Black Ice radiators any good?
I'm thinking of upgrading the rad that came with my swiftech setup to something a bit bigger and I've been looking at the rads from black ice. They have a couple that I'm interested in, there's one that takes 2 80mm fans, one that takes 1 120mm fan and one that takes 2 120mm fans, although I'm thinking the last one may be a bit of overkill for a barton 2500 and gf4 ti 4800. I'm leaning towards the one that takes the 120mm fan, although I'm sure a voltmod to keep the noise down on 2 120mm fans would also be possible.
Are they ok, or should I be looking at something else.
Are they ok, or should I be looking at something else.
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Depending on how you going to fit it into the case or if you decide to have the rad and reservoir externally, i would choose a dual 120. A better radiator where airflow goes through the rad is the MOST IMPORTANT thing in a watercooling setup. I have 2 papst 120 mm fans on mine and i cant hear them. They are rated at 21db each and performs really well. Bigger tubing helps a little but not as much as a good radiator.
Tell me how the setup will be and i´ll try to help out as much as i can.
Mac
It's going into my LL PC71 case. I saw a review either here or on the old icrontic where they took a PC71 and made a custom back plate for the top part of the case out of plexi, it is designed to be interchangable for redundant psu's and other stuff, but they made it for the PSU and a 120mm fan, which is why I'm leaning towards the single 120. If at all possible, I'd really like to not have anything external.
As soon as i can afford it, i will mod everything into my Antec full tower as well. I will have the Radiator standing at the bottom front with the fans a little shrouded for best performance. At the same time it will also act as an air intake for the case.
I will remove all the harddrive cages and rails and put the harddrives up on the cd slots instead. I just found adapters that works really well for $3 each. The really nice part by doing this is that the heat from the drives (which is substantial, they are VERY hot) will not mix with the rest of the board as heat rises you know. I just tested with a Ibm harddrive and the system temp was lowered by 2c in a snap! The case needs to be modded a little though, but nothing that teh Dremel can`t handle.
The only bad thing with a radiator high in the back of the case is that it will be the place where the heat is being "collected" and that IF you get air trapped into the radiator (which in your case will be at the highest point of the system), you will have a much hotter water temp than you could have. If you decide to have the rad there, make sure you add a "T" split and add an inch or 2 with a little hose so that it acts as an air bleeder if you know what i mean. You can also use that as a feeder of additive/water if you like at the same time. As long as you add a place for the air to go, you will be allright.
Even if the air is "used" by the radiator, it will still be cooler than at the top of the case, so you will good air intake of having it at the bottom front.
What swifty blocks do you sport there?