Watercooling 3 tri-x

Streetlight · 1 Sep 2014 at 21:45

Hi all, this will be my first go at watercooling...so any help would be great...

After posting my problem here....

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18620682&page=2

I am looking to watercool my 3 cards...and maybe CPU.

How ever, I am not sure where to start....

So first off, what type of rad would I need? As I have 4 blocks to run, 120mm fan to each block?

What type of water block would fit nicely for 3 cards?

Uncle Petey · 1 Sep 2014 at 21:55

Funnily enough, I just re-did my 290 trifire setup.

I use an external 1080 rad and wouldn't recommend any less than that amount of rad space for these things.
It's using 4x180mm, 700rpm phobya fans, but you can use 9x120mm if you feel like it.

Blocks? Pick anything you like from here and choose the appropriate matching 3-way bridge from here. Ask if you need further advice for this bit

Streetlight · 1 Sep 2014 at 23:02

Uncle Petey said:
Funnily enough, I just re-did my 290 trifire setup.

I use an external 1080 rad and wouldn't recommend any less than that amount of rad space for these things.
It's using 4x180mm, 700rpm phobya fans, but you can use 9x120mm if you feel like it.

Blocks? Pick anything you like from here and choose the appropriate matching 3-way bridge from here. Ask if you need further advice for this bit

What 3way bridge would be good if the cards are in slots 1 3 and 5 on the deluxe board?

Dual bridge maybe? And single?...

Did have a shopping list of EK Water Blocks EK-FC R9-290(X) - Nickel Rev.2.0 x3 and back plates.....

kaku · 1 Sep 2014 at 23:20

For 1 3 and 5 you need triple bridge with single slot spacing like this:

Serial flow: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-349-EK&groupid=962&catid=1529&subcat=2267
Parallel flow: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-346-EK&groupid=962&catid=1529&subcat=2267

Ragnahex · 2 Sep 2014 at 00:01

you would be looking for 2x120 for each card to be fair they do kick out a lot of heat. so that and a cpu and you wouldn't be far off a 1080 rad

Streetlight · 2 Sep 2014 at 00:02

kaku said:
For 1 3 and 5 you need triple bridge with single slot spacing like this:

Serial flow: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-349-EK&groupid=962&catid=1529&subcat=2267
Parallel flow: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-346-EK&groupid=962&catid=1529&subcat=2267

Sorry have that wrong, on the deluxe board, they say use slots 1,4 and 6

Uncle Petey · 2 Sep 2014 at 01:43

According to the manual, it does use PCIE x16 slots 1, 3 and 5 for x16/x16/x8.

You may be counting the x4 slot by mistake

Streetlight · 2 Sep 2014 at 08:12

Uncle Petey said:
According to the manual, it does use PCIE x16 slots 1, 3 and 5 for x16/x16/x8.

You may be counting the x4 slot by mistake

Manual is right,...

But first x16 slot to number 3 x16 slot is 60mm and number 5 slot x 8 is 40mm....

That bridge is ''For use with motherboards with PCIe x16 slots 40.6mm (1.6") apart''

Streetlight · 2 Sep 2014 at 11:53

Found a 3-way bridge, EK-FC Terminal TRIPLE Z77 Serial.

''For use with motherboards with PCIe x16 slots 60.9 mm (2.4") apart (1st in 2nd card) and 40.6 mm (1.6") (2nd and 3rd card)!''

should be ok for my setup/Board.

Uncle Petey · 2 Sep 2014 at 16:57

Oh dear, my mistake

What a silly board layout... Use three cards in the optimal slots and lose every other slot on the board. :rolleyes:

I'd probably run them @x8/x8/x8 in 1, 2 and 4 & then you can have your soundcard in the bottom slot + they'd have nice, even spacing.

Streetlight · 11 Sep 2014 at 13:22

almost done(Yesterday)

Uncle Petey · 11 Sep 2014 at 14:50

360/240 for 3x290 and I'm guessing a 5930k... How's that working out?

Papablu · 11 Sep 2014 at 21:31

I'm using a 360/240 for 3x290x Tri-X at the moment and it's nowhere near enough cooling power. I'm currently in the middle of setting up an XSPC AX480 rad and photon 270 outside the case because under the latest games like Metro Redux I'm getting temps in the 67°c area.

I'm hoping the external stuff will bring them temps down quite a bit when combined with the current setup. At the moment I'm gaming with one card turned off.

When I was running 2 Battlefield 4 Ed 290x it was fine but switching to 3 Tri-X has really upped the temps and I've gone from about 50°c absolute maximum to nearly 70° which I should have seen coming but I'm new to this stuff.

almighty15 · 11 Sep 2014 at 22:01

Buy a water chiller.... would not be that much more expensive then a large external water cooling set-up.

Uncle Petey · 11 Sep 2014 at 22:02

Not if all you need is an external rad.

almighty15 · 11 Sep 2014 at 22:21

Uncle Petey said:
Not if all you need is an external rad.

You can pick up a 750w chiller cheaper then a new external rad on a certain auction site.

Uncle Petey · 11 Sep 2014 at 22:24

Link in trust?

Papablu · 11 Sep 2014 at 22:48

almighty15 said:
Buy a water chiller.... would not be that much more expensive then a large external water cooling set-up.

I almost did and that site you use to pay the auction site messed up with my payment and I had to cancel the order.

So I've been trying to get some parts for my external rad setup which will look a lot better than a chiller as I'm installing it on the wall next to the pc.

I was thinking I'd need the HC500A and brand new they aren't too cheap. Cheapest I could find from a reliable source was £473 which is about the same cost as the external rad, res, fans, 5ltr coolant and a load of fittings including some more quick disconnects.

If this doesn't work I'll likely end up getting a lower wattage chiller and join that up too but I do hope it doesn't come to that.