Project water cool!

[badger906]

Ive come to the point where spending money on upgrades wont really benefit me any more in gaming, unless i want 1000000fps. So as i cant not spend money on my rigs, ive decided I want to water cool my gaming rig.

So basically what im asking is what are peoples preferred components e.g pumps and blocks?

This is new territory for me as ive always been an air/all in one liquid cooler kind of person.

Ive loads of space in my Corsair Air 540, so i was going to run 2 240mm Rads as well as a fairly sizeable reservoir as the left hand side of my case (for those not familiar it almost completely empty other than power supply and drive bay caddies, of which i use none and have removed).

So yeah, hit me with what you like/use, so i can start building up my shopping list.

 

[essenbe]

Well, you really have a lot of options and the subject has books written about it. My recommendation is do a lot of reading about it before you even seriously consider it. A good resource is Overclock Net Overclock.net - An Overclocking Community
Some good resources for parts that are both reputable firm is Computer Water Cooling - FrozenCPU.com
and Water Cooling : Performance-PCs.com, ... sleeve it and they will come
I've spen ta lot of money at both places and never been disappointed.
There is a basic guide here http://www.sevenforums.com/pc-custom-builds-overclocking/233104-water-cooling-guide.html

A good kit to buy that can be expanded almost any way you like are the XSPC kits. That's how I started and secveral others. Unless you are pretty well versed in water cooling, a kit is the easiest way to start. Just make sure it has a good pump, and anything else can be expanded or upgraded as you need to. The 2 most popular and best pumps are the MCP 655 and MCP 35X pumps, also referred to as D5 and DDC pumps as there are numerous variations of them, which are all the same except for the housing. The insides of the pumps are the same.

 

[madcratebuilder]

Read this web site.

I run dual AQ D5's in a dual bay res with cpu-vrm's-gpu loop, 120X3 rad, controlled by a Aquaero 6.

 

[essenbe]

Read this web site.

I run dual AQ D5's in a dual bay res with cpu-vrm's-gpu loop, 120X3 rad, controlled by a Aquaero 6.

Matrinsliquidlab is probably the best web site there is for getting information on individual parts. Martin is probably the biggest water cooling expert around.

 

[madcratebuilder]

Read this web site.

I run dual AQ D5's in a dual bay res with cpu-vrm's-gpu loop, 120X3 rad, controlled by a Aquaero 6.

Matrinsliquidlab is probably the best web site there is for getting information on individual parts. Martin is probably the biggest water cooling expert around.

+1000

Not only are his reviews top notch and cover real world applications, his self designed testing equipment is outstanding. I would say Matrinsliquidlab is the most respected h2o review site on the planet.

 

[Layback Bear]

You have received a lot of good information from essenbe and madcratebuilder.
You can look at My Specs and see what I have chose for my system.
It does work great. I run my system at 4.6 all day long every day doing normal things at 25C to 28C. If I remember correctly a 100% load is int the mid 40C.
Ambient temps 21C.
The most important things is planning you system.
Getting all the specs and measurements of the components and see what will fit where. Some times things will be a tight fit. A large case is a plus when building a water cooling system but not necessary.
I will say again planning and research from sites already posted will take the most of your time but it is necessary and somewhat fun.

It's a big investment so you want it correct the first shot out of the cannon.

You can get a idea of some choices here.

http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l2/g59/c683/list/p1/XSPC_Products-XSPC_Water_Cooling_Kits.html

http://www.overclock.net/t/1402099/build-log-water-cooled-corsair-carbide-series-air-540/20

 

[badger906]

Cheers for the info guys. The one on the overclockers forum is the one that made me want to do it it just looks soo good in an Air 540 with all the space free for rads.

im looking at a Koolance 380i cpu block and a swiftech mcp655 pump, but thats as far as ive got lol, still deciding on my rads (weather to have 2 240mm or just the one) and what block for my gtx 770.

Pricing it up im looking at about £350 ($600~) which seems like a lot, but its something that i can migrate to different systems over the then next few years, well minus the GPU block and maybe the cpu if theres a huge cpu mounting redesign.

Looking forward to it, just need to raise some funds

 

[essenbe]

I don't know how much room is in the air 540, but it would simplify everything if you went with a single 360. Your 2500K should be fine with that. You can always add another rad later, if needed. Also, I would consult martins lab web site about which block to get. There are a lot of them to choose from and he rates most of them. Also, to save some money, with just 1 GPU unless you are having heat problems, you can get by not cooling it with water. That could also be upgraded later. No matter what you choose, always plan for a way to drain your system before you build it. If you don't you will regret it. Also, don't overlook the MCP 35X. They don't push as much water as the MCP655, but produce more head pressure. which is better is subject to of a lot of debate. The prices are about the same.

