360 Radiator Shootout Begins!..

[squick3n]

Sorry for the novice question, but what is the relationship between power drawn from the wall versus watts dissipated?

[Martinm210]

Good questions.
I think the full copper construction, near parallel fin density, and slim thickness hydraulics are all helping. Copper is better than brass thermally. rectangular air channels are better than triangles, and single row slim thickness has a net smaller cross section leading to more restriction but also higher flow rates thoigh those fewer tubes.

Regarding heat dissipated and power consumption:
Not a simple or understood topic at all. We have very little to no data on actual heat dump numbers of blocks on processors or vga cards etc. I suspect the actual loss through the pcb and other areas is fairly high such that a 200w vga card may only dump 100-150watts into the water cooling loop. We also always over stress parts in synthetic tests to the point where you may only see 50-80% of that in actual programs. There are more unknowns than understanding on how much heat we are actually dealing with.

Air/ water delta is another problem because if you neasure air in near the radiator you get false radiant heat from the rad which skews the results.

In the end there is a big hole in understanding heat load in watercooling...a best guess is all we have.

Good question though..wish I understood myself..

[squick3n]

Thanks again for the info, Martin. The spreadsheet is great for trying to build a system. Much better than just working off TDP. But there is so much grey, as you say. I know there's more heat dumped than the stated TDP, but also know there's less than what's pulled from the wall. Seems like the only true way to know what going on is to mount sensors and probes, and even then . . .

[scamps]

Added the Alphacool ST30 in there with some surprising results at the slow speed side of things...

shi... Again another rad I have to try?

[Martinm210]

OP updated with the last of the rads being tested, this test is done!
Cheers!
Martin

[tistou77]

Hello

The Ek Waterblock XTX 360 is better or the same (performance) that the TFC Xchanger 360
I can not find test with these 2 rads

Thanks

[Martinm210]

Hello

The Ek Waterblock XTX 360 is better or the same (performance) that the TFC Xchanger 360
I can not find test with these 2 rads

Thanks

I did not test the Xchanger 360 in this round so I don't know for sure, but if I remember right they are copper tubed and a similar construction/fin density. The XTX is a bit thicker though so if I had to guess, I would wager the XTX would have a very slight hair splitting edge.

In general: full copper (fins/tubes/chambers)> Copper fins/tubes+ brass chambers > copper fins + (brass chambers + tubes)
Thickness is a bit unknown due to fin density, but many times a slim thickness rad such as the ST30 is actually better performing than the thicker UT60 brother radiator using slow speed fans, so extra thickness is not always better either. Thicker rads using two pass designs do however have less restriction since you basically are running parallel rows of fins rather than just one row, etc. There are 4 pass and other details such as tube thickness that play a role and throw generalities out of whack there too though.

[tistou77]

thank you for this detailed answer. I use Scythe Gentle Typhoon AP13 (~ 750rpm) in Push.
The Ek XTX 360 be a little bit more efficient, then