Radiators: Thick or Thin?

[Arya]

I'm in the final stages of rebuilding my Liquid Cooling system. Quite honestly I jumped in without understanding the science or doing enough research. It was a good learning experience, and I'm putting it all right now.

The final major decision I need to make is radiator choice. I previously bought a 360 Ultra-Think radiator, with a 60MM thick core and a high Fin Density. Coming off Heatsinks, I assumed the greater surface area would directly improve the core's performance and that it would be much more effective than a conventional 360 rad.

Having now taken a deep-dive into cooling performance, I'm regretting that choice. Thinner rads actually seem to be more efficient, due to how radiators transfer heat to airflow.

My question is simple; should I stick with my almost impractically massive Coldstream XE or replace it with something a little more normal-sized? And if so, what's the sweet-spot for a push/pull config?

I'm running an Intel i7 8700K and my goal is pure performance. My case can mount any radiator thickness necessary, and budget isn't a problem.

[igloosfolly]

No expert here but the fans you use should have more impact than the radiator itself. Also looking into modern cooling and wonder why the flow is not regulated. The idea of radiator cooling from a automovtive industrial point of view is to keep the coolant in the radiator for as long as possible so it has a proper chance to exchange heat. Circulating water at high speeds does not make any sense to me thermal wise. Now all i need to do is create a mini regulator that is controlled by tempeture.

[Monk]

If you have it and you can fit it with push pull, go for it, personally I use 45's as they are a nice mid ground and look good.

If it's just for the CPU a single standard 360mm rad would do fine, but, there's no overkill in cooling, I'm considering a case upgrade so I can fit 4 480mm rads instead of the 2 I have now lol

[Arya]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Monk:

If you have it and you can fit it with push pull, go for it, personally I use 45's as they are a nice mid ground and look good.

If it's just for the CPU a single standard 360mm rad would do fine, but, there's no overkill in cooling, I'm considering a case upgrade so I can fit 4 480mm rads instead of the 2 I have now lol

All I need for Push/Pull is an extra box of fans, and that's no problem. Both of the cases I'm considering have plenty of space for the assembled rad, even with push/pull fans.

Looking back, I actually got most things right. My biggest mistake was my choice of case, I picked an EVGA DG-87 because it had exceptional reviews and EVGA claimed it could mount dual 360 Rads. And I took their word for that, assuming that meant any thickness I wanted.

Not going to make that mistake again. It only supports a single 360 Rad, there's nowhere near the space needed for a second. It only supports it on the front, and it only has the space for a thin-rad. Even then, there's nowhere to mount a reservoirs/pump making the case pretty much useless for a custom loop. It was a lesson learned and I can pass it along to a friend, I just wish I'd more time to do proper research. Otherwise I would've bought one of the two cases I'm looking at now.

[Monk]

id go with this case for a big 360, http://www.lian-li.com/pc-o11-dynamic its the one im planning on using when i watercool my htpc (mid way through the first upgrade, out with the 3570k and 670, in with the 4790k and vega 64), just waiting on EK to sell a 360 fluid kit for the vega gpu's, that and have the spare cash, as that will be a pointless upgrade, its going to be done when i litterally have the cash sitting spare lol.

[Arya]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Monk:

id go with this case for a big 360, http://www.lian-li.com/pc-o11-dynamic its the one im planning on using when i watercool my htpc (mid way through the first upgrade, out with the 3570k and 670, in with the 4790k and vega 64), just waiting on EK to sell a 360 fluid kit for the vega gpu's, that and have the spare cash, as that will be a pointless upgrade, its going to be done when i litterally have the cash sitting spare lol.

Lian Li were my favourite brand, but unfortunately they don't sell here anymore. My only option would be to import one, and bringing a 10+ KG case into the country isn't cheap.

At the moment I'm looking at Thermaltake's View-71. It's a similar layout to the Lian Li but done at Full Tower size. I would also wager the design and build quality is a lot lower. I'm also seriously considering a morbidly ugly Cougar case. It's very functional and well built, but it's also amazingly hideous. I would need to mod it, but I enjoy that.

[Monk]

can also highly reccomend phanteks, best build quality ive ever seen, but damn tat new lian li case is pretty, and well priced here.

[Arya]

At this point I've decided to grab an extra three fans and run the system as-is with Push/Pull. On either a vomit-inducing Cougar case, or a pretty but probably very fragile Thermaltake. At no point were AIOs mentioned or considered, although I do appreciate your time and effort.

[TehSpoopyKitteh]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von TheDude:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Wolfey:

At this point, I think I need to go to bed. Because I could've sworn I just had an argument about AIOs, and yet looking around the posts have mysteriously vanished. As if I dreamed the entire thing.

I was going to comment too and then stuff just disappeared. Odd.

What's more "odd" is that the moment you posted, everything in that debate got deleted for a reason...

