ThermoChill PA Series Curves

[Marci]

Curves for the PA Series for those interested... http://www.thermochill.com/PATesting

Cooling-Masters should hopefully be doing a writeup on them towards end of month...

[BGP Spook]

Fantastic!

I was just wondering about them.

[RwarItsDario]

Great stuff!
I have a little noobish question though, is CFM directly doubled in push&pull setups or could I apply some rough perfecentage?

[ricecrispi]

Tell Bill thanks for the testing data. I geuss roscal is doing a separate review. Is he using Bill's data for a write up and is the thermochill being compared BI GT and thermochill rads?

CFM isn't going to change that much and depends on factors such as restirctions in the environment, shroud height or fan clearance from core, core thickness, and FPI.

[RwarItsDario]

CFM isn't going to change that much and depends on factors such as restirctions in the environment, shroud height or fan clearance from core, core thickness, and FPI.

Is it still safe to assume that thicker rads with higher FPI count will benefit more from such setups?

[Marci]

The PA Series doesn't particularly benefit from pushpull... not worth doing has been the general concensus for those who have tried it...

Tell Bill thanks for the testing data.

Will do!

I geuss roscal is doing a separate review. Is he using Bill's data for a write up

That's the plan...

and is the thermochill being compared BI GT and thermochill rads?

If to do so is possible (changes in testbed) yes, if not, no. There are baseline comparisons vs the MCR220... so take any results of MCR220 vs BIGT240 and work out the relation between the two, and fit it in as best appropriate for a rough guage... *shrug*

[HammerSandwich]

Excellent, excellent info. Bill and Marci, thank you for this. Now, a few notes from a guy who's most interested in silence.

First, the noise numbers look to be calculated from manufacturer specs. I'd expect there to be an audible difference when moving the same fan from the PA120 to the PA160. Correct on both counts?

This test really highlights the larger rads' benefits. The PA160 offers a lot more cooling than the PA120 with the same fan. And the PA360 with 7V Nexus fans just crushes the PA120 and PA160 at 12V, all while producing similar noise levels.

I'd like to see how the PA360 does when ducted to a single fan. Probably past the point of useful returns, but the data would be welcome.

[Marci]

Personal observation is that fan noise is slightly lower in both volume and pitch moving from 120.1 to 160... however, every build I've done in the past... er... as long as I can remember at the mo... has been with Nexus fans which are so quiet to start with that I can't really say anything conclusive. Not sure how Bill handled noise - they weren't part of the testing criteria, he just added them for reference, so I presume he's just quoted manufacturer's ratings. Fairly positive he doesn't have accurate sound-measurement equipment to hand...

Testing is now complete. A finite amount of funds for a finite amount of testing... Bill didn't physically test the 120.3 - doesn't have one. Results were extrapolated as was doneso for original HE Testing many moons ago. Don't think the data would allow prediction of 120.3 with single fan... but you never know. Have asked...

[HammerSandwich]

Okay, that's about what I expected. Also don't see how to extrapolate 1 fan on PA360 from available data, but lower intake restriction surely won't hurt, and lowering air velocity definitely reduces noise in my experience.

I'd guess the sweet spot for good cooling and extreme quiet is 2 undervolted fans ducted to a 360. That frontal area per fan is closer to the PA160 than the PA120, so I'd expect it to outperform a PA240 with less noise.

I'm curious mostly for my next build. Currently running a heatercore of roughly 240x190mm, using the case as duct to single rear YL 120 @ 5-6V. Water temps were pretty high last time I checked, so it seems likely that I need more fannage (and intake area) before more rad...