TECs vs 7v'd Fans - a challenge. PA120.3 vs HE120.3 vs PA160.

[Marci]

A combination of unfortunate events recently resulted in an old familiar friend making an appearance on my doorstep... my old TEC rig had returned home...!



The guy I sold this to (R.I.P. d00d) sadly couldn't get his head round the TEC side of things so ran it as a standard watercooling setup. Once it got back to me however, twas time to get the TECs back on the job.



226w TEC on CPU (A64 Clawhammer 3200+), 172w TEC on GPU (X800ProVIVO >> X800XT-PE). Figured whilst I was in there I'd strip out the previous 240v Eheim1250 pump... hell... all the watercooling got ripped out basically... and refit with more up-to-date equivalents....



The radiator in this rig is the first ever ThermoChill HE120.3 prototype from way-back-when. Still going strong...



So... what was I gonna do with the rig now? Well, with the new PA Series rads finally getting sorted, figured may as well do a comparison of HE120.3 vs PA120.3 with the same fans... to do so required some monitoring tools in the form of the mCubed T-Balancer and some handiwork with silicon... thus giving me liquid in and out temps...



And air in and out temps





Add in the handy feature of the tbalancer software being able to talk to LCDC and we get...



MBM5 will collect CPU temps, and ATITool will handle GPU temps. So, that was the rig all ready... time to case it all up but leave rad external (just easier for swapping it over later)



Started off with unit under full load with as much heat as possible, whilst keeping speeds at stock.

CPU was set to 1.75v. AGP VDDQ to 1.6v. 100% load inflicted.

Temps were meaured every 20mins. Surveying them, they levelled out rapidly, within an hour, and hovered around the same points for the rest of the day (controlled ambient as best possible).

Max variance in ambient temp was 1.5 deg C. This was reflected across the board.

Note, temps shown are just a quick cross-section of readings recorded, not complete end-to-end results...

HE120.3 with 3x Panaflo M1A@7v

Air<: 23.0 | 24.0 | 23.5 | 23.0 | 23.5 | 24.5 | 24.0
Air>: 26.0 | 27.0 | 26.5 | 26.0 | 26.5 | 27.5 | 27.0
Liq<: 33.5 | 34.0 | 34.0 | 34.0 | 34.0 | 34.5 | 34.5
Liq>: 33.0 | 33.5 | 33.5 | 33.5 | 33.5 | 34.0 | 33.5

CPU: 17.0 | 17.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 19.0 | 18.0
GPU: 19.0 | 19.0 | 20.0 | 19.0 | 20.0 | 20.0 | 20.0

< = In
> = Out

So, averages are being used.

I'll summise testing of the HE120.3 with Panaflo M1A (fans at 7.04v by multimeter) as follows:

Avg Air <: 23.6
Avg Air >: 26.6
Avg Air Dt: 03.0
Avg Liq <: 33.9
Avg Liq >: 33.5
Avg Liq Dt: 0.40

Next step - remove HE120.3, install PA120.3 with same fans set to same voltage by Rheostat (measured with multimeter). This gave me the following recordset...

PA120.3 with 3x Panaflo M1A@7v

Air<: 22.5 | 24.0 | 22.5 | 23.0 | 23.0 | 23.5 | 22.5 | 23.0 | 22.5 | 22.5
Air>: 27.5 | 28.0 | 27.5 | 28.0 | 28.0 | 28.5 | 28.0 | 28.5 | 28.0 | 28.0
Liq<: 30.5 | 30.5 | 31.0 | 31.0 | 31.0 | 31.0 | 30.5 | 31.0 | 30.5 | 31.0
Liq>: 30.0 | 30.0 | 30.0 | 30.0 | 30.5 | 30.5 | 30.0 | 30.0 | 30.0 | 30.0
CPU: 15.0 | 15.0 | 15.0 | 14.0 | 15.0 | 15.0 | 15.0 | 15.0 | 15.0 | 15.0
GPU: 15.0 | 15.0 | 15.0 | 16.0 | 16.0 | 16.0 | 15.0 | 15.0 | 15.0 | 15.0

Avg Air <: 22.9
Avg Air >: 28.0
Avg Air Dt: 05.1
Avg Liq <: 30.8
Avg Liq >: 30.1
Avg Liq Dt: 00.7

Already, we see a substantial drop in CPU and GPU temps between the two rads, with the PA120.3 shaving 4 or 5 degrees off each over the old HE series.

Figured I'd go for some self-amusement next...

PA160 with 1x Panaflo M1A@7v
Well... I'm impressed...

Air<: 24.0 | 23.5 | 23.0 | 23.5 | 23.5 | 23.0 | 24.0 | 23.5
Air>: 31.5 | 31.5 | 31.5 | 31.5 | 31.5 | 31.5 | 32.0 | 31.5
Liq<: 37.0 | 37.5 | 37.5 | 37.0 | 37.0 | 37.5 | 38.0 | 38.0
Liq>: 35.5 | 36.5 | 36.0 | 36.0 | 35.5 | 36.0 | 36.5 | 36.5
CPU: 21.0 | 22.0 | 21.0 | 21.0 | 21.0 | 21.0 | 21.0 | 21.0
GPU: 21.0 | 22.0 | 22.0 | 22.0 | 22.0 | 22.0 | 22.0 | 22.0

Avg Air <: 23.5
Avg Air >: 31.5
Avg Air Dt: 08.0
Avg Liq <: 37.4
Avg Liq >: 36.0
Avg Liq Dt: 01.4

Only 1 or 2 degrees hotter than the HE120.3 manages on CPU & GPU temps, with 2 less fans = less noise. Always a bonus!


