Liquid Cooling - Help, Best coolant?

[dreamphantom_1977]

I am currently in the process of building a liquid cooling system. I already have most of the parts. I am buying a gtx 480 and I am running a loop exclusively for it. I am planning on going with either a evga hydro copper gtx 480, or a standard one and buying an after market cooler from danger den.

My parts I already have are:

1 x Koolance Radiator, 4x120mm, Copper Hort. [no nozzles]
- Nozzles: Add Nozzle Pair, G1/4 Barb [13mm, 1/2"] NZL-V13KGB

1 x Swiftech MCP655™ Series 12 VDC Water Pumps
- Water Pump: With a speed controller (part # MCP655)

1 x *** NEW *** Danger Den RAD-Reservoir
- Nozzles: Add a Pair of Danger Den 1/2" Barbs

1 x Feser Tube Active UV Hose 2.5 Meter (8 feet) - Retail Packed - 1/2" ID (3/4"OD) - Clear / UV Blue


Parts I am gonna order are

12 x Koolance Resuable Hose Clamp [19mm, 3/4" OD]

3 x PrimoChill Anti-Kink Coils - UV Blue
- Anti-Kink Coil Size 3/4" will fit 3/4in O.D. Tubing

As this is my first water cooling setup, I have a few questions:

1. I was gonna use worm drive clamps, but I like the clamps above better, and I've heard the worm drive clamps cut into the tubing and cause leaks. I've heard the clamps above are better because as the hose shrinks the clamps shrink with it to help seal it better. So my question is has anyone had any problems with the clamps above?

2. What is the best coolant to use? Ive read numerous articles, and I can't decide. I want a non conductive coolant, preferably uv blue. I want something that is gonna last a long time, and I am not concerned with overclocking so much as longevity. I have narrowed it down to 3 types of coolant:
a. Fluid XP+ EXT (Extreme Performance) Coolant - UV Blue
b. Feser One F1 Cooling Fluid - UV Blue - 1 Liter
c. Innovatek Protect 1 Liter Non-Conductive Water Cooling Fluid

Fluid XP+ Ive heard turns gunky but it says it lasts 5 years and is non toxic- not many reviews
Feser One I heard stains hoses and can kill your skin if you got it on it- but it has high reviews, but again I read it turns gunky
Innovatek I haven't really read up on it, but it has good reviews

I really don't want to go with distilled water and mixing stuff, because I hate mixing chemicals, and I would much rather go with a premix all in one.
Has anybody had any long term experience with any of these products?
Does anyone have any other suggestions?

3. Another question I have is lighting and algae buildup, I've read numerous forum posts about people getting algae and build up on there blocks, some say use dark hoses, but my reservoir is crystal clear, and i'm mounting it on the outside of the case, so it kind of rules out using dark hoses. Feser has a black coolant that turns clear blue in uv light.
Some posts i've read uv light is bad, and some i've read is good. But i've also read uv light of a certain spectrum is used in water purification just for the purpose of killing microbes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraviolet_germicidal_irradiation

So my question is, are the uv leds used for modding good for killing microbes in my water loop? If not are there any kind of bulbs I can purchase that will work in my system for that purpose? Preferably 12v low heat UV would be best.
.

 

[Shadow703793]

DO NOT use Pre-mixed "coolant". ALWAYS run Distilled water and some PT Nuke or KillCoil.

This is what can happen with pre mix: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=226632
You DO NOT want this to happen. Also, note that this has happened to MORE THAN one person, so it is not some isolated case.

. I want a non conductive coolant, preferably uv blue.

That dosen't exist. Over time, ALL coolant will turn conductive.

1. I'v never used those clamps, so can't comment on it.

2. See above.

3. See above. PT Nuke/KillCoil will stop alge,etc build up.

4. Is that Koolance rad full copper? There are a quite a bit of Koolance rads using Aluminium....

5. As for the UV light, you need a VERY STRONG UV light. The normal UV CCFLs/LEDs won't work. And those UV lights used to kill bacteria can kill tubing, not so much the nasty stuff due to the shielding of the water by the tubing. Those UV lamps are also quite expensive and hot running.

