Asetek LCLC 120 vs Asetek LCLC 240

Still waiting for James to get back to me on Asetek LCLC 240 availability and pricing.

After reading Toms hardware review of the Corsair H50 (which is just an OEM'd Asetek 120mm LCLC part), I started looking around for info on the performance of the 240 part which uses a larger radiator that would accommodate two fans theoretically cooling the CPU better.

I cant find much, unfortunately. iBuyPower, CyberPower PC, and a few other vendors use them in builds. I noticed that DS' own builds use the smaller single-fan version. I cant find much discussion of why a PC builder went with one or the other or much hard data comparison between the two.

I was wondering if anyone knows of any performance data, hard or anecdotal, between the two? Is getting the Asetek dual-fan closed-loop cooling unit any more efficient at heat exchange and cooling than the single fan radiator version?

Edited by Clocks - 11 Sep 2009 at 10:53am

Originally posted by DST4ME why not just go with a real LC system like the frostbite where you can change any specific part you like?

Id rather go with a low-permeable housing and tubing and not have to mess with purging, refills, whatever.

One could call it laziness i guess, but really its wanting some benefit of liquid cooling without the extreme expense of a custom (frostbite) solution that i will later have to mess with.

If i can upgrade from a single fan radiator @ $99 to a dual fan @ $149 or something like that, it sure as hell beats paying $300 for a liquid cooling system when im not going to push my overclocks aggressive enough to really make use of the capability that i am investing so much money and hassle in.

Its entirely possible that there is stuff about Frostbite i don't know and maybe the oil base means never-refill, never-mess-with-it. If thats the case, id like to learn more about it. I cant find a page on the site other than a minimal information popup on the config page.

Frostbite is a great offering from DS and im glad they have it. There are a lot of great people out there that will see some real benefit from it. I just don't think im one of them.

Edited by Clocks - 11 Sep 2009 at 12:58pm

Originally posted by notalent I would actually look at getting the Corsair H50. They are specifically modified versions of the Asetek to provide additional cooling for the Core i7s. The major difference however is the radiator must be mounted as an intake fan. Corsair says the unit works best this way.

Of course they do. Fan inversion changes the radiator from working as an exhaust fan which takes already warm air inside the case (which most cases dont have good airflow dynamics) and forces already hot air past the reservoir which unfortunately makes the reservoir less performant because the air is unable to maximize heat transfer: its already warm.

Inverting the fan makes it an impeller thus taking relatively "cool" air from the outside and forcing it through the radiator which means that the radiator heat transfer is maximized. The drawback from which is that your case structure needs to be constructed to deal with that effect or you have essentially added another (large) source of hot air to stagnate inside your case.

Using a larger reservoir (hence the 240 discussion) you can go either way and still double your reservoir surface area. Just if the DS techs are custom mounting it, they might need to spend a little more thought on how they do the other fans in the case.

I will pay for the fan upgrades without blinking, if they top mount the reservoir to the HAF case and use that as an exhaust, they either need to make sure there is enough airflow coming in the bottom and in the back to provide enough of a medium to force through the reservoir (hopefully at a reasonable temperature) OR if they invert the fans, they need to ensure that the back fan on the HAF case is a high speed exhaust.

The burn in then becomes important to validate that the airflow configuration against a long term load.