Rad mounting questions and case opinions

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kylemm

Honorable
Oct 21, 2012
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Hey everyone,

After doing the whole pre built water loops im looking to do my own custom loop. Im looking at doing the setup in a phantom 820. Let me know if you have any other suggestions on cases. My question is mounting in the 820. The rad i was looking at is the XSPC RX360. It is a very thick rad at about 65mm but im looking for a really quiet build and that rad seems to be getting great reviews for cooling and being quiet. I am going to be cooling my cpu which will soon be upgraded to a i7 and my gtx 680. My main question is mounting in the 820. Mounting it in the top of the case only leaves room to have the 2 200mm fans insalled above the rad and no 120mm fans on the bottom of the rad. Is this setup going to work or is this pulls setup not going to work well? I like the attraction of 200mm fans because you can have the same airflow at a lower rpm. However, if it is going to not work well I could swap them for three 120mm in a pull config.

I appreciate all the help I can get! thanks guys.

Current setup:
i5 3570k overclocked to 4.7ghz
Asus gtx 680 factory overclocked
motherboard: Aus p8z77-LK
 
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scuba356

scuba356

Distinguished
Sep 18, 2011
40
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I bought most of my watercooling on frozencpu (make sure to use a code to get 5.1% off).

I recommend grabbing a black ice rad, and figuring out the right one for you. I used a black ice 360 from http://www.hwlabs.com. I'll be grabbing a 240 soon too, still debating on a stealth or an sr1 (I have a corsair 800D, with a 360 in top).

For the case, they have some seriously cool cases, silverstone @ http://www.silverstonetek.com. Corsair also just came out with the 900D, but the 650D is also cool. I adore my 800D personally.

Mounting is easy enough. If the case doesn't have premade rad slots (a lot of them do now), Look at the physical dimensions of the case you want, pick out a size rad to use (try thinking 1 item needs 120 (so 1 gpu, 1 cpu, mosfet/ram, etc). Do your homework on your rad. There's ALOT of reviews. After that, you just need to draw an outline by tracing out your rad (hold a pencil sideways and make an impression), cut out the rad holes (MANY ways to do this), drill a few holes, clean your case (file that crap down, cuts are never fun, and scrap might land in your fan and fail it), then mount your rad, fans, and grills.

Finally, rads don't make noise. fans on the rads make noise. Research how much air pressure (CFM) you need to be pushing through your rad for it to work (Higher fin density requires more pressure). Then find a fan that's the right size (usually a 120 from my experience) and has the right noise level for your comfort (dBA) Higher dBA = more noise. I looked at many fans before settling on my Cooler master sickleflow (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103090) I have it running a push/pull 6 fan and i hardly notice it.

Search for your fan like this.
1) Size
2) Color LEDS (if desired)
3) CFM
4) dBA

To be honest, I never bothered looking at the RPM, since the cfm was much more important. frozencpu again has a great selection, shop around on xoxide, frozencpu, ETC ETC, try to use ebates.com and google for coupon codes.
 
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manofchalk

manofchalk

Glorious
May 11, 2012
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^ Sorta right, but wrong in some parts.

While 120mm per heat source + another 120mm if its overclocked is a good rule of thumb for figuring out how much radiator you need, its much better if you do the proper TDP calculations (you can learn how in the Sticky ihog linked too).

CFM is the amount of air that is moved in a free-flow environment, with no resistance to airflow present (say like a radiator or heatsink). Its important if its a case fan, but more CFM doesn't help when your using on a rad, since theres resistance to airflow and it wont be the true value. When buying radiator fans, you want to be looking at Static Pressure, which can be roughly summarized to how hard the fan is pushing the air.
This is particularly important when your dealing with higher FPI, thicker radiators.

120mm is the standard fan size for water-cooling radiators, unless its stated otherwise, expect to be using them.

Use a fan controller, that deal with any noise issues. Not many fans can be heard running at half speed :D.

The RPM is important when it comes to water-cooling, as that will give you a value to use when trying to figure out the TDP of a radiator. The higher the RPM, the more air that's being pushed and the better the radiator will work. Will also give you a rough estimate of noise as well, at ~1000RPM any decent fan will be dead silent, at ~1800RPM even the best of fans will sound like a jet engine.

Also, the Sickleflow fans aren't exactly that good for rad usage.
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inzone

inzone

Champion
Mar 12, 2011
14,971
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51,960
The 200mm fans at the top of the case will have to be removed because you want the fans to be attached to the radiator to be effective, either push or pull. High static air pressure fans are best for radiators and the higher the static pressure that the fan can generate the better. I use these;

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181027

I also have them connected to a fan controller so I can adjust for noise level.
 
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