Alphacool Supernova 1260 ( Or Phobya, same thing ) for external water box project

KillSwitx

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Hello to all and I hope I find you all in good health in these crazy times :)

So I'm doing a project to build a water box. This because I decided I didn't want to be limited by cases for this.

So I'm at the moment of ordering radiators and I was deciding on 2 x 560mm HWLabs GTR 560s ... or 3 x 480s EK XEs.

But meanwhile, I saw the Alphacool 1260.

For the price of 1 HWLabs GTR 560, I can get 2 x 1260s. And that got me thinking.

Do any of you worked with this rad or has some feedback if it's a good solution?

Do you think 2 x D5s will be able to deal with these beasts?

Thank you so much.
 
I use the Alphacool NexXxoS XT45 Full Copper 1080mm Nova with Koolance QD3 quick disconnects, DEMCiflex magnetic dust filters and Dual D5 pumps all which is external and love it. Right now it's cooling an OCed 3900x and OCed 2808Ti on Asus C8H w/monoblock when gaming CPU stays at 60c or below and GPU 45c or below and PWMs are rarely 4-5c above ambient. Best of all I use 18 fans in Push/Pull and barely hear it most of the time even when gaming. I don't know what it would be like w/o dual pumps so I can't comment + or -. I guess like you I just felt I needed it with all the extra tubing and desire to keep flow rate high. My gut says yeah go for it. Bottom line you are in for a treat.
 
If you aren't familiar with them yet, Watercool has a whole ecosystem around their MO-RA external radiators.

Here's mine:
IMG_20201219_194930255.jpg

I made some 3D printed feet to pass the tubing and cable concessions from the reservoir side to the back side, but other than that everything you see on there is off-the-shelf.
 
Yeah I totally know them ... but several things on the table:

- They are updating the MO-RA3 in 2021
- For the price of 1 MO-RA3 PRO I can get 2 x 1260 rads ( plus or minus 50 Euros :p )

I saw a "review" years ago, where they tested the MO-RA3 vs others including the Phobya 1260 (same rad), and 1260 won when using just fans on one of the sides ( MO-RA actually had better performance when using push/pull but they didn't do that config with 1260 ).

So yeah... fighting to understand what to do ...

What kind of temps are you getting VangoghComplex?
 
Yeah I totally know them ... but several things on the table:

- They are updating the MO-RA3 in 2021
- For the price of 1 MO-RA3 PRO I can get 2 x 1260 rads ( plus or minus 50 Euros :p )

I saw a "review" years ago, where they tested the MO-RA3 vs others including the Phobya 1260 (same rad), and 1260 won when using just fans on one of the sides ( MO-RA actually had better performance when using push/pull but they didn't do that config with 1260 ).

So yeah... fighting to understand what to do ...

What kind of temps are you getting VangoghComplex?
I'll get back to you on temps, as right now I'm only cooling a 3900x - waiting on the waterblock for my 3090.

The thing that sells the MO-RA for me is the ecosystem of parts and accessories. Feet, res mount, pump mounts, grilles, fan brackets give you options, different finishes... unless I'm mistaken the Phobya rad is just a rad, right? You gotta figure everything else out for yourself?

For performance, I consider these rads to be so far beyond the point of diminishing returns that I won't quibble about absolute performance leadership when there's other factors at play. Then again, I'm only cooling a single GPU and CPU, so your situation may be different.

I personally wouldn't bother with the Pro if you're pricing up a MO-RA. Push/pull is rarely worth the effort, and that's especially true here - they are low FPI radiator with nice flat fins, a single fan stack is plenty.
 
Well, i'm doing an enclosure and MO-RA3 doesn't need one.

The thing that's hitting my mind constantly is ... this is a niche solution, specific to this brand and accessories portfolio.

This and the 1260...

So, at the end of the day, maybe... i just get 2 x 560 rads and build that enclosure. In terms of the future, if something goes wrong or I want to change Rads, I think It will be easier to handle...

But yeah, MO-RA3 is a great offering I must admit.

Btw, what size is the reservoir? 150?
 
Well, i'm doing an enclosure and MO-RA3 doesn't need one.

The thing that's hitting my mind constantly is ... this is a niche solution, specific to this brand and accessories portfolio.

This and the 1260...

So, at the end of the day, maybe... i just get 3 x 560 rads and build that enclosure. In terms of the future, if something goes wrong or I want to change Rads, I think It will be easier to handle...

But yeah, MO-RA3 is a great offering I must admit.

Btw, what size is the reservoir? 150?
It's a 150ml Heatkiller Tube.
 
A bit messy atm but I built a cart on wheels to go under the desk. It holds PC case, Nova, dual pumps, 1600w ups and two temp sensors for hot and cold sides. The 1080 Nova is to the left of the pumps covered by the DEMCiflex filter. I suppose lighted would be nice and at some point I may upgrade fans but I opted for performance and ease of maintenance. There is a 4" gap behind the shelves above to Rad Cart for heat to rise up and away from the intake which is from the front.


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Cool owcrafsman, like you photos ... but I was expecting some opinions and such :)

This vs ... normal sized rads, for example ... 2 x 1260's vs 3 x 560 UT60s for example. What would you do? :)
 
Cool owcrafsman, like you photos ... but I was expecting some opinions and such :)

This vs ... normal sized rads, for example ... 2 x 1260's vs 3 x 560 UT60s for example. What would you do? :)
Once you get up to 1080mm of surface area, the returns on investment start diminishing unless you have a stupid amount of heat to dissipate. I doubt you need more than 1080 lol. You're asking about dual 1260s? Do you have a 2000w load or something? Otherwise you're throwing money away and two D5's would struggle with two externals because externals have serious pressure drops. On one of the externals you'd want to look at a 35x or dual D5, because you will have a hell of a pressure drop to deal with at 1.5gpm.



And then once you get to two externals you hit the efficiency limit, throwing more cooling doesn't get you any more gains as you start to get closer and closer to ambient, ie. wasting money. Btw, been there done that. And I did have 2000w load with quad 290x back in the day.
 
Can vouch for the GTR series. Just be sure to stick high pressure, high rpm fans on it or push/pull. They scale like no other lol.
 
Cool owcrafsman, like you photos ... but I was expecting some opinions and such :)

This vs ... normal sized rads, for example ... 2 x 1260's vs 3 x 560 UT60s for example. What would you do? :)
Well my thoughts were in Post 2.

The 1080 and 1260 both have a case that houses them upright and one in port, one out port and one drain port (fewer fittings). However I use the case without feet because I knew I was going to make a stand for it, I suppose you could modify an old case or something to house 2-560s or maybe a universal rad stand but still not quite the same. Actually there is lots to consider. For Example. I use a dedicated Power supply (450w) that is triggered on when I start the main PC and with 18 fans there are lots of cables to combine, so powered spliters, and extension cables for PWM control of the motherboard. In any case as with any build there is a lot to think about before dropping your dime.

https://www.aquatuning.us/water-coo...k-bench-edition-supernova-9x140mm/4x200/4x220
 
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