Radiator Mount Question

On my current setup, my radiator is placed at the bottom-left panel and blows in (see pic) But I've seen folks do the pull, I've seen guys place there on the top of the top or the back of the tower doing either a push or pull.

Personally, I'd rather blow the hot air OUT instead of IN b/c of the lower chipset temps (those are air cooled). But my big complaint of blowing OUT is the dust collection on the inside the can't be wiped off. I have to blow it out and that goes everywhere.

I am currious though; has anyone tried mounting the radiator on top sideways? that way it doesn't blow IN or OUT of the case but across the top instead? Do you even get what I'm thinking here?

you mean the rad perpendicular to the top of the case like an upside down T correct?

i get what your saying and say go for it, no reason why you cannot do it.

Yea, no reason not to. You'll get better temps because your not pulling warm case air through the rad. You'll be surprised. Do a prime 95 load test for 30 min and record your core temps. then put the rad on the outside and do it again. You'll see 2-5 C improvement I bet.

I say go for it. It should drop your case temps by quite a bit. I know it did mine, especially with an external mounted rad. Since moving the rad to the outside of the case takes most of the heat out with it, I would expect a decent drop in temps. Here's a quick pic of mine, to show how I mounted it, in case you are still considering a rear external mount.


Edit: That PATA cable is gone, since I recently switched to a SATA optical, my rad has some Delta screamers on it instead of the Yates in the pic, and the pink tint inside my res is still driving me insane. Word of advice, if you are buying used, make sure the person you are buying from didn't use any dyes.

Mounting the rad at the top of the case in a cross-flow design would work excellent if your case is big enough and you have the room. In your case it looks like you're gonna lose at least 2-3 optical drive bays.

If you're gonna do that then your better off mounting 2 rads side-by-side to use that space more effectively.

From your pic it looks like you have a a place for 2 rear case fans. You can try mounting 2 rear case fans with filters (for dust) blowing into the case and have your rad fans blow out. It also looks like you may be able to mount a fan in the top of your case.

That would give you plenty of air flow through the case and help keep case temps down. Your water temps will go up a couple degrees but depending on how high your OC is, what your load temps are now and what you're using your rig for it may not be an issue for you.

Like Conumdrum said, run Prime95 and RealTemp before and after any changes you make to see what effects the changes had on your load temps.

i was thinking of mounting two 120x3 rads in the same orientation as the current rad, just position on the OUTSIDE TOP of the case. I was thinking of making a box to hold the rads and the fans and the speed control dial. I would attach this extra box to the top of my mid size tower.

And since your here reading this, narrow my search and cut my research time by suggesting a decent rad for slow speed fans ( i dont need fans, just the rads). the one I am looking at right now is the Swiftech MCR-320 Quiet Power Series Radiator for $50. then i could sell off my 120x2 and my 80x2 black ICE II and black ICE Micro rads...or maybe use them for my HTPC

No problem, I just got done pricing a bigger rad for my 800D today. Thermochill and Feser Xchanger are 2 very good low FPI, low speed rads but they're expensive, although it looks like Feser prices have come down some maybe cause they stopped making them last week.

I hear the Swiftech has good performance for the price, I don't have any personal experience with one, the other guys will be able to help you more. I have a Feser now and am upgrading it with a bigger Feser 120x4 (it's the same price as the 120x3),

they're excellent quality and excellent low speed rads.

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/thpa3xra.html

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7...ator_-_Thermochill_Killers.html?tl=g30c95s161

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7...ator_-_Thermochill_Killers.html?tl=g30c95s570