Upgrade my old rad or buy second rad ?

[grahamie]

Im wondering if i should add a second rad to my loop or if i should replace the rad i have I have a thermaltake kandolf case with a built in triple rad with stock 120mm fans and my liquid loop is as follows. Ek supreme cpu block, Koolance full motherboard block, 2 koolance 5850 gpu blocks, Swiftech p655 1/2 inch pump, ek basic 400 res, all with high flow silver barbs.
my tt rad is 3/8 and the rest of my loop is 1/2 inch is my rad restricting water flow to the point it should be replaced? i read a form here that states the benefits from running 1/2 inch tube is minimal compared to 3/8.
so do i add a a second rad to the rear of my case with a push/ pull high cfm fan set up or do i get a new triple rad and 3 new high cfm fans ? (cant push/ pull triple rad because of mounting location and i cant add a rad to the rear ( exterior) of my case due to the large res mounted to the out side.
my temps are great at idle 30-35 while gaming never breaking 50c although prime95 will run my cpu up to 58 - 60 after a half hour or so.

system specs:
crosshair extreme, 1090t, xfx 5850 BE xfire
cpu 4232
nb 3118
ht 2895
xfire gpu 765/1125

Any ideas would be great thanks

 

[rubix_1011]

Thermaltake rad? I hope it isn't one of the ones they made from aluminum. Their newer ones are copper/brass, so you should be OK...ones from the Bigwater kits and several years ago had aluminium in them; galvanic corrosion is bad mojo.

What do you mean the TT rad is 3/8"...the barbs? Swap them out if you can...otherwise, there is really no impact of 3/8-1/2 even in the same loop. You'd rather run all same tubing if you can, but that's your call.

You are going to want to run another triple rad for a total of 2...and that's only if you run everything at stock clocks. Overclocking...you might consider more rad space.

 

[grahamie]

a closer look at my tt rad id say it not all aluminum the tubes the liquid runs threw look to be brass or copper although the fins are defiantly aluminum Is this the rad your talking about that’s bad ?
so what your saying is i will need 2 triple rads for the hardware i have and that im not going to see much of a temp difference if i simply add a single rad

my main objective is to bring the temps down while i benchmark ( 10 c would be great) not to achieve higher clocks as i feel im at the peek of my cpu potential any way. i could be wrong about that but that’s a different topic

I would defiantly run all the same tubing if i could but the tt rad doesn’t have barbs that are changeable

Also how much of an effect do better fans have on the rads performance?

 

[rubix_1011]

a closer look at my tt rad id say it not all aluminum the tubes the liquid runs threw look to be brass or copper although the fins are defiantly aluminum Is this the rad your talking about that’s bad ?

As long as the water never touches aluminum (including fittings, solder, etc) you should be fine.

so what your saying is i will need 2 triple rads for the hardware i have and that im not going to see much of a temp difference if i simply add a single rad

X-fire + CPU...that's a lot of heat watts to get rid of. Use this PowerSupply Calculator to help get an idea of how many watts you'll be looking at. Simply punch in CPU and GPUs...leave most other things as defaults or lowest to get what your loop will likely be generating in heat.

my main objective is to bring the temps down while i benchmark ( 10 c would be great) not to achieve higher clocks as i feel im at the peek of my cpu potential any way. i could be wrong about that but that’s a different topic

10C in temp reduction is pretty easy with watercooling; you'll see the biggest drop with GPUs...from 70's C down to potentially mid 40's C at load (depending on loop setup).

I would defiantly run all the same tubing if i could but the tt rad doesn’t have barbs that are changeable

You can run all 3/8" fittings and tubing...there isn't much difference, performance-wise between 3/8" and 1/2" ID tubing: Tubing size/performance comparison

Also how much of an effect do better fans have on the rads performance?

A lot. It also depends on what fans, what rads and what you want to accomplish.

 

[grahamie]

Im still not 100% sure on the tt rad but im going to keep looking for info on it. If it is aluminum I don’t want it in my loop any more.
Your calculator gives me 459 w when I calculate cpu gpu but with my board block ill have more heat than that to dump so lets call it an even 600 just to be safe
I cant find any decent info on my present rad but I did find a rad size guide for heat dissipation and it says single 120mm rad is aprox 150 watts of dissipation so if I add 1 single 120 mm rad to my existing ill have aprox 600 watts of dissipation and that is my target for this build.
Is 120 = 150 watts accurate ?
the specs on my fans seem ok this review http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/tt_kandalf/13.htm states testing cfm on my system and there conclusion is my 120 fan average is 72 cfm @1300 rpm 17dba that seems good to me for noise and cfm
any recommendations for higher cfm fans around that dba?

 

[rubix_1011]

Does your rad look like the Koolance ones listed on this page?: http://skinneelabs.com/radiators/

Wait...cancel that...your rad is a TT...not Koolance. My fault.


For the fans...are they the ones that came with the case? If so, most case fans aren't typically that good (ones that come with them).

 

[grahamie]

yes they are the origanal fans from the kandolf and the numbers shocked me
this review is where i got my info http://www.overclockersclub.com/re [...] alf/13.htm

 

[rubix_1011]

Does your rad look like this?

 

[grahamie]

http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?C=1309&ID=1412#Tab1
this link is what i have
and nope nothing like that picture at all my system was a lcs case to start and i changed out all lcs thermaltake parts excluding the front mounted rad and fans

 

[rubix_1011]

It doesn't really show what it looks like...hmmm...It's likely ok, I don't know how well it performs compared to other rads.

 

[grahamie]

i really dont think its a great rad by any means here is a few pics so you know what im working with http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/3782/20110402080652.jpg http://img853.imageshack.us/i/20110402080620.jpg/

 

[grahamie]

sorry im not sure how to post actual pictures yet

 

[rubix_1011]

 

[grahamie]

Like this ?

oops guess not

 

[grahamie]

[/URL][/img] test 2

 

[rubix_1011]

you're getting it now, although your image path from the location likely already contains the

 

[grahamie]

ok i got it Thanks for that aswell as all the rest of your advice. Finaly here is a few pic now that i know what im dealing with

 

[rubix_1011]

So yes, your rad is probably fine...I'd consider at least an additional 220 if not a 320 rad.

 

[grahamie]

ill go with a 320 if i can figure a way to mount it my res is attached to the out side rear of the case so the extension rad mount kit from koolance wont work any ideas on how to mount a 320 to my case ?

 

[rubix_1011]

Top (inside or out) or bottom. I have both of mine on the side of my case.

 

[grahamie]

Unfortunately top wont work, neither inside nor out and im not to keen on side mounting although it seems to be the easy solution in this scenario
bottom eh that may be the ticket
maybe ill fabricate a platform for my entire case to sit on top of and run a large rad under the whole setup exhausting out the side

 

[rubix_1011]

You might Google your 'case + watercooling' or look on YouTube...might find some options.

 

[grahamie]

Will do
thanks so much you have been a great help ill update when i get my solution in place

 

[grahamie]

ok i found a case top solution that will work just fine and be a lot less work than going underneath
so next question what’s a good 320 rad any suggestions on a brand

 

[rubix_1011]

You might want to spend some time reading through these: http://skinneelabs.com/radiators/