140 Rads vs 120 Rads

I am new to water cooling and have been planning a custom loop for a bit now but ran into a snag and decided on a case change to a Lian Li PC A71F. I can mount a 140.2 at the front and have plans to add a second up top. Most of the info I have found is for 120 rads. So before I drop a few $$$$ and order my parts I am just wondering should I use the stock 140 configeration or make an adapter and run some 120's instead up front, the top rad I have to make a mounting plate anyways so it really doesn't matter I can go either way. The 1 thing I have noticed is a lack of fans for the 140 rads. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Rad I paln on using .....
http://www.performance-pcs.com/cata...oduct_info&cPath=59_457_458&products_id=25416

Fans I plan on using ....
http://www.performance-pcs.com/cata...oduct_info&cPath=36_316_848&products_id=26719

One thing I forgot to mention with the A71f case if you use 280 rad in front with 140 fans, you need to make some cheap brackets even with 140 fans, I cut 4 out of some cheap holed brackets at home depot, because the 280 rad has to be lowered 1-2 centimeters to be able to fit through the fan placement holes yet still clear bracket above. See picture. You could always drill 8 new holes and lower fans, but then the filter, etc woudlnt fit.

point is, you will need some type of adapter whichever way you go. If you do go that route, i would buy rad first, and make sure 120 to 140 adapters would fit case.

Thanks for the info rge will keep that in mind when I get around to upgrading the rads fabricating something will not be hard and there is a metal shop just up the street a bit ...... dam truck broke down and might put some of this progect on hold till after the hollidays. How did you find the 140.2 rad worked compared to a similar 120.2 rad setup?

No real difference, less than .5C since was 360+ 240 rad vs 360 + 280 rad. Didnt compare them directly, but bottom line nearly immeasurable difference between the two when added to 360 rad.

Big thing especially with the HW Labs RADs is you will want to go higher on the fans then dial them down with a controller as needed.

I use two of the HW Labs 3x140MM RADs with High Speed Yate's dialed down a little and performance is great. I haven't updated my signature in a while but I think last time I checked on full load I was around 36°C @ 4.5Ghz with my 1100T.

Reason I say go High speed is you can dial them down, you can't dial up medium fans (much). Another alternative is using a 120MM adapter and getting some GT fans. I personally have never tried the 120MM adapter way so I can't testify to the performance.

Thanks for the reply's ....... the fans are definatly something to think about will give some thought for the highs. Since they are not expensive I may just get both, I'm sure I can find someplace to use any extras.

One more question .....

I plan on dropping in my Crosshair V with the 8120, a big reason for the extra cooling. The 1 thing a few of us has noticed is the high socket temps. I know from my reading that most people feel motherboard chipset coolers are not really needed and will hurt flowrates but will adding a Northbridge waterblock help this in anyway?

http://www.performance-pcs.com/cata...t_info&cPath=59_971_241_589&products_id=31865

There really is no need to watercool the NB in my opinion as you won't really be overclocking that much at all. I am not sure about the FX series but with the Thuban I have ever had to bump the NB a little for stability.

The socket temps which I am assuming your referring to is the actual CPU socket, which just watercooling the block will help with this. I did read some placed a 80MM (Or whatever fits) fan to keep air on the back of their boards (provided your tray is open) to help lower temps as well.

I don't have much FX experience as I wasn't impressed with the numbers myself, sorry I can't provide more information in that realm.

Thanks .... I just ordered my parts and hopefully they don't get hung up in customs might be in end of the week or early next week. I still have a bit of work modding the case a bit and transfering over the motherboard/CPU from my curant case . We shall see how things go shortly I hope.