Black Ice GTX 280 review - RRTech...The SOURCE for Extreme Liquid Cooling

**HESmelaugh** · 03-30-2009, 02:18 PM

HWLabs Black Ice GTX 280

As some of you might know, I'm a big fan of the 140-mm format for radiators. I just like the look of those rads and fans for them and I also believe that nothing can replace frontal surface area when it comes to cooling performance.

So I was very happy that Caseking.de, a German retailer, provided me with a Black Ice GTX 280 for testing.

Dimensions

In numbers, the measurements of the GTX 280 are: 15.5 x 5.3 x 32 cm (you gotta do the conversion yourselves, I don't speak inches

).

I have two important points to make about the dimensions of this radiator.

1. It has similar dimensions as a Triple (3x120) radiator:

It seems and feels like the same size, the mass is just distributed differently, so to speak. If anything, the GTX 280 feels more compact than it's equivalent, the GTX 360 (not pictured).
Basically, most spaces large enough to accomodate a 360 rad are going to be large enough to accomodate a 420 rad...

BUT...

...the GTX 280 is 15.5 cm wide. An optical drive bay is 15 cm wide.
This means that, without serious modding, this radiator won't fit into the front of your standard case. What makes this really stupid is that this is only because of the encasing on the sides of the radiator. They are convex because it looks nice and that's the HWLabs style. Not because they need to be.
This is my biggest gripe with the GTX 280. Now, with that out of the way, let's get to the interesting stuff.

Testing Method

I used the heaters from my Triple-Radiator roundup and the same testing loop as described in that thread, to test this radiator.

I got myself four Spire 140-mm fans that go up to 1500rpm. The fans are rated at 95.5 CFM. I can't particularly recommend these fans as two out of the four produce annoying grinding noises. They are the only fans I found that go up to 1500rpm, though.
Sharkoon System fans would probably have been a good alternative, but they weren't in stock at my retailers.

I tested both with two fans in push and with four fans in push-pull:

I did test runs with the fans set to 500rpm, 1000rpm and 1500rpm.
All temperatures shown are the difference between water and ambient temperatures.

2 vs. 4 Fans

The above graph just shows the radiator compared to itself with 2 and 4 fans. As we can see, the added fans provide a nice performance gain.

280 vs. 360

Now, of course it's interesting to see how this radiator compares to a 360 radiator. Unfortunately radiators of different fan formats cannot be compared to each other without some bias or other.
I could write an entire essay on this, but I can't be bothered right now. Maybe I'll find something I wrote earlier to copy-paste here.

For now, let it just be said that I am simply comparing the data of the 360 rads with that of the 280 rad along equal fan speeds. This comparison makes some resembalnce of sense since the fans, if they are of equal quality, will produce almost identical amounts of noise at the same rpm even if they are of different sizes. So this, in a way, is like comparing the cooling performance of the radiators at equal noise levels.

The GTX 280 with two and four fans is compared to the GTX 360, it's equivalent in every way except dimensions, and the RX360, one of the best triple-radiators available.

As we can see, the GTX 280 outperforms the GTX 360 at low fan speeds and then ends up with about the same performance at higher fan speeds. This is pretty darn good, if you ask me.
The RX obviously beats the crap out of the HWLabs radiators at low fan speeds due to it's generous fin-spacing. It ends up on about the same performance level as the HWLabs rads at 1600rpm, though.

Finally, the GTX 280 with four fans takes the cake from 800rpm upwards. Again, nobody said this was a fair comparison. It's just interesting.

Flowrates

Here is the flowrate achieved with the GTX 280 in the loop, compared to the flowrates achieved with each of the 360 radiators I tested in that same loop:

The GTX 280 does ok. Nothing to write home about, but certainly not bad.

Quick conclusion

Once again, the performance of a radiator in the 140-mm format surprised me in a good way. I did not expect the 280 to beat the 360 at all. I would have been happy with it just offering almost the same performance.
I'm really hoping for some low FPI radiators for 140-mm fans to show up soon.

Cheers,
Shane

**ballz0r** · 03-30-2009, 02:28 PM

Thanks for testing

Very interesting results

Are the 360 results from your previous roundup?

Quote:

Originally Posted by HESmelaugh

I'm really hoping for some low FPI radiators for 140-mm fans to show up soon.

Amen to that brutha

**Hondacity** · 03-30-2009, 02:46 PM

can you provide us links to the fans used? whats the cfm output?

Quote:

(you gotta do the conversion yourselves, I don't speak inches )

lol, no more gpm's pls use liters

was that a 300w heater that you use?

