Addition of a shroud in pull configuration.

[Talleldo]

I have a Swiftech h-240 x arriving in the next few days. Having read many articles and given that room is available, would conventional wisdom dictate a shroud between the radiator and stock pull fans? I had decent results in a less airy case using shrouds in push pull with a Kueller 120, but not significant enough to either order shrouds or find some discarded fans to use as shrouds. Any help would be appreciated.

On a side note, the accumulated wisdom and knowledge of the fine people here has allowed me to venture with much less trepidation. For that and more, many thanks!

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Is it mandatory and a increase in performance? Nope. I would only use shrouds say if you had low static fans but again I don't think its worth the added cost for maybe a couple of degrees. If you were running your loop ultra efficient and did every little thing to it than yes, everything would add up to be substantially beneficial but only if you do everything possible. If you only did less than half of the things than it is not worth it, imo.

 

[Talleldo]

Very satisfying and thought out answer. Significance would increase on an incremental basis. The more stuff I do, the more significant each individual thing becomes.

Again many thanks.

 

[Conumdrum]

Here is a bit more. One old sites that helps a lot with the science of watercooling.

A quote.
"You can see as much as 10-16% gains on higher speed 38mm fans and 6% gains with slow speed fans."

http://martinsliquidlab.i4memory.com/Radiator-Fan-Orientation-And-Shroud-Testing-Review.html

6% of water temps of 35c is 2.1c. It's a bit lower but is that worth it? That 2.1c should be close to what the CPU will decrease, depending on many factors, including thermal paste etc etc.

No reason not to, give it a go!

 

[Talleldo]

That is the article that pointed me to shrouds in the first place Conundrum. Thanks for linking it. While helpful the data present points to larger/slower fans having less of a change in temperature, and not even including 140mm fans. The H-240 may provide for a push pull on the bottom half of the radiator and my be more helpful than attaching shrouds in a total pull only set up as recommended. I think my plan of action will be to set it up as directed at first. I will pay attention to numbers and see how it compares to the current system. At some point in the future, either boredom, component upgrade of just the usual cleaning, I will add shrouds and run the same sort of real life tests, and finally in a half push pull if possible. Should there be any significant changes, I will be sure to post them here. I posted to see if anyone else had these thoughts, carried them out and had anything to add. Still, as mentioned, the accumulated wisdom and practices of the people here should not be taken lightly. Many happy, cool and stable hours to you all.

 

[Conumdrum]

Great! Great things come from folks that do the research. Glad you have Martins data. Good stuff!

140 mm fans were after Martin and Skinnee's time. They just don't have the performance of 120 mm fans yet. Not enough RPMs and too much space between the blades to provide great pressure like some of the 120 mm classics. It'll happen, less of a deal now that wattage/heat on CPU/GPU's has been decreasing overall.

Pull is always better on low speed (under 2k RPMS) because it reduces the dead spot air flow from the fan motor hub. In most cases, hehe.

When I first got into watercooling with my old style PA 120.3 rad I got the shroud for it. Still have it. Never did tests, I just used it. I always overadded anyway.