Alphacool NexXxoS UT60 Full Copper 280mm vs EK-CoolStream CE 280mm

[mongoled]

Hi peeps,

Am undecided between these 2 radiators.

The Alphacool has an FPI of 10 and a depth of 60mm
The EK has an FPI of 16 and a depth of 45mm

I will be running 4 x GT AP-15 push/pull with shrouds on both ends connected to a fan controller.

Which will be the best performing radiator with fans at full speed.

Have not been able to find data with regards to my question.

Rest of the components with regards to my loop are in my sig.

Thanks

 

[||Console||]

I think the alpha will work best in both cooling with fans at full speed and at lower speeds as well. But will you have room with 60mm rad plus 25mm x 2 for the fans.

 

[Waza]

Those radiators should perform pretty much the same. Alphacool may be slightly better for airflow and noise profile due to the lower FPI.
What I would do is forget push-pull and get nexxos monsta and use it in push configuration. GTs should have no problem with monsta rad and that should fit nicely if you have room for 2 sets of fans and shrouds.

 

[mongoled]

I think the alpha will work best in both cooling with fans at full speed and at lower speeds as well. But will you have room with 60mm rad plus 25mm x 2 for the fans.

Yes, there is enough room, I recently purchased a Corsair 750D airflow edition and have mounted the PA 120.3 on top with only 2 GT AP-15 fans in push mode (will be adding a Silverstone SST-FN123 120mm in the 3rd spot).

So I can mount the rad on the front of the case, will just loose a 3.5" HDD bay

Those radiators should perform pretty much the same. Alphacool may be slightly better for airflow and noise profile due to the lower FPI.
What I would do is forget push-pull and get nexxos monsta and use it in push configuration. GTs should have no problem with monsta rad and that should fit nicely if you have room for 2 sets of fans and shrouds.

Regards the monsta, from what I have read, at least for the 360's is that there is very little difference between the monsta and UT60 and seeing the monsta has a price premium compared to the UT60

Also, when im not benching the fans will be at 5v and that where the monsta will be less performing than either the UT60 and EK CE.

Thanks for both of your comments

 

[Flat-6]

The Alphacool monsta rads really only make sense if running them with push/pull fans at lowish speeds - this is where they excel.

Otherwise if running just a single row of fans then the UT60 is generally a better choice.

 

[Waza]

The Alphacool monsta rads really only make sense if running them with push/pull fans at lowish speeds - this is where they excel.

Otherwise if running just a single row of fans then the UT60 is generally a better choice.

Monsta is better when you have high airflow. With low rpm fans any 30mm radiator will likely beat it just because it has more air resistance but as you go higher and higher with airflow monsta starts to pull ahead simply beacause it packs more surface area.
AP-15s at full speed start to get into the region where monsta rads will pull ahead.

Hi peeps,
Which will be the best performing radiator with fans at full speed.

 

[Flat-6]

Monsta is better when you have high airflow. With low rpm fans any 30mm radiator will likely beat it just because it has more air resistance but as you go higher and higher with airflow monsta starts to pull ahead simply beacause it packs more surface area.
AP-15s at full speed start to get into the region where monsta rads will pull ahead.

Actually if you look at the tests monsta's tend to fall off quite rapidly as you increase airflow when compared to many other rads. Check these test results: http://www.xtremerigs.net/2015/03/25/alphacool-nexxxos-monsta-360-radiator-review/

If you look at push/pull low rpm tests then the monstas come into play.

With thin rads - push/pull low rpm does not give a great benefit however with the thick monsta rads push/pull setups really help out due to the thickness of the rads.

Also note that monsta rads have very low fin density (approx 9 to 10 FPI) so high rpm airflow is not their forte.

 

[mongoled]

Actually if you look at the tests monsta's tend to fall off snip ............[/url]

If you look at push/pull low rpm tests then the monstas come into play.

With thin rads - push/pull low rpm does not give a great benefit however with the thick monsta rads push/pull setups really help out due to the thickness of the rads.

Also note that monsta rads have very low fin density (approx 9 to 10 FPI) so high rpm airflow is not their forte.

I already posted these results in this thread and have also pointed out the price premium vs performance am unsure if Waza has taken a look at them.

