Water-cooling: Amount of Radiator Required?

[Awakening]

How much radiator (in terms of 120 mm segments) do I need in order to cool two overclocked 980 Ti cards and an overclocked 6700K while keeping the radiator fans ALWAYS below 1000 RPM (preferably at 800 RPM) even when at full load?

Radiators are the XSPC EX# series (35.5 mm) and the radiator fans will be the HP12-PWM.

Quick overview links:
http://www.xs-pc.com/radiators-ex-series/
http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/casefans/venturi-series/venturi-hp-12-pwm

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated because I honestly have not nearly enough experience with water-cooling to calculate all these things together to figure out how much radiator I'll need to keep my fans at X speed or lower. My case (Mini R2) has a maximum of 840 mm of radiator.

I'm hoping a 360 and 240 mm are enough to keep my fans at around 800-900 RPM and my hardware at acceptable temperatures (as well as the water at an acceptable temp). My main concern is whether I need another 120 mm or possibly even two 120s to accomplish this.

 

[Eximo]

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/277130-29-read-first-watercooling-sticky

More the better for silence really.

I would think that would be more then enough. If you want additional silence, go for 140mm fans with the wider radiators. Assuming the case can fit that. Also the Fractal Design Mini R2?

I used an ex120 + Swiftech H240-X to cool a pair of GTX980 and an i7-4770k. Should be about 600W thermal capacity.

 

[Awakening]

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/277130-29-read-first-watercooling-sticky

More the better for silence really.

I would think that would be more then enough. If you want additional silence, go for 140mm fans with the wider radiators. Assuming the case can fit that. Also the Fractal Design Mini R2?

I used an ex120 + Swiftech H240-X to cool a pair of GTX980 and an i7-4770k. Should be about 600W thermal capacity.

Not sure if that's an actual question, but yes, I believe Fractal Design is the only company that builds a Mini R2 which is why I shortened the name so much.

Thanks for the suggestion on the 140 fan on a 120 radiator, but I don't think that'll actually help any considering most air comes out from the corners of a fan and that'd pretty much make most of the airflow miss the radiator. Even if that's not the case, I'm not too sure how the edges of the fan hanging off the radiator are going to help cool it at all. I want to keep fan model consistency anyways.

Also really only 360 mm of radiator for cooling all of that? What voltage/RPM did you need to run your fans at and what fans are you using?

 

[1LiquidPC]

I would highly recommend more cooling capacity for your goals. I suggest 2 360s easily as OC'd 980Ti SLI will put out some heat plus the 6700k. I'm using 960mm of radiator and keep my radiator fans at about 1200rpm. If you want great temps with very low noise, the more radiator(s) you can fit, the better.

 

[Awakening]

I would highly recommend more cooling capacity for your goals. I suggest 2 360s easily as OC'd 980Ti SLI will put out some heat plus the 6700k. I'm using 960mm of radiator and keep my radiator fans at about 1200rpm. If you want great temps with very low noise, the more radiator(s) you can fit, the better.

8 fans and your RPM is still that high? Did you buy cheap fans or airflow optimized fans or something?

 

[Eximo]

I thought you meant you were going to put in a 360mm radiator and a 240mm radiator. Which would be a decent amount.

140mm fans would need to be paired with 140/280/420mm radiators, yes. The numbers you mentioned are only divisible by those anyway. Also your link had pretty much every XSPC radiator size, so I assumed they were on the table.

 

[Awakening]

I thought you meant you were going to put in a 360mm radiator and a 240mm radiator. Which would be a decent amount.

140mm fans would need to be paired with 140/280/420mm radiators, yes. The numbers you mentioned are only divisible by those anyway. Also your link had pretty much every XSPC radiator size, so I assumed they were on the table.

That first part is correct. The top and front of the case can fit those size radiators maximum and that's what I'll have for radiators minimum. I have two extra available mounts for 120 radiators as well though, but since one limits the size my PSU can be and the other will look kind of ugly as an exhaust fan and I'm not even sure will fit, I'm kind of hesitant on expanding with 120 radiators.

