Adding a second radiator

[mtdewcowboy]

I have a Phanteks Ethoo case and I am running a 480 rad up top with 8 fans, push/pull config. This is cooling a Ryzen 7900x only.
I have a XFX RX 6950 XT GPU and was thinking of putting it on water and adding a second 480mm rad in the bottom with 8 fans in push/pull config.
This is what I have up top and was going to put the same in the bottom.
GPU pulls 375 watts while gaming.
Is this doable and is my pump/res enough for both 480 rads?

 

[BugFreak]

I have that case and used it until I moved to the Enthoo Pro 2. It's a great case. I never ran my second radiator on the bottom though, I ran an Alphacool Monsta 2x120 in push/pull at the front intake. That combined with a 360 UT60 on the top handled my GPU and CPU just fine so another 480 will handle your setup great. You could even go down to to 360 to save some room. That looks like a D5 pump which is what I ran at that time so it should handle your two rads fine. If you want redundancy you could add a second just for safety but it isn't necessary imo. If you decide to run a second pump Alphacool makes that same top in a dual configuration but will need a standalone res.

I can't tell from your pic but if there isn't anything solid like a board under your pc I would recommend adding something to give it better airflow. Even with the feet on the case it could still be blocked by the carpet. I had the same problem so I added a piece of 1x4 for my pc to sit on.

 

[EarthDog]

I like the idea of a 2x120 up front better than another 480. It has the capacity to cool that wattage silently. Your current 480 is begging for work with cpu only. 2 480s are past the point of diminishing returns.

...I was wondering about that bottom intake on carpet too...

 

[mtdewcowboy]

I have that case and used it until I moved to the Enthoo Pro 2. It's a great case. I never ran my second radiator on the bottom though, I ran an Alphacool Monsta 2x120 in push/pull at the front intake. That combined with a 360 UT60 on the top handled my GPU and CPU just fine so another 480 will handle your setup great. You could even go down to to 360 to save some room. That looks like a D5 pump which is what I ran at that time so it should handle your two rads fine. If you want redundancy you could add a second just for safety but it isn't necessary imo. If you decide to run a second pump Alphacool makes that same top in a dual configuration but will need a standalone res.

I can't tell from your pic but if there isn't anything solid like a board under your pc I would recommend adding something to give it better airflow. Even with the feet on the case it could still be blocked by the carpet. I had the same problem so I added a piece of 1x4 for my pc to sit on.

It's hard to see but it is on a pedestal about 6" off the carpet

Post magically merged: Nov 25, 2023

I was think about just dropping a 360 in the bottom. Would only need 3 more fans and a couple of fittings.
Right now the PC is ultra quiet except when the GPU goes under load. Fans on the 480 run at 500 rpms most of the time and I limit them to 1,000 rpms at full load, doesn't cool any better at higher rpms

 

[EarthDog]

doesn't cool any better at higher rpms

So why have it ramp up in the first place?

 

[mtdewcowboy]

So why have it ramp up in the first place?

I don't, the fans are 1550 rpm fans. At full speed the temps stay the same, I spent hours running the system at full load and kept adjusting fan speed down till temps went up slightly. I am using Fan Control software to control fans and the ram up and down based on whether the CPU or GPU temp.

 

[EarthDog]

I don't

...maybe I misunderstood...

Fans on the 480 run at 500 rpms most of the time and I limit them to 1,000 rpms at full load,

500-1000 is an increase in speeds, lol. I meant just leave them at 500 RPM all the time, regardless of load.

I've given up on things like that. I have enough cooling (as do you, even if you only add a 2x120mm) to where I can leave the fans on low, period. No ramp-up, no nothing. Same fan speed regardless of load and temps. I'd rather my CPU reach 90C with fans on low than 87C with fans on high. To each their own, though.

 

[Nebulous]

I'm running dual rads ( 480 top/280 bottom) with push/pull and I leave all my fans locked @ less than 1/2 speeds. I can't hear it even when gaming.

 

[Al_bundy]

Will works, no worries Even its overkill hehe