No one seem to have any idea about the performance of the EK-CoolStream CE 280mm which is what I am comparing the UT60 280mm to not the monsta!



Their are numerous test results out their with the monsta and UT but very little with regards to the EK-CoolStream CE 280mm I posted in the hope that the many forum members here somoene would be able to shed some light on this.

So across the two English speaking premium forums with regards to watercooling on the Internets no one seems to be able to post any info regards the comparative performance of the EK-CoolStream CE 280mm against the UT60.

Looks like I am going to do a Google translate and goto the French and German speaking forums !



Hopefully someone will step forward and talk about the EK-CoolStream CE 280mm rather than the monsta



** EDIT **

With little information coming from the communities here is my conclusion.

I will be going with the EK-Coolstream CE 280mm based on the research I have done over the last day or so with comparative analysis of the data that is available that I think is important for my current WC setup

Radiator | FPI | Tube Count

UT60 360mm | 10 | 12
EK XE 360mm | 15 | 14
UT60 280mm | 10 | 12*
EK CE 280mm | 16 | 14**

If we compare directly the UT60 360mm against the EK XE 360mm then the EK XE 360mm comes on top in almost everything performance related.

As long as your pump has good pressure, then the rad with more restriction has no tangible effect. The increased restriction of the EK rads is because they have more tubes.

* I couldnt find statistical data for the number of tubes the UT 280mm has but due to the fact that it is 60mm thickness and that the other Alphacool radiators are all low restriction i.e. less tubes I would guess that the tube count is the same as its other brothers i.e 12

** Again couldnt find statistical data for the number of tubes for the EK CE 280mm but again, considering that it is 45mm and its other brothers i.e. CE range have tube count greater than 14 I used that as the minimum value.

So based on the above, I believe that the EK CE 280mm will outperform the UT60 280mm because

1/ It has a higher FPI to counteract the loss of 15mm thickness
2/ It has more tubes to dissapate the heat through the fins to counteract the loss of 15mm thickness
3/ The EK XE 280mm easily outperforms the UT60 280mm

Ofcourse this is all based on the two assumptions made above i.e. * & ** and my evaluation of statistical data.

Hope this info is helpful to other!

 

[Flat-6]

You can probably extrapolate some useful info on the EK CE rads from this review (which you may have read anyway).... http://www.xtremerigs.net/2015/10/06/ek-ce-420-radiator-review/2/


The EK CE rads seem to be well made and they do look nice.

Just a couple of things to be aware of is that they offer a limited number of ports (2) as compared to the Alphacool UT60 series of rads which normally feature 7 ports. May or may not be an issue for you - really depends on what & how you will route and connect your tubing runs.

The EK rads seem to have a value of 16 FPI for their fin density so they would be optimised for a slightly higher airflow as compared to the UT60 rads. This is mentioned in the review of the CE 420 above.

One other point is that the actual noise generated by your fans will increase when drawing or pushing air through a higher restriction rad. So for a given airflow volume the EK rads will sound different & theoretically louder than the Alphacool UT60.

 

[mongoled]

You can probably extrapolate some useful info on the EK CE rads from this review (which you may have read anyway).... http://www.xtremerigs.net/2015/10/06/ek-ce-420-radiator-review/2/


The EK CE rads seem to be well made and they do look nice.

Just a couple of things to be aware of is that they offer a limited number of ports (2) as compared to the Alphacool UT60 series of rads which normally feature 7 ports. May or may not be an issue for you - really depends on what & how you will route and connect your tubing runs.

The EK rads seem to have a value of 16 FPI for their fin density so they would be optimised for a slightly higher airflow as compared to the UT60 rads. This is mentioned in the review of the CE 420 above.

One other point is that the actual noise generated by your fans will increase when drawing or pushing air through a higher restriction rad. So for a given airflow volume the EK rads will sound different & theoretically louder than the Alphacool UT60.

Doh, you beat me to it, edited my post above

 

[mongoled]

Ive been informed from a very good source that the nexXxos UT60 + Monster 280mm are slightly ahead of the EK CE 280mm at push/pull 1850rpm so back to the UT60!