Silly question...

[kalor_alros]

Ok, so I have, as you can see, a silly question. Does mounting a radiator, in a water cooled system, on the bottom of the case, cause less of a cooling effect than mounting on top? I would generally think it would, as heat from the radiator fins, in theory, should be rising past the case and the rest of the components... but I figured I'd ask people who have done this before... I'm just getting ready to start my first mod myself, as I find money to do so.

[aintnothang]

No question is silly.

[SXRguyinMA]

if you've got fans blowing downard blowing the air out of the case I dont see it making a big difference :think:

[Cobra]

as heat rises most people tend to place the rads up high in the case or mount them externally. mounting one in the bottom of a case can still be done as long as you are forcing the air down over the fins to evacuate the warm air in the case but it is quite a bit less efficient as air likes a steady flow path. if you have fans on the back panel , one on top for a blow hole (if you have one), the psu exhaust fan all blowing air out. you have to think of cool air coming in to replace it somewhere. if the fans are blowing down it can create a turbu,ence in the case which would produce hot spots in the areas where the evacuation is not smooth.
hope that makes a bit of sense,, only halfway through my first cup o coffee lol

[theshoeshineman]

I would say the most efficient spot in the case to mount it would be the spot with the most air movement? The least efficient spot would be any area with little air movement.

With all the fans circulating air in the cases and the small height of cases. I can't see the hot air rises theory having any sort of significant role.

[haha49]

the problem with mounting it down in the case is you might block your video card or prots on the bottom but with a radiator its the same as a car air goes through it cools the water in it and the faster you go the more cooling you get ie more air..

way I set up my computer is

Top power supply 120mm fan out

top 120mm fan out

zalman 9700 lines up with the top fan out

120mm fan in the front (hardrives) IN

120mm (over video cards) In

cool air in hot air out were most of the heat is genarated

with water cooling it doesnt mater were you mount it as long as the air can get through..

cpus sits around 31 c when I oc it its like 41 and thats going form 2.4 to 3.4

mb temp goes from 42 stock and 48 oced

ram temps go from 21 c to 28 c

not sure on hardrive temps with oc

my video card is stock 80 C oced its 81 stock heatsinks... no room for after market because crossfired..


what I run is

Asus 95k/epu
4 gigs ddr 800
E6600 (dou not quad)
Ati 4870 (512mb)
Ati 4850 (512mb)
3 wd 1Tb drives (fast ones)
120 western didtal rapter drive 10,000rpm


One thing to rember if you water cooling depending on the way the water circleates makes a diffrence from video cards to cpu is going to heat up the cpu alot.. also just because you have water cooling doesnt mean you should have no fans if you arnt going to water cool everything put a fan just to move some air because its not just cpu video card and motherboard that needs to be cooled hardrives do and ram as well If your ocing your ram will be the limiting factor.. my cpu can go up to 4 gigs just the ram doesnt like it and it will crash I took a Intel celron 2.0 gig to 6gigs.. on air cooling.. the mb is what broke not the cpu the cpu could handle it no problem just the chipset went pop.... I was going till it was going to break anyways..