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Chevette vs ALU hcore, help needed???

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witchhunter

Registered
Joined
Nov 3, 2001
Location
Poland
I found that DangerDen is selling Chevette cores for $35 each.
What i need is a small comparison of the chevette and the Alu hcore i have already.

The Alu Heatercore:
Dimensions of the heat dissipating area
Width:160mm
Height:235mm
Depth:45mm
Heat dissipating area:1692cm^3
Fins: fins every 1mm (235 aluminium fins in a hcore)

And the copper one (Chevette):
Dimensions of the heat dissipating area
Width:150mm
Height:160mm
Depth:50mm
Heat dissipating area:1200cm^3
Fins: No idea, but 90% of people here use it, so you'll know

What I need is some comments on performance of both of those hcores.

I already have 3 of those Alu cores, but I'm wandering whether to change them to the copper ones. I personally think the alu ones gonna be better (I'll have 3 of them, with total area of 5000cm^3 and 6x120mm, 2 on each and a lot more fins, lower airflow but much greater area), but I'm just a man...

The reason for this post is that I'll be ordering from DangerDen in a week of 2, and I've got like ~$100 to spend on something. That somethin *could* be 3 chevette radiators.

The black Ice Pro is crap, so I'd have to go for the extreme if i were to chose Black Ice, but then I can't have anything else, and I doubt a Black Ice Extreme ONLY could cope with a 226W pelt on a highly OCed XP, a 56-72W TEC on a GPU + the heat of NB, PSU, HDD thus the idea of 3 Hcores...

The issue is I want to cram as much dissipation area into my BigTower as possible. I have space for that, meaning:
180mm x 280mm x 12mm on the front bottom
180mm x 280mm x 180mm on the back top.

The bottom one would be placed parallerly to the front wall, while the 2 back top would be parallerly to the sides, I hope you get the picture...

Note: As I'll need like 3 of either of the cores, the issue is as follows: Each alu would get 2x120mm fans (80CFM total) which give a total of 6 120mm fans, the copper ones would only get:
one 120mm fan (~40CFM), no push-pull config possible (lack of space) for the first one, and 3-4 fans on the two others. All fans going to be shrouded independantly (ex. division: 1 fan for half of the core, the second fan for the second half)... please do comment on it
 
First you do not want to mix aluminum and copper together. If your handy try buying a heater core from your local auto parts store. I wrote this article to help those that want to build their own.

CLICK
 
Let's skip the galvanic corrosion & mixing different metals issue for a while. I'm aware of them, I'd like to know their performance comparison.

I live in Europe, and I can't get a copper Hcore in ANY of the auto shops around, only ALU ones. Same goes to wreckers, only ALU:(
 
Eventually I'd like to cool:

Athlon 1800 XP+ CPU, up to 2.1V (+172W TEC)
GPU (+TEC)
NB
HDD (B IV)
PSU

All :)
 
Check your PM's. How many fans do you propose for each heater core. I use two PanaFlos at 86 CFM each. The fans I believe are 36 dba each.

Copper has a higher number for disapating heat than aluminum, but I have know clue with your rads. To many variable come to play, core size, tubing size, depth of core, overall size. Is your core all aluminum? even the tubing?
 
DodgeViper said:
Check your PM's. How many fans do you propose for each heater core. I use two PanaFlos at 86 CFM each. The fans I believe are 36 dba each.

It would depend on the core I'd use, and it would look somewhere like that:

The one on the bottom front:
Alu hcore: 2 fans, separetly shrouded pulling (82CFM [email protected], => ~40CFM each)
or
CU hcore: 1 fan, shrouded pulling (I *could* find a way to stick another 120mm one (but lower CFM than the other) in front of the hcore, but no place for shroud definitely here:(

The 2 one the top back:
I'd divide the hcores (modify the shroud) into spaces for each fun to pull air from, so that each of the fans would be responsible for a separete part of the hcore ONLY (not all the fans sucking from all the area, as 2 of the fans would push air to the back and 1-2 to the top)

Alu hcore: 4 fans, separetly shrouded, all pulling air from outside to outside (yes, from outside to outside)
or
CU hcore: 3-4 fans (depending on space, id prefer 3, meaning 1 to the top, two to the back), all separetly shrouded pulling.

