Radiator big enough

scotty1105

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Oct 27, 2013
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Hey all, I have a question concerning how big my rads need to be to achieve optimal cooling performance. I currently have a custom loop cooling a i7 8700k and Evga 1080 Ti ftw3 gpu. I have a Ek mono block on my gigabyte z370 auroras gaming 7 mobo cooling vram as well. Therefore my loop goes Ek d5 140 revo pump res combo to monoblock to Ek 280SE slim radiator to gpu to Ek 360SE slim rad to pump res combo effectively completing the loop. My question is the on Ek website configurator they state I will have a output of 505 watts. They indicated a 2 rad setup one being a 360Se and one being a 360Pe, this is what was recommended, the pe is the next size thickness Se being smaller. So bassically is the 280se I have ok or do I really need to upgrade to the 360pe. I currently am seeing temps on the cpu under load in the mid to high 40C sometimes hitting 50C and the gpu is about the same mid to high 40C. At idle I see temps in the 25C-30C range on both cpu an gpu. This being my first custom loop I really do not know if these temps are normal or not. I use this system only for gaming and it gets a lot of use. The only reason I installed the 280se was that the case i used to have couldn't fit 2 360s. I have since bought a new case a nzxt h700i and now i can fit 2 in there with ease. But again is a bigger radiator needed to replace the 280se I currently have installed. I would like to do some overclocking but not until I can get my temps down some. Please any information you can provide would be much appreciated. Thanks
 

InvalidError

Titan
Moderator
Optimal cooling performance: infinite-size heatsink.

Practical limit on rad size: depends on airflow through the radiator, infinite airflow through a 80mm rad would still be theoretically capable of cooling a loop under whatever load the fluid can bear at a given flow rate.

Engineering is all about making compromises. Airflow is limited by how much noise you can bear and how much power you're willing to spend on airflow. Fluid flow is limited by noise, power and tubing size, etc.

If the cold fluid coming out of the radiator is only a few degrees above ambient, then adding more radiators and fans won't help you much as most of the heat has already been taken out.
 

Bungle11

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Aug 24, 2015
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Your temps are fine! if your room temp is 25c, your cpu isn't going to running cooler than 25c. Your rads are not freezers! 50c load is fine too. If you are doing stress tests on both your cpu and gpu, your results are fine. You will hardly ever have your pc running at 100% for 30 minutes plus. This is a non-issue tread. Just on here to boast.
 

scotty1105

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Oct 27, 2013
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10,530
I run my pc every other day sometimes 12-24 hrs gaming sessions. My point to all this was I used to have a aio setup on the cpu and a hybrid on the gpu. My temps were a lot lower then what I am seeing now. I thought by switching to a custom loop that would decrease temperature. Yes I like the looks of custom loops but honestly I wanted to be able to do some overclocking and not have to stress over temps. I am new to the whole custom loop thing so I have questions. Some people might see them as stupid or as someone else stated boasting. But that's not my intent I was trying to give as much information as possible. I saw a jays2sense video where he said bigger longer rads are better then smaller wider ones. Now all I wanted to find out was if a 360 would be better than my 280. Or if what I had was sufficient enough.
 

Bungle11

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Aug 24, 2015
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OK. I see now. I'm not a custom loop expert but i'll try to be of help. Are you running push/pull, and is your fan speed setup the same as the previous non-custom build? Plus where your previous AIO's normal thickness, and what size AIO's where you using before (280 and 120, and was in push pull?? Plus i take it your current water flow is pump to cpu to 280 then to gpu then to 360.

Are you also only going to be overclocking the CPU?