What makes the biggest difference in temps in a loop? AIO vs Customloop

[NorKris]

Hi guys 

 

Question 1:

If u have an AIO cooler with a 360rad and a custom loop with a 360rad,

is it the fact that the Custom Loop is using copper in the rad or the fact that the custom-pump moves the water faster?

(Jayz2cents made a vid claiming that pumpspeed dont matter)

(i know that its kinda both but if you needed to pick 1...?

 

Qustion 2:

lets say i wanna make an custom loop out of AIOs... (3)

Should i replace all the aliminuim rads and go for all copper? 
(the CPUblock-PUMP combo has  copper)

 

thanks guys

[Bombastinator]

15 minutes ago, NorKris said:

Hi guys 

 

Question 1:

If u have an AIO cooler with a 360rad and a custom loop with a 360rad,

is it the fact that the Custom Loop is using copper in the rad or the fact that the custom-pump moves the water faster?

(Jayz2cents made a vid claiming that pumpspeed dont matter)

(i know that its kinda both but if you needed to pick 1...?

 

Qustion 2:

lets say i wanna make an custom loop out of AIOs... (3)

Should i replace all the aliminuim rads and go for all copper? 
(the CPUblock-PUMP combo has  copper)

 

thanks guys

The problem with swapping metals is you don’t want to have copper and aluminum in the same loop.  If the rad is aluminum the block probably is too, so swapping to a copper rad would cause problems.  My suspicion is the custom rad is thicker.

[BobVonBob]

The reason custom loops generally have lower temps is because they'll usually have higher quality CPU blocks and thicker radiators with more surface area.

 

AIOs use anti-corrosives to prevent the mixed metals from becoming a big issue, and you could do the same.

[SolarNova]

20 minutes ago, NorKris said:

Hi guys 

 

Question 1:

If u have an AIO cooler with a 360rad and a custom loop with a 360rad,

is it the fact that the Custom Loop is using copper in the rad or the fact that the custom-pump moves the water faster?

(Jayz2cents made a vid claiming that pumpspeed dont matter)

(i know that its kinda both but if you needed to pick 1...?

 

Qustion 2:

lets say i wanna make an custom loop out of AIOs... (3)

Should i replace all the aliminuim rads and go for all copper? 
(the CPUblock-PUMP combo has  copper)

 

thanks guys

Its a combination of everything.

 

AIO pumps have low flow rate, thinner rads, aluminium rads, and usually u stick with the fans included, which are not always that great.

A custom loop has higher flow rate, copper components (if u dont go cheap), thicker and higher performance rads, and 'can' have better fans.

 

Flow rate DOES matter, but only up to a point. Ideally u should be in the region of 1GPM, AIO's from the limited testing done look to hover around 0.2 GPM. Even though AIO's are good enough, with such low flow rate, the pumps really are not designed to handle any more than what they are being used for, so expanding an AIO is a bad idea.

[NorKris]

30 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

The problem with swapping metals is you don’t want to have copper and aluminum in the same loop.  If the rad is aluminum the block probably is too, so swapping to a copper rad would cause problems.  My suspicion is the custom rad is thicker.

this is just wrong.
AIO's have aluminum Rads and copper cpublocks. Rads might be thicker but not always 

[NorKris]

31 minutes ago, BobVonBob said:

The reason custom loops generally have lower temps is because they'll usually have higher quality CPU blocks and thicker radiators with more surface area.

 

AIOs use anti-corrosives to prevent the mixed metals from becoming a big issue, and you could do the same.

have not given higher quality cpu block any thought hmm. Do u think the AIOs "cold plate" is 2-3c "worse" tho?

 

planing to use EK anti corrosive mix 

[HM-2]

It's notoriously hard to compare custom loop components, let alone AIOs as well, because there's no real agreed standards on how figures are represented. I would finger-in-the-air that a decent 360 custom loop radiator would probably have capacity to displace maybe 30-50% more wattage per 10 degrees of delta temperature but it's really very hard to separate AIO radiator performance from block and/or pump performance.

 

Suffice to say, all else (IE case, fans and airflow) being equal I'm very confident a good quality 30mm radiator with name brand generic CPU block and DDC pump will significantly outperform a 360mm AIO. Once you start taking into account jetplates or even blocks for specific CPU families that difference grows further.

 

Food for thought, but the EK-MLC Phoenix which is the lowest spec alu rads and blocks they offer in a beginner custom loop has about an 8% cooling advantage over a Corsair H150i AIO.

[NorKris]

25 minutes ago, HM-2 said:

It's notoriously hard to compare custom loop components, let alone AIOs as well, because there's no real agreed standards on how figures are represented. I would finger-in-the-air that a decent 360 custom loop radiator would probably have capacity to displace maybe 30-50% more wattage per 10 degrees of delta temperature but it's really very hard to separate AIO radiator performance from block and/or pump performance.

 

Suffice to say, all else (IE case, fans and airflow) being equal I'm very confident a good quality 30mm radiator with name brand generic CPU block and DDC pump will significantly outperform a 360mm AIO. Once you start taking into account jetplates or even blocks for specific CPU families that difference grows further.

 

Food for thought, but the EK-MLC Phoenix which is the lowest spec alu rads and blocks they offer in a beginner custom loop has about an 8% cooling advantage over a Corsair H150i AIO.

 

all of this is very true 
Lets take your example of H150 and EK Phoenix and the 8% better cooling
Would you say maybe 3 or 4% alone is becouse of the copper rad?
and then 2% pump?

2% coldplate/Block ?

[Bombastinator]

1 hour ago, NorKris said:

this is just wrong.
AIO's have aluminum Rads and copper cpublocks. Rads might be thicker but not always 

They could do that if they have some system to make dielectric problems not happen.  Like using something other than water.  A custom loop is generally water based though.  The general rule of tumb for custom loop is never mix metals and dielectric action is the reason.  You can make it happen a lot more slowly by separating the metals but it doesn’t stop it completely.  They make dielectric fitting for plumbing when you want to connect unlike metal pipes.  They have a plastic insert.  It doesn’t stop the problem though.  Just slows it down a lot.  The problem is even small things can mess with a water block.  Those fins are hair fine.

[HM-2]

28 minutes ago, NorKris said:

 

all of this is very true 
Lets take your example of H150 and EK Phoenix and the 8% better cooling
Would you say maybe 3 or 4% alone is becouse of the copper rad?
and then 2% pump?

2% coldplate/Block ?

Phoenix is alu rad not copper. I suspect rad performance would be fairly similar and the difference here is everything else.

[NorKris]

7 minutes ago, HM-2 said:

Phoenix is alu rad not copper. I suspect rad performance would be fairly similar and the difference here is everything else.

riiight, my bad 

ok here is my plan: splicing together a ML360R with 2x EVGA hybrid 120Rad and adding another 120Rad.

 

but im considering buying new all copper rads (to keep it "all copper" and maybe better temps)