Watercooling For 2 GTX 280s in SLi + An i7 920

Prof. Cheese

Prof. Cheese

Prof. Cheese

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Inititally I ruled out getting a watercooling setup due to the cost. But am wondering if perhaps on the second hand market I could get what I'm looking for at an affordable price.

What would people recommend as a relatively cheap second hand watercooling system for 2 GTX 280s in SLi, along with my Intel 920 D0.

Am a complete newbie to watercooling and have very little idea about how I would go about it really. :)
 
The first thing anyone will advise you is to read...read...and read some more. There are loads of threads and guides about.

If you come back with specific questions then you'll find people will be far more forthcoming with help and advice.

Things like a budget, your case, as well as the hardware (which you've listed) would be helpful too.

This really isn't people being rude, it is just many are unwilling to give advice to those who will come back saying 'i've just destroyed my rig' because they have no idea what they are doing!
 
Done some reasearch now and will do more in the days to come. :)

Specifications added to sig. Will be adding a second GTX 280 shortly, but otherwise that's how it is right now.

I've sourced the following pump and radiator somewhere else:

http://www.xspc.biz/baypump750.php

http://www.hwlabs.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13&Itemid=10

Budget is uncertain. The lower the cost the better though really. Will pay a little extra if something is really worth it though.

Can I now get some suggestions for the rest of my watercooling setup and any advice/wisdom please? :)
 
I don't believe that pump wont cope very well with two gpu blocks and a cpu block. The gtx240 is particularly good with powerful fans, but can't really be expected to deal with an i7 and two 280gtx's under full load.

Start looking for second hand gtx280 blocks, they come up now and again and will otherwise be the most expensive part of the loop. If you can fit a bigger radiator/two 240 radiators it will do very good things for your temperature.
 
The radiator is good, no issues there. But you're running a restrictive loop with a fairly low pressure pump, so flow rates wont be anything special. Flow rates affect how fast heat can get into the blocks and how much heat is removed by the radiator. Its well worth trying with these two unless the reservoir/pump can be returned under dsr. I think the radiator will cope fine, but you wont be particularly impressed with the temperatures as it's a bit small for the heatload you're planning.
 
OK, cool. Will try it out and if it sucks for my setup then I'll sell the pump. I bought them both second hand so can't return.

Any recommendations for tubing/coolant/CPU block etc. Jon?
 
Tubing doesn't matter very much, the better stuff costs more but is a lot easier to work with. 7/16" masterkleer over 1/2" barbs is a good compromise. Tygon is fantastic, but expensive and rather overspecified for the inside of a computer.

Deionised water for coolant, with something that'll kill bacteria. Piece of silver / copper sulphate / ethylene glycol / iodine are all fine. Copper sulphate probably the best, with silver most convenient.

CPU block needs to be a low restriction one. I'd get the ek supreme lt, note that this is different to the ek supreme. I'm a bit blinkered when it comes to blocks though since I pretty much only look at ek, so it's worth waiting for a more informed decision on that one.
 
Well, I went ahead and ordered an EK Supreme LT as recommended Jon. :)

After doing some Googling, lots of people agree with you about its quality. OcUK only had 2 left at what seems a very reasonable price of £22.99 so I bit the bullet.

Just all the other bit to get now! :p
 
Hey. You'll be pleased with the ek cpu block, it's astonishingly good given the price.

Fittting it into your case is mainly up to you. The only big things are the radiators, if you can fit them then you're probably fine. CPU blocks are smaller than heatsinks and tubing doesn't take up much space. I'm hoping you've got two optical bays free for the reservoir/pump you've bought.

Don't know what you mean by model numbers to be honest. Full cover ek blocks would be ideal for your cards, but they were around 80 quid each when I last checked so much better second hand.
 
Will definitely be buying the graphics card blocks second hand. I've seen those EK ones and they look great. Just wanting to know if any designed for the GTX 280 will do, or a certain one is best. My case can be viewed on this page:

http://www.dvhardware.net/review113_3_cooler_master_cosmos.html

I've removed the hard drive container thingies as they had the effect of "cooking" their contents! lol

Lost 3 hard drives before I was sure of the cause. Been using my HDD just laying loose ever since with a Vantec hard drive cooler and it's been perfect since then.

One thing to note is that where those hard drive cases are, there's a horizontal metal frame that seperates them into two layers.

With all this considered what do you reckon my chances are of getting it inside the case mate?
 
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I think ek only make one for the 280gtx, iirc correctly it fits the 260gtx as well. Make sure your card is a reference design though, probably by a combination of google images and forums. I wouldn't be able to identify a reference design myself, but I bet there's a list up somewhere of which are and which aren't.

There's nowhere obvious in that case to fit a radiator. The dimensions will be roughly 250mm by 130mm by 60mm, plus at least 25mm onto the 60 for fans. Your best shot is to spend a long time peering at your case with a ruler in hand. Some cases are better laid out for watercooling than others. On the bright side, if you cant fit it in the case, you can do exciting things like hang it out of a window or move it far from your computer so you can't hear the fans. You'll probably need to cut holes in the case to fit it internally.

Deionised water is a better idea. About 60p a litre from tescos. You don't have any aluminium in your loop so corrosion is not a a risk. Put something in the water to kill algae, silver kill coil /pt nuke / ethylene glycol are the popular choices. Probably need a couple of litres. I've probably gone through 10 or so since starting watercooling, as I take my loop apart quite often.
 
RE the PCB design of the GTX 280, i think there is only one block available and it fits this PCB design, not the clearest for comparing but it may help

100_0253.jpg


And the case looks very small to be able to fit a 360 rad in, maybe room in the top with some modding?
 
There's definititely at least 2, but I imagine they both only fit the original PCB. I'm not totally certain but as as far as I can tell the BFG 280 OC is a standard PCB board.

Thanks for the picture btw and your email which I have responded to. ;)
 
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