A bunch of triple-radiators reviewed

[HESmelaugh]

Triple-Radiator roundup

As some of you have seen in the pics section, I was graced with quite a selection of triple-radiators that I got to test.

First, here's an overview of all the radiators I tested:

- Black Ice GT Stealth
- Black Ice GTX
- Magicool Slim Triple
- Magicool Slim Elegant
- Magicool Xtreme Triple
- Swiftech MCR320
- Thermochill PA120.3
- Watercool HTSF 360
- XSPC RX360

And here's a small gallery of all of these rads:






Testing method

There are two main components to how I tested these radiators:

1. Heaters





The images above show the heart of my test loop. It consists of a MCP355 with an EK X-Res top, two 300W heaters and four thermal probes in the water. There are also three thermal probes measuring ambient temperature.

2. Fans
I tested several fan speeds ranging from 400rpm to 2000rpm. I used Scythe Slip Stream 500s for the low fan speeds, Nanoxias for medium fan speeds and Yate Loons for high fan speeds.

Each test run lasts for 35 minutes and all of the temps from the last ten minutes of a run are averaged out to recieve the relevant data. A test run means the time from activating one or both of the heaters till I switch them off again. Here are the measured wattages of my heaters:
Heater #1: 289.9W
Heater #2: 283.2W

The loads seem to be very consistent.
This means that the actual heatload for my "300W" load was 289.9W and the actual load for my "600W" load was 573.1W.


Results

All the results are shown as the measured temperature difference between water- and ambient temperatures. The lower this difference, the more heat the radiator is dissipating.

289.9W:


573.1W:


As you can see, this type of graph is too chaotic with so many rads, so here is the same data in the form of bar-graphs:

289.9W:


The 400rpm runs couldn't be completed with either one of the Black Ice radiators since I had to shut the heaters off when the water temps went above 52° C. The tubes seem close to melting-point at this temperature and the pump isn't happy either.


573.1W:


With this heat load, none of the runs could be done at 400rpm so I completely omitted those. Again, the Black Ice Radiators simply can't handle this heat load with slow fans, in this case at 800rpm.

Flowrates:



Note: I've been told that the HTSF shouldn't be this restrictive so it will be cleaned and retested later on.


Quick conclusion

I really want to encourage everyone to have a close look at the data and make their own conclusions. Here are some of my thoughts:
The biggest surprise for me was the stellar performance of the Magicool Elegant radiator at low fan speeds. The radiator is half as thick as a Thermochill, RX or GTX but beats these rads hands down at 400rpm. For silent computing, this is one hell of a radiator!

To me, the XSPC RX is the best thick, highend radiator for low to medium fan speeds or any fan speeds for that matter. For more detail on this, see my separate review of the RX.

I was very disappointed with the HWLabs radiators. I really like the Black Ice style and finish, the radiators are gorgeous and solidly manufactured. So I wanted these rads to do well, but they simply didn't. It's clear that they are geared towards high-rpm-fans but even with those, they don't perform especially well. Even at 2000rpm, the Thermochill delivers equal temperatures as the GTX. And at every other fan speed, the Thermochill and other radiators clearly perform better than the Black Ice rads. More importantly, even at the high heat load and 2000rpm, the GTX beats the much cheaper MCR320 by only 1°.
So, while it's possible that the HWLabs radiators start outperforming the competition at even higher rpms than I tested, I don't see the point in them. Even if you aren't into silent computing, you shouldn't risk your hearing to get optimal temps.

Hope you enjoyed this review.

Cheers,
Shane

[Odin Eidolon]

thanks shane, you rock! these graphs are much easier to read than the one posted at dexego.

what are you planning now? cant wait for your next review.

[Snyxxx]

Thank you for doing all this hard work.

What I find interesting is the RPM versus cooling "bang for the buck" at 1200 RPM. I like to keep mine around that speed and this helps confirm I am not missing too much by keeping them quiet.

