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I'm out of the loop for watercooling...
- Thread starter mackerel
- Start date
- Joined
- May 22, 2011
- Location
- USA
Sounds good. Keep us up to speed with some images of the finished rig when all is said and done.
OP
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2008
- Thread Starter
- #43
You talk as if I've already bought that 
I'm going to step back for a bit as I've spent long enough looking at these for one day. I'll try doing similar with another manufacturer parts tomorrow maybe and see if there is much price difference to achieve the same.
I'm going to step back for a bit as I've spent long enough looking at these for one day. I'll try doing similar with another manufacturer parts tomorrow maybe and see if there is much price difference to achieve the same.
- Joined
- May 22, 2011
- Location
- USA
Maybe you misunderstood that saying being on the other side of the pond.
OP
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2008
- Thread Starter
- #45
Ok, now the order is in. I should get it ready to attempt a build next weekend. I kept the extra fan anyway as I want to try it on another AIO I have. I also added 1L of premix to save me from having to find pure water to use the bundled concentrate, which can still be a reserve plan if 1L isn't enough. The two rads and res would be around 0.6L, so add a bit for tubes and blocks... hope I wont need more than 1L.
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2015
Bah, if you need more, just add distilled water to the mix.
OP
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2008
- Thread Starter
- #47
To some degree, maybe, but at some point dilution may render the additives less effective. I don't want to start a trend for homeopathic watercooling additives...
Forgot to say... I went with the all EK build after all. I didn't price up others like alphacool in detail, but from what I saw items of a given quality were generally comparable, not different enough to be significant. To make a significant saving would require a downgrade in the quality of parts... so is it really a saving? Spend enough time on thinking, now I need to spend some time on doing!
Rough schedule would be installation next Saturday assuming all parts arrive before then. If leak testing is ok through to Sunday, I'll bring it back online and start stressing it. More serious overclocking to get my foot in the door of competitive OC might be the week after.
Forgot to say... I went with the all EK build after all. I didn't price up others like alphacool in detail, but from what I saw items of a given quality were generally comparable, not different enough to be significant. To make a significant saving would require a downgrade in the quality of parts... so is it really a saving? Spend enough time on thinking, now I need to spend some time on doing!
Rough schedule would be installation next Saturday assuming all parts arrive before then. If leak testing is ok through to Sunday, I'll bring it back online and start stressing it. More serious overclocking to get my foot in the door of competitive OC might be the week after.
OP
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2008
- Thread Starter
- #48
Kit has arrived at work. I've only had a chance to check all contents were present and give a quick visual inspection of the GPU block and one of the rads. Turns out the GPU block does come with blocking plugs, which isn't stated anywhere so I bought more without need. Spares never hurt I guess... the rad was a bit of a disappointment in a way. Although it is 38mm thick nominally, the fins are recessed quite a bit in so the effective thickness is probably no better than 30mm... hate to think what their 30mm nominal ones are like! I'm pretty sure my Corsair AIO which is 30mm thick had the fins going much closer to the whole thickness. Is there some benefit to airflow to not having the fan right up to the fins?
OP
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2008
- Thread Starter
- #50
I haven't counted or looked at fin density, and my above comments were only relating to the thickness of the fin area.
I just opened up the kit box for a quick nose around. I found it curious the outer packaging suggested it came with 2x F3-120 fans, given it is a 360mm rad. I found 3 fans inside as expected, but they were F4 models which wasn't expected. I went back to both the seller and EK's website, and they both list F3 fans. The difference is the F4 fans are a bit higher power and max rpm, but I did buy separately 3x F3-120 for the 240 (yes, 3x, one spare). So, arguably to balance cooling and noise they'll need to be regulated differently adding an extra little effort. I found an anonometer, erm, anememeter. No. Omnomnomeater? Anemometer. That's it. I intend to try the F3 and F4, along with a Silverstone fan I bought in, in the lab after work and see how both noise, airspeed and voltage varies, with and without rad. Wont be most scientific test but just a quick look.