Is there something I can get to mount a 240 vertically inside my case?

 

[1LiquidPC]

I'm using 8 Gentle Typhoons AP-15s for radiator fans. I can turn them lower if I wanted to(they are the 1850 RPM Model). Even at 1200RPM ~ 7.2v , they are still pretty quiet to me. My case fans are running at about 900 RPM. Given your case specs, it looks like the 360/240 combo is your best option. I agree that adding an additional 120mm radiator by itself would be harder to integrate and change the look of your build. Without some modding, I'm not sure what else you can do.

 

[Awakening]

I'm using 8 Gentle Typhoons AP-15s for radiator fans. I can turn them lower if I wanted to(they are the 1850 RPM Model). Even at 1200RPM ~ 7.2v , they are still pretty quiet to me. My case fans are running at about 900 RPM. Given your case specs, it looks like the 360/240 combo is your best option. I agree that adding an additional 120mm radiator by itself would be harder to integrate and change the look of your build. Without some modding, I'm not sure what else you can do.

From what I'm getting, another 240 would be perfect for the RPM I want to run at. Like I said in another post to someone else, do you have any idea if there's an easy way to securely install a radiator vertically beside the motherboard parallel with the IO and front plate?

Possibly this? http://i.imgur.com/freqAbO.png I'd just need to find a way to help the motherboard tray support it for stability and a way to attach it to the the top radiator where the second and third fans join together. Is this a bad idea? I also know that the airflow direction isn't very standard, but I can't seem to figure out a way to get natural airflow the other direction with this setup while maintaining positive pressure.

Here's an alternate, but I'm not sure it would be able to get proper airflow from behind the motherboard and might choke the fans. http://i.imgur.com/411iulP.png

 

[1LiquidPC]

Again, your diagrams look like some heavy modding. I suppose w/ option B, you could use a hole saw for fan hole cutouts/screw mounts and cut the side of the case. I've done this to my Obsidian 800D. Beyond something like this, there are external radiator options as well. Either way, you would have to get creative.

 

[Eximo]

May not be what you want, have you considered an external radiator cabinet?

 

[Awakening]

Again, your diagrams look like some heavy modding. I suppose w/ option B, you could use a hole saw for fan hole cutouts/screw mounts and cut the side of the case. I've done this to my Obsidian 800D. Beyond something like this, there are external radiator options as well. Either way, you would have to get creative.

May not be what you want, have you considered an external radiator cabinet?

I'd very much not like to get an external radiator. I bought a mini case because of the size and if I buy an external radiator I might as well have just bought a regular mid-tower case. I really want to figure something out internally.

 

[1LiquidPC]

It's going to look like modding of some sort. Larger custom loops are always the achilles heel of mini cases. Most folks install 240 AIO kits or something similar in this form factor. There just not enough space to be flexible to everyone's needs.

 

[Awakening]

Maybe I'm just over-complicating things. Couldn't I just put two radiators in the front? Radiator then fans then radiator then fans all stacked?

 

[Eximo]

Or you could just a really thick radiator and put it up front. Push/Pull would be wise.

 

[Awakening]

Or you could just a really thick radiator and put it up front. Push/Pull would be wise.

An RX240 actually isn't a bad idea at all, but push/pull would be really ugly and I'm not sure how to solve that other than maybe getting a custom side plate to put on it so it's just a flat piece of material that you see.

 

[1LiquidPC]

I'd advise against stacked radiators. This article is a bit old, but I've seen it mentioned somewhere else as well. Stacked radiators can actually perform worse than a single. https://martinsliquidlab.wordpress.com/2012/06/08/hesmelaughs-radiator-sandwich-testing/comment-page-1/

 

[Eximo]

Can't get them flush anyway. It would be neat to see an adapted 240mm radiator that fits into a 280mm mount that would butt up against another set perfectly, and allow long screws to be driven through.