Virgin to watercooling Help!!!

d3mon

d3mon

d3mon

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18 Feb 2011
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Hi all,
Watercooling virgin here looking for a bit of advice.Setup at the moment is
Cooler Master Haf X Full Tower
Asus Rampage III Extreme
I7 950 cpu (Soon to be upgraded to 980X or 990x)Thermalright Silver Arrow Heatsink.
4Gb Corsair Dominator (cmt4gx3m2a1866c9) soon to be updated to 12 or even 24Gb.

At the moment, I am wanting to watercool the cpu only. Parts I was thinking of was
Black Ice GTX 360 Radiator to go inside at the top of the case
3XDelta ffb1212eh 120 x 120 x 25mm on a Lamptron FC-2 Fan Controller. (Noise as such not really an issue)
EK-Supreme HF- Full Nickel cpu waterblock
xspc acrylic dual 5.25 for Laing D5 Reservoir
Swiftech Laing D5 Vario MCP655 pump.
Setup would be Reservoir--->Pump---->Radiator---->cpu and back.

Could anyone tell me would I be best having the fans under the radiator blowing out of the case, or on top blowing into the case.
Also what would be the BEST clear tubing and SIZE for optimal cooling
And also what would be the best fittings and size for said tubing and exactly what and how many fittings would I need for above setup?
Sorry this has been a bit long winded, and hope I havent broken any rules.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
Fittings is simples really. Just look at the parts you're buying. Does each one have anything pre-fitted? If not, you need fittings for it. So the D5 has fittings already. The rest don't so for each one you need two fittings.

As to size it's really a personal choice. ½" was popular for a long time, 3/8" looks nice because it's skinny, many opt for the mid-point and use 7/16" tubing on ½" fittings.

It doesn't have a great effect on cooling so it's just about looks really. And which tubing make? Who cares? It's just tubing. We all used to swear by Tygon but Masterkleer is just as good and cheaper. So is Clearflex.

Compression vs barbs: again, there's no cooling difference, it's just about personal preference. I've used both but prefer barbs.

Really, none of your questions is hard to answer. Just think about it. If necessary draw it and that should answer your questions about route and fittings. Then choose the sizes, whether you want compression or barbs.

Don't think so much. It is not that hard.
 
Hmmmm dya know what, your not wrong. Thinking too much, time to go back to basics. As far as cooling goes, can run 2X 24" length tubes from cpu block straight down under the house where ambient temp is 20c lower than in the house. Hook it up to a modified car radiator, an ac pump and fan. Thanks for that, has given me something to ponder on. Will let you know how I get on :D
 
MikeTimbers said:
Fittings is simples really. Just look at the parts you're buying. Does each one have anything pre-fitted? If not, you need fittings for it. So the D5 has fittings already. The rest don't so for each one you need two fittings.

As to size it's really a personal choice. ½" was popular for a long time, 3/8" looks nice because it's skinny, many opt for the mid-point and use 7/16" tubing on ½" fittings.

It doesn't have a great effect on cooling so it's just about looks really. And which tubing make? Who cares? It's just tubing. We all used to swear by Tygon but Masterkleer is just as good and cheaper. So is Clearflex.

Compression vs barbs: again, there's no cooling difference, it's just about personal preference. I've used both but prefer barbs.

Really, none of your questions is hard to answer. Just think about it. If necessary draw it and that should answer your questions about route and fittings. Then choose the sizes, whether you want compression or barbs.

Don't think so much. It is not that hard.
Click to expand...

good answers

you want the fans sucking air through your rad and blowing it into your case.

as mentioned the d5 has 1/2 fitting the block and rad does not have any so get some 1/2 barbs and some 7/16 tubing thats all you need
 
koooowweeee said:
good answers

you want the fans sucking air through your rad and blowing it into your case.

as mentioned the d5 has 1/2 fitting the block and rad does not have any so get some 1/2 barbs and some 7/16 tubing thats all you need
Click to expand...

Why do the fans have to direct air into the case? I don't think makes any difference to be honest.
 
Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.
I guess I will have to try all combinations with the 3 Delta fans to see which gives the best cooling, i.e. on top of rad blowing into the case. Under the rad blowing out through the top of the case, etc.
Does anyone know of a fan controller that will handle these 3 Deltas as they suck a lot of power. I was thinking of the Lamptron Fc-2 but after some reading, not sure if it is up to the job?
Thanks.
 
Last edited:
Sunbeam Rheobus Extreme. Not the prettiest fan controller but at 30w per channel it can easily handle multiple fans off a single header. Or the Lamptron FC5 which has a similar spec.
 
mike gunnz said:
Why do the fans have to direct air into the case? I don't think makes any difference to be honest.
Click to expand...

If the radiator is on the back or top, fans should push or pull air out of the case. If on the front fans should push or pull air into the case.

The whole point of water-cooling is that all the heat from the hottest components should be in the radiator so the case air is not going to be radically hotter than the external air.
 
30w fan controller, I believe the Deltas need 48w so would it cope? I just need something to get the fans to 50% or just under and also be able to turn up to max when I need to. If I cant find anything, I'll just bite the bullet and run them at full whack and get some better headphones heh.
 
I wouldn't buy deltas. You simply won't need that much air flow. And the noise will be dreadful. Get some Yate Loons. With a 360 rad you don't need massive airflow to cool any cpu or even after you add a gpu
 
Finally finished Watercooling for the cpu. Heres what I decided on.
Cooler Master Haf X Full Tower
Black Ice 360 GTX Radiator
3X Deltas pushing out of the top of the case
2X 200mm fans pulling out of the top (These fans were already in the Haf X)
EK Supreme Full Nickel CPU Block
1/2 inch Masterkleer clear UV Blue Tubing
XSPC Dual bay reservoir
Laing D5 vario pump
Lamptron FC 2 Fan controller.
Deltas at full whack, yes it does sound like an aeroplane, but temps are down nearly 20 degrees. For average use, turned down to a whisper, temps are about 11 degrees lower compared to using the Thermalright Silver Arrow. For everyday use, I can turn the deltas off completely and just have the 200mm fans pulling and temps are still about 6 degrees lower than the silver arrow.
All in all, things seem to be running well and I am happy with my first watercooling project. Next on the list is a HD 6990 and probably watercool that aswell. Any suggestions on the best gpu block for that would be appreciated.
Thanks all for your time and help.
 
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