A challenge - PA120.3 vs HE120.3 vs PA160.

[Radical_53]

Just black. No grey, no chrome.

http://thermochill.com/retailers.php

[myerz635]

Sigh, wish i wouldve read this thread before i got my mcr320 Too late now....oh well next system upgrade i will be getting a thermochill for sure. I just have a quick question.....After looking at my sig system, do you think it would be possible to w/c a 8800 GT/new GTS or would it be too much heat to add to the loop? I read somewhere that the mcr320 is capable of dissipating 400+ watts but i dunno how accurate that is? I'm reaching mid to upper 50's on my cpu under prime load with my system right now. Im also going to be upgrading to 3 x San Aces in the next month or so. Thanks!

[septim]

kindly post on seperate thread your question, complete with setup and some nice pictures to clarify (case space,etc)

[.OCX]

Thermochill PA120.3 still the best Triple RAD around?

How does this compare to the Danger Den GTX360?

If you had to choose today, regardless of Price....which Radiator would you choose?

I'm buying either a GTX360 or a PA120.3 today for my new 810 Stacker.

[Isriam]

i think it depends on what fans you run also. they put out different temps based on how much air you push through them.

[.OCX]

i think it depends on what fans you run also. they put out different temps based on how much air you push through them.

Pulling 3 x 120mm Sanyo Denki 102CFM. The kicker now is I found a BIXIII for really cheap, about 1/3 what the PA120.3 would cost me NIB. All I plan on cooling is a Storm Rev2, Fusion Block on NB, and either DDen 8800 block or EK 8800 Block.

I figured might as well get a Triple Rad since the Stacker 810 has so much Top space, and I didn't want to lose the drive bays with staying with a BIX.II.

BIX III for $50.(used)

BI-GTX360 for $125.

Thermochill PA120.3 for $135.

Not looking to buy another Radiator for 2+ years. What do you guys think?

[Talonman]

I would go for the Thermochill PA120.3 for $135.

Buyers remorse is a B!!

If you had to choose today, regardless of Price....which Radiator would you choose?

If your only going to run 1 triple RAD, might as well make it the Big Dog if you have the cash?

With 102CFM rated fans, I would guess your RAD would have around 510w's of shere animal cooling power.

My 2 cents.

[Nate P.]

Another vote for the Thermochill! It's excellent with ~100CFM fans.

[STEvil]

Thermochill or MCR320's are the way to go.

[rehpyc]

Why not the GTX 360?

[Nate P.]

Why not the GTX 360?

It's better than the Thermochills, but only with fans greater than ~130CFM, and that kind of airflow would mean dB ratings off the charts.

[rehpyc]

There's a french (I think it was that) tester that found that with use of 47+ cfm fans the GTX outperforms the PA, granted it's still quite a bit more restrictive.

[.OCX]

Thanks for the help guys, PA on the way!

FrozenCPU prices are a little steep but I've been with them for years now and I support their "enthusiast push" business by paying a little more.

[septim]

it states somewhere in this thread, more than 110cfm would not make a PA rad cool more...

and also the 2 best performers with low cfm rads are the PA rads and MCR rads...

[rehpyc]

The test: HERE

[Cronos]

From the above test, it looks like GTX has practically the same resistance for water flow as PA. In real loop, with 200-300l/h water flow, the difference in flow would be hardly noticeable.
Also, we can extrapolate that GTX matches PA's performance with ~1000rpm fans and has higher performance with more powerful fans.

If the GTX doesn't need to be cleaned, I'd choose it any time over PA. Really, PA is very contaminating and at the same time hard to clean. After two months of use, the water turned into ugly milk, although i cleaned the rad before use with hot water. Everything inside including water block and res. was covered with some deposit. Luckily it was easy to remove, i found the plain salt works the best.
I used just plain distilled water with Tygon Silver tubing.
I have another loop with BI Xtreme (not GTX), the water had no signs of contamination after half a year of continuous use. I didn't even cleaned it before using.

