Airplex Evo 240 vs Thermochill 120 2

I plan on building a new system. My first one is this..
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=320468
thanks for the help and guidance from OCforums.


My question is mainly this, which will give me a better temperature with my setup? I havent seen much review on the Evo 240. The thermochill or evo?

This is my setup, please advice me on a better item if it suites my need.
Swiftech MCP350
SilverStone Nimiz TJ-03
Swiftech MCW6002 (Unless i can get a G4/G5)

Planning on going with an Intel.

billiam said:

I plan on building a new system. My first one is this..
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=320468
thanks for the help and guidance from OCforums.


My question is mainly this, which will give me a better temperature with my setup? I havent seen much review on the Evo 240. The thermochill or evo?

This is my setup, please advice me on a better item if it suites my need.
Swiftech MCP350
SilverStone Nimiz TJ-03
Swiftech MCW6002 (Unless i can get a G4/G5)

Planning on going with an Intel.

Click to expand...

thermochill is very nice that or get a dual heater core really cheap yet effective

If you're going to use another Aqua Computer grill like your first machine, stick with the Airplex Evo 240. The fan mounting holes on the grill, which you'd use to attach to the radiator, don't match up to the holes on the Thermochill or the BIX/BIP for that matter--the spacing between the fans is different on all the radiators. With a dual-fan radiator you might be able to overcome this difference with only minor modifications, but when I used a Aqua Computer 360 grill with a BIX III it was a real PITA. Your best bet would be to get specs on the different radiators and see how far off the Thermochill's holes are from the Airplex's so you'd know what you'd have to deal with.

MVC said:

If you're going to use another Aqua Computer grill like your first machine, stick with the Airplex Evo 240. The fan mounting holes on the grill, which you'd use to attach to the radiator, don't match up to the holes on the Thermochill or the BIX/BIP for that matter--the spacing between the fans is different on all the radiators. With a dual-fan radiator you might be able to overcome this difference with only minor modifications, but when I used a Aqua Computer 360 grill with a BIX III it was a real PITA. Your best bet would be to get specs on the different radiators and see how far off the Thermochill's holes are from the Airplex's so you'd know what you'd have to deal with.

Click to expand...

Well, i never thought about the grill. Im h oping that the airplex evo 240 can perform as well as the thermochil. If it does, then im going to stick with it. If it doestn ill get the thermochill. This time around im going for performance instead of aesthetics.

well if youre going for performance why dont you get a dual fan heatcore and save ~60bux?

billiam said:

Well, i never thought about the grill. Im h oping that the airplex evo 240 can perform as well as the thermochil. If it does, then im going to stick with it. If it doestn ill get the thermochill. This time around im going for performance instead of aesthetics.

Click to expand...

I never thought about the grill either--then I had to try to fit one. I didn't even think to put the grill up next to the radiator prior to cutting the case... it was a complete non-issue that wound up becomming a serious issue. That's why I brought it up here when I saw that you had previously used an Aqua Computer grill.

As for the specs on the radiator itself, I've never seen good numbers or an actual comparison of the Airplex (any size) with either the Black Ice or Thermochill radiators (there might be good information in German, but I haven't used German in a good 30 years--since I spent several summers with a cousin in Konstanz in the early to mid '70s). The construction of the Airplex radiators looks sound, at least from the pics, but I've got no basis on which to render a personal opinion--I've never actually used one. If you decide to go with the Airplex, please come back and give us some first-hand assessments of its construction and performance as well as anything else that might help future buyers. In many respects you're heading into uncharted waters, at least for the users of these forums judging by the posts I've read.

Right now, im using an evo 120. I have a d4 pump and a tdx water block, 3'8 tubing. The cpu is now running at 32 idle and 40 full load. The temperature in my dorm is roughly 67 fahrenheit. Im not sure if thats accurate, i heard the ai7 tends to read higher temps.

I honestly dont like heatercores.. they are too bulky and way too big to hide inside my case.

Well I just had an Evo 240 sitting here in front of me last week before I sold it. It seemed much more restrictive than the BI Pro II that I also had sitting here at the same time. I checked it by the time honored method of blowing through it. Now whether this is even an issue in a low flow system is a totally different issue. A few days ago I saw one of the Thermochill HE 120.2 rads at Sharka Corp. It seemed like a really solid rad design and appeared to primarily copper in construction. First time I ever saw a drain spout on a comp rad! Kind of looked like it just was taken out of some car in many respects.

As far as the getting an Evo 240 Grill on the Thermochill HE it looked like a piece of cake to me. The HE unit uses a separately attachable set of plates that attach to the rad with side mounted screws because the rad does not have any fan holes on it. So to fit the Evo grill to it you would just shorten the plates length about 0.150 on each one and then you could easily bolt the grill onto it.

Thanks for reserecting this old thread to provide some feedback. I was already planning to use a Thermochill in my next water cooled system so it's nice to know that mounting it to a grill will be a lot easier experience than what I had with the BIX III. The Evo being restrictive makes sense. Most European systems are very low flow so that wouldn't be any where near as much of an issue as it would be in a high flow system like what's typical in North America. It would still be nice to see an actual review and/or comparison that produced hard numbers though....

