Cooling Large, thin radiators?

[zovc]

Hey!

@Josh | NFC's new video really got my gears turning, leading me to consider my first water cooling setup. (DIY or otherwise!) The MO-RA3 looks like an excellent radiator, but with ~30mm fans on there (yes, I know I could use thinner fans) you're looking at a large ~3", 360x360 panel that you've got to put somewhere. I'm hoping to find a large radiator that is not quite as thick as the MO-RA3, perhaps one that's a little less large in terms of length and width, too.

Basically, I'm considering designing a case around a large radiator, but I'd like to design around a radiator that isn't quite 3" (even 2" with fans would make for a much smaller volume case!) thick and one whose dimensions aren't so much wider than an ITX or even MATX motherboard. I've done some poking around, but I don't really know how to shop for radiators, especially not specialty ones like the MO-RA3.

And, I'm assuming that a watercooling loop with something like a ~240/280mm * ~240/280mm, ~2" thick radiator+fan setup would be able to pretty comfortably (and quietly) cool even a high-end consumer-level setup, right? (Like, a R7 1700 + a GTX 1080 Ti.)

 

[Kmpkt]

I've been percolating on a build using one of these for ages:

https://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-coolstream-we-180-single

Combined with a 180mm x 25mm fan you'll end up with a 60mm wide radiator assembly. Given the dimensions of the radiator are 180mm x 218mm, I figured you could have a mounting plate for your Mini ITX board back to back with your radiator and have the fittings between the front of the board and front I/O.

 

[Testifier]

I think the EK Phoenix series would be great in this case. Every cooling components will be inside the case except for the radiator/pump combo. For portable setup such as Mini S4 it would be just like carrying another Dell's power brick. The difference is that there would be two connections instead of one. Another alternative would be the Alphacool "Eis" series with the external Eiswand

 

[Thestarkiller32]

Hey!

@Josh | NFC's new video really got my gears turning, leading me to consider my first water cooling setup. (DIY or otherwise!) The MO-RA3 looks like an excellent radiator, but with ~30mm fans on there (yes, I know I could use thinner fans) you're looking at a large ~3", 360x360 panel that you've got to put somewhere. I'm hoping to find a large radiator that is not quite as thick as the MO-RA3, perhaps one that's a little less large in terms of length and width, too.

Basically, I'm considering designing a case around a large radiator, but I'd like to design around a radiator that isn't quite 3" (even 2" with fans would make for a much smaller volume case!) thick and one whose dimensions aren't so much wider than an ITX or even MATX motherboard. I've done some poking around, but I don't really know how to shop for radiators, especially not specialty ones like the MO-RA3.

And, I'm assuming that a watercooling loop with something like a ~240/280mm * ~240/280mm, ~2" thick radiator+fan setup would be able to pretty comfortably (and quietly) cool even a high-end consumer-level setup, right? (Like, a R7 1700 + a GTX 1080 Ti.)

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71dJ4+4nCmL._SL1500_.jpg

http://www.magicool.biz/product_radiator.htm

 

[zovc]

It seems like, if I wanted to go with MATX (which is the form factor I'm leaning towards), I could fit a ~240mm * ~240mm radiator behind my ~244mm * 244mm motherboard like Kmpkt suggested with the 180mm behind a MITX board. Should I just be looking at two "240mm" radiators, or can anyone help me find a "square" 480mm radiator? All the ones I have found are "linear" with their fan layout.

 

[Thestarkiller32]

It seems like, if I wanted to go with MATX (which is the form factor I'm leaning towards), I could fit a ~240mm * ~240mm radiator behind my ~244mm * 244mm motherboard like Kmpkt suggested with the 180mm behind a MITX board. Should I just be looking at two "240mm" radiators, or can anyone help me find a "square" 480mm radiator? All the ones I have found are "linear" with their fan layout.

do it how you like it... but with a 480 square one you may have better flow rates

 

[zovc]

Where did you find that radiator?

 

[Thestarkiller32]

Where did you find that radiator?

or a 200mm rad?

I look at Aqua Computer Deutschland http://www.aquatuning.us/water-cooling/radiators/radiators-active/?p=1

 

[Kmpkt]

Aquatuning rocks. Just gonna throw that out there. If I order from them, the can ship to me in Canada from Germany way faster than Newegg Canada or even NCIX 100km away can get me stuff AND they prepay my customs as a courtesy.