Anyway Wolfie, I do apologize about the slight tangent on AIO's. I wasn't aware that custom liquid cooling loops also used radiators the same way an AIO does. Hence the reason I mentioned it.

That being said, from a chemical engineering point of view when dealing with specific heat of a liquid vs a solid, a liquid cooling system makes no sense to me from a consumer standpoint because liquids retain heat longer when the CPU is put into a G5 status...and if that happens on a CPU cooler, it means that those components stay hotter for a longer period of time. It's as affective as air cooling can be IMO, but air cooling cools the cooler quicker.

[tacoshy]

wow... dont even know what to awnser to that. How else did you think a custom loop uses a radiator???
Besides the obvios BS again the radiator is nothing else then the heatspreader of a Tower cooler. it extend the surface to improve a faster dispersion of heat.
The only difference between a radiator and a tower heatsink is: that the towwer ehatsink has solid copper hetapipes that spreads to alluminium fins and a radiator has hollow copper or alluminium heat pipes where the liquid goes through and spreads through copper or alluminium fins.

Beside that your point of view is nonsense. CPU components doesnt stay hotter as the liuid gets cooled fast enough through a radiator. if you would ever had used one you would know that. water can contain heat longer but when going through a radiator giving the heat up to air as fast as it takes it. frankly liquid tempreture should never even reach 40C asnd you're in serios trouble when it ever would reach 45C.
most times my liquid tempreture udner load is around 36-38C. So no Air cooler cant cool faster. Air coolign is just way cheaper. In the case of custom loop the water coolign is even way better because you have a much higher surface area with stuff like 480 & 560mm Radiators that gets TDP ratign of over 1,000W where even a Noctua with its silly 200W looks old against.

[igloosfolly]

Claims to be a water cooling expert runs a AIO NZXT Kraken X62 on her own system. Does not understand that water once heated retains heat longer than metal after system is shut down. Tells everyone that they are full of BS and nonsense. Needs to buy a Dictionary and is a endless source of drivel as well solecism. Just Wow.

[TehSpoopyKitteh]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von tacoshy:

wow... dont even know what to awnser to that. How else did you think a custom loop uses a radiator???
Besides the obvios BS again the radiator is nothing else then the heatspreader of a Tower cooler. it extend the surface to improve a faster dispersion of heat.
The only difference between a radiator and a tower heatsink is: that the towwer ehatsink has solid copper hetapipes that spreads to alluminium fins and a radiator has hollow copper or alluminium heat pipes where the liquid goes through and spreads through copper or alluminium fins.

Beside that your point of view is nonsense. CPU components doesnt stay hotter as the liuid gets cooled fast enough through a radiator. if you would ever had used one you would know that. water can contain heat longer but when going through a radiator giving the heat up to air as fast as it takes it. frankly liquid tempreture should never even reach 40C asnd you're in serios trouble when it ever would reach 45C.
most times my liquid tempreture udner load is around 36-38C. So no Air cooler cant cool faster. Air coolign is just way cheaper. In the case of custom loop the water coolign is even way better because you have a much higher surface area with stuff like 480 & 560mm Radiators that gets TDP ratign of over 1,000W where even a Noctua with its silly 200W looks old against.

Enjoy the following educational video ;-) Watched this on laserdisc in High School.

https://www.learner.org/vod/vod_window.html?pid=806

[rotNdude]

Don't overthink it. Buy a radiator that fits and the fans you like. You'll see little difference between thickness or push/pull configs for fans.

[igloosfolly]

But what about fan types. Is one type better than another.

[TehSpoopyKitteh]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von igloosfolly:

But what about fan types. Is one type better than another.

Ballbaring lasts longer and is twice as reliable.

[tacoshy]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von igloosfolly:

Claims to be a water cooling expert runs a AIO NZXT Kraken X62 on her own system. Does not understand that water once heated retains heat longer than metal after system is shut down. Tells everyone that they are full of BS and nonsense. Needs to buy a Dictionary and is a endless source of drivel as well solecism. Just Wow.

I just dont run an custom loop because it would be waste for a setup where I change the CPu all 6 month. Doesnt mean I dont know anything about it.
I also agreed that water retains heat longer but it is not an issue when it doesnt go above 40C. The only thing where it need logner to cool down is, when it is not pushed through the radiator anymore.
And why does a custom loop then give so much better tempereture then an tower cooler? Its all about radioator size. you can have radiators which much more surface then a tower cooler and therefor it also cools better.

Ursprünglich geschrieben von The Spoopy Kitteh:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von igloosfolly:

But what about fan types. Is one type better than another.

Ballbaring lasts longer and is twice as reliable.

Ball baring wears out fastes and are the normal fans anyway. Magnetic levitation last longest and are the most reliable...

But that was not the question here:

The question is between AF (Airflow) or SF (Static Preasure) For radiators you should take SF but when not having a thick radiator or high fin density or need to push through a dust filter the difference is marginal (1-2C max).