6. Those tubing are no good. If you want UV Blue: http://www.jab-tech.com/PrimoFlex-Pro-LRT-UV-Blue-Tubing-1-2in.-ID-X-3-4in.-OD-pr-4118.html
The LRT is a MUCH better tubing that that Koolance. Use this tubing and a Kill Coil or PT Nuke. Too bad you've already bought the lower quality tubing....

7. What fans do you plan to use on that rad?

 

[dreamphantom_1977]

The reason I wanted non conductive was mainly because I was worried about the first 24 hours of testing. But I have heard that the non conductivity doesn't last, but i've heard that as long as you don't mix coolants or let it become contaminated that it will maintain it's non conductivity.

The feser 1 is only supposed to last a year, vs. the fluid xp lasts 5 years. So I was kind of ruling out feser because of more then one reason. My friend used distilled water in his system and he had a horrible problem with algae even though he used additive in it. Has any one had a problem here with fluid xp? Distilled water is non conductive also, but I was worried once the additives are added, does it become conductive?

Also- I was wondering why the feser tube is bad?

My radiator is copper & brass no aluminum.

I was planning on going with 4 silverstone fans.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999344&cm_re=120mm_fan-_-11-999-344-_-Product

I have had a lot experience with these fans and they are really quite and powerful.
Although, I am limited on funds right now, so I might buy a couple of cheapy's and upgrade later to these ones.

I am planning on mounting the radiator on the outside of my case, horazontal along the bottom with the barbs facing towards the back. I was gonna cut a hole in the right side panel, and mount the radiator right over it, and mount the fans on the outside of the fan radiator sandwich, so that the fans suck the air from the inside of the case, through the radiator, through the fan, and outside of the case. Here is a pic of my case so you get the idea- also the reservoir is getting mounted near the top of the case on the same panel near the back, and the only thing thats gonna be inside the case is my pump and the card, just in case it does leak it will minimize the odds of it being inside the case. Anyways so you get the idea here is my case:

And this side is where I am gonna mount the reservoir and radiator (below)

Basically this is what I am going for, except my radiator is smaller- (LOL, thats a huge radiator) and my reservoir is going to be upright now horizontal. (below) (I don't know who's computer that is just found a pic googling it)

Another question I had was about compatibility of the fluids, I am using several different brands of products, and I've heard some products need specific brands, and I heard some coolants cloud up acrylic and I am worried about that. So anyone have any bad experience with that?

And also, what are the main points of leaks that I should look for? My friend said he never had any leaks, but only a bad pump. Are leaks all that common? Anyone here have any leaks or any major problems with there setups?

I try reading different sites about water cooling setups, but not many sites do long term reviews or tests on this. Most just do short term tests, which is a shame because water cooling can cause major damage if not done correctly so I feel there should be more long term testing done on these products to give customers more information about what they are getting into.

Anyways, thanks reading my long ass posts and questions, any help is appreciated. Thanks again.

 

[Conumdrum]

Thats a decent, not great rad. It's copper/brass it's fine Shadow. Your getting out of the loop. You need to keep up with the times. LRT has NO biocide in it. I could find the post from a person who knows all about the chemicals used in the tubing, proprietary info etc. It does NOT stop growth.

Primochill LRT is great tubing. Those clamps are fine. I use screw clamps, they are fine and I reuse my tubing.

Distilled water and a biocide. You can pay through the nose to send a marketer's kid through college if you want to. Remember every 6 months you need to drain and refill the loop. I fill drain my two loops for about $1.50. You? $40?

Petras PHN PT-Nuke
Ianh Silver kill coil.

 

[rofl_my_waffle]

Well those pictures was a bit strange and an exaggeration.

Anyway, don't use pre-mixed fluid. I had my share of fun with pre-mixed.
Here are my thoughts.

Pros
-Don't have to add anything
-Cool colors and UV reactive
-I was using feser one and temps were 1C lower

Cons
-Stains plastics unless you wash it off immediately. Clear tubing is stained pretty much forever. Stains your hands

-Takes a million years to dry.