I just opened up the kit box for a quick nose around. I found it curious the outer packaging suggested it came with 2x F3-120 fans, given it is a 360mm rad. I found 3 fans inside as expected, but they were F4 models which wasn't expected. I went back to both the seller and EK's website, and they both list F3 fans. The difference is the F4 fans are a bit higher power and max rpm, but I did buy separately 3x F3-120 for the 240 (yes, 3x, one spare). So, arguably to balance cooling and noise they'll need to be regulated differently adding an extra little effort. I found an anonometer, erm, anememeter. No. Omnomnomeater? Anemometer. That's it. I intend to try the F3 and F4, along with a Silverstone fan I bought in, in the lab after work and see how both noise, airspeed and voltage varies, with and without rad. Wont be most scientific test but just a quick look.
Well aware what your comments were about. Just adding more information to complete the picture.
There is something to be said for testing yourself, but, there is testing on the web for your fans I would imagine... otherwise, the specs have the db, SP, and overall airflow rating listed.
There is something to be said for testing yourself, but, there is testing on the web for your fans I would imagine... otherwise, the specs have the db, SP, and overall airflow rating listed.
OP
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2008
- Thread Starter
- #52
There's always caution on printed specs since the test conditions across different manufacturers may not be the same. Also, I wont have a way of working out the restricted flow through the rad, and testing it is the easier option. The EK F-series seem to have some info out there, but I can't find anything on the Silverstone fan, which is bundled with their AIO and doesn't seem to match any of their other sold fans.
OP
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2008
- Thread Starter
- #54
Gonna delay the fan testing a day I think. I have enough fans that I wont need to fit immediately that it wont make a difference. This is in part because I also want to measure fan speed as well as airflow, noise, and power. Not difficult, just a little time consuming to set up. I think I have an old fan controller at home I could dig out and use to simplify parts of this, if it still works. I only recently extracted it from what's left of a case that still houses a long defunct AMD Thunderbird era mobo, so it might be more than a few years since it was last used.
Right, gonna get the products ready for a photo before I leave work today... someone will ask for pics, and there's more room at work than at home
Right, gonna get the products ready for a photo before I leave work today... someone will ask for pics, and there's more room at work than at home
- Joined
- May 22, 2011
- Location
- USA
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2015
Mmmm... My 2 cents: with low FPI's radiators, about any fan will do the job. Rads are cheap and not restricting: put as many as you can in your case and you're golden!
- Joined
- May 22, 2011
- Location
- USA
Even with low FPI rads, you still need nice rad fans and not some case fans. You could take some premium rad fans and probably run them at a lower speed where a case fan would need to be run at a higher setting to compensate for its pressure and design, let alone much louder audibles. That's one thing I hear complaints about the most.
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2015
I am not expert in WC, far from that, but I believe rad area is king: stack as much as you can in your case. Little restriction and loads of comfort.
I run my loop with 2x280+1x140. I have 2 Noise blockers, 2 Corsair SP 140 + 2 Stock Phantek case (push/Pull) and 1 Helix 140 Swiftech.
All of those on 12 to 14 FPIs rads.
When doing passive cooling, I have a delta of 18/20c. When running 20%, it is around 10c, 5/6c @60% and 2/3c@100%.
Did not take measurement with probes, just checked 1h load and idle temps delta, so it is not very accurate, but I noticed that as soons as I run some air into the rads, even little, temps drop significantly.
I only run 100% when benching. Keep them between 20 and 50% for daily use.
I run my loop with 2x280+1x140. I have 2 Noise blockers, 2 Corsair SP 140 + 2 Stock Phantek case (push/Pull) and 1 Helix 140 Swiftech.
All of those on 12 to 14 FPIs rads.
When doing passive cooling, I have a delta of 18/20c. When running 20%, it is around 10c, 5/6c @60% and 2/3c@100%.
Did not take measurement with probes, just checked 1h load and idle temps delta, so it is not very accurate, but I noticed that as soons as I run some air into the rads, even little, temps drop significantly.
I only run 100% when benching. Keep them between 20 and 50% for daily use.
- Joined
- May 22, 2011
- Location
- USA
I'm not doubting that case fans won't work as they will. Its the point of watercooling that most look for versus staying on air. They look for quieter, cooler and more efficient running rigs all around versus staying with loud air cooling. Of course any fan versus running passive on a rad is better.
