HW labs Blck Ice GT-Xtreme performance

[Babrbarossa]

As you know by my sig, I have this radiator- I bought it because it was on sale, and because I figured it would work well based on its specs, but I've been looking around for reviews or comparisons of the GT-Xtreme, and I can't find anything (in english at least). I read many people saying "ugh, don't get HW, get Thermochill" but I think they're all referring to the lower end non-GTX line- and I think there's a lack of awareness of the GTX line, so people just tend to repeat what they think they've heard.

I see Miso is using HW too- does anyone know of any performance comparisons between the HW GTXs and the TC PAs?

The world needs more WC component roundups!

[Beermaster]

Well Babr, contact all the companys get them to send you the equipment and do a round up for us

The reason people recommend the Thermochill radiators is that the PA series ones will perform about on par with the Black Ice GTX rads, while using lower CFM fans. If you're going to use high CFM fans anyway, the GTX will outperform the PA (in theory).

I'm actually using a Black Ice GT Stealth radiator as well as a Black Ice Pro II radiator. The reason I like these ones is that they are thinner than the Xtreme, GTX, or Thermochill PA. I've got a Thermochill PA in my CPU water block test bed for the purpose of standardizing with what everyone else uses, but I wouldn't bother replumbing my own loop to add it.

Everyone on XS and EOC will recommend Thermochill for everyone without considering how hard they are to get, how thick they are (even thicker than yours....), and how expensive they are. You've made a perfectly good decision imo.

[Babrbarossa]

Thanks Miso- I'm perfectly happy with my choice- the proof is in the pudding- it's mostly just curiosity- and it's like you said, people often don't consider much when they make recommendations- just repeat what they heard (I've been guilty of it too, I suppose)

Yeah, it's true. The biggest thing I find is that many people don't make wise fan choices for their radiators. Many people assume that with a thick, dense radiator that you need to have 100+ CFM fans in order to make it useful at all. What I find is far more important is having fans that generate lots of static pressure (ie 38mm thick fans). You can undervolt them as much as you want and they will still draw air through those dense fins, whereas you can turn 25mm thick fans up as high as you want and they'll never perform that well on a thick, dense radiator.