-Not really non-conductive. Spilled some on my motherboard while setting up. Conducting ever so slightly which made my system not boot up. As said before it takes forever to dry. I spent hours looking at my motherboard, didn't find any liquid on it. I ended up rinsing my motherboard under a sink only to find colored liquid flow out. I did that 7 hours later. 7 hours and still didn't dry.... the water dried off my motherboard in 15 minutes which it proceeded to work perfectly after.

- Cost more

- As you figure I was not happy with pre-mixed liquid. When I changed to distilled, I noticed huge buildup in my waterblock. Not the black stains from the picture above (wtf is that anyway) but the coloring agent has crystallized and hardened on the waterblock. Washes off but who wants to wash their block often?


Basically distilled is the way to go. Everything gains conductivity but as long the liquid isn't conductive when you are setting up you should be fine. It is rare that a leak would spring weeks down the road unless you got some major corrision going on.
If you spilled water you only need to wait for it to dry

Use only copper or nickle plated copper to prevent galvanic corrosion.

 

[Conumdrum]

Have you read the sticky at the top of this forum?

Also, I don't know why you would buy the Koolance rad.

Look at the tests in links in the sticky.

If world class modders and benchers and folding farm experts use just distllied and a biocide, why would you use anything else?

 

[rofl_my_waffle]

Those marketers sound really really convincing when they are trying to sell you a $10 bottle of water + additives, when you can get a gallon of distilled water for a couple bucks.

The LRT claims to have an anti-microbal formula of some sort. I haven't been using biocide (can't get any where I live) and it has been fine with the LRT tubing.

 

[Shadow703793]

Thats a decent, not great rad. It's copper/brass it's fine Shadow. Your getting out of the loop.

lol, I'd still don't trust Koolance and don't pay attention to them. And yes, I do need to read up on the new EK Supreme HF,etc (Haven't had much time tbh and just keep forgetting lol).

LRT has NO biocide in it.

???? What did I say anything about that?
HOWEVER, IIRC there are Tygon tubing with anti-microbial coating.

 

[dreamphantom_1977]

Have you read the sticky at the top of this forum?

Also, I don't know why you would buy the Koolance rad.

Look at the tests in links in the sticky.

If world class modders and benchers and folding farm experts use just distllied and a biocide, why would you use anything else?

I read part of it but not the whole thing, i'll have to go back and read it. Thnx.

I remember reading in a magazine that a good liquid cooling setup should last 2 years between water changes (6 months !?!? ). I don't remember which magazine, but mainly I read Computer Power User or PC magazine, I don't remember which one though. Anyways, I know you have to add coolant once in awhile cuz the tubes actually sweat through micro pores in the rubber and evaperate. I wonder what kind of coolant high end pc makers like voodoo, alienware, or falcon northwest use in there setups. Anybody know?

I bought it because it was one of the cheapest (I mean inexpensive) quad core radiators, I thought it was all copper, and I wanted a radiator that has the barbs sticking out the back instead of the side (koolance is the only one like that I could find), that way they don't stick out when It's mounted to the side of the case. Also, I know the 480 gtx puts out 300 TDP, and the radiator can cool up to 1300 TDP, so I figure if I ever decide to go SLI, Tri SLI, and add my pc into the loop, I should still be fine.

On a side note, I bought the radiator from performance pcs, and when It arrived, both sides were dented in (it wasn't packed good, and I think it was floating around in the box when ups was delivering it, but it was damaged when I opened it), and right now I am waiting for them to send me another one. They are supposed to do a ups claim, but I'm still waiting. Hopefully they are quick. I think it is still usable though, but I am scared it will leak so I am planning on waiting for the new one to come and send the dented one back.

 

[Conumdrum]

I read part of it but not the whole thing, i'll have to go back and read it. Thnx.

I remember reading in a magazine that a good liquid cooling setup should last 2 years between water changes (6 months !?!? ). I don't remember which magazine, but mainly I read Computer Power User or PC magazine, I don't remember which one though. Anyways, I know you have to add coolant once in awhile cuz the tubes actually sweat through micro pores in the rubber and evaperate. I wonder what kind of coolant high end pc makers like voodoo, alienware, or falcon northwest use in there setups. Anybody know?

