Given two 120mm fans, how much radiator?

[omaticrail]

Basically I'm curious if larger radiators can hurt performance, assuming you don't change total fan output. Below is my exact dilemma...

Given two 120mm fans, and a choice of 2 radiators (5x5" and 5x10") which of the following configurations works best:
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5" square radiator with push-pull fans
5x10" radiator with 2-push or 2-pull
5x10" radiator with 1 push and 1 pull
[/list=1]

[juliendogg]

hm, if you have room for the 10"rad, i would think your best performance would be with 2 fans on pull. if you're handy at the shrouds, a push pull would also do well. however, with that much surface area u could save some space by using only 1 shroud housing both fans without hurting performance much if at all.


J.

[Tical]

Originally posted by juliendogg
hm, if you have room for the 10"rad, i would think your best performance would be with 2 fans on pull. if you're handy at the shrouds, a push pull would also do well. however, with that much surface area u could save some space by using only 1 shroud housing both fans without hurting performance much if at all.


J.

Exactly, couldn't have said it better myself.

[omaticrail]

So, it sounds like you guys are saying that the larger rad is better regardless of how I configure the fans.

I don't understand that last part about "saving space" using 1 shroud.

[juliendogg]

ok, take your rad, place a shroud on either side, and then a fan on either side of that. how thick is it? probably around 6 inches! wow! now, take both fans off, place a shroud on one side, place the fans beside each other on that shroud. look :D it's about 2 inches thinner now :D.


J.

[omaticrail]

Side by side (in parallel) is what I envisioned anyway when I said "pull-pull". I guess you guys thought I meant stacked (series). I hadn't even thought of that. Should I have?

[squeakygeek]

screw that, get one of these :)

http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=234099