water cooling radiator help

[rehpyc]

If I cannot fit a PA 120.3 in my case due to its height compared to other 120.3 coolers, what is my BEST alternative option? Some have told me the MCR 320QP, others say the PA 120.2.. I'm wondering from heavy water cooling enthusiasts what radiator exactly is the next best alternative and why.

Thanks in advance

 

[cnumartyr]

If I cannot fit a PA 120.3 in my case due to its height compared to other 120.3 coolers, what is my BEST alternative option? Some have told me the MCR 320QP, others say the PA 120.2.. I'm wondering from heavy water cooling enthusiasts what radiator exactly is the next best alternative and why.

Thanks in advance

Using the MCR320QP with Medium+ speed fans (D12SM from YL or higher) will result in better temperatures all around than a 120.2. The higher CFM fans you use the closer the gap in performance is from the 120.3 to the MCR320.

Not sure off the top of my head, but I do believe even with lowspeed fans the MCR320 will beat out a PA120.2. Thermochills are great, but not worth the price/performance for me (atleast in the states).

 

[rehpyc]

So, if I want my system to be decently quiet (not dead quiet, but not as if it's going to take off), the MCR320 QP would be the better bet? What about the DD 360 GTX or GTS ones.. better than the MCR320 QP?

 

[cnumartyr]

So, if I want my system to be decently quiet (not dead quiet, but not as if it's going to take off), the MCR320 QP would be the better bet? What about the DD 360 GTX or GTS ones.. better than the MCR320 QP?

Most of what I've heard about the ones from Danger Den (btw they are made by Hardware Labs, not DD) is that they are serious chokers. Really thin tubes, very restrictive and not at the prime/performance point of the MCR320.

What is your goal, what do you want to do? What will be in the loop and what pump?

 

[phreejak]

The newer Hardware Labs (Danger Den) GTX Extreme radiators were designed to maximize flow by using thinner walled material to allow for larger tubing diameter internally.

I use two Danger Den GTX Extreme dual 120mm Rads for my cooling loop - which includes a 226watt TEC cooler on my CPU and a Swiftech Stealth on my GPU. My Q6600 sits on -7 to -9 celsius on load and my GPU functions at around 43 to 45 on load (both are o'clocked).

If you o'clock you are going to be better off with a dual pass rad but if your main concern is quiet then lower CFM fans would be more condusive to what you are looking to achieve and single-pass rads work better with those.

 

[rehpyc]

Right now I have one of these on my Scythe Infinity cpu cooler.. seems to be pretty good and is about as loud as I want thing to get, maybe even slightly louder than wanted (rated 32db or so) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835129246

If I were to run 6 of these in push/pull, or ones that run at whatever CFM 28-32dB will provide, would the MCR320QP outperform the PA 120.2? Come Q1 next year I'll be running a quad core penryn heavily oc'd as well as most likely the new nvidia 9800 cards that are coming. When that time comes, I'll see what temps are like and then potentially add an additional 120.1 in the loop internally, or if I use a radbox externally, a 120.2. Overall, I'm looking for performance, but I don't want to run jet engine like fans, heh.

 

[phreejak]

Here's the thing,

While the PA series is an excellent product - the difference between them and the quiet power line in terms of what they do is almost the same. What I mean is that, according to the Thermochill website, the difference in performance between the PA series and the QP series is very little to begin with.

A "push-pull" configuration is just a smart way to maximize the rads potential. It's what I use.

 

[rehpyc]

It's really coming down to the question of which performs better.. the 320QP or the PA 120.2..or if they are almost equal with fans over 40CFM. If the 320QP is noticeably better, then I will go for that. If they are marginally close, the PA 120.2 will help save some drive bay space of my case.

 

[rehpyc]

How does the 360GTX compare to the PA 120.3?