They use self sealed weak watercooling systems like Asetek etc. And they don't do well for a long time, believe me. One reason thier costs are so high is the warrenty work. Well, do what you want then. Maybe you should head over to xtreme forums where a few of the USA top watercoolers reside and ask there. I'm Conumdrum there too.

I bought it because it was one of the cheapest (I mean inexpensive) quad core radiators, I thought it was all copper, and I wanted a radiator that has the barbs sticking out the back instead of the side (koolance is the only one like that I could find), that way they don't stick out when It's mounted to the side of the case. Also, I know the 480 gtx puts out 300 TDP, and the radiator can cool up to 1300 TDP, so I figure if I ever decide to go SLI, Tri SLI, and add my pc into the loop, I should still be fine.

I love the 1300 cooling. Koolance still does that lying marketing junk. They use a massive blower and let the water reach up to 25C over ambient temps. Your CPU would choke if your water temp was that high. In the sticky up top there are sites like Martins and Skinnees. You can trust them. Here, I'll post a link for you.
http://skinneelabs.com/cu1020v.html
BTW, I hope you got some high speed high CFM fans for that rad.
A proper watercooling CPU water temps (Called Delta T BTW) is no more than 10C over ambient air temps. Your not the first or the last to read marketing hype and believe it.

On a side note, I bought the radiator from performance pcs, and when It arrived, both sides were dented in (it wasn't packed good, and I think it was floating around in the box when ups was delivering it, but it was damaged when I opened it), and right now I am waiting for them to send me another one. They are supposed to do a ups claim, but I'm still waiting. Hopefully they are quick. I think it is still usable though, but I am scared it will leak so I am planning on waiting for the new one to come and send the dented one back.

 

[Shadow703793]

^ Ahh... yes, the good o'l Koolance marketing :lol:

 

[dreamphantom_1977]

Alright, but if it can't cool 1300 watts TDP then isn't that false advertising? I know that my cooler is using brass tubes, and copper fins, and it's not as efficient as copper tubes and aluminum fins, but after copper corrodes the efficiency goes down, and brass doesn't corrode like copper does, also, the reviews in the link you posted is reviewing a 3 x 120mm high fan flow radiator vs. mine which is a 4 x 120mm low fan flow radiator. So I should be able to hit 1300 watts with low speed fans. Also- if I can't, then it's false advertising which means I can sue koolance. And since koolance is one of the oldest water cooling companies around, I am sure they know what they are doing. Either way, at this point, I am only gonna be running 1 gtx 480, so this radiator should be plenty good. Right?

I seen a video on youtube of g4 tv hooking a car radiator up to a pc, and comparing it to a single 120mm radiator from thermaltake. What was amazing was that the single thermaltake radiator out performed the car radiator, wich made me reevaluate everything I know about water cooling.

To be honest, cooling isn't my main concern. I mean, I know even a low end water cooling system will be enough, what I am mostly concerned about is longevity, what Is the longest I can keep my system going without having to worry about corrosion or bacteria or algae growing in my loop. If I need to upgrade my cooling I can always buy another 120mm radiator down the road.

Oh, about the feser hose, why is that bad hosing? I am at home right now, and I was messing around with those hose bending it and stuff to see if it kinks easily, and it doesn't. It might not be as great as other hose, but it seems like I can make a fairly tight bend without kinking problems. Either way, I haven't been able to find any bad reviews on the hose. It seems like good hose. Either way, It's made out of basically the same stuff as every other hose I looked at. I bought hosing sleeve anyways, so if it does kink, that should fix it. So, I guess my question would be what is wrong with the feser hose?

Anyone with personal experience spring any leaks or have any problems with the fluids I named above? I appreciate every ones help. I am just trying to be as educated about this as I can before I jump into it. When I am all done with it, i'll post pics and everything on here.

