Spec me some watercooling plz

Gerard

Gerard

Gerard

Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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Ireland
Gonna take the plunge just after christmas. ive done some wc in the past but normally with external units like the hydrocool so building something from the ground up to tame the quad b3 beast is necessary. Was thinking of the following:



12V Laing DDC-1T Pro w/XSPC Delta Pump Top
Alphacool NexXxos Xtreme II Rev2 Double Radiator
DangerDen Double Bay 5.25" Reservoir
not too sure about the cpu block, possibly D-Tek Fuzion Universal CPU Block ?

Really just want to cool the cpu and have nothing else in the loop, want quiet performance and dont want my pants to be pulled down over the price. :) Suggestions needed.
 
That'll be fine even for an OC Quad. No need for the Ultra pump (normal one will be just as good) if you only have the CPU block in the loop. You may want to go for a Thermochill PA Rad if you think you may be adding more blocks in the future, my Black Ice rad cant cope now that I have gone from a dual to a quad :(
 
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Just wondering about barbs and all that, i take it the best tubing size to get is 3/8, just a matter of getting 3/8 barbs for the pump, block rad and resevoir and it should be fine then?


I also assume ive to knock a hole into my case to connect the 120mm fans from the rad :(
 
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I would swap the res for a Swiftech Micro res.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-007-SW&groupid=701&catid=193&subcat=1040

The nexxos extreme is a excellent rad and does not have a dense core so low CFM fans 12/1300rpm are ideal (yate loons for example). combined with the D-Tek Block and nozzle kit. An excellent cooling combo, will keep that B3 very cool.

Yep 3/8 barbs to 3/8 tubing. The D-Tek should come with 3/8 barbs (i had the choice of either 3/8 or 1/2)

You could mount the rad externally for example via a swiftech rad box
 
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In my experience you can't have quiet and performance if you want low temperatures. I have a B3 Xeon clocked at 3.4Ghz with a passive Thermalright HR-01 on it. It hits 85C under load, but it's totally stable. It's also totally silent because it has no fan.

A good high-flow water system (like the one you have specified) will keep an overclocked B3 CPU running at about 45C at idle/75C under load with no fans running at all, or about 35 idle/60 load with 2 7V Yate Loon fans, or about 32 idle/55 load with 2 12V Yate Loon fans. I think you have to determine what trade-off you are prepared to accept between noise and performance before you can really specify a system.

The other point I would raise is this one of using massively powerful pumps in very short loops. I only use the 18W Ultra when I'm running a big passive loop, everywhere else I use the 10W Pro or the Laing D5 type pump running at the minimum setting. Moving water sloshing about is very noisy, as is the sound of bubbles passing through pumps and reservoirs (cavitation) so I would suggest going for a less oomphy pump on your system. Maybe even something like the D-Tek DB1. Excess pump capacity in a water-cooling loop is a bad thing in my opinion. If you buy quality kit, you'll not lose much when you sell it on to upgrade later.

Like CyZMyAssBaby, I would ditch the DD reservoir for a Swiftech MicroRes - it's very flexible in terms of mounting options, and it's very well sorted in terms of reducing bubbles and cavitation. I would suggest you get it re-tapped for G1/4 on all three ports though as it allows the fitment of a fillport or a proper brass allen-bolt in the filler, which is just soft plastic and always gets chewed up. The plastic G3/8 barbs supplied are also great until you have to get the tubing off, at which point they are a massive liability.

I also wouldn't rule out units like the Zalman Reserator 2, the Preytek Serenity, CapeCora or the Alphacool 120.9 radiators which sit on the outside of the case, but are genuinely silent. If you can control the room temperature these are silent, and will cool your CPU very nicely indeed.
 
Use 7/16" Masterkleer. I've done 3/8 and 1/2, cheap silicon tubing and Tygon 3603 and the Masterkleer stuff is the best I've ever used. I agree about the pump, your choice is a great pump but too much for your loop. Get something small and cheap - the DBP1 looks nice. Also, if you want quiet you need surface area so get as good a rad as you can, then you can use really quiet fans. The PA series or the newer Black Ice Stealth rads are designed for low-power fans while many of the others may be cheaper but are designed for high-power fans and are not suitable for quiet systems.
 
Getting a little confusing this now. :confused:

So basically i want a weaker pump with a smaller res, i could buy one that takes a single 5" drive bay instead of the double. Plus it gets it hidden nicely out of the way. Really dont want to have a res visable. Dtek db1 pump will be worth looking at. Can also get a black ice gt stealth 2 and the dtek fuzion for the cpu.

