Cooling Radiator/Fan question

lehman

Trash Compacter
Original poster
Jan 9, 2019
39
69
I have a quick question about cooling capacity on rads.

Lers say I make a case like the Corsair One where there are no fans on the rad. Only 1 exhausting out the top making negative pressure.

If I have one 280 radiator with all the air going through it, would actually adding a second radiator with no more exhaust fans, would you increase cooling capacity?

My theory is no. wouldn't it cut the cfm in half if you used 2 duplicate radiators? It should Increase the amount of time for it to heat soak or equalize.

So in my mide it would handle spikes better with 2 rads vs 1 but not dissipate more watts of heat.

Any help would be appreciated.

Lehman
 

Phuncz

Lord of the Boards
SFFn Staff
May 9, 2015
5,827
4,902
You are correct in that you wouldn't add cooling capacity, you'd just increase the buffer because of the added mass in the loop. But I don't have a physics diploma so I might be wrong.

The approach of the Corsair One with two thin radiators with a not too dense fin stack and a pressure optimized fan is a good one, but requires either a lot of prep (computational flow and heat models) or testing to get done right. Or you could ofcourse look up the fan's and radiators' properties and copy them :)

The Corsair One's two radiator system works better in that case layout I think but I'd love to see your take on it !