Advice speccing some water cooling components

Doobedoo · 5 Sep 2016 at 18:09

Hi guy's having already brought and fitted a Antec H600 AIO the only component generating any heat is my graphics card so I was toying with the idea of getting a G10 bracket with a X41 AIO to help keep the temps down, until this weekend in which I spent most of it researching water cooling components, reviews ect.

So anyway the bug has bit and I've decided to go for a full setup to cool the cpu and gpu with the cpu being the least priority.

I'm using a Fractal design R4 case which I like although it's not ideal, I can squeeze a 280mm rad in the front or easily a 240mm and a thin 30mm max 240 in the top.

So for the front I'm leaning with the Black Ice Nemesis GTX 280 Radiator http://www.watercoolinguk.co.uk/p/Black-Ice-Nemesis-GTX-280-Radiator-Black_44937.html

Doobedoo · 5 Sep 2016 at 18:18

For some reason I couldn't write any more in that post so I'll continue.

For the top I'm looking at the EK-CoolStream SE 240 (Slim Dual) Radiator which at only 26mm thick with 25mm of fans I should be able to fit that in no problem. https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ek-water-blocks-ek-coolstream-se-240-slim-dual-radiator-wc-876-ek.html

Will that be enough cooling capacity to cool an overclocked 4670 (albeit not a huge one because I have a weak chip) and a 980 ti at 1500+?

For the pump + res I'll use a D5 with a xspc res like this https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk-tech-lab-xspc-d5-vario-pump-and-xspc-acrylic-tank-reservoir-value-combo-wc-008-tl.html

I've yet to choose the blocks although I'll probably use suitable EK blocks plus necessary tubing, fittings ect.

Anybody see any problems or recommend better kit? Obviously I want to keep costs down so I'll probably do the front rad and gpu first to cut my teeth so to speak, then add the top and cpu to the loop once I'm happy but I do not want to buy twice so any recommendations will be welcome.

VKleita · 5 Sep 2016 at 18:32

You sound like you have the right kinda idea.

Seen this written down several times and it seems pretty true "One radiator fan size area per component cooled plus one extra"
So in theory your 240 should cool a gpu np
the top added rad later when adding the cpu should be fine.

If your making multiple changes and adding more stuff later you will need a drain valve point.

You didn't mention tube or fitting sizes?

Doobedoo · 5 Sep 2016 at 18:37

Yeah I kept hearing 120mm per component if it's stock so my theory was that with a decent 280 plus a thin high fpi 240 would be fine for my requirements, at least I hope so because that's pretty much all the rad space I've got.

I doubt I'll make too many changes but you know how it is so a drain point might be a good idea

.

I was planning on using 13/10 tubing and fittings and maybe acrylic in the future.

Oh and I'll be using Ek F4 120 er and F3 140 er for the fans.

Frank Jeagar · 6 Sep 2016 at 09:47

Doobedoo said:
For the top I'm looking at the EK-CoolStream SE 240 (Slim Dual) Radiator which at only 26mm thick with 25mm of fans I should be able to fit that in no problem. https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ek-water-blocks-ek-coolstream-se-240-slim-dual-radiator-wc-876-ek.html

I do not recommend the SE 240 from EK. For a slim rad it has pretty poor performance compared to others on the market.

I'd go with the Magicool G2 slim 240mm, it is 1mm thicker I think, but it performs a lot better and I believe it is cheaper also.

Doobedoo · 6 Sep 2016 at 11:49

Too late I've managed to pick up a alphacool nexxos st30 240mm slim rad for the top plus a magicool 240mm 45mm thick for the front plus an alphacool 120mm 30mm thick rad for the rear all for £60 so I'm happy hopefully they perform well enough.

Just need to pick up the blocks, tubing, fittings, coolant, fans and pump + res and I'm good to go, I'll wait till the end of the month but at least I should be able to trial fit the rads in the meantime

whiterabbit · 6 Sep 2016 at 15:16

In relatity you should not focus on the 1 x 120mm per component. It's far better to consider TDP of each component and cross refernce to the radiators ability to dissipate that heat.

The more radiators you add the lower RPM your fans can run to achieve the same heat dissipation. This is also true the other way around. With sufficient airflow you could cool a whjole system with one 120mm radiator. The typical recommendation is 240mm of rad space per main component, however, after two components you can start adding 1 radiator per component. By main component I of course mean GPU or CPU, thing like RAM and motherboard cooling should not be considered in these calculations as they can withstand a lot of heat and don't produce much. Hence why they are normally cooled passively.

When adding rads after a certain point will you get to a point of diminished returns. Becase of the extra loop length your coolant will flow slower around your loop which may actually increase your temps. However, you should only worry about this if you are going overkill with your set-up. (Having more than 10 rad slots would be about that point). You could add another pump to counter this, however, once your coolant is a room temp it cant go lower so adding 100 rads would have the same effect as adding 10 if the coolant is a room temp with both solutions.

A bit of clarification on the "rule of thumb" statement. Please remember different components use different amounts of power. The power draw of a component is the value called TDP. This is proportional to the heat output of a component. A good rule of thumb for >this< is if you want a quiet system use 120*120mm of rad space per 50-100W. Why is the range so high? Because every rad is different in terms of thickness and cooling efficiency. To find the TDP of you component simply type ">General component name< TDP" into Google. For example: "7970 TDP" it will be within the first 6 results.

Doobedoo · 6 Sep 2016 at 16:09

Struggling to find any tdp figures for the rads but with 2x240mm plus a 120mm rad I should be fine, coupled with EK F4-120ER's which can move a lot of air and are designed to be used with rads.

If it's not quite up to it I can always sell the Magicool 240 for the front and purchase the GTX nemesis 280 which from what I can make out is one of the best performing rads of it's size.

Oh well I'll soon find out.

Frank Jeagar · 7 Sep 2016 at 18:35

The ST30 is also a well performing thin rad, good choice!

And yes, 2x240 and a 120 is plenty of cooling, you will be far more than fine

Doobedoo · 8 Sep 2016 at 17:20

Nice to hear. Well they have turned up today but I'm flying to Amsterdam tomorrow for a smoke and a pancake so I won't be able to play until next week, but It should start to take place soon as I finalize what components I'm going to use.

MeEsH BaKkA · 8 Sep 2016 at 21:05

I cooled a QX9650 and a 7970 using 1 PA120.3 I'm not sure what that equates to these days but i'm sure modern components are a whole lot more efficient. Saying that the PA120 series were beasts of rads for their time.

Doobedoo · 22 Sep 2016 at 18:08

Well I nearly have everything now got the rads, pump & res, cpu block, gpu block and all the fittings, just waiting on a little parcel from ocuk to arrive hopefully tomorrow I may have it all set up by the end of the weekend.

Very excited.