Get 3/8 barbs on the lot and that should be good enough for the best waterflow?
 
You don't have to have a smaller reservoir or weaker pump, I personally would stick with getting the 18w DDC you originally wanted, as you may decide to water cool any GPU's, NB's etcetera when you upgrade in the future.

The DB-1 pump also has poor quality control with the threads not being tapped well enough that sometimes barbs refuse to go in. The 18w DDC is quiet as long as it's isolated from the case enough to stop resonance.

Swiftech Micro reservoir is hands down, the best reservoir I've used. Small and easy to place, forces water to the bottom of the reservoir so flow doesn't end up breaking the surface with velocity hence it stops slushing noises.

3/8th barbs and hose will be fine, it's been proven you don't get any measurable performance hit from using 3/8th's over 7/16th of 1/2". What ever you think is better for the layout of your rig really.

EK Supreme is cheaper than the FuZion + nozzles and performs the same if not better (not enough evidence around to say that it does indeed perform better) but you will need that DDC 18w pump or a D5 Vario (both good and quiet pumps) to push through that to make it perform.
 
Think im settling on the following:

3/8 tubing
Swiftech micro res
dtek fuzion
Black ice gt stealth 3 rad (or a 240 thermochill)
12V Laing DDC-1T Pro
2x yate loon fans (i i can find any) for the rad

Thats pretty much it, 3/8 barbs and obviously hosing clips. Only real concern is powering the fans for the rad, i assume i have to knock a hole in the back of my p182 to get a power cable to them, or maybe i can squeeze the cable through the same hole that the tubing goes through. :confused:

Also can someone clue me on on the dtek quad core nozzles\accelerator nozzles ive been reading about and what theyre meant to do exactly?
 
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You don't have to drill a hole in your P182, either drill one of the PCI slot covers or you can actually buy PCI slot covers with 3 and 4 pin pass through connectors, so plus power into one internally from the PSU and then hook up the fans to the other side.

I believe these are made by AC Ryan. The nozzles create an impingement effect and jet water onto the base plate at an increased rate and also where the most heat will be on the IHS.
 
OK final spec, gonna order on the 27th :)

Laing DDC 18w Pump (rev 3.2)
D-Tek FuZion Accelerator Nozzle Kit
3/8" High Flex Hose
D-TEK FuZion CPU Block
Thermochill PA120.2
Swiftech MCRES Micro Reservoir


This look ok to everyone? :) With some luck it'll tame mr b3 quad a bit and let me get some more out of it. Am i better to go with 3/8 or can i use 1/2 barbs and still be able to use 7\16 hosing?
 
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Make sure you specifically order the right barbs for the PA120.2 - normal G1/4 don't fit - you need the right ones (G3/8?).

Don't blame me if the 18W pump gives you a bubble stream, but at least the MicroRes is very well sorted to cope with that.
 
Gerard said:
Because its a more powerful pump?
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Yes. Bear in mind that these pumps are not made for water-cooling -they are made for home central heating systems with 3/8" micro-bore pipes. They are made to push water around BIG radiators in flats and houses 24/7. Why on earth anyone thinks they won't be able to pump less than 2l of water around something less than 3 feet high is anyone's guess. Plenty of scope for upgrade really does boggle the mind. If I had my radiator in the attic, I could understand why people are obsessed with the lifting head, but I don't - it's less than 30cm above the pump in my system. And, I suspect, it will be in yours too.
 
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WJA96 said:
Yes. Bear in mind that these pumps are not made for water-cooling -they are made for home central heating systems with 3/8" micro-bore pipes. They are made to push water around BIG radiators in flats and houses 24/7. Why on earth anyone thinks they won't be able to pump less than 2l of water around something less than 3 feet high is anyone's guess. Plenty of scope for upgrade really does boggle the mind. If I had my radiator in the attic, I could understand why people are obsessed with the lifting head, but I don't - it's less than 30cm above the pump in my system. And, I suspect, it will be in yours too.
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I'm pretty sure these pumps are not designed for heating systems in houses. I suppose the need for high pressure pumps came from the fact that at the time of release, the WhiteWater/Storm impingement designs were still at large and the specifications of "a perfect pump" was laid down by Cathar here.

The DDC's can pretty much handle any non over the top multi block loop with very little heat dump, I think over the top pump award would have to go to those who use Iwaki RD-30's which require a dedicated power supply to supply 24v which is ridiculous considering loops perform no better at 24v than they do at 17v due to the heat dump being so large.
 
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