PA160 with 2x Panaflo M1A@7v (PushPull with dual shrouds)

Air<: 23.0 | 23.0 | 24.0 | 23.0 | 23.0 | 23.5 | 24.0 | 23.5 | 24.0 | 23.5
Air>: 27.0 | 28.0 | 27.5 | 27.5 | 27.5 | 27.5 | 27.5 | 28.5 | 28.0 | 29.5
Liq<: 34.5 | 35.5 | 36.5 | 36.5 | 36.5 | 36.5 | 37.0 | 37.5 | 37.5 | 38.0
Liq>: 34.0 | 35.0 | 35.0 | 35.0 | 35.0 | 35.0 | 35.5 | 36.0 | 36.5 | 36.5
CPU: 19.0 | 20.0 | 21.0 | 20.0 | 21.0 | 21.0 | 21.0 | 21.5 | 21.5 | 21.5
GPU: 19.0 | 21.0 | 21.0 | 21.0 | 21.0 | 21.0 | 21.0 | 22.0 | 22.0 | 22.0

Compare these figures to figures above - result? 2x fans in Push-Pull is of no major benefit over 1x fan in push.

PA120.2 with 2x Panaflo M1A@7v

Air<: 22.5 | 22.0 | 22.5 | 22.0 | 22.5 | 22.5 | 22.0
Air>: 32.0 | 31.5 | 32.0 | 32.0 | 32.0 | 32.0 | 32.0
Liq<: 33.0 | 33.0 | 33.0 | 33.0 | 33.5 | 33.5 | 33.0
Liq>: 32.5 | 32.0 | 32.5 | 32.5 | 32.5 | 32.5 | 32.5
CPU: 18.0 | 17.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 17.0
GPU: 18.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 18.0

Avg Air <: 22.3
Avg Air >: 31.9
Avg Air Dt: 09.6
Avg Liq <: 33.1
Avg Liq >: 32.4
Avg Liq Dt: 00.7

2x PA160 with 1x Panaflo M1A@7v on each

AirIn <: 23.5 | 24.0 | 23.5 | 24.0 | 23.5 | 23.5 | 23.5 | 23.5
AirRad1>: 29.0 | 28.5 | 29.0 | 29.0 | 29.0 | 29.0 | 29.0 | 29.0
AirRad2>: 29.0 | 29.0 | 29.0 | 29.0 | 29.0 | 29.0 | 29.0 | 29.0
Liq <: 31.0 | 30.5 | 30.5 | 31.0 | 31.0 | 31.0 | 31.0 | 31.0
LiqMid : 30.5 | 30.0 | 30.0 | 30.0 | 30.0 | 30.5 | 30.0 | 30.0
Liq >: 30.5 | 30.0 | 30.0 | 30.0 | 30.0 | 30.0 | 30.0 | 30.0
CPU : 16.0 | 16.0 | 15.0 | 16.0 | 16.0 | 16.0 | 16.0 | 16.0
GPU : 15.0 | 15.0 | 15.0 | 15.0 | 15.0 | 16.0 | 15.0 | 15.0

Avg Air Into Rads <: 23.6
Avg Air Out of Rads>: 29.0
Avg Air Dt : 05.4
Avg Liq Into Rads <: 30.8
Avg Liq Out of Rads : 30.0
Avg Liq Dt : 00.8

Break it down...

PA160 with 1x Panaflo M1A @ 7v: CPU - 21 GPU - 22
HE120.3 with 3x ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ : CPU - 18 GPU - 19
PA120.2 with 2x ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ : CPU - 17.7 GPU - 18
2x PA160 with 1x ^^ on each ^ : CPU - 15.8 GPU - 15.1
PA120.3 with 3x ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ : CPU - 15 GPU - 15

[Vapor]

Now those are some very conclusive results....

Good review Marci! Thanks for sharing the info

[Gimmpy224]

So the HE got kicked by the PA huh?

^_^ I think I have a good idea of what rad im gonna get.

[freecableguy]

And I though that the PA160 wasn't going to be enough for two OC'ed 7800GTX's.....guess I was wrong.

[Master_G]

Nice results Marci, nice idea of the benefits of the PA series there, thanks for the info.

G

[MaxxxRacer]

Wow very nice results there marci..

Seeems that PA160 is handing thigns better than i thought. In my brief testing it didnt do nearly as well

[freecableguy]

Just noticed that the CPU/GPU temps are less than the air temps and water temps...that's not looking right.

[Vapor]

TECs were used.

not as a chiller either....

[Marci]

Just noticed that the CPU/GPU temps are less than the air temps and water temps...that's not looking right.

Are you gonna go round every forum pointing this out? It's a TEC rig. It has peltiers on CPU and GPU. Of COURSE the CPU / GPU temps are lower than the water. READ the thread.

[freecableguy]

ah, my mistake, sorry to ruin your entire day

[Bloody_Sorcerer]

nice, but throw a 2-302 in there!
I thought I'd read in Maxxx's rad review that the lowest delta T between rad in and rad out was best...? *checks*
EDIT: Nevermind, it was Delta T between rad outlet and ambient.

[afireinside]

FCG you on drugs or something? It IS in the TEC section and has TEC in the title and all...

Nice results Marci, thanks for testing

[Marci]

PA120.2 and PA160 push-pull data added into the above.

[Marci]

Added Dual PA160 data

[Vapor]

Very nice reviewing Marci!!!

Thanks for all your work

[K.I.T.T.]

So im taking it that the PA 120.2 is slightly better than a PA 160.1?

[Marci]

PA160 with 1x Panaflo M1A @ 7v: CPU - 21 GPU - 22
PA120.2 with 2x ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ : CPU - 17.7 GPU - 18

Do I have to give an answer to that question???

[K.I.T.T.]

no sir!!

my bad