Oh, I got an email from performance pc and they said my parts should be in next week. You know, I complained to them, and made a big fit about it, and they are still trying to help me out. I think they are a great company for trying to help me. I've heard a lot of complaints but I don't think they are justified. This is the first time i've ever had trouble with any of there shipments to me and there support is great. They answer almost every call and they do answer every email. And, they already sent me some missing barbs from my first order for my reservoir. Anyways, I'll check back here later.

Thanks again everyone. 😀

 

[Shadow703793]

lright, but if it can't cool 1300 watts TDP then isn't that false advertising?

No not really. The thing with Koolance is that they use un-realistic conditions. For example, they test it WAY below ambient, say ~10-15C, where as normal room temp is ~22-23C. It CAN deal with a 1300W heat load, but not very well at all. It will start to go WAYYY down and the water will start to boil(100C) when it hits ~400-450W. Your CPU won't like that very much...
Spend some time over at OCForums,etc and you'll get a better understanding about Koolance and why most hate their rads. (Some of their CPU blocks however, are quite good). We're not saying the rad is complete cr@p, however we are saying that there are better rads out there AND the Koolance WILL NOT be able to deal with a 1300W heatload.

What Is the longest I can keep my system going without having to worry about corrosion or bacteria or algae growing in my loop.

6 Months 24/7.

copper corrodes the efficiency goes down

There won't be any significant corrosion,etc as long as distilled water (and biocide) are used and there is no air in the loop.

I seen a video on youtube of g4 tv hooking a car radiator up to a pc, and comparing it to a single 120mm radiator from thermaltake. What was amazing was that the single thermaltake radiator out performed the car radiator, wich made me reevaluate everything I know about water cooling.

Depends. Heater cores need some INSANE CFMs in order for it to be good. I run heater cores, and I can tell you that with 2x Deltas pushing ~200CFM (yes, it sounds like a jet engine), the heater core beats my HW Labs 480 hands down. Also depends on what heater core,etc.

Oh, about the feser hose, why is that bad hosing? I am at home right now, and I was messing around with those hose bending it and stuff to see if it kinks easily, and it doesn't.

It's not that bad, but however, compared to Tygon/LRT the Feser plasticizes much quickly. As long as you re place it every year or so, you'll be fine.

 

[dreamphantom_1977]

Damn, I feel I should have studied more before I purchased my stuff. Guess I'll have another upgrade soon. LOL.

About using distilled water, should I avoid uv additives then? And what about anti corrosives? Should I avoid those to?

Think I might go with distilled water. Thanks again.

 

[Conumdrum]

Sure you can sue them. Good luck. Not saying the radiator is bad, but it has charecteristics that need to be considered. I can see your young, think you can sue someone for that. it will cool that wattage, under what conditions? If you spent the time, you'd be informed. Your not.

You just didn't do your homework.

I got into overclocking under air a few years ago. Found a few forums to help me and began to read about watercooling. believe me, it wasn't on this forum. As I played with air cooling and overclocking, I read up on watercolling.

THREE MONTHS LATER I ordered my first part. Reading 3-4 forums daily and helpining in the air cooling forums since I had a clue.

Can I ask, how long did you spend before deciding to order your first part?

UV additives. They seperate, stick on the pins on the CPU block, stain tubing, all sorts of fun issues.

Distilled water at Walgreens $1 a gallon, Peteras PHN PT_nuke at $5 and the bottle will last for years. You only need a few drops per loop.

You really need to move to a better forum and read as you build.

Your rad is fine, I wouldn't buy it, but it will work just fine.

I feel your pain, but the rush of the purchase, the buy it now, and the great garbage of accepting everything as the truth on the internet catches up.

I'm almost 53, I don't believe everything I read. I'm old school.

 

[dreamphantom_1977]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGS6najMzjI

 

[dreamphantom_1977]

Goodnight.

 

[dreamphantom_1977]

Best answer selected by dreamphantom_1977.

