Top mounted Vs. side/back mounter radiators?

[donnerjack]

Has anyone experienced a difference in cooling performance between mounting their radiators on the top of the case, back of the case, or even the side of the case?

Reason why is becuase the higher you mount the radiator compared to the pump, the less the flow rate will be.

It depends on the speed of the pump, but the "24gph" pump that came with my bigwater SE ran about 10C hotter than when I used a 370GPH pump- merely becuase the pump wasn't capable of taking away enough heat quickly enough.

But raising the distance the pump has to go will decrease the flow rate- so in effect having a top mounted radiator may significantly harm performance, unless you have a pump that is strong enough so it wouldn't matter. This weekend I will compare, since I will get the variable speed pump on wednesday.

[nothings_real]

You appear to be a little mislead. All else being equal, the flow rate is independent of where the radiator is located be it 5 feet below the pc/pump, level with the rest, or 5 feet above it all.

The reason is that yes, it takes energy to raise the water up high, but opposite is true of it going back down. So any conservative setup (ie. not a shower head evaporative type system) ends up being independent of how high parts are relative to each other.