[smee]

See SEE! MCR's are right behind, best BaNG for ur BUCK!

[RedRaider]

I really like your test setup.

This is a little hard to digest while I'm on my iPhone, I look forward to delving into this tonight.

Your effort, as always is much appreciated.

[HESmelaugh]

*Update*

Added flowrates:



Note: I've been told that the HTSF shouldn't be this restrictive so it will be cleaned and retested later on.

Originally Posted by Odin Eidolon

thanks shane, you rock! these graphs are much easier to read than the one posted at dexego.

what are you planning now? cant wait for your next review.

Thanks!
Currently, I'm testing CPU blocks. After that, probably some more rads and after that, a big project is planned, but it's mainly interesting for LC-noobs.

[ballz0r]

as always, thanks for testing Hes

Being a diehard HWLabs fanboi, I cant help thinking theres gota be something wrong with the HW Labs results tho... the stealth is the same FPI but half as thick and gets roughly the same results st a much lower flow rate???

any chance of trying some high static pressure fans on the GTX before i go slash my wrists?

[Eternalightwith]

Originally Posted by ballz0r

as always, thanks for testing Hes

Being a diehard HWLabs fanboi, I cant help thinking theres gota be something wrong with the HW Labs results tho... the stealth is the same FPI but half as thick and gets roughly the same results st a much lower flow rate???

any chance of trying some high static pressure fans on the GTX before i go slash my wrists?

Same here.

Hey Red, We need to get an emo "wrist slashing" smilie

[HESmelaugh]

First of all, the GT Stealth and the GTX do not have identical fin density. The extra depth of a radiator also adds static pressure the fans must overcome, so to compensate the thicker radiators always have lower fin density.

Here is a comparison of fin density that I did by just counting the total amount of fins found in an area of one squared centimeter:



So this would account for the similar results the GT and GTX get.

As for testing with more fan scenarios: I don't really see that happen. Not anytime soon anyway. I simply don't have stronger fans than those 2000rpm Yates right now and neither would I (or my neighbours) want to put up with the noise of higher rpm fans.

I might do some testing with push-pull configs in the future, but I don't know yet.

[Septim]

good results, as always.

i can see the 1600rpm thermochill still reigns, with the BI gtx close.

[HESmelaugh]

Thanks.

Another way to put that would be: The Thermochill reigns at higher rpm. At 2000rpm the GTX finally catches up.

Well, as you can tell, after this test I'm not such a great fan of the BI rads anymore...

[TedShred]

I can't say I fully comprehend all the info from these tests (getting there tho), but it's awesome that guys take the time to do this kind of thing. It REALLY helps my edukayshun about this stuff. Thanks

[Gazmtk]

Thanx for the effort HESmelaugh

[HESmelaugh]

Ted: Ask away! If you want anything explained in more detail, myself and I'm sure many others in the forum will gladly help.


Very welcome, Gazm.

[Snyxxx]

Originally Posted by HESmelaugh

Thanks.

Another way to put that would be: The Thermochill reigns at higher rpm. At 2000rpm the GTX finally catches up.

Well, as you can tell, after this test I'm not such a great fan of the BI rads anymore...

Do you mean "The Thermochill reigns at lower rpm" instead of higher?

[ballz0r]

thanks for that FPI info Hes!!!

Man those GT Rads are better than i thought, great performance for a slim rad, and available in 140mm variants

[ballz0r]

looking at these results again im really surprised at how the thin rads perform.

GTS 29.6mm, MCE 34mm, MCR 34mm

these are right up there with the thicker rads

I dont know... something just doesnt sound right

[CrazyJoe]

Thanks for all the hard work HESmelaugh !

Great to see some more numbers pouring in that we can use.