 

[dreamphantom_1977]

Just found out something really cool. I think I am gonna use distilled water in my system. I just found out that brass, and silver are both antimicrobial. You don't need to use PT in your loop, all you need is a silver kill coil.

http://www.petrastechshop.com/sikibyia.html

I just read about something called the Oligodynamic effect. Very interesting- read.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligodynamic_effect

Bassically, brass and silver kill microbes naturally. So since I chose to go with a Koolance radiator, which uses brass tubes, and copper fins, and since everything else in my system is copper (stainless steel barbs?), then my system shouldn't have a problem with algae or anything growing in my system, and corrosion shouldn't be an issue since I don't have any aluminum in my system. Either way, I decided I am gonna try and run straight distilled water, with a killcoil, or strait 99.99 silver. Anyways, I decided not to go with colored or dyed coolant, as they break down in your system and cause sludge. I'm glad I went with a koolance radiator instead of an aluminum one. While it isn't the coolest solution, the brass lines should help out a lot killing algae.

I read on evga forums that someone used just distilled water and a single killcoil and has been going good for a year straight without any problems. So I think it's the cheapest, purest, way to go.

 

[Shadow703793]

^ Excellent choice.

 

[dreamphantom_1977]

Sure you can sue them. Good luck. Not saying the radiator is bad, but it has charecteristics that need to be considered. I can see your young, think you can sue someone for that. it will cool that wattage, under what conditions? If you spent the time, you'd be informed. Your not.

You just didn't do your homework.

I got into overclocking under air a few years ago. Found a few forums to help me and began to read about watercooling. believe me, it wasn't on this forum. As I played with air cooling and overclocking, I read up on watercolling.

THREE MONTHS LATER I ordered my first part. Reading 3-4 forums daily and helpining in the air cooling forums since I had a clue.

Can I ask, how long did you spend before deciding to order your first part?

UV additives. They seperate, stick on the pins on the CPU block, stain tubing, all sorts of fun issues.

Distilled water at Walgreens $1 a gallon, Peteras PHN PT_nuke at $5 and the bottle will last for years. You only need a few drops per loop.

You really need to move to a better forum and read as you build.

Your rad is fine, I wouldn't buy it, but it will work just fine.

I feel your pain, but the rush of the purchase, the buy it now, and the great garbage of accepting everything as the truth on the internet catches up.

I'm almost 53, I don't believe everything I read. I'm old school.

Conumdrum, I am just letting you know you are wrong about my radiator, as the link you posted is for the high flow radiator, and I am running the low flow radiator. Here is a link to skinnee labs doing a review on the low flow radiator.

http://skinneelabs.com/cu1020h.html

Quote from skinneelabs

The Koolance CU1020H is a unique radiator sporting barb ports coming directly out of the radiator rather than at a 90. The other piece I find unique is the 20FPI especially for a "Low Flow" radiator. Higher FPI usually requires more fan power to dissipate the heat loads, but the CuH does quite well at the medium fan speeds, which was certainly a surprise. The CU1020H comes very close to matching the PA120.3 at 1400 and 1800RPM, which I have to say is very good for a sub $80 radiator. Most of you will run your fans somewhere in the medium speed range, at least that is what I have gathered reading all of those forum threads. As for the barb port orientation, with all the 90's and 45-degree fittings I see, I highly doubt that the barb ports will be a problem in builds... after all we have come up with some crafty methods to solve tube routing.

Also, you are wrong about koolance lying about the radiators wattage. As you can see in this graph (below) the 3 x 120mm radiator, at 3000rpm hits 1000watts. Which means that my 4 x 120mm should be right around 1300watts. As koolance claims.

Also, I found two positive points about using this koolance radiator, one is it is made out of brass pipes and copper fins, instead of copper pipes and aluminum fins, or aluminum pipes and aluminum fins, which is great, because it means that corrosion isn't going to be a huge problem. Also, the flow restriction on the low flow radiators isn't as bad as it in the high flow radiator. Besides, I really prefer the setup of the barbs coming out the back because how I am mounting it. Also, another plus, is at high rpm it actually outperforms the thermochill radiator.

Anyways, i'm glad I bought a Koolance radiator.

Anyone who reads this, I wouldn't take Conumdrums word of experience as truth. He can be wrong. Please do your own research and seek advice from many different sources.

Conumdrum didn't see that I was using a low flow radiator, as his review link he posted is for a high flow radiator not a low flow. I guess he didn't do his homework like he should have.

