each... that is ouch.
I saw a 140mm nidac fan.. ala GT, that costs 69.99 each... that is super ouch.

Do you honestly think your going to get that much more benifit off a 140mm vs 120mm?
The dead zone around the fan blade gets bigger as well as the fan size increases.

Your sacrificing one for the other... which is why i use premium fans...

[zeropluszero]

How many would I like? Infinite
How many as a minimum? 2x 140 for a CPU loop, and then adding 1 extra per waterblock after that.

[skinnee]

Big money, big money, no whammies, no whammies... stop.

between 4 and 5 units for me if I were to build a full system today.