Alphacool NexXxoS ST30 what fans

[Tomas Studnicky]

Hi guy's i would like to run water cooling in my pc and i looked up the Alphacool NexXxoS ST30 my question is i'll have 2 240mm once in my pc so will that be enough to cool it down if i want to play GTA V on max settings??? and also the fans i choose were Corsair Air Series AF120 Performance Edition which have 1650rpm or else the Quite edition which are 1100 RPM which would be better for cooling??

 

[mcnumpty23]

you want corsair sp120 for radiators not af120

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Hi guy's i would like to run water cooling in my pc and i looked up the Alphacool NexXxoS ST30 my question is i'll have 2 240mm once in my pc so will that be enough to cool it down if i want to play GTA V on max settings??? and also the fans i choose were Corsair Air Series AF120 Performance Edition which have 1650rpm or else the Quite edition which are 1100 RPM which would be better for cooling??

Since you haven't stated what exactly you will be cooling, your question is kinda hard to answer.

Are you cooling just CPU ? Which one ? Is it overclocked ?
Are you cooling 1 or more GPUs ? Which one(s) ? Is it (are they) overclocked /
Are you cooling MoBo or anything else ?
What pump will be used ?

I'll assume CPU only and a Haswell / Devils Canyon CPU overclocked to 4.6 - 4.8 Ghz ... about 130 watts

https://martinsliquidlab.wordpress.com/2012/05/01/alphacool-nexxxos-st30-360-radiator/4/

As you can see here, the ST30-360 is designed for low rpm fans where it sits near the top of the charts and it handles :

150 watts @ 1000 rpm where it sits in 2nd place
199 watts @ 1400 rpm where it sits in 6th place
242 watts @ 1800 rpm where it sits in 11th place

As you can see, it's performance relative to thicker radiators drops w/ higher rpms.

I would NOT recommend this radiator with more than 1200 rpm fans. At this rpm you would get about 175 watts with the ST30-240 or 117 watts of cooling ... say 142 in push pull at a Delta T of 10C.

As for the two Corsair fans, I'd choose neither. They Corsairs get soundly beaten by the Noc AF's and the Nocs get soundly beaten by the Phanteks. The performance Edition are not sited for the ST30, they'd do much better on the XT45 or UT60 series.

Here we see the Noctua's at 1500 rpm being bested by the 1200 rpm Phanteks
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/phenteks_f140/3.htm

And here, you see the Corsair's finishing well behind both:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1345-page7.html
Phanteks finishes 1st
Noctua takes 3 outta next 4 places
Corsair AF120 Quiet finishes 8th
Corsair AF120 Performance finishes 9th

With the radiator and one set of fans doing 117 watts that will cover all necessary cooling for all uses with < 10C Delta T except for stress tests .... if ya run a stress test like RoG Real Bench, ya might get a Delta T of around 11.5C

If ya case can fit it, I would highly recommend the 140mm version (ST30-280) which provides as much cooling as a 3 x 120 radiator. Again, the Phanteks fans would be the best choice.

140mm http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835709023
120mm http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835709032

They also come w/ LED versions (red, blue, white , red IIRC)

Also note that the AlphaCool rads, while superb performers need to be thoroughly cleaned before use. Alternating soaks with acidic and base solutions are recommended. Better yet, the Mayhems Blitz Kit is highly recommended

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/24694/ex-liq-415/Mayhems_Blitz_Pro_Cleaning_System.html

FCPU is not currently open for business but it is still the best place to find w/ ya need even if ya then have to shop somewhere else.

 

[Tomas Studnicky]

Hi guy's i would like to run water cooling in my pc and i looked up the Alphacool NexXxoS ST30 my question is i'll have 2 240mm once in my pc so will that be enough to cool it down if i want to play GTA V on max settings??? and also the fans i choose were Corsair Air Series AF120 Performance Edition which have 1650rpm or else the Quite edition which are 1100 RPM which would be better for cooling??

Since you haven't stated what exactly you will be cooling, your question is kinda hard to answer.

Are you cooling just CPU ? Which one ? Is it overclocked ?
Are you cooling 1 or more GPUs ? Which one(s) ? Is it (are they) overclocked /
Are you cooling MoBo or anything else ?
What pump will be used ?

I'll assume CPU only and a Haswell / Devils Canyon CPU overclocked to 4.6 - 4.8 Ghz ... about 130 watts

https://martinsliquidlab.wordpress.com/2012/05/01/alphacool-nexxxos-st30-360-radiator/4/

As you can see here, the ST30-360 is designed for low rpm fans where it sits near the top of the charts and it handles :

150 watts @ 1000 rpm where it sits in 2nd place
199 watts @ 1400 rpm where it sits in 6th place
242 watts @ 1800 rpm where it sits in 11th place

As you can see, it's performance relative to thicker radiators drops w/ higher rpms.

I would NOT recommend this radiator with more than 1200 rpm fans. At this rpm you would get about 175 watts with the ST30-240 or 117 watts of cooling ... say 142 in push pull at a Delta T of 10C.

