Radiator Placement
 

Being my first post, I would like to thank everyone here. I have read a few threads that have really helped me grasp water cooling.

Now on to my question. My case is fairly limited on space, and I have been trying to figure out where I should place my radiator. I have seen quite a few cases being sold with the radiator mounted behind the case's exhaust fan, with two more fans on the opposite side.

Like this Gigabyte Aurora, using a push pull thing for their radiator... http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ra_BKWC_03.jpg

Does this work? Is blowing case air on the rad, followed by two more fans pulling it out enough to keep the rad cool, or will it noticeably heat up? :uhh:

Re: Radiator Placement
 

I don't like to use case air to cool the rad... if I had to set up my machine like the pic above, I would have the fans on the rad blowing INTO the case.

Re: Radiator Placement
 

Blow fan through the radiator into the case? I'm not sure that would be the best idea being that the air would be trapped...

Blow warm air on the rad or in the case seem to be my options right now. Posted a thread on Extremeforums as well, more opinions the better I suppose.

Thanks nikhsub1, you'll probably see the second one over there too. :)

Re: Radiator Placement
 

There is only 1 water block in the pic, so the air in the case will be heated by graphic adapter, chipset, hard disks...
OK, just looking at the watts emitted the GPU will be the big heater.
Another topic on using case air is how much of that will be available. A negative preassure in the case will of course result in less air going through the rad, not good for cooling.

But, yes, You don´t have so many choises with that case, unless You use You metal cutting tools really generously.

regards
Mikael S.

Re: Radiator Placement
 

you already have a radiator ?
This case presents a nice spot (bottom front) for a heatercore.

Re: Radiator Placement
 

put the rad on standoffs, and manage the case airflow independently
drop the push-pull

Re: Radiator Placement
 

If you can use ambient air for the rad instead of case air, it'd certainly help temps. Did you do any studies on whether it makes a significant difference to use vertical airflow (using thermal "lift" to augment airflow) for the rad?

Re: Radiator Placement
 

no, doubt significant

Re: Radiator Placement
 

You'd need a huge thermal difference above and below to make any significant difference (huge being relative to watercooling, ie more than we'd want our water temps to rise). I would be interested to see how much it helps being vertical with extremely low speed fans (ie, barely moving air).

Re: Radiator Placement
 

TY. Wasn't thinking that it would be significant, but don't have the background to know if a rad that is 10C hotter (a large number) than ambient air would add much impetus to the air being moved through it.

Re: Radiator Placement
 

if the fins are parallel to the flow (which they have to be), the rad is too thin to create a chimney effect