**HESmelaugh** · 03-30-2009, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ballz0r

Thanks for testing

Very interesting results

Are the 360 results from your previous roundup?

Yep. Same setup, same sensor location etc. so I could just use that same data.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hondacity

can you provide us links to the fans used? whats the cfm output?

was that a 300w heater that you use?

Fans: Link

Rated at 95.5 CFM.

Heater: Yes, all done with one 300W heater.

**Hondacity** · 03-30-2009, 03:14 PM

what was the difference at 1500rpm between 2fans and 4fans?

**HESmelaugh** · 03-30-2009, 03:34 PM

8.6 (two fans)
6.9 (four fans)

**Hondacity** · 03-30-2009, 03:41 PM

thanks

again your review is excellent

**CrazyJoe** · 03-30-2009, 05:58 PM

Excellent work !
Thanks for getting this out ... I've been thinking about getting a 140 rad, but like you I've been waiting for that low fpi model to arrive.

Fitseries3 · 03-30-2009, 09:28 PM

whats the CFM on them fans on the 280? im thinking of getting a 280 but need to figure out what fans to get.

**ballz0r** · 03-30-2009, 09:31 PM

fans are the hardest thing to find for 140mm rads atm.... basically youve got a choice between low cfm and screamers (ie deltas)

Ive found a nice sanyo denki 140x38 i want to get but cant find a retailer

If low FPI 140s ever come out they are gona pwn all

**HESmelaugh** · 03-31-2009, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fitseries3

whats the CFM on them fans on the 280? im thinking of getting a 280 but need to figure out what fans to get.

The fans are rated at 95.5 CFM.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ballz0r

If low FPI 140s ever come out they are gona pwn all

That's what I'm hoping and waiting for. (come on, Swiftech/Magicool/Watercool/Whoever!)

***UPDATE***

Added a flowrate graph.

Thanks for the positive comments, everyone!

Fitseries3 · 03-31-2009, 08:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HESmelaugh

The fans are rated at 95.5 CFM.

where can i get them stateside?

**HESmelaugh** · 03-31-2009, 08:21 AM

Dunno. Search for "Spire BlueStar" or order them from Aquatuning.

I think Sharkoon System Fans are the better choice, though.

Fitseries3 · 03-31-2009, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HESmelaugh

Dunno. Search for "Spire BlueStar" or order them from Aquatuning.

I think Sharkoon System Fans are the better choice, though.

gah... no luck in the USA man.

**Septim** · 03-31-2009, 08:27 AM

Shane xcellent testing as usual. keep em coming.

**HESmelaugh** · 03-31-2009, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fitseries3

gah... no luck in the USA man.

No Sharkoon either?
Do you get the 140-mm Yates? They're pretty good. But I don't know if there are high-rpm versions of them yet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Septim

Shane xcellent testing as usual. keep em coming.

Thanks, man.

Fitseries3 · 03-31-2009, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HESmelaugh

No Sharkoon either?
Do you get the 140-mm Yates? They're pretty good. But I don't know if there are high-rpm versions of them yet.

Thanks, man.

140mm yates are crap. i've had a few. almost no cfm compared to other fans i've had.

**HESmelaugh** · 03-31-2009, 11:19 AM

Yeah, the ones I have here are definitely geared toward silent operation, not high CFM.

Well, I really don't know any other options then.

Ballzor should make some good 140 fans, while he's at it.

Lu(ky · 10-30-2009, 06:00 AM

Great write up on this 280 HESmelaugh

I have been looking at 280 since a 360 rad will not fit on top of my case. But the only decent fans I can find with high CFM are the FuFuFuFuFuFuFuFu fans rated at 1700rpm @ 91.2CFM and 36.3dBA I have three of theme to use on my MORA rad. But I think I may grab me the blue set for this rad. Since I will be using them on the top of my case with a PULL setup how far off do you think from your testing it will be? I wish XSPC would come out with one in a 280 setup I think it would do good.

Thanks..

