Hello, I am going to buy a radiator for a water cooling system im building and I have found 2 radiators but I don't know which is better for my system. The first is the Black Ice Pro III Radiator and the other one is the Black Ice X-Flow ProIII. What is the difference between the Standard one and the XFlow? Theres only a 4 dollar difference and the BTU rating is the same.

The X-Flow is a single-pass rad while the regular Pro is a dual-pass. I think the manufacturer made a typo. The matter of fact it looks like someone just copy / pasted the Pro III marketing hype into the X-ProIII's page and only changed the dimensions.

BTU ratings were obtained at a set flow rate (probably unrealistic). In real life the system flow rates will be different for each radiator and therefore also the heat dissipation. Those numbers aren't a great deal of help.

Isn't a Dual Pass Radiator Better?

Depends on the application. The single pass rads are optimized for use with impingement style blocks such as the DD RBX and TDX, Swiftech Storm and WhiteWater style blocks.

I believe since its a singlepass radiator, the water will go from point A to point B. That should give ter less restriction and ensure higher flow.

Quote: I believe since its a singlepass radiator, the water will go from point A to point B. That should give ter less restriction and ensure higher flow.

That might be true but a dual pass radiator also goes.. "from point A to point B"

The tradeoff between a single pass and dual pass radiator is increased water velocity in a smaller number of tubes (dual-pass) vs. less restriction to achieve greater total system flow rates by increasing the water pathway's cross-sectional area (single-pass). Of course water block performance is also affected by changes in system flow rates, so that should also be considered.

Here is a paper regarding rad testing:
http://swiftnets.com/Technical/Asses...erformance.pdf

Of particular note in this case is the relationship between the "BIP-120" and "BI Cross 1/2", which are the 1x120mm variants of the radiators xLastShotx is interested in. The relationship observed between the two can be explained in my first paragraph. The resistance curves of the ProIII and ProIII-X will be the same as the single cores plus the resistance from the additional tube length in each case, making them both steeper. If you consider the fact that the "BI Cross 1/2" was tested with 1/2" barbs vs. the "BIP-120" with 3/8" barbs I would hypothesize that the difference in flow rates won't be very significant. The difference in heat dissipation will increase with the scaling of both rads.

However, considering the cooling capacity of the 2 rads in question there won't be any discernable performance difference by the average joe watercooler IMO. I would just pick whichever allows for easier routing / less tubing length or has more polysyllabicwords in the marketing statement.

After reading that exceedingly well done article (thanks Anonymous for the link!) I have to agree. Unless you have the type of sceintific equipment used in that article you will notice very little difference between the single pass vs the dual pass radiators in daily use.

The only situation that I can foresee a difference would be if you were using a block that works significantly better with either high flow or high pressure environments. Then you would want to match the radiator with the block. Even then the differences would probably be within 1-3C in normal use. So I would go with the radiator that fits/looks the best in your application. The primary thing to remember in that case is that dual pass has the barbs on the same side, usually next to each other, while single pass will have them in opposite corners.

A little off topic and sorry for jacking your thread but has anyone had experience with the BIE3 and the thermochill 120.3? If so which one yielded best results?

To me it sounds like I should get the x-flow single pass radiator. I am going to use the Danger Den RBX CPU waterblock which is a waterblock which requires a good amount of flow. Also will this be a pretty good setup? I have never watercooled a pc before, but I have read many articles, reviews, and guides.

*The Setup*
CPU Water Block: Danger Den RBX with Brass Top
GPU Water Block: Danger Den BrassMAZE4 GPU
Radiator: Black Ice X-Flow ProIII
Pump: Hydor L35
Reservoir: Danger Den Single 5 1/4" Bay Reservoir
Fillport: Danger Den Fillport
Tubing: PrimoFlex UV Blue 1/2" Tubing
Coolant: PrimoChill Ice Clear

Also How much tubing shoud I buy? Im thinkin somthing like 4 or 5ft.?

