Which Radiator Should I Get?

[cherryguy]

Hey, I have a big budget surplus for my remaining parts which includes all the water cooling parts. Im new to pc builds and to water cooling. I was wondering which radiator I should get for either external or internal on/in my Thermaltake level 10 gt case. Also, which fans should I buy for the radiator and do they sell fan/radiator combos?

 

[scopey86]

A) Read the watercooling sticky
B) What parts are you using? Without knowing that no one can help you plan because we don't know how much heat you're generating. Also what components are you planning to cool?
C) Have you already purchased the level 10? If not then reconsider because it's not made for liquid cooling at all

 

[cherryguy]

ASUS Maximus V EXTREME LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Extended ATX Intel Motherboard

EVGA 02G-P4-2680-KR GeForce GTX 680 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000
BX80637I73770K

Refurbished: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional 70SB088600002-8 7.1 Channels PCI Express x1 Interface Sound Card

I was planning on an external rad so I dont see what difference a case would make as long as it has tubing grommets, which it does.

 

[scopey86]

If you want to keep it all externally then yeah you'll be fine. As for a radiator if you're going to be cooling your CPU and GPU then a 360mm rad should be adequate. I'd go for an Alphacool Nexxxos UT60 360mm and for fans maybe Scythe Gentle Typhoons, Cougar Vortex, Noiseblockers or b.gears. If you're planning to add a second graphics card down the line for watercooling you'll probably want to up it to a 420mm radiator, in which case an XSPC RX420 is a good choice.

 

[cherryguy]

I love your fan reccomendation as I already have those picked out but for a radiator i have a Black Ice GTX Xtreme 480 Radiator. Doesn't hurt to go a little overboard does it? Sound doesn't matter to me and its 20 fpi

 

[scopey86]

I wouldn't spend that much frankly. I think Black Ice are overpriced for what they are. Go for the Alphacool Nexxxos UT60 480mm then. Actually I'd still probably take the 420mm rad I suggested earlier because it actually gives you more surface area than the 480mm (didn't believe at first till I did the math lol). I personally use cougar vortec fans and i'm happy with them. At the same time though because your radiator is mounted externally you might be able to get away with quieter lower cfm fans. The fractal design fans are literally silent (I had over 13 of them in my old case and you couldn't hear them at all, it was incredible) though they don't push much air.

 

[cherryguy]

Kay thanks.