I'm with ballz0r though. I've seen the testing by Martin and Ira-k on the GTX series, and they've always done better than this.
Maybe there's been a change in production since their tests that we're not aware of ?
It could even be something as simple as a lower flow issue. I'm sure your inline heaters restrict the flow to some degree.
Maybe the addition of push pull fans will make all the difference ... hard to say.
I have 2 480GTX's with 16 sunon 86cfm fans in push pull waiting to cool two 285GTX's and a 9600GT on one loop and the i7 965 on the other ... so I do have a vested interest in their capabilities.

[HESmelaugh]

Originally Posted by Snyxxx

Do you mean "The Thermochill reigns at lower rpm" instead of higher?

Here's how I see it: At low rpm (400 and 800rpm) the XSPC RX and the Magicool Elegant rule.
At 1600rpm, the Thermochill rules. It clearly beats the BI rads at this fan speed.
At high rpm (2000rpm), the Thermochill still kinda rules (Delta of 7.5 @ 300W, 11.4 @ 600W). But it's only at this high fan speed that the BI rads finally catch up with the performance of the TC. They get almost identical results at 2000rpm.

Originally Posted by ballz0r

looking at these results again im really surprised at how the thin rads perform.

GTS 29.6mm, MCE 34mm, MCR 34mm

these are right up there with the thicker rads

I dont know... something just doesnt sound right

The fin density is so incredibly much higher on the GT rad that the results don't surprise me at all. The thickness of a radiator has way less of an impact on it's cooling potential than the fin density.

Originally Posted by CrazyJoe

Thanks for all the hard work HESmelaugh !

Great to see some more numbers pouring in that we can use.

I'm with ballz0r though. I've seen the testing by Martin and Ira-k on the GTX series, and they've always done better than this.
Maybe there's been a change in production since their tests that we're not aware of ?
It could even be something as simple as a lower flow issue. I'm sure your inline heaters restrict the flow to some degree.
Maybe the addition of push pull fans will make all the difference ... hard to say.
I have 2 480GTX's with 16 sunon 86cfm fans in push pull waiting to cool two 285GTX's and a 9600GT on one loop and the i7 965 on the other ... so I do have a vested interest in their capabilities.

High FPI rads definitely gain more extra performance in Push-Pull than lower FPI rads. I did a small test on this a while back.

One thing you need to keep in mind when comparing my results to those of Martin or Skinnee or others is that I use different fans and a different range of rpm. afair both Skinnee and Martin use Ultra Kaze fans with up to 3000rpm for their high rpm testing. I'm using Yates with up to "only" 2000rpm so I don't have those speeds and my fans don't produce as much pressure.
Also, neither of them tests all the way down to 400rpm.

So, if you're looking at my results and comparing them to others, the curves will look very different. I have no doubt that the BI radiators perform better with higher-pressure and higher speed fans as well as in push-pull configs.

[ballz0r]

Originally Posted by HESmelaugh

High FPI rads definitely gain more extra performance in Push-Pull than lower FPI rads. I did a small test on this a while back.

So in my HTPC I went for a BIX 420 with 25mm thick fans on pull (54+25=79mm) ... I could fit a GTS in there with push pull (25+30+25=80mm) which should give better temps.

man this is some great information, thanks again for your efforts Hes!!!

[HESmelaugh]

Yeah, seeing how close the GTX and GTS are in my tests, you probably would get better results with a GTS in push-pull.

There are so many things that could be tested with radiators, it would never take an end! People are asking about different fans, stacking radiators, push-pull configs...
I wish I could test more of these different things but it's just so incredibly time-consuming that I'd end up doing nothing else.

[ballz0r]

Youve already presented a wealth of information, I think from here its up to people to do their own specific tests.

I found this roundup of 240mm rads which confirms your results but includes a high pressure fan in the results.


the moral of this story... dont use yates on a GTX

[HESmelaugh]

Right, I'd seen that test before but I don't know these Papst-fans he used, so I can't tell where the difference is.

When I do the next round of radiator testing, I might give one of the BI rads a go with higher pressure fans.
Do you think that Ultra Kazes at 2000rpm woul be a lot better than the yates?