I would go with one of the 12v pumps like the Swiftech MCP-655 or DD version. And I am not a fan of that GPU block, but it does work good (I dont like the way it looks and I want one that will cool the ram). The good thing about it is that it can fit juat about any card. While you will probably only need 3-4' of hose, I always order 10'. It is cheap enough that it is not a major expense and I would much rather have too much then not enough.

yes, the DD D5 pump would be great, its quieter than the D4 (even though i can barley hear either of mine) and apperently has a longer life.

What is the GPH rating for the DD D5? I was able to find the swiftech GPH rating which is 317gph. Is there any difference between the two? They look pretty similar. Also what makes the Danger Den-D5 and the Swiftech MCP-655 better than the Hydror L35? And what would any of you recommend as a good GPU waterblock? It needs to be high flow, 1/2in tubing compatible, and compatible with the Sapphire X800GTO Fireblade Edition.

The D5 and the 655 are the same pump, it's a Laing. The advantage of the pump is a higher head rating than a L35 and a lower power consumption. Head rating is really more important than gph when running impingement blocks. A low pressure pump will be more effected by back pressure and the true flow rate through the system will suffer.

That said, the L35 is a fine pump. But as with most things, you get what you pay for. Let you're budget decide.

The GPU block you picked is a very good block, I have that exact model. In my experience, cooling ram chips yields only minimal gains for a great deal more money. The Maze 4 will not only fit the card you have now, but most likely the card you will eventually upgrade too as well.

I've got the brass topped TDX and Maze 4 and a chipset block cpukiller provided for a mod (I have yet to finish) and they look kick @ss. Personal preference I guess, but I think your choices are solid. Except for the fact you don't need both a fill port and reservoir. You can read my review on what I thought of the PCIce.

I was actually planning on using the fillport as a drainport in case I ever have to drain the system. I will probobly save up for the DD-D5 its only a tiny bit more considering that I would have to buy some kind of relay for the L35. I think I will go with the Brass topped Maze4 GPU Block since Im gunna go with the Brass topped RBX. I have never done a water cooling system or seen one in person for that matter, but I don't think it should be to hard to install, I have done a ton of reaserch, the hardest thing will probobly be mounting the huge Black Ice X-Flow ProIII, Im thinkin I will mount it on the top of my case and find some way to make it look like part of the case. Does anyone know if there are any pictures of anyone who has used any of the Black Ice 3 radiators? Id like to get some more ideas.

Building the system is not hard at all. Just take your time and make sure you clamp each connection nice and tight. As for the rad and how to make it look like part of the case.... get creative. There are as many different ways to do things like that as there are people looking to do them.

And with the GPU block, I didn't click the link yesterday to see it, and I thought it was one of the older DD GPU blocks, that one is not bad looking. But like I said, I know it performs well, my comment was more a matter of personal taste.

Oh, and AntiM, I know the RAM cooling doesn't get you much, if anything, but I think it looks better then using RAM sinks, and if you ever have to put the stock cooler back on (like to sell the card) you can. Once the RAM sinks are on with adhesive it is not that easy to get them off.

Do you think that the Black Ice Pro 3 X-flow may be an overkill for my system?

Just get the largest you can fit and that your budget allows. That said a dually can handle more than enough heat you can throw at it.

Rite now my cpu is fine in terms of heat, my vpu is hotter than I would like it to be, but it is winter. My case temp is usually around 24c, but I am worried about summer time becuase I live in the desert and usaully in the summer its at least 90f every day so I dont know how my cpu and vpu will do then.

I use a heater core from VoyeurMods (120mm) to cool a P4 3.0ghz, ATI X800XT, and the chipset. It cools that just fine, no problems. A 120mm Black Ice keeps another P4 2.4hz noce and cool.

A dual 120 should keep just about anything short of a heavily OC'd SLI system cool, depending upon fans and everything else. That said, if it does get hot in your room in the summer, you have to remember that the higher the ambient temp the less impact the radiator has, so a bigger one will be better.