Ok.so here it goes.....

so my rad is leaking right now and i was forced to go to AMD stock cooler. My q is this...has anyone tried using a car radiator in their loop? I googled around and it seems that alot of guys out there is using car rad or heater core to cut cost. performance wise, car rad>pc rad due to the massive size. btw, i have an extra proton wira's rad to be used. what do u guys think? all ears here

why ur current radiator is leaking bro ?

ya, car radiator can use if u got good pump and find the correct material one...

if i not wrong, most car radiator use aluminum as the material rite ? this is the main reason people avoid as mixing metal is not a good ideal in water cooling...

material ...yup, a big headache..
maybe should try asking one of those kaki-motor to as about that rad

1.about pump....normal DD cant push it? i thought it can push liquid vertically up to 4 metres?

2. with huge rad like that, do u think more air bubble will be trapped?

Why car radiator/heater core is not recommended:

1. Chemical effects, aluminium would cause the copper blocks to corrode.
2. Restrictive, your pump would have a hard time pumping those water throughout it.
3. Ugly, it doesn't look nice if beauty is one of your concern for water cooling

Uhh, many people have tried this (heck i wanted to use an air-cond rad)
but it's inefficient to many extents. plus, your pump would not be able to efficiently circulate water thru it, and hence your temps will probably be higher than your air cooled proc.
it's gonna be pretty hard to attach it to anywhere too dont ya think? car rads are pretty darn huge, and getting a silent fan that can push a decent amount of CFM through that dense copper fins is gonna be tough.

Car radiator is not optimize for this usage:
Fin is tooo dense so you would need fan with high static pressure to push any decent amount of air
Mixing metal in water is not a good idea
Size is way too big
Restrictive internal design
You can get it work but the effort is not worth it i would say

i've seen someone using the car radiator which is mount on the home's brick wall. i forgot where's the picture.. but the temp is nice, but the radiator is located outside the building.. for me it's not worth it to make it like that...

1st things 1st, most of the vehicles in S.E.A. eg. M'sia do not have heater core since V do not have winter here n V do not actually need it thus U may have difficulty finding a heater core, but U can still find it on many c.b.u. vehicles since many of them r imported frm those countries having winter as part of their seasons.

Frm vat I've learnt, automotive radiators r designed to work with pressurised liquid cooling system unless the water pump Ur using in Ur pc is powerfull enough to genarate such amt of flow/pressure rate to ensure sufficient coolant circulation within the system.

If U r 2 use a automotive radiator, U would most probably having a underpowered waterpump tht is able to cope up with the system.

Can any1 tell me which is the most powerfull waterpump for pc up 2 date? Since my experience level in pc watercooling is kindda ltd.

Most of the common automotive liquid cooling system have a maximum pressure of 0.93kg/m (some r higher) but the pc liquid cooling system is very far below tht. Even if the pump is able to cope up with the system (maybe U feel like using a machanical pump eg. pump retrofitted frm automotive waterpump instead of electric pump), vat bout the waterblocks, hoses, and barbs?

Question 2, may I know as up 2 date, what is the highest pressure a waterblock can take? I got no clue since I haven't seen any waterblock manufacturer put in this datail into their waterblock spec sheet.

I believe many of U should know the noise level of the fan attached to the automotive radiator huh, don't U? Is actually up 2 Ur preference whether the noise level is part of Ur concern. Or perhaps forget about the automotive radiator fan and let focus on 12cm fan, for such a huge radiator, can U imaging how many 12cm fans U need to ensure the radiator will work at it's full effectiveness?

As vat clawhammer suggested at #1, I didn't even realize tht but thanks 4 reminded me. As vat V all know tht this is basically caused by ioning effect between different types of metal working together. Find out more in Ur S.P.M. Chemistry reference book (Chemistry or Physics ? , sum1 correct me plz)

But still it is a good reason to integrate automotive radiator into pc liquid cooling system due 2 it's effectiveness if compatibility is not an issue since it's a pressurised liquid cooling, means 2 say it increase the bolling point of the coolant within the system. Y? Since boiling point of the coolant increases with the applied pressure increased. Again refer to Ur S.P.M. reference books 4 more details..... But the question here is, our pc operationg temp. is very far below automotive engines, so this doesn't sound like a benefit at all.....

All the above r given based on my own Pte. Ltd. experience n knowleage, so feel free 2 correct me if U find me wrong.

This post has been edited by J1@l_ l_l l\l: Jan 21 2010, 05:46 PM

that guy and me has common interest... but i want to use a copper rad instead of car's allu rad

i LOLed at ur post... but its 100% true... car rad can be used, but its not really worth the effort and money

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Added on February 1, 2010, 10:14 pmi've not seen any nickel plated copper rad in the market before... could it be the diff material issue made nickel plated copper rad never exist in the PC WC market ?

This post has been edited by general_odin: Feb 1 2010, 10:14 PM

hey doesn't copper rad oxidize very fast cause i have trouble cleaning the copper inside it and one more thing would car grade coolant effect the rad and copperblock