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How important is 45mm and 60mm to you?

2K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  bond32 
#1 ·
Hello!

When it comes to your computer chassis, how important is it to you that the case has room for 45mm and 60mm thickness radiators?

According to http://martinsliquidlab.org/ , going from a 30mm 360 radiator to a 60mm 360 radiator typically only allows for 11 more watts of heat dissipation at 1400rpm.

Looking at watercooling's red headed step children (All in one coolers), all radiators over 120mm are under 30mm thick. I believe the thickest AIO is 38mm thick. I'm sure the AIO companies did their research.

What do you guys think? I'd really appreciate your valuable feedback.

Thanks!
 
#2 ·
Are you getting a custom loop or a AIO?

If you are getting an AIO go by the shootout reviews. There is so much to the overall design that matters.

If you are going for a custom loop then again look at the radiator shootouts and figure what speed fan you plan on running. It matters a lot. A thick rad is def not necessary and very little to the performance. That said I have a very thick radiator but if my case didn't support that thick of a radiator I would have just put a thin one in. If your case supports 140MM radiators than go for that. They most definitely provide a higher performance/noise ratio.
 
#3 ·
givmedew,

I am interested in going with a custom loop personally, but I am mostly interested in community opinion on radiator thickness. I design custom pc cases and I am curious if I would be alienating anyone if I did not design to accommodate for 60mm + thickness radiators.

The data shows that going from 30mm to 60mm + does not provide a very significant advantage (and it seems the engineers making the AIO coolers have also picked up on this). However, that isn't always what is important to an enthusiast. Sometimes the goal is an extra 1 degree Celsius of cooling at absolutely any cost! LoL!

Designing for 30mm radiators is definitely easier and less wasteful, but I want to know what enthusiasts want =)

30mm, 45mm, 60mm +, you decide! and let me know!
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#4 ·
I use a GTX480 Extreme... it is very very thick and even in a 800D I can't run 38MM fans on top of it. I have to use 25MM fans.

But I got a killer deal on that radiator... it cost me almost nothing because it was bent and scratched and dinged but it works perfectly fine. Before that I had a TFC X-Changer which is another super thick radiator.

I know that these radiators don't perform much better... but the TFC looks amazing and the GTX480 was a steal.

Normally though I would just throw in a 30MM rad.

I don't really know your target price or target market... but if the case is going to be expensive you should def design it to handle a 60MM rad with either room for a single set of 38MM fans or 2 sets of 25MM fans.

Also... the surface area of a 140MM radiator is substantially larger then that of a 120MM radiator. So if you can it would be best to design around a 140MM radiator. You can put mounting holes for 120 and 140 so either would fit.

That is just my opinion on the matter.

If the cases are going to be very affordable then I would recommend you design them around a 2x140 or 3x140 30MM radiator with room for just 25MM fans. Keep the case small and compact and I could see it being a great seller.
 
#5 ·
If you design pc cases, you should also consider the people (us) interested in purchasing said cases/cooling systems are likely out to get every last degree we can possibly cool. So if you design a case that cannot accomidate a 60mm thick rad, I personally might keep looking.

With that said, I really love the Corsair 540 case. I am building my water loop, however it will not support a thick 360 but a think 360 will work fine when used with a 240 up top.
 
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