Which 120mm (single) radiator?

[CurseTheSky]

Since I still haven't figured a (eye-pleasing) way to mount a raditor on my P182 (WITHOUT CUTTING!), I'm moving my watercooling to another project... SFF and MicroATX! It should be fun. This will be cooling the PROCESSOR ONLY.

I'm planning on a custom-built case, as small as possible. For that reason, I'll need nothing bigger than a 120mm radiator (yeah, I know, huge performance drop there). The question is, which should I get?

The Black Ice GTX is a bit thicker, and seems like it should perform better (I'll need all the performance I can get). It's twice the price ($74) of the Swiftech, though.

The MCR120 is cheap ($33), but how's the performance? The smaller size may help as well.

Other than that, there's also ThemoChill for $93, but it's a bit more than what I'd like to pay. The GTX is pushing it, but I can probably deal with it. If the ThermoChill's performance is literally double or triple the GTX, I would consider it.

So, thoughts, suggestions, comments? Is 120mm single too small to even bother with water cooling?

Thanks.

 

[aigomorla]

MCR120 x 2 > BIGTX

Id go with 2 radiators where you use MCR120's or try to fill your spaces with mcr120's and use dual pumps.

 

[CurseTheSky]

I don't know if I'll have room for two though. This is going to be an ultra compact setup, probably a little bit bigger than a laptop (no room for expansion cards at all). If I can stuff a second one in I'll DEFINATELY be doing it. If not, one will just have to do.

Any idea roughly what the performance comparison is between the two? I mean, the GTX is about twice the price, but I'm guessing only 1.2-1.5x the performance, if that. If it is leaps and bounds ahead of the MCR120, I'll grab it in a heartbeat.

 

[Cheezeit]

The Black Ice definitely performs better than the mcr 120, but it is not leaps and bounds. Especially since you need something compact, the swiftech will help by being thinner. I would surely go with the mcr in your situation, as you will spend half the money and save space.