Evo Grills to fit Black Ice rads

Well another development for us HC modders is coming about! It seems that the new Aqua Computer dealer here in the states is looking into having some Special Edition Evo 240 and 360 grills made to fit the Black Ice series of radiators I would expect to see them for sale here in the USA within 90-120 days.

Nice Now, if Hardware Labs or Thermochill would just make radiators with 3/8" NPT fittings....

Well that is a nice thought, but what about with 3/8 BSPP instead like the Thermochills?

I didn't realize that the Thermochills sold in the US had 3/8 BSP fittings. NPT is easier to find here, but the whole idea is to have the fitting inner diameter more closely resemble the tubing inner diameter and 3/8 BSP would do that. I'm going to have to look into this, thanks.

Thermochill products have ALWAYS been 3/8" BSP... BSP simply because they're made in the UK and over here BSP is more common than NPT. Part of the original design spec for the HE series was to alleviate ID issues by having a large bore fitting thread...

Could someone explain the difference/what is NPT and BSP Fittings please?

whitebloodcell said:

Could someone explain the difference/what is NPT and BSP Fittings please?

Click to expand...

They're just different standards. To use another example, when you go to mount your hard drives you use a 6-32 screw, that is a screw with a thickness of 6 guage wire and 32 threads per inch. When you go to mount your CD R/W you use a 3mm .5 screw, a screw that is 3mm thick and has a thread every .5mm. In fact, both screws are very similar and either is quite capable of mounting both hard drives and bay devices, but unless you rethread the 3mm screw hole it won't accept a 6-32 screw (6-32 screws are slighly larger than 3mm so 6-32 holes cant be rethreaded to accept 3mm screws).

When it comes to pipe, NPT (National Pipe Taper) is the standard common in the US for threaded pipe. But, in the UK the common standard is BSP (British Standard Pipe). Both standards work equally well for joining pipe, but since they have different diameters and threads they aren't interchangable. Here is a link to some common specs for NPT http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/16_750.html
and another link for BSP http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/british-pipe-threads-16_754.html.

So, when getting fittings for a radiator or heater core you just need to buy fittings that are appropriate for whatever size hole and thread the manufacturer used when they tapped it. If you get the wrong fittings they either won't fit at all, they'll strip the threads, or they'll just not provide a proper seal and you'll get a leak.

Well the main difference between a NPT and a BSPP thread is that one is tapered (NPT) and one is parallel (BSPP). I bring up the BSPP which stands for British Standard Parallel Pipe as that is the most commonly seen thread besides NPT in the world of water cooling both domestic and foreign. Now you will also see a thread spec called a "G" class. The G spec id is for BSPP and is simply an abbreviation. So if someone says that they have a block that has a G 1/8 thread what they are saying is that they have a 1/8 BSPP thread.

Now most know that a NPT thread seals on the taper, which is why they use pipe tape. Otherwise it is unlikely that you will be able to screw it in tight enough and be able to get a good seal. The BSPP thread being a parallel thread (or straight like a normal bolt) doesn't seal at all on the threads. It seals on the shoulder where a O-ring is located on each fitting. My personnal preference is for BSPP threads and fittings on my water cooling gear as they DO NOT ever leak due to an O-ring seal. Now others like NPT and probably have just as good of luck with them. So what you use is more dependent on what you got than what you want.

Top Nurse said:

Now most know that a NPT thread seals on the taper, which is why they use pipe tape. Otherwise it is unlikely that you will be able to screw it in tight enough and be able to get a good seal. The BSPP thread being a parallel thread (or straight like a normal bolt) doesn't seal at all on the threads. It seals on the shoulder where a O-ring is located on each fitting. My personnal preference is for BSPP threads and fittings on my water cooling gear as they DO NOT ever leak due to an O-ring seal. Now others like NPT and probably have just as good of luck with them. So what you use is more dependent on what you got than what you want.

Click to expand...

For plumbing in buildings using tape is fine, but for computer water cooling systems I'd stay away from it. Because the threads are tapered and the greatest seal is toward the "outside" the tape on the "inner" threads is looser and can flake off and enter the loop and clog blocks. The best way to seal the threads is with clear RTV silicone sealant--just put some on the threads, screw the fitting in, and then wipe off the excess and you've got a perfect seal as soon as the sealant cures.

O-rings can provide a good seal, but they require more work on the manufacuring end. There must be a groove for the o-ring to seat in otherwise the fitting just squishes it out of shape and a good seal isn't made. This also means that some materials really aren't appropriate for o-rings. Acrylic, for example, shouldn't be beveled where fittings attach since that creates a new stress point that may crack. O-rings also constitute another potential failure point in a system, they can be damaged during instalation or fail through use so most manufactures that use them also supply the end user with spares.

As long as you purchase components and fittings from reputable manufacturers either fitting type will work fine--they've become standards because they do work well. So, I don't really have a preference when it comes to performance, but because NPT fittings are easier to get here in the US I do prefer it when I can get inexpensive and easy to find replacement parts but I wouldn't decide against buying a component because of the fitting type it came with.

Do you think there would be a large performance hit between choosing a Thermochill 120.2 over a 120.3. I can get the 120.2 for about £30 (2nd Hand) but need £55 for the 120.3 (New) You think it is worth it? I am trying to shave of as much cost as possible but not at the expense of large performance loss.
Cooling CPU, GPU, Chipset with MCP655 Pump.