Im this close to finalizing my order on a water setup, but I cant make my mind up on a rad. Heres what it come down to. Either a Feser quad, Thermochill 120.3, or 2 swiftech MCR320's. HELP ME!!! I cant make up my mind. Also fan combo, which one work best with low speed and which works best with high speed. the total system will be a swiftech gtz, mcp655 pump, enzotech NB, and later a 4870 with a Caldera setup. thanks
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Radiator help?
- Thread starter brwnfldl
- Start date
- Joined
- May 29, 2006
Thermochill FTW. I've got one with 3 Panaflo Ultras on it, works beautifully. Shame it's underused, although I suppose we could say the same for most of our systems:
Overclocked, watercooled, and underutilized
What would make you consider 2 of the swiftechs as opposed to one of the others? The performance difference is not very great, certainly not enough to justify two rads.
As for the other two, never worked with a Feser, but Swiftechs are well regarded around here, so you probably won't go wrong with either of those two. Fans, world's your oyster, although the current fan du jour is the Yate Loon Medium speed, usually undervolted. It's fairly quiet by all accounts and moves a decent amount of air. On the other end of the spectrum, I plan to get a trio of these for my next build Really overpriced? Maybe. Awesome? Definitely.
Overclocked, watercooled, and underutilized
What would make you consider 2 of the swiftechs as opposed to one of the others? The performance difference is not very great, certainly not enough to justify two rads.
As for the other two, never worked with a Feser, but Swiftechs are well regarded around here, so you probably won't go wrong with either of those two. Fans, world's your oyster, although the current fan du jour is the Yate Loon Medium speed, usually undervolted. It's fairly quiet by all accounts and moves a decent amount of air. On the other end of the spectrum, I plan to get a trio of these for my next build
Really overpriced? Maybe. Awesome? Definitely.- Joined
- May 4, 2008
- Location
- Little Rock, AR
Is the system in your sig the one you're gonna WC? If so, the MCR320 with medium speed yates or S-flex's would be plenty. If you want something inbetween, the XSPC RX360 is gonna be a low airflow contender for considerably less than a TC or Fesser. I haven't seen results on the 360 version yet but the 120 version has gotten rave reviews from Skinnee.
Thermochill FTW. I've got one with 3 Panaflo Ultras on it, works beautifully. Shame it's underused, although I suppose we could say the same for most of our systems:
Overclocked, watercooled, and underutilized
What would make you consider 2 of the swiftechs as opposed to one of the others? The performance difference is not very great, certainly not enough to justify two rads.
As for the other two, never worked with a Feser, but Swiftechs are well regarded around here, so you probably won't go wrong with either of those two. Fans, world's your oyster, although the current fan du jour is the Yate Loon Medium speed, usually undervolted. It's fairly quiet by all accounts and moves a decent amount of air. On the other end of the spectrum, I plan to get a trio of these for my next build
Why would you go to the expense of buying one of the best low airflow rads, then putting massive fans on it? A BIX 320 would give you better temps with those fans and they are a tad cheaper. Hell the MCR320 with those fans would probably give you near identical temps. Lots of people go the dual MCR route over a single TC 120.3 since 2x MCR320's will give you better temps than a single TC and will save you $25.
Axis
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2007
- Location
- Small town Emlenton, PA
Yep, if your cooling a CPU/NB/GPU, you need one quality 120.3 sized rad with good medium fans.
The best is thermochill.
Feser makes a very nice one too.
The MCW320 is almost as nice and will be enough for your system if you want to save some money.
Thermochill and feser are for low flow (quiet) fans. The fins and thickness of the rad are optimized for meduim fans, they work great and are plenty.
The MCR320 is opitmized for meduim fans, you might need a bit more fannage than the above choices. Meaning you can't turn the medium fans to low using a fan controller as well as you can with the TC or Feser.
Fans. Save some money. Buy what many many of us run. Yate Loon mediums, cheap and effective, quiet and cheap. Go to Petras and buy the 4 mediums for ohh $20. No need for $10-$20 each fans. You definately don't need those Deltas linked above, thats silly, and fans like that are needed on a Black Ice Extreme rad, optimized for silly loud fans, a waste unless your a pure bencher who never uses the PC except to test overclocks. And at $34 each, it's rediculous.
You only need one rad, just one. You'd be wasting money with two 120.3 sized rads. Look at my sig, the one rad is more than enough.
Done, thats all you need to know.
The best is thermochill.
Feser makes a very nice one too.
The MCW320 is almost as nice and will be enough for your system if you want to save some money.
Thermochill and feser are for low flow (quiet) fans. The fins and thickness of the rad are optimized for meduim fans, they work great and are plenty.