Besides, from the aesthetic point, GTX looks better. PA has cheap painting which easily come out. I made a mistake and tried to clean the remains of gasket's glue with alcohol. The glue gone together with painting.

[Radical_53]

When you clean a BI, you'd normally get funky colored fluids, strong green and blue stuff that I've seen so far. Not the dirty brown/red stuff Thermochill has sometimes, but definitely something you'd need to clean a while before you use it.
From my tests, you'll need a GTX 480 to get better performance than with a PA 120.3, but even then only when you ramp up the fans at 1200rpm for slightly better performance.. 900rpm and below, the PA is still in front (way in front at 600rpm).

[Cronos]

Radical_53
As far as i remember, you tested with low load, while in above test we can estimate combined load of around 300W.

The higher the load, the less effective thick two-row design like PA's will be.

[Talonman]

If the GTX doesn't need to be cleaned, I'd choose it any time over PA. Really, PA is very contaminating and at the same time hard to clean. After two months of use, the water turned into ugly milk, although i cleaned the rad before use with hot water. Everything inside including water block and res. was covered with some deposit. Luckily it was easy to remove, i found the plain salt works the best.

FYI - All RAD's should be cleaned, not just the PA series.

Your fluid turning to milk seems to be an isolated instance. I wouldn't try to give the impression that PA series RAD's in general, turn your fluid to milk, or at least not withought providing some links of a few people with the problem.

I am not sure we can pin your milkey fluid down to the rad... ?

I get the impression your anti PA rads, and pro GTX rads. If that is true, your definitely in the minority!

[Cronos]

FYI - All RAD's should be cleaned, not just the PA series.

Apparently BI Extreme does not need to be cleaned. And this is a HUGE advantage in my opinion.

[flesheatinvirus]

They are both good rads yet I still like Thermochill myself. I currently have both in a system right now though the GTX is only a 240 for my Ultra card on EK block. My PA120.3 with three Silverstone FM121 fans in pull at half speed 1200RPM or about 55CFM is holding my slacr quad running 4G at 1.65v bios with idle temps of 22-23-24-27C and sustained temps of 38-38-39-42 with the room at 58F. Measurements taken just ten minutes ago.

[Xilikon]

Cronos, liking one radiator over another just based on the cleaning is just s***** because cleaning is done once and it's not like you are doing this weekly...

[Cronos]

My PA120.3 with three Silverstone FM121 fans in pull at half speed 1200RPM or about 55CFM is holding my slacr quad running 4G at 1.65v bios with idle temps of 22-23-24-27C and sustained temps of 38-38-39-42 with the room at 58F. Measurements taken just ten minutes ago.

14C room? Are you living on north pole?
Most people have around 25C room temps.
Assuming normal 25C ambient, while 35C idle is possible with G0 at 4Ghz, 50C full load under stress test like Prime95 Small FFTs is nowhere near possible. At 4GHz, over 60C is pretty much guaranteed, most probably over 65C.
Even more, Linpack 64bit gives 10-15C higher temps than Prime Small FFTs. My estimation, at 4Ghz/1.65V you will have no less than 80C Linpack 64bit temps. Most probably though, it will just bluescreen.

[CyberDruid]

A cooler I just built with a pair of PA160 (according to Marci's test data) is equal to a PA120.3. Despite the extra cost the Form factor and the ability to have independent loops is of some interest.

I have set up a number of PA160 loops and truly it is the finest small form factor rad for PC cooling ever made.

I also have had tremendous results with a fairly high pressure PA120.3 cooler I built using Panaflo M1A at 7V. Amazing to me that a rad nearly 3 years old in design is still the king of cool.

Thanks for this thread Marci

[flesheatinvirus]

No North Pole for me though I keep this room rather chilly for the Computers. I have never ran Prime95 at 4G but I did break this chip in at 3750 on Prime 95 for over 9 hours then called it and my temps where around 60C at 1.60v bios with fans on high and the room around 50F. I agree with your estimation based on a 25C room ending with the mr bluescreen but I keep my Computer room beyond Liebert cool.