passive cooling question (sorry...)
 

well i just plan on cooling a processor, which will be a mobile 2800+ athlon64. i planned on mounting a '77 bonneville heater core to the top of my pc-65. i'd have the tubing run through either the top of my case or through one of the 5.25" bays.

now the question is, will this heatercore be adequate to cool my processor passively? i will be overclocking.

if needbe, i'm willing to put a huge heatercore/radiator on the side of my case instead. actually, that was my plan at first, but i can't find one of massive size that wont be a complete pain to modify.

the reason i need to go the passive route is funding. i really can't afford 120mm fans at the moment, and i'm not sure i can pull off making a shroud decently enough that it wont look like complete crap sitting outside of my case.

well, hopefully you guys will have some good news for me. thanks.

Any fan would be an amazing improvement, even an 80mm that you ought to be able to pick up for a couple of dollars, even if it's just temporary.

Otherwise it might work, but you'll have to keep an eye on the processor temp, just in case. You have thermal protection, right? ;)

well if i'm cooling the heatercore with a fan while it's externally mounted ontop of my case, how would i go about fan placement? should i have it suck air (warm) from the case, or blow through the radiator into the case (warm). seems like a lose/lose situation. maybe if i elevated the heater core 2 inches or so instead of cutting a hole in the top of my case that would work better?

then i'm left with the problem of building a decent shroud.

well if you know of any huge heater cores i could mount on the side of my pc-65 that would do passive convection cooling better, feel free to let me know ;D

2 double wides would be plenty to passive a processor. Otherwise, a couple gigantic low voltage fans are nearly inaudible.

Huge heater cores will cost more than a $4.00 120mm fan? Shroud isn't necassary.

well i'd still have to build the shroud :D

i really want to go passive if possible...

2 double wides? i'm sorry, i don't quite understand the terminology. would you mind giving me an example?

Don't need one. I don't use one.

Passive will cost you but if your up to it then go for it. I put two heater cores in the loop and ran passive before. Temps were high but no overclock andthe system was stable.

oh, i was under the impression that it wouldnt be efficient and there would be an annoying noise if i didn't use a shroud.

if i mount it ontop of my case externally, and i have the fans floating an inch and a half above the case's roof, and put my radiator ontop of them, will that be enough space for them to suck air?

i didnt want to cut holes in my case for them to suck air from because i figured there would be no point in blowing hot air onto the radiator, or vice versa, blowing hot air from the radiator into the case.

well, i found out what noodle meant by "2 double wides".

do you guys think that will be sufficient? i suppose i could have both of them on the side of my case.

i'd be using the swiftec mcp600 pump

if you set your fan to push then a shroud is completly pointless. in pull a shroud will drop you a few degrees. all you really need to do, to reduce noise is mount your fans ~1" away from the radiator.