I simply whant everythin INSIDE my case (the top back fans would stick 6cm to the back to get more space)

DodgeViper said:
Copper has a higher number for disapating heat than aluminum, but I have know clue with your rads. To many variable come to play, core size, tubing size, depth of core, overall size. Is your core all aluminum? even the tubing?

The Alu Heatercore:
Dimensions of the heat dissipating area
Width:160mm
Height:235mm
Depth:45mm
Heat dissipating area:1692cm^3
Fins: fins every 1mm (235 aluminium fins in a hcore)
The core is 100% aluminium (well, at least the disapating area), including tubing :(

The Inside Hcore tubing:
16 aluminium tubes, of ~5mmID, going with one loop, so water flows down through 8 tubes and up with 8 to the outlet. All of the tubes have aluminium spirals inside, thus the water flows circling and mixing (adds hell a lot of restriction)... that's how it looks
 
Remember if you use a push/pull format on the heater core as I do, you do not double the CFM. If you use 2- 80 CFM fans your total is 80 CFM.

Also I think I read somewhere if you use two fans side by side with one shroud, its better if you place a divider between the two fans inside the shroud. The person who did this saw more air flow, as the fans are not competing with each other.
 
DodgeViper said:
Remember if you use a push/pull format on the heater core as I do, you do not double the CFM. If you use 2- 80 CFM fans your total is 80 CFM.

Well actually the total is less than 80CFM due to resistance (but I'm sure you know that ;) ), and so yes, I do know that:)

DodgeViper said:
Also I think I read somewhere if you use two fans side by side with one shroud, its better if you place a divider between the two fans inside the shroud. The person who did this saw more air flow, as the fans are not competing with each other.

That's what I meant saying "separetely shrouded". I've noticed the above thing when trying to do the pull setup without a separator on very low rpms. One fan slightly overpowered the second, and simply sucked air through it instead through the hcore. After making a simple paper divider the performance increased noticybly.

Have measured the case once more and it appears, that I'll be able to cram 4 (four!!!) chevette heatercores inside (2 front bottom with 2 fans pulling, 2 back top with 2 fans pulling). Thus, I'll throw those Alu cores away and purchase the copper ones straigh away :D
Thanks a lot for your input and suggestions m8, cheers...
 
Make sure you take plenty of photos and post them to this thread. I am dieing to see FOUR Chevy Chevette heater cores, fans, and tubing all within ONE case.
 
hmm, you may want to go with some high end Iwaki pump in your quad heatercore setup to keep the gph flow ok through your waterblock for your pelt. High end high pressure pumps tend to cost alot, possibly getting multiple maxi-jet 1200's may or may not be the better way to go. I think it would be important to figure out how powerfull a pump you need and the ID of the heatercore connections. Really high flow pumps will like a 3/4 ID inlet as it wont starve the intake of the pump that way. Hope this helps and if you have a question just PM me or somthing.
 
I currently have a 1500l/h, 1.7m head that I'think should be sufficient for a non-TEC setup, because I'll be going into TECs some time after Christmas (not enough money, yet!). After I TEC I'd probably buy something like a 2000l/h 3m or 3000l/h 3m or similar. I'm extremely limited by space inside my case as I'll be cramming everything to the max. Right know my pump-space is like 130mmx130mmx100mm, that's not the last word, but If you heard of any powerfull powerheads (they're small and cheap) that would have similar size I'd appreciate some info...