 

[Thestarkiller32]

Aquatuning rocks. Just gonna throw that out there. If I order from them, the can ship to me in Canada from Germany way faster than Newegg Canada or even NCIX 100km away can get me stuff AND they prepay my customs as a courtesy.

Dase it screams SFF if you get a 3x40mm rad? ;D

 

[zovc]

Hmm. I definitely would like to find a square "240mm * 240mm" radiator, but two 240mm radiators looks like it could work out pretty well!


I roughed this out using TinkerCad, which is free and simple enough that I can use it intuitively. I used the MATX spec sheet to get the motherboard and I/O dimensions and I used this radiator to get the RAD dimensions, it was the first one I saw the specs for so I went with it. The fans are just 120mm squares that are 25mm thick.

In the actual design, I'd probably put the fans between the rad and motherboard, in hopes that the radiators would baffle the sound some. Maybe the case's structure wouldn't allow that. I figured the fans on the outside would help illustrate the idea a little better... and I just added them after I positioned the radiators in this mock.

Thoughts?

 

[zovc]

And this is kind of what I'm thinking with the GPUs installed in the system.


The smaller, red card is something like an AMD workstation card. The larger, light blue card is something like a hypothetical GTX 1080 Ti. (That I can somehow afford...) I also represented the 120mm (25mm thick) fans on the inside of the Radiator this time. The cards' dimensions were roughly borrowed from the Galax 1070 Mini and the EVGA 1070 FTW. The cards would, theoretically, be a lot smaller since they'd be water-blocked and I wouldn't hesitate to chop up the expansion slot covers if that allowed me to save a lot of room.

There's some logistics that need to be addressed, like breathing room between the radiator and the motherboard, and room for things like RAM and the PCI-e riser cables.

So, what I'm trying to do is have a weaker, low TDP video card that's capable of doing Freesync, it'll drive my (Freesync) monitors. Then, my second GPU will be passed through to a VM and I'll access its frame buffer using "Looking Glass" IOMMU... this will allow me to game on my powerful GPU and even if it's an Nvidia card, use the host OS's video card to output the image and utilize Freesync.

Therefore, I don't, personally, need to be able to access the larger GPU's video I/O, though it might be worth routing an output to the front of the case for VR.

 

[royalba94]

Cool stuff on this thread

It's kinda similar to my project I started but haven't been able to prototype/finish yet only a bit more focused in purpose

 

[Thestarkiller32]

http://www.xoxide.com/phobya-xtremequad480-radiator.html

 

[Kmpkt]

Personally I'd use a 170mm GPU, reflect the GPU up over the motherboard and use an EK Annihilator to keep the GPU/Motherboard as low profile as possible. The additional area in front of the motherboard would be perfect for housing a pump/res combo with the radiator behind.

 

[Thestarkiller32]

Personally I'd use a 170mm GPU, reflect the GPU up over the motherboard and use an EK Annihilator to keep the GPU/Motherboard as low profile as possible. The additional area in front of the motherboard would be perfect for housing a pump/res combo with the radiator behind.

 

[zovc]

Personally I'd use a 170mm GPU, reflect the GPU up over the motherboard and use an EK Annihilator to keep the GPU/Motherboard as low profile as possible. The additional area in front of the motherboard would be perfect for housing a pump/res combo with the radiator behind.

So, you're suggesting I have both cards laid out like the red one, like, over the CPU area and RAM? Or, to have a shorter card where the blue one is, just freeing up some space "up top?"

And hopefully my case will end up looking better than LInus' team's implementation. Haha

 

[zovc]

Any chance someone is able to find the dimensions of the WX 4100? I'm looking around for them online and can't seem to.

 

[royalba94]

Any chance someone is able to find the dimensions of the WX 4100? I'm looking around for them online and can't seem to.

the DataSheet says it's half-height and half-length so it seems that'd be about the same size as my Rocketraid 4520 card which I measured (very roughly since it's in use in my PC at the moment) at about 170mm long, 65mm tall, and 25mm thick (single slot)

That close to what you're looking for?

 

[zovc]

the DataSheet says it's half-height and half-length so it seems that'd be about the same size as my Rocketraid 4520 card which I measured (very roughly since it's in use in my PC at the moment) at about 170mm long, 65mm tall, and 25mm thick (single slot)

That close to what you're looking for?

That's probably close enough for a mock-up! If I'm going to end up using the card, I can order it and adjust as needed. Thanks!