mounting of fans and radiator

I have a thermochill PA102.2 and two 100CFM fans, I am new to watercooling and all so I have a simple question. I have a case called a LianLI PC-343B server case.


1. Are the fans supposed to blow THRU the radiator pushing the hot air out and blowing cool air over the fans? Or are the fans supposed to sucking the air out of the radiator? Here is a simple drawing explaining the question:

A. FAN ~ RAD = air out or B. RAD ~ FAN = air out


2. Also I have the shrouds for the thermochill radiators but it seems I am going to have to dremel out a square on the sides of my case and then how do I mount it to that opening?


Thanks!!

1 - http://forum.overclock3d.net/showpost.php?p=166915&postcount=9
2 - You mount shroud to radiator, fans to shroud, then the lot to the case in the usual way... screw fans to blowholes. Alternately, mount radiator to blowholes and screw into the fan screwholes on opposite side of rad using some short (no longer than 7mm) screws.

yeah but the thing is I have a PA120.2 radiator AND a PA 120.3. While I will have room for the PA120.2 to fit into two exhaust 120mm slots on the back side of ONE side of my server style case. The only way I am gonig to be able to fit my PA120.3 is to cut a square section out of one of my doors. How could I mount it then? Go check out my style of case on this link and you will see what I mean:

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/5...r_Aluminum_Cube_Case_-_Black.html?tl=g1c7s443

check out the back of the case and youll see I have a spot for the 120.2 on one side. But on the other for the triple for my two video cards that I am out of luck.



Josh

So basically you want to know how to mount a radiator when there aren't the correct blowholes already cut into the case?

The only way I am gonig to be able to fit my PA120.3 is to cut a square section out of one of my doors.

Click to expand...

PC343 doesn't have doors - or do you mean the sidepanel? For mounting a radiator to a case where no convenient holes already exits, you cut the necessary holes and drill screw holes that align to those on the rad yourself, and mount it same way you would in any other case...

See http://www.over-clock.com/articles.php?action=show&showarticle=6 for cutting guide.
See http://www.thermochill.com/guides/PA120-3.pdf for dimensions etc for cutting for PA120.3

The spot on one side for the 120.2 won't align to a PA120.2 without manually cutting a blowhole with a 25mm spacing from one of the ones already there. Same process for the 120.3 cept you need to cut 3x blowholes.

The only cases precut to accept a PA120.3 radiator is MountainMods U2UFO family, which will take a PA120.3 in the front without any manual modding required, and a 120.2 in the rear.

I'm still not sure which side you're trying to mount the 3x. Are you trying to mount it in the front slots on the same side as the PSU? If so, I'd make those fans internal and pulling then put the 2x on the back with the fans external and pulling. Counting the PSU blowing out that should balance the air flow pretty good on that side of the case.

Fans for the other HDD/etc rack and the exhaust fans for the MB would also be balanced ...

well guys i take it that no matter what i want my fans in a pull motion which means pushing air away from the radiator so that means no matter what the fans on the shroud are going to protrude outside of my case. maybe where my case has that whole left side of 5.25 bays i could mount the PA 120.3 right there I suppose. Man i cant help but to feel so unsure of myself and nervous about doing this whole thing. I bought neon fans too so my room is going to be bright as hell haha. So will that work guys?

Pull or push doesn't have any bearing on whether fans are protruding out of the case or not...

Can have fans in push or pull and still have them internal... your wording of things is a tad confusing I'm afraid.

If you want fans in pull, then you place radiator upright in 5.25" bays with barbs pointing inside the case. You place shroud inside the case on the radiator, fans on the shroud. This means the fans pull cold air from outside the case thru the radiator, and vent it internally towards the rear of the case...





You use M4 Pump Antivibration studs screwed thru the shroud into the sides of the rad to afix radiator in between 5.25" uprights. You'll need a tap to tap the shroud mount hole to M4 to match the stud.

that is a great diagram. How long have you all been doing watercooling? This is my first custom setup.

S'Google Sketchup... free from http://sketchup.google.com - all the watercooling components etc are available to download for planning casemods etc from http://scc.jazzle.co.uk

Been watercooling since somewhere around 1998 / 1999. Memory gets hazy thinking back that far...

[O-CuK]Marci said:

S'Google Sketchup... free from http://sketchup.google.com - all the watercooling components etc are available to download for planning casemods etc from http://scc.jazzle.co.uk

Been watercooling since somewhere around 1998 / 1999. Memory gets hazy thinking back that far...

Click to expand...

Wow !! Thanks a lot for that sketch-up components site !

man im super glad you put that diagram up though. Here I was thinking that the fans had to be INSIDE the shroud right up against the rad to effectively pull the hot air through but I suppose not. I suppose that it does quite well on the top of theb shroud pulling the air internally and then back out the back. Why wouldt you want them right on the rad though instead of back from it on top of a shroud?

Point of shroud is to move fans away from the core as much as possible (but within reason) to...

1) Reduce noise - a good portion of noise is caused by airflow over fins. Distance fans from fins and noise level drops.
2) Smoothout the airflow so it's more even across the surface of the rad.
3) Reduce hub-shadow when used with fans in push.