Rad at the front of the case or the back?

DanGDanG I AM CANADIAN Icrontian
edited September 2003 in Hardware
I'm just starting to put my watercooling rig backtogether after getting the leaky pump replaced(props to swiftech for being so quick:thumbsup:), and was thinking of moving some stuff around a bit.


I've got a lian Li pc71 case. The rad was in the top back just under the psu, and the pump was pretty much staright across from it in one of the top 5.25 inch bays. I've been measuring stuff up, and the rad looks like it would fit great in the external 3.5 inch rack that is currently empty. That way it would get fresh air right from the front of the case instead of the air from up in the case, but end up pushing more hot air through the case instead.

Any thoughts?

Comments

  • MediaManMediaMan Powered by loose parts.
    edited September 2003
    The rad dissapates heat. If it is at the rear of the case it will be in the exhaust flow which means warm are from inside the case will be "cooling" the rad.

    The overall effectiveness of the rad is decreased.

    The best spot would be just behnind the front intake fans but then again...you are bringing cool outside are through the rad...which dissapates heat into that air...which warms up...and then flows into the interior of the case. Again...perhaps defeating the effectiveness of the design.

    6 of one...half dozen of the other.

    The decision may alread be made for you by way of allowable room.

    The ultimate design would be to have the rad over the PSU area on the inside. Remove the stock backplate and get a custom one cut and drilled to match the screw holes of both case and rad. The fan exhausts so mount the fan on the inside of the case to push air through the fan to exhaust.

    This cut down on fan noise.

    Next cut a blow hole in the top of the case but don't put a fan in. Just a grill. Ghetto a duct to run from the blowhole to mate with the rad fan.

    This draws cool air in from the outside top of the case to feed to the rad fan which then exhausts it outside.

    If you wish you can put two blowholes in side by side perpendicular to the lenght of the case. One is the fresh air intake for the rad and the other can be a low rpm exhaust fan to carry warm air out of the interior of the case.

    There is no need to put a second fan in the rad intake line. It won't do any good for pushing more air.

    Hope this gives you ideas. :)
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited September 2003
    Putting the rad in the front also gives you a pretty good intake cfm for the rest of the case.

    I did some experiments a while back with 2 smaller rads instead of one big where i had the first rad over the psu and the second in the bottom front. That gave me the best results by far but i hate fans smaller than 92mm.

    The longer you can cool the heated water in as cold air as possible, the better the watertemps will be.
  • KhaosKhaos New Hampshire
    edited September 2003
    I personally think you are better off mounting the radiator in the back in terms of general system performance. If you are absolutely hell bent on keeping the entire watercooling system internal to your case, then this will result in less effecient radiator operation, but lower overall ambient temperatures in your case.

    That said, the best way to go is certainly to mount the radiator outside of the case that contains the heat generating computer components, so that the radiator can be cooled by fresh air and at the same time, not exhaust hot air onto thermally sensitive hardware. It doesn't have to be hideous... Be inventive with it.
Sign In or Register to comment.