Well, i'm off to work. TTYL.

 

[Conumdrum]

Anyhoo, glad your reading Skinnees great site now you get to the real info. Any yea, I can post a wrong link too. No one runs 1000 watt loads for a rad unless they are a bencher etc. The noise would be terrible with 3000 RPM 38mm thick fans.

Don't know of any quality rad company that has aluminum fins. Most are brass, I think yours are copper. In the past Koolance was ALL aluminum, but they moved away from that just late last year.

Why get this rad for a heatload of 300 watts? Man, I'd get one half that size and run HS fans or one 120x3 LOW FPI rad and run sub 1000 RPM fans. No matter what, that rad your getting will be able to handle a second one with no problems.

 

[dreamphantom_1977]

Anyhoo, glad your reading Skinnees great site now you get to the real info. Any yea, I can post a wrong link too. No one runs 1000 watt loads for a rad unless they are a bencher etc. The noise would be terrible with 3000 RPM 38mm thick fans.

Don't know of any quality rad company that has aluminum fins. Most are brass, I think yours are copper. In the past Koolance was ALL aluminum, but they moved away from that just late last year.

Why get this rad for a heatload of 300 watts? Man, I'd get one half that size and run HS fans or one 120x3 LOW FPI rad and run sub 1000 RPM fans. No matter what, that rad your getting will be able to handle a second one with no problems.

I want a 4 x 120mm because if I mount it horizontal on the side of my case, the length is perfect for my case. The barbs will extend right out of the back of the case where I plug the graphics card cable at. Also, the way I am doing it leaves room for future expansion. If I decide to upgrade my system with more graphics cards, or run a loop to the cpu then the radiator should still have plenty of cooling power. I actually have enough room on my case to run 3 of these radiators and still have room to fit the reservoir on the side. 😀 If I ever did that, I would definately run more then one pump though. Maybe two radiators for the gpu's and one for the cpu on chipsets. But, I think one will work for now.

While I am not gonna be running as many cfm's as the fans they used in the test. I will be running pretty close to that, and since I am running a quad instead of a 3 x 120mm setup, I am estimating that I should be able to cool up to 1000 watts with my setup at high speed, which means I should be able to run low speed fans, and keep my system really quite with this radiator, considering I am only running a single loop to a gtx 480 at 300 TDP.

If I decide to upgrade later, a single i7 920 is rated at 135 TDP, and 3 gtx 480's are rated at 900 watts TDP.

3 x gtx 480 = 900 TDP
1 x i7 920 = 135 TDP
total = 1035

Koolance HX-CU1320H = 1300 Watt TDP
S
o- 1300 TDP - 1035 = 265 TDP left over for extra cooling, chipsets ect.

Keep in mind that very very rare except for benchmarking is your pc utilizing 100% load on all the gpu's and cpu at the same time, so in real world this setup should be just fine for about anything I throw at it. 😀

I'm not planning on going tri-sli any time soon. But I hear you can run quad sli using four single gpu gtx 480's. So it is likely that if I ever win the lottery or something, that I will be going quad sli and then I will need to upgrade to another one of these radiators. But as is, I am running a single loop, and this should be a low maintenance, quiet solution that should have no problem with temps, even running at it's lowest speed.

 

[Conumdrum]

Now your talking. It's looking good! I see your reasoning. You could get by with Yate Loon Mediums undervolted from Jabtech or Petras. Cheap and considered a great fan for the money. I used them for years, never had one diw. I splurged for better ones this xmas tho. Still got all my Yates tho.

Keep us posted.

 

[dreamphantom_1977]

Well, I just got word from performance-pcs, they have credited my account for the damaged radiator, so I ordered another one. Also, I ordered all the rest of my parts, plus I ordered some HydrX which was recommended by Crashman. I plan to use distilled water, hydrX, and a piece of silver. When I'm all done i'll post pics. Thanks for everyones help.

Now if I could only get my hands on a evga gtx 480 hydro copper, or a regular gtx 480 with a danger den block.

So excited- can't wait.