Your right. It is open and it's the last thing in the loop. Now I'm curious and have my eyes on an extra oil pressure gauge.

Ha ha! I knew using 3/8" ID tubing would pay off.

the logical choice
lol

But the question is, what (flawed) logic did I use when making that decision?

I got 3/8" tubing because it's easier to route, it's cheaper, and the MCW6000 benefits from the higher fluid velocity resulting from the smaller diameter tubing. Hopefully the Storm G4 will display similar traits.

But I have to admit I also did it because everyone else said 1/2" ID was better (also the primary reason for using a Mag 3). I'll go out of my way to do things the 'substandard' way just to do it.

its reassuring to know that all the Swiftech customers have managed to get by with "substandard" tubing, wbs, etc.
j/k j/k
"flawed logic" is merely a supposition 'till demonstrated so
your Mag3 may provide a datum

I took the proper precautions, replacing the o-ring with RTV sealant and I used nylon fittings and teflon tape. Everything has proven leak free thusfar.

You may find a flaw in the "higher fluid velocity" part.
Yes, your fluid is moving faster in the smaller ID hose, but that does not necessarily translate to higher velocity in the water block, where it counts (not that the 6000 seems to need high velocity anyway).
If anything, the higher velocity in the narrower tubing will translate into higher friction, which, in turn will cause lower overall system flow, which means lower fluid velocity in your waterblock.
IMHO, the tubing runs we use in PCs are so short that it doesn't really make much difference between 3/8 and 1/2, but I'd be careful about thinking about 3/8" tubing as something that improved flow.
Bob
PS: If you are thinking about automotive velocity stacks and or / exhaust headers and how diameter/length plays into that, that is impulse flow and not at all the same (not to mention that, for the exhaust, the speed of sound in hot gas plays a part as well...)

Ok, well this is all fun and games, but does anyone have any benchies yet. if these things improve cooling that much over our oh so beloved heatercores there is going to be another mad rush for these things.

The 3/8 thing is kind of annoying as i run all 1/2inch tygon and my entire system is 1/2inch. I think my iwaki would blow a fuse if i put 3/8 on there.

Bob is right about the impulse flow. Forgive me if we are talkign about 2 different things. with smaller tubing you wil get a more powerful jet. as seen in cahtards storm. (the pics with the gysers). That is nice, but you only want that in the block itself. inside of the tubes themselves you dont care about how far it would spray if you pulled it off your block and aimed it wildly about the room. You want the tubing to provide the block with the maximum amount of water possible at any given point.

I've seen a handfull of single pass coolers that have 3/8 or 5/16" ID fittings but the tube the goes from the push-on fitting to the actual tube/fins is larger.
So it necks down from something like 1/2"+ to 3/8". Forgot who, sorry, but someone suggested just cutting off the 3/8" fitting and going directly to the tube.

Only problem is the ones I saw that did that weren't very large. Im looking for one thats atleast 10" x 10".

if anyone sees any like this pleeeease post it here.

Thanks

You know what sucks? Finding out that the dimensions of the transmission cooler include the barbs and that the finned area is only 50% wider than my 2-342. So not quite wide enough to mount 4 120mm fans. I'll be mounting four of them on there regardless, but half of the fan's output will be going to waste unless I build some crazy looking shroud.

Now there's an important piece of data.
heater cores - sizes are finned area, add for tanks and barbs
trans coolers - sizes are finned ares and tanks and barbs
(That is - if we can generalize from your one data point - sorry you had to be the pioneer who got shot up by the natives...:( Anyone willing to stop by an auto parts store to see if this is the way trans coolers are measured...?)

I'll use it anyway but that certainly was a surprise for me. I thought it looked small when I took it out of the box. And while I thought I would have some extra area, it's got exactly the same length of finned area as the 2-342 and is only a little wider, so it is decidedly too small. I thought for a minute they gave me the wrong one till I thought about it some more and sized it up. 6 80mm fans would fit perfectly I think.

It's alright. All the more reason for me to put together an AC chiller.

Any idea how much antifreeze I should add to the mix? 10-15% seems a little thin considering this thing is solid aluminum.

I would go with 30%-40% coolant or maybe even a 50%/50% mix.
Aluminum scares me :(

I believe some automotive cooling systems are mixed aluminum and copper/brass - so if you use an automotive coolant product you should be OK if you just follow the percentages on the coolant product. Zerex racing coolant, for instance, recommends a 10% mixture and that should be fine.
All that said, yeah, I'd tend away from aluminum radiators as well - but they might work so well that it's worth it to have to bother with an anti corrosion package. BillA says that turbulators are great - and I think these are the only way to get them...

Well, it's time to take the plunge and hook it up. I'll report back in a bit with the new load temps. Unless it's drastically worse, once it goes on, its staying on. Especially since I'm selling my 2-342 to someone on the Overclockers forums.

