Noob idea: mounting fan to radiator... with gutted fan?

[aji125]

I am planning on a system build in the near term. Of course I decided on water cooling, but have to go custom. I always wanted to mount a fan to a radiator with a shroud, but suck at making stuff and don't want to fork out the $$. I scanned the threads and didn't see anything right away, sorry if it's been addressed previously. My (maybe not so clever) idea was:

Mounting a fan to a radiator with another (gutted) fan. I figure it would be a pretty cheap purchase, especially if i was buying more fans or stuff from the same vendor.

Anyone know if that is decent distance away from the radiator for better flow? From my Fluid Dynamics and Heat Transfer courses (I'm a nerd in many ways) I'm pretty sure the extra distance would allow for better flow (thinking streamlines). Any ideas?

Thanks for any suggestions,

a.i.

 

[Uncle_Fluffy]

That should work fine. I did the same thing a few years ago with a Thermalright heatsink on an oc'd Athlon XP.

It dropped the max load temp by 5°, so it must have greatly reduced or eliminated the dead spot caused by the fan motor

 

[ai_01]

shrouds are always good, unless your tight on space, shrouds are meant to

kill the dead spots in the radiator, however you don't want the duct/shroud to be too far away where the radiator gets no air.

 

[Agent]

I do this to mount a rad off the back of my case

Its basically case->gutted fan->rad->working fan facing outward.

I find that M4 screws work well for the fan holes. The Rad's normally need smaller though (it depends on the rad, but most I have come across is M3).

By doing it this way you can also use some nylon lined nuts to hold them on to the rad, without risking the screw going into the fins.

Its a pain to hold them in place sometimes (2 people make it much easier), but it works a treat.

Hope that's explained well enough, if not, ill grab some pics

 

[Scarlet Infidel]

This is one of those classic cost saving tips that works very well in lowering temperatures and noise levels.

Id recommend trying to seal the gaps between the fan, 'shroud' and radiator with some foam (or similar) cut to shape as a gasket to prevent loss of pressure.