Dual 80mm heater cores anyone?
 

Does anyone here know of a dual 80mm heater core? Yes... I know 80mm fans suck, but I will use a 120mm (or 2, and fit them slanted). I will be placing it above the PSU in the back of my case (there are 2 dual 80mm fan out takes, therefore the dual 80mm heater core :eek: ).

...um, anyone?

Have a look through the online heater core database thread.
Download a copy for "cores.zip" (somewhere in there).
There are two spreadsheets - one has cores by dimension, the other is what year/make/model car each heater core is for.
You know what to do once you've got the data, right?
Bob

Here is the link I found: http://www3.telus.net/MadHacker/HeaterCores.htm

I went over them several times, but don't see anyone near dual 80mm (about 6 1/2 x 3 inches). Maybe you can help me with a different approach. I attached a picture showing where the heater core will be placed. Won't the best performing option be a dual 80mm heater core? Note: The width of the area above the psu is about 200mm, and there should be a little extra room for the in-take and out-take tubes so they don't get to kinked.

Why not just get a HWLabs BI micro 2?

I have to second that recommendation - and also suggest that you look at other places in your case to mount a radiator.
The most common place (lower front of the case) is most common for a reason.
If I was using a 2x80mm rad, I'm not sure I'd bother trying to fit a 120mm fan "slanted". The major advantage 120mm fans have over 80mm ones is that they have a better nose/performance trade off.
Have a look at the fan curves in the ProCooling fan links.

The other option for a radiator in this position is a squirrel cage blower. You could mount it so it pulls air in through the top of the case and blows out through the rear. Just do a search for "blower" in this forum and you'll get lots of blower info. Just remember that blowers come in lots of sizes...

Does the black ice have good performance in comparison with a heatercore?

I'm trying to keep the temp on 2cpus and one gpu fairly stable during extensive use (so it doesn't do what it does in a lot of cooling rigs: gradually get higher the longer you use it).

How about using the black ice and 2 80mm blowers?

I don't really know.
Which heater core were you comparing it to?

As a gross over-simplification(1), the "cooling power" of a radiator is proportional to its frontal area. A radiator for two 80mm fans would have about 19 square inches frontal area. The ubiquitous 6x6 heater core would have about 36 square inches frontal area, so my first guess would be... no.

I'd suggest reading An Evaluation of the ThermoChill Radiators.

Bob

(1) Over simplification as my high school physics teacher used to do: "Physics is the science of everything and we have only one school year. So! I will over-simplify - in fact, from time to time, I will even lie to you...".

Well it can't really be compared to a heater core on that list because none of them are of comparable size.

To rephrase my question: How well will the dual 80mm black ice radiator and 2 80mm blowers cool (in your opinion)? If you were trying to get maximum performance out of the dual 80mm vents (above the PSU) what radiator/heatercore and fans/blower(s) would you get?

Which was why I was pointing out that frontal area was the most important dimension - so you could take a guess at how they'd compare. If you mean, how would it compare to a heater core of exactly the same size, then I'd have to answer "probably about the same".

I don't really have an opinion on the BIM-II as I've never used one. If someone here actually had experience with one I'd of course defer to them. Failing that, rather than just guessing and pretending that I know what I'm talking about I'm trying to hand you what I know about radiators in general. You'll still end up with a guess - but it will be your guess and you'll understand why it might or might not be a good guess.
So, to over-simplify a bit less than before, radiators work by having air molecules bounce off them - the molecules leave with more energy then they came in with, carrying away heat. You can increase the number of air molecules by increasing the size of the radiator or by increasing the air stream through it. So you can make up for having a small(er) radiator by having more forceful fans.
Also note that a "perfect" radiator would only get coolant down to the same temp as the air going through it. You are penalizing yourself a bit by using case air - and from the top of the case at that.

I'd look very closely at other places I could put the radiator. You could mount a large radiator in the top of the case, for instance, put two 80mm fans in those two positions, but blowing in and build a triangular shroud to duct this incoming air to the radiator mounted above (so you're cooling with outside-the-case air, coming in the back and exiting the top - not ideal as you've going to "inhale" some of the heated air coming out of the PSU, but better than using inside air)
If I had to mount a radiator in that 180x160mm space, I'd have to use a BIX micro-II. I'd at least try to duct air from outside the case to the fans.
If I was feeling ambitious, I'd use a blower, and duct inlet air through the top of the case to its inlet - or bolt it to the top of the case and duct to the radiator. Of course, if you spilled coffee into the inlet hole, you'd have it sprayed all over whatever's behind your PC...

I will probably make some sort of separator so I'm won't get hot air from the PSU. In addition, I will mount either some blowers or some fans in the top 5 1/2" bay(s).