As for the two Corsair fans, I'd choose neither. They Corsairs get soundly beaten by the Noc AF's and the Nocs get soundly beaten by the Phanteks. The performance Edition are not sited for the ST30, they'd do much better on the XT45 or UT60 series.

Here we see the Noctua's at 1500 rpm being bested by the 1200 rpm Phanteks
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/phenteks_f140/3.htm

And here, you see the Corsair's finishing well behind both:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1345-page7.html
Phanteks finishes 1st
Noctua takes 3 outta next 4 places
Corsair AF120 Quiet finishes 8th
Corsair AF120 Performance finishes 9th

With the radiator and one set of fans doing 117 watts that will cover all necessary cooling for all uses with < 10C Delta T except for stress tests .... if ya run a stress test like RoG Real Bench, ya might get a Delta T of around 11.5C

If ya case can fit it, I would highly recommend the 140mm version (ST30-280) which provides as much cooling as a 3 x 120 radiator. Again, the Phanteks fans would be the best choice.

140mm http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835709023
120mm http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835709032

They also come w/ LED versions (red, blue, white , red IIRC)

Also note that the AlphaCool rads, while superb performers need to be thoroughly cleaned before use. Alternating soaks with acidic and base solutions are recommended. Better yet, the Mayhems Blitz Kit is highly recommended

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/24694/ex-liq-415/Mayhems_Blitz_Pro_Cleaning_System.html

FCPU is not currently open for business but it is still the best place to find w/ ya need even if ya then have to shop somewhere else.

Sorry about that I left out some details so here is what I would like and I'd be getting

CPU: i5-4690K
GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB
Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 5
Ram: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB DDR3-1600
Case: Define R5

and I'd like to do water cooling and I'd like to get two 240 radiators to cool my GPU and CPU for my pump I choose a D5 pump and so if you could recommend good radiators and fans that will cool the CPU and GPU and OC as well

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I would strongly suggest the Enthoo Pro or Luxe over the R5 for water cooling. The Luxe is $50 more than the Pro but it comes with an extra two $20 fans and an exterior LED and control system which is plug-in compatable with interior LED accessories.

CPU (130 watts) + GPU (200 watts) = 330 watts ... 530 for SLI should you add later
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_970_Gaming/25.html

Now that 200 comes from the "peak" power recorded in gaming at the link above.... you only need to supply the "average" heat output cooling wise, but rather than estimate that we'll factor that in below.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1457426/radiator-size-estimator

If ya download the Alphacool Spreadsheet
http://www.overclock.net/attachments/19911

You will see that the XT45-420 will provide 250 watts of cooling at 1250 rpm and 302 watts of cooling in push/pull.

The 1st post explains that you will need the radiator to account for about 60% of the heating load in a CPU / GPU system. the other 40% is taken care of by:

a) Your system never has CPU and GPU at max load at the same time.
b) Average loads are significantly less than peak
c) Your blocks radiators, tubing, fittings all radiate heat into the case.

330 watts x 60% = 198 watts + 18 watts for pump = 216
530 watts x 60% = 318 watts + 18 watts for pump = 336

Again, the XT45-420 in the Enthoo Luxe would give you 250 watts of cooling, well more than needed (198) for you planned system. If you were to add a second card in SLI, you'd have two choices

a) Add a 2nd set of fans for 302 watts ... this would result in a slight increase in delta T under stress testing from 10C to about 11.1C Bit remember, that's under stress testing, you will never see that while gaming. I sized my WC system using these calculation methods and my system's fans never get into the audible range (just over 850 rpm) even when stress testing. When using Furmark, max GPU tems are 44C ... If I raise fans to 1200 rpm, they drop to 39C but I'd rather have dead silence at 44C (throttling temp is 80C on the 970) than a slight hum at 39C.

The one rad is a much simpler installation and the 140mm fans are much much quieter than 120s cfm for cfm. And it's much cheaper.

Two ST30-240s are 2 x ($55 + $20 + $20) = $190 Plus the extra tubing and fittings
One XT-45-420 is $95 + $3 x $20 = $155

One XT-45 w/ 3 fans gives you 250 watts (302 in P/P), the two ST30-240s w/ 4 fans give you 241 watts (291 in (P/P)

In short, the single XT45:

a) Has more cooling
b) Is cheaper
c) Has a cleaner installation
d) Is quieter

My son has almost the same build

Enthoo Luxe
Twin MSI 970s
4690k
Gigabyte Gaming 5
Swiftech H240-X for cooling (GFX cards on air)

The MSI Gaming 5 is one of the best performing Z97 boards there is ... easily outperforms the RoG boards costing 2.5 times more.

I would recommend upgrading the RAM, you can often find 2133 RAM at almost same price

DDR3-2133 CAS 9 are usually around $80-$85 and 2400 CAS 10 usually can be had for < $100 for 2 x 8GB