 

[badger906]

I believe i can fit a 360mm Rad in the front of the case with out too much hastle. My current all in one is only a 120mm and cools my cpu very efficiently with a temp range of 27c-55c, but its almost 3 years old now so i thought about replacing it soon.

I mainly wanted to do this so i could cool the GPU to make use of Boost 2.0 as well as reduce the overall noise level the reference cooler makes.

 

[essenbe]

OK, no problem. I just thought I'd throw that out for consideration. You should get better results with a custom loop than you do with an AIO. But, I'll tell you my experience. I have basically the same system in 2 computers. One has a custom loop with 2 X 360mm rads, the other has an Antec 920. Both are overclocked the same with the same voltage and same CPU (3770K). I run both at 4.6 daily and there really is only a small difference. However, If I run them at 5.0, with the same voltage and run Prime95, there is no comparison. The Antec 920 will hit 90C within 20 seconds. The custom loop will run Prime for several hours and never hit 80C. What that means is at a moderate overclock, there's not a lot of difference. At a high overclock there is all the difference in the world. I could run my custom loop at 5.0 or higher for a daily overclock, if I wanted, and never have to worry. I couldn't even consider that with the Antec system. Now, I don't have my GPU under water as it isn't necessary, But I would suspect you would see a lot of difference with it, temp wise as well as noise. As for noise, that is going to depend on the rads you get and their fin per inch rating. That rating is usually found in the specs of the rad (FPI). The lower the number the slower rhe fan speed needed. My XSPC FPI is <8 FPI. That means, I can use fans that run at 800-1000 RPMs which makes it very quiet. Other rads with much higher FPI need higher RPM fans to push the air through the rad. These are just a lot of the considerations you have to keep in mind when picking parts. Check the FPI on most of the AIO and you will see why the stock fans sound like a 747. Others such as flow restriction with the blocks is important too as well as choice of what fittings you buy. All of this is the reason all of us have strongly recommended you do a lot of studying before you select parts. These considerations is another reason to spend hours on Martinsliquidlab, because he has tested all of these things and every aspect about them. That is why he is the standard when selecting parts. There is none better.

 

[badger906]

thanks for the advice i shall make sure my research is very thorough. Got a few pc bits on ebay to hurry up the funding process as i cant justify just ordering it all now.. im the worst at spending large amounts of money ha!

 

[linnemeyerhere]

I would also look closely at all the EK products !

EKWB - Liquid Cooling Solutions EK Water Blocks

 

[Layback Bear]

As you can see their is a lot of homework needed to build a system under water.
To actually build the system if the proper parts are selected and you have made a proper plan will not take that long. Before you fill you system make sure you follow proper methods or you will destroy your pumps in a heart beat.

 

[badger906]

I wish I was american at times like this! all the links to like newegg ect show how much the british government rip me off in taxes as everythings soo much cheaper in US lol.

im a huge fan of linus tech tips/ncix tech tips, and have watched countless videos on installation and methods ect so I think im good to go on that front, also had a bit of a laugh at "water cooling fail" videos on YouTube, with a few people admitting/filming it all going wrong lol

 

[Layback Bear]

Good you have been doing homework.
Next step would be picking your water cooling parts to match your case and other hardware. Their are a bunch of videos of people water cooling the case you use. I'm presuming that you have watch many of them.

I would suggest spending a lot of time on the site that madcratebuilder posted

Read this web site.

 

[badger906]

Question: Does it matter which way the water flows? i.e cpu > gpu, or can you do it gpu > cpu upwards?

Everyone seems to do it the same direction but without saying if the latter makes a difference. Just something ive been pondering about.

 

[essenbe]

No, it won't matter, although a lot of people think it will. After a couple of minutes, the water in all parts of the loop is the same temp. The only hard and fast rule is the reservoir has to be above the pump and the reservoir has to run directly into the pump. If the pump runs dry, even for a few seconds, it is ruined.

A lot of the routing is done for aesthetics also. Some run RES>Pump>CPU>GPU>RAD>RES. others run RES>Pump>RAD>GPU/CPU>RES. Theory being the coolest point of the water in the loop is coming out of the rad. But, most studies I have seen is the water within any part of the loop is the same temp +/- 1-2C.

 

[badger906]

Id had my heart set 1 of 2 5.25" reservoir/pump combinations for practicality and mounting reasons, and then i just realised my cases 5.25" drive bays are sideways.. and would make filling them impossible.. derp!!

 

[essenbe]

What do you mean sideways? Something like either one of these should work

 

[badger906]

The drive bays are set in a vertical position not horizontal, so theyre 5.25" high rather than wide.. which also means i cant stick on a cool dual bay touch screen fan controller as that will also have to be mounted sideways..

i like the look of this one www.scan.co.uk/products/alphacool-repack-dual-laing-d5-dual-525-bay-station

but it would look stupid sideways