The good thing is that the cores won't limit the flowrate much, as they will all be in paraller, with 12mmID (1/2") tubing for each. The outlet/Inlet tubing would be 16mmID (5/8") (I'm not going to limit the intakes/outlets of the pump, probably even make'em wider -at least the inlet), and the current idea of connectin all that is

idea.jpg


then the main flow goes to the CPU, and then parallerly to the other blocks, which would be made as less-restrictive as possible while the additional loop, as its not THAT important would be powered with what's left from the pressure :) I'm only wondering about my GPU/NB loop. If I TEC the GPU it should get more flow, so there may be (and probably will be) some changes there...

EDIT:
About those pumps. I could place 2x MaxiJets1000 (1000l/h, 1.5m) or 2xEheims Compact1000 (1000l/h, 2m) in series/paraller (would have to experiment). something like that *could* also cram inside...
 
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Before I order I have to be certain about one thing. Please do visit Radiator's section on DDen and tell me If that actually IS the Chevette Heatercore. Definitely looks like it, but I need a Chevette-user opinion. Also could someone measure HIS chevette and tell me its dimensions (preferably in mmeters)... not that I don't trust Dden, but If I were to spend that much money i have to be sure they're going to fit!
 
This sure is going to be interesting to see four heatercores in one computer. Seems dangerden is down right now. I would check out autozone as most of the chevette among other heatercores are around 20 bucks. You probably would have to order from far away or possibly have some place near you special order it. That may save you a bit of money depending on shipping etc.
 
If it would really possible to have one chevette for ~$20 it would surely help my budget, as on dden they want $35 for each, grr... $15 on a stupid fitting is a little to much to my taste...
There's however the problem of shipment, I live in Poland, so if it would be possible the cost is like ~$50 for USPS Airmail ($100 for UPS,Fedex)...
The advantage of Dden is that I'm not ordering alone, I sort of join an order from one of the polish forums, so the shipment will be like $10 at most + we'll get a discount if we order for enough money :)
Still, could you post/email links to any online shops that sell the chevette?

EDIT: EMAIL

EDIT2: Did a little searching over google, and found plenty of Chevette cores on lekycar or sth like that, but the prizes started at $29, so no real advantage here :(

EDIT3: DangerDen's up

EDIT4: Found the Chevette on AutoZone, they go for $16.99 If I'm not mistaken, and checked everything fine... ****, pretty damn cheap :(
 
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hmm, i see with living in poland that could bea problem. Maybe you could get alot of people together to buy the chevette heatercores from autozone and save alot on shipping that way? I dont know but i think it would be worth a shot since the cores are much cheaper. Hope i can help out.
 
My Chevy Chevette heater core is 6-1/8 inches wide and 7 3/8 inches tall. This was purchased at Checker Auto in the US.

Yes the Danger Den cores look just like mine. My first post had an article I wrote that you can look at the photos. You don't have to buy from Danger Den, This site has just what your looking for as well,

http://dtekcustoms.safeshopper.com/19/cat19.htm?994

Whether you buy from Danger Den or you have someone buy them for you and ship them to you, you still have to pay shipping. If you want I can look into what it would cost to ship to Poland. At $16.99 each you would save $72.00 just in the cores. Granted that’s the online price. I would have to check and see if that’s the store price. I have a dozen Auto Zones in my area. If you want to PM me with your address I can check it out. I would estimate the cores are less than 2 pounds each. I have a new core at work right now can weigh it in the morning.

At USPS the group rate for Poland #6 shows that a package of 2lbs. would cost $15.50 to ship if I am looking at this correctly. Check for yourself, look at country listing and then parcel post.

http://pe.usps.gov/text/pub51/welcome.htm
 
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Probably gonna order the chevette from Dden with some people (hope for $25 each)

Fans:
I'm thinking of doing a push-pull on 2 of the chevettes, but I can't use the same fans on both sides, as I'm limited by space. I can have a 67CFM fan pushing and 83CFM fan pulling, is this worth it? How much you reckon would that help ?
 
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