The MCR320 is opitmized for meduim fans, you might need a bit more fannage than the above choices. Meaning you can't turn the medium fans to low using a fan controller as well as you can with the TC or Feser.
Fans. Save some money. Buy what many many of us run. Yate Loon mediums, cheap and effective, quiet and cheap. Go to Petras and buy the 4 mediums for ohh $20. No need for $10-$20 each fans. You definately don't need those Deltas linked above, thats silly, and fans like that are needed on a Black Ice Extreme rad, optimized for silly loud fans, a waste unless your a pure bencher who never uses the PC except to test overclocks. And at $34 each, it's rediculous.
You only need one rad, just one. You'd be wasting money with two 120.3 sized rads. Look at my sig, the one rad is more than enough.
Done, thats all you need to know.
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2005
I would usually say that if you have space, 2 MCR320s would be the way to go, but PA120.3's are $76 on NCIXUS.com, so I suggest ordering one of those before they sell out.
- Joined
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- Location
- Small town Emlenton, PA
Why two rads? His loop only needs one 320 sized rad.
- Joined
- May 29, 2006
Hmm....I did not know that, I must confess. Oh well, I suppose I don't need those deltas then. Learn something new every day. Thanks.
- Joined
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- Virginia, USA
BIX is the best rad on the market period, if you're ears don't matter that is. Feser is the next best for silence, followed in third by the thermochill.
- Joined
- May 4, 2008
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- Little Rock, AR
I would still change fans, if I were you. I'd change them to some $5 Yate loon mediums and adjust to suite your needs with a $15 Sunbeam rehostat fan controller. Your ears will LOVE YOU for it and your temps won't suffer much. I think Martins test showed less than 2-3C difference in medium speed yates and highspeed pana's.
Fesser, PA, and now XSPC are all VERY close in terms of performance. So close that you could essentially call them equal. I'm speaking in terms of performance only though. I think the Fessers have a little better paint though.
- Joined
- May 29, 2006
Well, I already got the Sunbeam in and wired, so when I'm not playing Crysis, I don't have them going full blast at any rate. Even when I do, it doesn't bother me too much, I have really loud AC ( I sit about 3 feet from the intake ). Will I see that much of a performance gain by switching to a BIX, ignoring the sound issue? I'm all for the best in terms of absolute performance, and while at the moment I'm not looking to upgrade, it'd be nice to know for the future.
- Joined
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- Little Rock, AR
IMO, not enough to spend another $120 for a couple degrees. If you truely want more performance, add another rad into the loop. What temps are you seeing now? I'm old and living my work life in a helicopter makes me appreciate the quietness at home. I've heard more people, JUST LIKE YOU, that said the noise didn't bother them till they actually used quiet fans. They don't understand how they lived with it before. It's nice to sit next to your computer and NOT have to crank the sound up just to hear it.
Axis
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2007
- Location
- Small town Emlenton, PA
It really can make that much of a diff between an MCR and a BIX in how you live your PC life. If you like to watch TV while the PC is in the same room, or sleep, or just cruz the web, noise matters a LOT. You can undervolt the massive fans on a BIX, but they will be louder than what a Yate is on Medium max speed.
What the poster means is a BIX with $25 EACH fans can dissipate more heat than a MCR 320 or a Feser or PA 120.3 with $6 EACH fans. In needing massive cooling for overclock and dammit to anything else besides your hearing and sanity, go a BIX and $75 in fans, it is the best by 15-20% I'd say for pure heat removed.
YOU (the original poster (the OP)) need no more with your listed requirements than a MCR 320 and medium Yate loons. Or a Feser or PA 120.3 with undervolted Yate Mediums. Your temps will be plenty fine, and thats why we go water, cool n quiet.
What are your needs? Thats what matters.
What the poster means is a BIX with $25 EACH fans can dissipate more heat than a MCR 320 or a Feser or PA 120.3 with $6 EACH fans. In needing massive cooling for overclock and dammit to anything else besides your hearing and sanity, go a BIX and $75 in fans, it is the best by 15-20% I'd say for pure heat removed.
YOU (the original poster (the OP)) need no more with your listed requirements than a MCR 320 and medium Yate loons. Or a Feser or PA 120.3 with undervolted Yate Mediums. Your temps will be plenty fine, and thats why we go water, cool n quiet.
What are your needs? Thats what matters.
- Thread Starter
- #15
i have room for two triple 120 rads in my case, subsequently 2 for $80 at sidewinders, but its aslo tall enough to hang the fesser quad of the back verticaly. I think im going to go with the feser since you guys say they work best with the low flow fans, plus being outside the case would be beneficial.
Last edited:
- Joined
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You'll be golden, good luck.
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