• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

Thermochill PA120.3 or BIP III for low noise setup ?

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

Mixman

Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2005
Are both close enough in low noise and low temp performance ? Is the Thermochill worth the extra $75 ? ($120 vs $45) What would the difference in temps be ?
 
who cares what the temps are. you are asking about low noise and cost.

since you missed the point of the last thread ill tell you again here.

if you want low noise then dont pay any attention to what people say about temps as its completely irrelivant to what you are asking.
 
No cake and eating at the same time.

I'm new to this but I suspect that Thorilian is trying to help you by saying that you have to be prepared to live with a warmer running system if you want quiet.

You need to decide what's more important. Super quiet or coolest possible system. You can't have both unless you want to spend very, very, serious money or do crazy remote stuff.

Work first on deciding what approximate decibel level is tolerable for you. From there you can get an idea of your potential temp range by asking others with a similar system.

Good luck in your quest.
 
thorilan said:
who cares what the temps are. you are asking about low noise and cost.

since you missed the point of the last thread ill tell you again here.

if you want low noise then dont pay any attention to what people say about temps as its completely irrelivant to what you are asking.


Thorilian, you are right about the temps thing, but it's hard to relate differences to others without using that standard. It's hard to ask if a different rad will give me a better OC.

I guess what I want to know is whether it is possible to have low noise and great performance ? Since both of these rads have three fans, will they be able to provide both and how does the BIX III fit in here will it give me better performance than the BIP III if I am not using screaming fans ?
 
The BIX rads only shine when you have good strong (loud-er) fans on them. If you want silence, get a BIP. Just because you want quiet doesn't mean you won't have good temps. Temps are really meaningless, It's all psychological. If it works, temps aren't important.
 
It's just that I see that the BIX's are a lot more popular than the BIP's.

I am just trying to figure out whether that PA120.3 is worth that $75 premium in terms of performance.
 
without using that standard
this is where you are making the clasic noobie mistake

temps are by no means a standard in any light. why you might ask. because in order for them to hold any meaning you would have to have soooo much info on your system that you would forget what the question was before you could precisely determine thier worth

if i tell you my system dropped 4C what does that tell you honestly? absolutely nothing.
now if i said with xx processor on xx mb runing at xx speed in a room with xx ambient temp with fans on xx rad running at xx volts with xx rad xx pump xx waterblock at xx cm lentgh of tubing at xx diameter then you can begin to say there is some value in the temps but otherwise there is only 1 true way to describe success ( thats what you do water cooling for as it is gratifieing and you dont do it to intentionally fail )

the measure of success is
1 is my system rock stable
2 am i happy with the current noise level
3 am i happy with the current overclock while keeping my system rock stable.

depending on weather you switch 2 or 3 in order the results are still the same. a temp c did not play into any of those questions DIRECTLY.

now if you have a very and i mean very similar setup to someone else with the EXCEPTION OF ONLY 1 PART in your water cooling loop and you ask that individual how his temps changed from changing ONLY that one part THEN temps become a viable way to relay info.

without looking at all the info though temps are meaningless.
when you see a post by more knowledgable coolers you see that may times the include a Lot of info that you may feel is not needed but the truth is without it a pro can not accurately extrapolate a reasonable answer
 
The BIX rads only shine when you have good strong (loud-er) fans on them
and this is totally wrong. they do better with a stronger pressure fan but it is by no means a requirement to make them shine.
the poster of this comment had his idea heading in the right direction but making a statement of fact like this when its an opinion is one of the major problems of these boards.
 
Since both of these rads have three fans, will they be able to provide both and how does the BIX III fit in here will it give me better performance than the BIP III if I am not using screaming fans ?

ok let me finally adress this with questions of my own

would you rather eliminate noise and go to 7 volts on your fans and maybe loose 2-5C cooling effectiveness if that extra cooling will do you absolutely NO good since you are not OCing to the bleeding edge when ouyou can loose a LOT of noise? ( hence the whole point of the 3 previos posts)

personally i would go with a BIPIII and lower flow fans and save my ears from bleeding. as it stands i have built near dead silent cooling that could OC as high as my procs could take them ( limiting factors are more often your MB RAM and psu than your cooling)
 
thorilan said:
and this is totally wrong. they do better with a stronger pressure fan but it is by no means a requirement to make them shine.
the poster of this comment had his idea heading in the right direction but making a statement of fact like this when its an opinion is one of the major problems of these boards.
Yes, I should not have said 'only'. Poor wording. It's certainly not etched in stone, I'm using 25mm fans on a BIX, and it works just fine.
 
Thanks Thorilan. I am always willing to learn. I guess I will buy the BIP.
 
Back