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Will I have enough radiators?

Tags:
  • Overclocking
  • EK-X240
  • Water Cooling
  • CPUs
  • radiators
  • GPUs
Last response: in Overclocking
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September 26, 2014 8:18:14 AM

Hi all,

I'm in the planning phase of a new rig. I have the following spec in pre-purchase stage;

  • Motherboard - Asus X99-S Intel X99 Socket 2011-3 Motherboard
  • CPU - ntel Core i7 5820K Haswell-E CPU
  • PSU - XFX P1-850B-BEFX Pro Black Edition 850W
  • RAM - G.Skill RipJaws 4 16GB (4x4GB) DDR4 PC4-24000 3000MHz
  • GFX Card - 2x EVGA GeForce GTX 970 ACX in SLi (manually OC'd)
  • SSD - Samsung 840 EVO 250GB (in Raid 0) x2
  • EK-KIT- EK-KIT X240 Water Cooling Kit
  • GPU Back Plate - EK GPU Back Plate
  • GPU - Water Block EK-FC 970 GTX
  • GPU Rad - Alphacool 35265 NexXxoS ST30 Radiator 240
  • Coolant - Mayhems Pastel Ice White Coolant 1 Litre x 2(each)
  • 120mm Fan - Noctua NF-F12 PWM 120mm Focused Flow PWM Cooling Fan

    My question is, with my EK X240 loop cooling both the CPU and the two GPU's, will two 240 rads be enough (with the stock fans swapped for Noctua fans, two per rad). I have a Corsair 600T case, I have space for potentially on single fan radiator if I need further cooling (on the back) or will the two 240's be enough?

    I plan to have one across the top of the case and the other vertically at the front of the case.

    Any/all advice is welcome.

    cheers
  • More about : radiators

    a b K Overclocking
    a b à CPUs
    September 26, 2014 8:47:38 AM

    Yes (2) 240 radiators will be enough, rule of thumb is 240 for cpu and 120 for each item added after that.


    You can also save some money by getting a silver kill coil and running distilled water. I have a sliver built (think that's what its called) that is attached to a plug and is screwed into my reservoir with just distilled water. been going strong for 7 months with no issues of buildup. Also stay away for colored coolants as it will stain the tubing and blocks, if you want color get leds or colored tubing.
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    a c 337 K Overclocking
    a b à CPUs
    September 26, 2014 9:20:37 AM

    GTX 970 TDP: 145w (x2)
    i7 5820k TDP: 140w (x1)

    These are stock values, so any overclocking needs to be taken into account. Therefore, 290w for 2 GPUs + 140w CPU = 430w combined, stock.

    Quote:
    Yes (2) 240 radiators will be enough, rule of thumb is 240 for cpu and 120 for each item added after that.


    I don't really agree as your graphics cards almost always (at least historically) have had much higher TDP than CPUs. Consider that flagship Nvidia and AMD cards have been in the 200-230 watt TDP range at stock while CPUs are typically in the 80-120 watt TDP range.
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    September 26, 2014 9:27:55 AM

    faalin said:
    Yes (2) 240 radiators will be enough, rule of thumb is 240 for cpu and 120 for each item added after that.


    You can also save some money by getting a silver kill coil and running distilled water. I have a sliver built (think that's what its called) that is attached to a plug and is screwed into my reservoir with just distilled water. been going strong for 7 months with no issues of buildup. Also stay away for colored coolants as it will stain the tubing and blocks, if you want color get leds or colored tubing.


    Ok cool, thanks for the info. So the "rule of thumb" part; 120 rads for each component added to the loop, yeah? So if I added another 970 down the line for example, I'd either add a single 120 rad somewhere in the loop or swap the second 240 for a 360?

    Also, regarding your suggestion about the coolant, I will take that under advisement. :clin: 

    cheers
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    a c 337 K Overclocking
    a b à CPUs
    September 26, 2014 9:40:23 AM

    In practice, it's a good idea to account for 1.5 x 120mm rads per CPU or GPU in the loop at stock speeds. Overclocked anything, you can almost push that to 2 x 120mm each, but really this depends on loop TDP.
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