**p0Pe** · 10-30-2009, 06:10 AM

i got one of theese for a m8 with 4 yates. works like a charm! almost same price as the rx360, and similar performance. its huge though

Jamesrt2004 · 10-30-2009, 06:19 AM

wow great performance, cuttently deciding atm whether to go 140 rads or 120, reviews like this are swaying me to the 140 size, as well bigger = better it seems (and decent fans are in production, yay)

(btw hey all some of you probs seen me (a noob) at TPU + XS)

03-30-2009, 02:18 PM	#1
HESmelaugh Liquid Testing Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Switzerland Posts: 584	Black Ice GTX 280 review HWLabs Black Ice GTX 280 As some of you might know, I'm a big fan of the 140-mm format for radiators. I just like the look of those rads and fans for them and I also believe that nothing can replace frontal surface area when it comes to cooling performance. So I was very happy that Caseking.de, a German retailer, provided me with a Black Ice GTX 280 for testing. Dimensions In numbers, the measurements of the GTX 280 are: 15.5 x 5.3 x 32 cm (you gotta do the conversion yourselves, I don't speak inches ). I have two important points to make about the dimensions of this radiator. 1. It has similar dimensions as a Triple (3x120) radiator: It seems and feels like the same size, the mass is just distributed differently, so to speak. If anything, the GTX 280 feels more compact than it's equivalent, the GTX 360 (not pictured). Basically, most spaces large enough to accomodate a 360 rad are going to be large enough to accomodate a 420 rad... BUT... ...the GTX 280 is 15.5 cm wide. An optical drive bay is 15 cm wide. This means that, without serious modding, this radiator won't fit into the front of your standard case. What makes this really stupid is that this is only because of the encasing on the sides of the radiator. They are convex because it looks nice and that's the HWLabs style. Not because they need to be. This is my biggest gripe with the GTX 280. Now, with that out of the way, let's get to the interesting stuff. Testing Method I used the heaters from my Triple-Radiator roundup and the same testing loop as described in that thread, to test this radiator. I got myself four Spire 140-mm fans that go up to 1500rpm. The fans are rated at 95.5 CFM. I can't particularly recommend these fans as two out of the four produce annoying grinding noises. They are the only fans I found that go up to 1500rpm, though. Sharkoon System fans would probably have been a good alternative, but they weren't in stock at my retailers. I tested both with two fans in push and with four fans in push-pull: I did test runs with the fans set to 500rpm, 1000rpm and 1500rpm. All temperatures shown are the difference between water and ambient temperatures. 2 vs. 4 Fans The above graph just shows the radiator compared to itself with 2 and 4 fans. As we can see, the added fans provide a nice performance gain. 280 vs. 360 Now, of course it's interesting to see how this radiator compares to a 360 radiator. Unfortunately radiators of different fan formats cannot be compared to each other without some bias or other. I could write an entire essay on this, but I can't be bothered right now. Maybe I'll find something I wrote earlier to copy-paste here. For now, let it just be said that I am simply comparing the data of the 360 rads with that of the 280 rad along equal fan speeds. This comparison makes some resembalnce of sense since the fans, if they are of equal quality, will produce almost identical amounts of noise at the same rpm even if they are of different sizes. So this, in a way, is like comparing the cooling performance of the radiators at equal noise levels. The GTX 280 with two and four fans is compared to the GTX 360, it's equivalent in every way except dimensions, and the RX360, one of the best triple-radiators available. As we can see, the GTX 280 outperforms the GTX 360 at low fan speeds and then ends up with about the same performance at higher fan speeds. This is pretty darn good, if you ask me. The RX obviously beats the crap out of the HWLabs radiators at low fan speeds due to it's generous fin-spacing. It ends up on about the same performance level as the HWLabs rads at 1600rpm, though. Finally, the GTX 280 with four fans takes the cake from 800rpm upwards. Again, nobody said this was a fair comparison. It's just interesting. Flowrates Here is the flowrate achieved with the GTX 280 in the loop, compared to the flowrates achieved with each of the 360 radiators I tested in that same loop: The GTX 280 does ok. Nothing to write home about, but certainly not bad. Quick conclusion Once again, the performance of a radiator in the 140-mm format surprised me in a good way. I did not expect the 280 to beat the 360 at all. I would have been happy with it just offering almost the same performance. I'm really hoping for some low FPI radiators for 140-mm fans to show up soon. Cheers, Shane __________________ "Hydrogen is a light, odorless gas, which, given enough time, turns into people." Important note: That sigline makes me seem a lot more sciency than I am. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Last edited by HESmelaugh; 03-31-2009 at 08:19 AM.