And the conclusion is:

With identical fans at the same speed (2 120mm Sanyo Denki's @ 5V) for both tests, temperatures were EXACTLY the same. After 20 minutes running Prime 95 and ATITool simulatneously (I also have an MCW50 in the loop), load temps never exceeded 40C. There was some waffling back and forth between 38C and 39C for a while but eventually reached a stable 40C in both instances. Coolant was reused (actually never drained, I just clipped the tubing) so the water/antifreeze mix was identical for both tests and ambient temp was between 21.2 - 21.4C for the duration of the test.

It is important to note that it is noticably quieter using the transmission cooler than using the 2-342, but when running two Sanyo Denki's at 5V the rest of the system needs to be very quiet to appreciate the effect.

On the upside it's lighter and not even half as thick and I can mount more fans to it if I want. All in all, a decent 'upgrade' provided it doesn't corrode the hell out of my waterblocks.

Differences in temperature may be only measurable in systems with a higher heat output than my own.

Athlon XP (Barton) 2500+ @ 2150mhz (215x10)
9600XT @ 597 core / 363 memory
512MB Corsair PC3200 (2.5-3-3-11)
Albatron KX18D Pro nforce2 mobo
Mag 3/MCW6000-A/MCW50


Edit: I suppose it should be noted that I have yet to build a shroud for either radiator. The fans are clipped to the radiators.

Any pics?
/

I'll try to borrow a digital camera from someone. You just want a pic of the tranny cooler? It's pretty sad actually, its just sitting outside my case with some fans up against it, like I had my heatercore. It's not bad for temps since it's sitting away from all the other components so it actually gets pure ambient air temps.

I guess pics of the whole setup, if not too much trouble.
What model cooler did you end up with? Linkage?

This one:

http://www.tsscoolers.com/Merchant2/...de=deraleplate

It looks much bigger than it really is. Roughly 50% wider than a 2-342 on the finned area.

What is the measurements of the finned area? You got the 9.75x11.75 one, right? I'm wondering if I can fit 4 120mm fans on the 11.25x11.75 one... it would basically have to be the side panel of my case heh... would look interesting I guess..

btw, JM, what is the core size of the cooler you chose? I heard mention that the size listed on the site includes the barbs.


Edit...oops, that question was asked one post above.
Consider this a bump.

What are the turbulators?

I know they are aluminum and BillA says they are good but what are they?

Make turbulance :D seen a pic of one that was supposed to be placed between a fitting and a tube of a radiator and it looked like 4 or 5 teeth in a circle. Dunno if they swirl the water around in a circle or what. But the make more of the water hit the sides of the tubes making heat transfer more efficient.

So without turbulators in a perfect world water would go down a tube and only the water around the sides would hit the tube and get cooled, the water in the middle wouldnt get cooled as much. Turbulators help prevent that so to speak.

One example:
http://www.perma-cool.com/Catalog/Cat_page03.html

I see. Now if they would only make one with no aluminum in them we would be set

I'm going to be upgrading to an extra huge 13.75"x13.93" copper Honda Civic radiator so I can mount 9 120mm fans to it. That's the finned area, btw. I think I'll invest in some Panaflo's. The Sanyo's are nice but they don't get quite quiet enough, even at 5V, but then again, I don't have a shroud on it, they are right up against the radiator....but I figure with that much surface area I could undervolt even an L1A and get decent performance temperatures out of it. I'm shooting for killer temps at near silence. It seems sheer size is the way to go.

I'll be compensating for the reduced flow with a second Mag 3 in series and building a proper reservoir that I can mount a Mag 3 directly onto.

The transmission cooler is good for a quiet setup because I get equal performance from it compared to my old 2-342 heatercore, even at a reduced fan speed, but the one I got wasn't big enough to attach 4 fans to so I really didn't benefit much.

At least I've got a reason to buy more hardware now.

Thats a hell of a rad ur gonna get there. Be warned about the mag3's. They do leak after time. They seals go bad on them. So if you inist on using them, open them up and reseal them with some quality grease and make sure that they pumps are not near the components. Or have it so that if the pumps leak its not the end of ur comp.

Exactly what do you mean by "near"? My quiet-but-audible rig's Evercool 120 (yeah, I know) is the loudest thing in the system at 5V. At 4V or less, it drops below a Seasonic Super Silencer 350 Rev A3, but the PSU remains audible.

Well, sheer frontal area, anyway. I think you'll find L1As, particularly eight or nine L1As together, to be no where near silent, even at 5V.
I'd suggest a shroud on the pull side. If you allow enough plenum, you should be able to use just one or two 120mm fans (see this thread for a discussion of 120mm fans - and follow the link posted there (or the copy of it I put here) to the SPCR quiet fan roundup.
Finally, think about putting some acoustic-absorptive foam in the inside of your shroud - so at least the off-axis sound from your fan(s) will get a bit attenuated before it goes out through your radiator.
Oh - Greenman100 has offered to make custom shrouds - so don't let any possible lack of familiarity with sheet metal stand between you and a shroud.
Bob