"Crazy" 120x38 Delta fans (4x50 W) on 480 mm radiator test :)

[Tam3n]

Yayy, test time. How much does the airflow through a radiator really matter??

 

I got 4x PFC1212DE-PWM high speed "server" fans for fun, decided to try them on my 480 mm radiator and do a comparison against regular Noctuas on a 360 mm.

 

Test setup:

Procedure

- Main heat load produced with CPU running Prime95 small FFT AVX

- Tested both idle and load, with only 3x Noctuas and with only 4x Deltas - other radiator fans off, pumps max.

- Monitored: ambient temp (in the video both in and out are in the room), water temp (inline sensor), CPU cores temp, PSU power output (Delta fans ran from a different PSU and were not included in the measurement).

 

System

CPU: i7 3970X, load @ 4.7 GHz, 1.40 V

GPU: HD 7850 idling

PSU: Corsair AX860i (core temps & power monitoring 1/sec)

 

Water loop

Rad1: Alphacool UT60 360 mm (with 3x Noctua)

Rad2: Alphacool UT60 480 mm (with 4x Delta)

Rad3: Phobya Xtreme Nova 1080 mm (with 9x Corsair ML, off all the time)

Pumps: 3x Laing D5 vario in series

1x Alphacool CPU block

1x Alphacool universal block

 

Fans

- 3x Noctuas (2x NF-F12 PWM + 1x  NF-P12 PWM)

- 4x Delta PFC1212DE-PWM

 

Note: Deltas were mounted with shrouds made diy-style from some 120 mm fan rims in hopes of reducing the large dead spot in the center.

 

All runs (1-4. 1st day, 5-7. 2nd day)

1. Idle - Noctuas idle, Deltas off, pumps min

2. Idle - Noctuas idle, Deltas off, pumps max

3. Idle - Noctuas max, Deltas off, pumps max

4. Idle - Noctuas off, Deltas max, pumps max

5. Idle - Noctuas max, Deltas off, pumps max

6. Load - Noctuas max, Deltas off, pumps max

7. Load - Noctuas off, Deltas max, pumps max

 

Note: During run 6. water temp rising from idle, during run 7. water temp cooling from run 6 end. Ambient slowly rising as the room warms up (no A/C).

 

Results

 

Note:  Ambient and water temp taken at the end of the runs. CPU cores temp is all cores average taken over a small time period at the end of run. Power is the whole average output during the run. Idle includes the open programs and logging. Accuracy is what it is. At small differences accuracy suffers, but gives the overall idea. Rad size compensated values calculated by increasing the ambient-water ∆ proportionally to rad size difference (marked with red).

 

Video runs 5-7

 

Some observations

- At load Deltas lowered water ∆ from 11.5C to 4.3C when comparing rad size compensated values (167% more powerful cooling)

- Changing pumps from setting 1 (min) to 5 (max) increased power draw by ~40 W

- Idle to full CPU load increased the system power draw by about 320 W.

- When on, the Delta fans themselves should warm the room air with about 200 W of heat output

 

Bonus clip for whoever made it down here

 

Happy water cooling!

 

I will be running with the Deltas at full blast from now on.

[Enderman]

Fans don't convert all their input energy into heat like processors do, they produce mostly kinetic energy  but cool experiment.

Haha

"cool"

Ha

Ha

[Tam3n]

11 hours ago, Enderman said:

Fans don't convert all their input energy into heat like processors do, they produce mostly kinetic energy  but cool experiment.

Haha

"cool"

Ha

Ha

Lol

Yeah, fans don't convert all their energy "immediately" to heat in the radiator, but that kinetic energy containing air will eventually slow down in the room and heat up by the amount it got energy...

[agent_x007]

I'm using push-pull Delta 38mm PWM fans on my main PC

Fans I use : 
FFC1212DE-SP09 ("push" fan),
AFB1212SHE-5J1N ("pull" fan).
FFC is connected directly to Molex 12V (and gets PWM signal from MB header).

[iamdarkyoshi]

I should conduct some similar tests with a 40mm dual rotor fan I have that runs at around 30,000RPM. Its an absolutely terrifying monster when running, and the static pressure is just something else...

[Tam3n]

On 6/16/2018 at 11:23 AM, agent_x007 said:

I'm using push-pull Delta 38mm PWM fans on my main PC

Fans I use : 
FFC1212DE-SP09 ("push" fan),
AFB1212SHE-5J1N ("pull" fan).
FFC is connected directly to Molex 12V (and gets PWM signal from MB header).

What kind of cooler do you have, just a regular air tower cooler?

[agent_x007]

@Tam3n

Thermalright Venomous-X.

[Froody129]

I'm actually quite impressed all of that is running on an 860w PSU. If everything is overclocked with an extra 200w in fans I don't know if that's enough  

[Tam3n]

9 hours ago, Froody129 said:

I'm actually quite impressed all of that is running on an 860w PSU. If everything is overclocked with an extra 200w in fans I don't know if that's enough  

The Delta fans were running off of a different PSU on the floor  I just ghetto tape-adapted the fans' industrial connections with modified molex connectors to the PSU molex power connectors.

If I remember right, the AX860i can push around 950 W (1000+ W draw from wall) before OCP shutdown. For some high overclock sessions it has held me back (had to use an additional PSU), but for normal daily use or CPU only OC it's plenty.