Water-cooling advice

[blueonblack]

I need to cool a 125-watt CPU and a 4870 GPU. I only have room for a single 120mm radiator.

I don't want to spend the money on two of these (http://www.aerocooler.com/shop.cart?action=ITEM&prod_id=FANSW12STK) if one of these (http://www.dangerden.com/store/black-ice-xtreme-radiator.html) will do the job.

This is obviously one of those things that I won't know for sure until I buy one and hook it up, but I was hoping someone would have an idea if this single 120mm double-pass radiator would keep these two heat sources under control given enough air flow.

Thanks!

[mDust]

I need to cool a 125-watt CPU and a 4870 GPU. I only have room for a single 120mm radiator.

I don't want to spend the money on two of these (http://www.aerocooler.com/shop.cart?action=ITEM&prod_id=FANSW12STK) if one of these (http://www.dangerden.com/store/black-ice-xtreme-radiator.html) will do the job.

This is obviously one of those things that I won't know for sure until I buy one and hook it up, but I was hoping someone would have an idea if this single 120mm double-pass radiator would keep these two heat sources under control given enough air flow.

Thanks!
It all depends on the ambient temp and the amount of air passing through the radiator.
It's my understanding that the 4870 is quite hot under load. The only way a single 120 will cool both of those is if 1) there is a very high speed fan on the rad and 2) the ambient air is air-conditioned any time the PC is on. I wouldn't recommend anything less than double for a cpu/gpu combo loop. I would even recommend a triple if you want no noise and great temps.
My double cools my Q6600 and ancient HD 2900 just fine in the winter, but my room doesn't have A/C and in the summer, I have to settle for lower overclocks...even with 4 fans in push/pull.

[x88x]

Along the lines of what mDust said, it depends on what temps you want. In general, I recommend 120mm of rad space per device you want to cool, at the very least. So if you want to cool your CPU and GPU, at least 2x120mm of rad space. I had two of the Black Ice GTX120's in mightyMite cooling my Q9450 (95W) and GTX260 (idk), and they kept my temps actually a little above what I had on air. Granted, there wasn't much airflow to speak of in that case, but I had an 80CFM fan on each rad in a pull configuration. If you really can't go any higher, I would definitely make sure you have a crapton of air flowing through there. Think Ultra Kaze push-pull configuration level air movement. Another thing to keep in mind when you're looking for a fan to use with them is that rads create a lot of resistance to airflow, so get fans with high static pressure (unfortunately a fan's static pressure level is rarely actually mentioned by any retailers).

What case is this going into? I'm sure there's a way to get more in there. :twisted:

EDIT:
This is apparently the best shot I have of mightyMite's interior fully assembled..should give you an idea of what I'm talking about:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_99.jpg

[blueonblack]

This is going into my scratchbuild, Clockwork (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19854). And yes it's huge but there are considerations that make the foot print of a single 120 the way to go. I can do the stacked Swiftech 120s if I have to but I was hoping to save some money with the double-pass Black Ice single 120.

Thanks for the input!

[x88x]

Ah, I gotcha. Would you not be able to drop one in the front intake? If not then the two Swiftech's should do. You won't get great temps, but they should keep stuff cool enough. Just make sure you get enough airflow through them. I would recommend doing a push-pull sandwiched arrangement, like so:
fan : rad : fan : rad : fan

That'll keep the air flowing nicely through both. I would also recommend using high flow fans (~80+) to make sure you're getting as much heat out of those rads as possible.

[Spawn-Inc]

This is going into my scratchbuild, Clockwork (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19854). And yes it's huge but there are considerations that make the foot print of a single 120 the way to go. I can do the stacked Swiftech 120s if I have to but I was hoping to save some money with the double-pass Black Ice single 120.

Thanks for the input!

just so you know the swiftech is dual pass as well. most rads are double pass, the only time they aren't is when they actually tell you it's single. to my knowledge no one has made a single pass since the black ice GT stealth's.


Ah, I gotcha. Would you not be able to drop one in the front intake? If not then the two Swiftech's should do. You won't get great temps, but they should keep stuff cool enough. Just make sure you get enough airflow through them. I would recommend doing a push-pull sandwiched arrangement, like so:
fan : rad : fan : rad : fan

That'll keep the air flowing nicely through both. I would also recommend using high flow fans (~80+) to make sure you're getting as much heat out of those rads as possible.

+1.

your gpu will be fine with the heat but the cpu is whats going to suffer.

[blueonblack]

just so you know the swiftech is dual pass as well. most rads are double pass, the only time they aren't is when they actually tell you it's single. to my knowledge no one has made a single pass since the black ice GT stealth's.

Good to know!

+rep all around