03-30-2009, 03:34 PM	#6
HESmelaugh Liquid Testing Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Switzerland Posts: 584	8.6 (two fans) 6.9 (four fans) __________________ "Hydrogen is a light, odorless gas, which, given enough time, turns into people." Important note: That sigline makes me seem a lot more sciency than I am. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

03-30-2009, 09:28 PM	#9
Fitseries3 Scam Artist Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: In Tony Larders ASS !!! Posts: 561	whats the CFM on them fans on the 280? im thinking of getting a 280 but need to figure out what fans to get. __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

03-30-2009, 09:31 PM	#10
ballz0r Wet DownUnder Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: United States of Australia Posts: 3,222	fans are the hardest thing to find for 140mm rads atm.... basically youve got a choice between low cfm and screamers (ie deltas) Ive found a nice sanyo denki 140x38 i want to get but cant find a retailer If low FPI 140s ever come out they are gona pwn all __________________ *To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.* mcoffey's Breadboard - Baleful's lappy farm - Coolmiester's Ghetto Skully - Baleful's Rig-in-a-box - JTrain's Desktop - Coolfris's Compact Cruncher - Just A Noobs Classy Cruncher - Shadowhunters NanoCruncher 4.0 - Oli4v's SuperSupreme with Cheeze - Floyd's Bottom Drawer - Oli4v's Sprawling Server life getting you down? cant understand why people keep swearing at you? got sand in your mangina? Sounds like you need to... To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

03-31-2009, 08:21 AM	#13
HESmelaugh Liquid Testing Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Switzerland Posts: 584	Dunno. Search for "Spire BlueStar" or order them from Aquatuning. I think Sharkoon System Fans are the better choice, though. __________________ "Hydrogen is a light, odorless gas, which, given enough time, turns into people." Important note: That sigline makes me seem a lot more sciency than I am. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

03-30-2009, 03:14 PM	#5
Hondacity Banned by Ira-k Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 1,543	what was the difference at 1500rpm between 2fans and 4fans?

03-30-2009, 03:41 PM	#7
Hondacity Banned by Ira-k Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 1,543	thanks again your review is excellent

03-30-2009, 05:58 PM	#8
CrazyJoe Crazy Liquid Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 446	Excellent work ! Thanks for getting this out ... I've been thinking about getting a 140 rad, but like you I've been waiting for that low fpi model to arrive.

03-31-2009, 08:27 AM	#15
Septim Voice of Wisdom Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: where 35C ambients is normal Posts: 1,901	Shane xcellent testing as usual. keep em coming. __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Computer operating 24/7 not doing anything? Don't waste that idle CPU power! To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Join up with our teams on WorldCommunityGrid or Folding@Home This is for a good cause. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. to Join, simply click here: To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

03-31-2009, 11:19 AM	#18
HESmelaugh Liquid Testing Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Switzerland Posts: 584	Yeah, the ones I have here are definitely geared toward silent operation, not high CFM. Well, I really don't know any other options then. Ballzor should make some good 140 fans, while he's at it. __________________ "Hydrogen is a light, odorless gas, which, given enough time, turns into people." Important note: That sigline makes me seem a lot more sciency than I am. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

10-30-2009, 06:00 AM	#19
Lu(ky Semi-Liquid Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Long Beach, California Posts: 116	Great write up on this 280 HESmelaugh I have been looking at 280 since a 360 rad will not fit on top of my case. But the only decent fans I can find with high CFM are the FuFuFuFuFuFuFuFu fans rated at 1700rpm @ 91.2CFM and 36.3dBA I have three of theme to use on my MORA rad. But I think I may grab me the blue set for this rad. Since I will be using them on the top of my case with a PULL setup how far off do you think from your testing it will be? I wish XSPC would come out with one in a 280 setup I think it would do good. Thanks.. __________________ CPU: Intel i7-920 DO 4.2GHz 1.25v MOBO: ASUS Rampage II GENE x58 MEMORY: Mushkins Redline 1600MHz 6-7-6-18 1T GPU:Sapphire 5970 eK Full Block Nickel SOUND Auzentech X-Fi Prelude & M-AUDIO Studiophile AV 40 HARD DRIVE:Intel SSD 80GB G2 PSU: Corsair HX1000W PSU COOLING: 2 x BlackIce SR1 280 rads with 140mm fans CASE: To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. MONITOR: LG W3000H-Bn 30" 5ms Widescreen LCD O.S: W7 64bit

10-30-2009, 06:10 AM	#20
p0Pe I sleep naked! Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: denmark Posts: 2,050	i got one of theese for a m8 with 4 yates. works like a charm! almost same price as the rx360, and similar performance. its huge though __________________ Pumps are like balls, you must roll two of them... To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. /quote red To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

10-30-2009, 06:19 AM	#21
Jamesrt2004 WeakSauce Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 8	wow great performance, cuttently deciding atm whether to go 140 rads or 120, reviews like this are swaying me to the 140 size, as well bigger = better it seems (and decent fans are in production, yay) (btw hey all some of you probs seen me (a noob) at TPU + XS)

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode