Basic Radiator Question

[asforme]

I've never done a water cooled system before, but I am planning on it soon and am trying my best to do my homework but I'm stuck on what seems to be a very basic question. Which way should the radiator fan blow? The fan is supposed to blow air through the radiator to cool the water, but if it is mounted as an exhaust then it is not going to cool the water as well as it is using hot air from inside the case. But if it is mounted as an intake then you are taking room temperature air, heating it up with the radiator and then heating up the inside of your case with it. Kinda like putting a space heater in front of your intake fan. It almost seems like the only real good solution is the external radiator, but I'd like to keep all my components inside my case. What do you think?

 

[chuckshissle]

I know exactly what you mean and it is sometimes hard to make a decision for where to place the radiator. I have an external water cooling system on my pc and I got an extra rad for added cooling. I place my rads as an exhaust for it is the only way or the easy way to mount it on my case. However my case is not hot at all for my watercooling unit covers not only the cpu, but the north bridge and two 7800GTX as well. So Im not concern of hot air from inside the case blowing towards the radiator, because there is none. As for the radiator I even place it not directly behind the exhaust fan but I moved it to the right and now it hangs from the back of my case protruding to the side, that way the radiator is not taking full blast of warm air from inside the case.

I think it is best to mount the radiator at the back of the case and if you are concerned with it then get a bigger radiator like a 3-120mm radiator for maximum cooling. You could even do some modification and instead install the radiator 1-inch space on top of the case and with the fans blowing upwards. However there is some external water cooling unit you can purchase that as good as a high performance internal water cooling unit. The Asetek Waterchill Xternal cooling kit in particular is one of the best if not the best external water cooling kit you can buy, but for a good cost of $350. But if your case is humongous and have a vast internal space then you should get an internal cooling kit but place the radiator outside and on the top of the case to maximize it's cooling effeciency.

 

[gudodayn]

I dont think there is a set rule to this.
I guess theoretically, you want to have the coolest air blowing onto the radiator fins but like mentioned before, some of these radiators are quite big so if you want it in your case, you can only place it at where it will fit, really!!

I've got 2 radiators, a 8cm one sitting in the front intake and a 8 x 16 which is mounted on the back of the case (where the exhaust outlet is).
I've never try mounting it anywhere else before to see if it makes a difference in temperature but I've tried different fans on it and that made a difference in temperature.

 

[wun911]

Put the radiator far away from the case.....

not too far as to reduce flow rate and pressure.