Finally doing it....the long way - spec help!

so now what pump to finalise my build, is a £90 pump required to push water around that amount of space (I don't mind paying it if its worth it)?

So far we have:

EK HF CPU Block (will be selected to match what GPU blocks I manage to get)
2 x 360 Phobya G-Changer
6 x 120mm 1000rpm fans yet to be decided
Zalman Reserator v1+ for res
2 x 6870 FC blocks OR EK-Bridge uni blocks
XSPC 1/2" Tubing (ID)
7/16 Barbs
2 x EK 120mm Rad stands

Just need the best value pump to get everything going :D
 
I had completely missed the Phobya Nova 1080! They make feet for them too which is even better, thanks that cures the 2 x 360 situation, also gives me the option of running 4 x 180mm fans rather than 9 x 120mm fans.

Think I'll go with the EK DCP 4.0. If I were to put two in series would it matter what order in the line they went? for example:

Res>pump>pump>CPU>1080>GPU's>res
or
Res>pump>CPU>1080>GPU's>pump>res
 
Watched a good 40+min video on the Phobya Nova 1080, excellent radiator, its only flaw is the 9 x 120mm fans, but with the extra bracket to support 4 x 180mm fans its near silent. Excellent cooling from it too, the guy said his i7 950 @ 4.4ghz 1.45v on high end air would hit 90c, it barely hit 70c with a 590 in the loop (which never broke 40c). So I'm anticipating some major performance gains once its in, currently CPU sits around 72c and GPU's between 70-80c.

Also found a nice way of powering the fans too, as the rad will only be a foot away from the main case there are things called 'PCI Power Brackets' that basically turns a single molex inside my case to 2 x molex and 2 x 3pin externally on a PCI bracket :D

Just have to wait to see what 5UB says tomorrow with regards to the GPU blocks and then its time to order!
 
Res pump pump would be better for me, I might even be able to line up one pump upside down directly opposite the first pump.

Now to just stop being ill and I can think about putting together a final spec.

Edit: just found the ek dcp 4.0 pumps for £33! Snap two up while they are in stock :)
 
Last edited:
Now just waiting for Rich to get back to work (monday) so he can work his magic and dig me out some 6870 blocks.

Also going to see if they can get and do a bundle on the 1080 with 180mmx4 plate, 4 x AP181's and the feet. I know Phobya and other places do set bundles for the rad, plate and fans so here's hoping so can OCUK as I'd rather just buy everything from the same place, a place I can trust at that :)

Starting thinking about tubing/coolant too, going to use coloured tubing with just regular DI, as my res is going to be 2.5L, the loop is going to be roughly another 2L or so, makes the £3.99 5L jug of DI a tempting offer. For size I'm going to go all in for 1/2"compression fittings, need a fair few 45' and 90' in the system so swivel compression fittings would be doing me a favour.
 
Last edited:
It's still a little up in the air, 5L of mayhems is going to be pricy in comparison to 5L of DI.

Would mayhems need less maintenance than DI?

I do like the look of the white mayhems I've seen in a few builds however. Still going to need the DI for the flushing.
 
Do OCUK stock the dye drops?

As I can't see them (unless I'm just being my usual blind self) I just didn't think about dyes...

Will I need to add biocide/kill coil in if just using a DI+dye combination?

Edit: seen the dye on mayhems site, around £6 a bottle, I'll ask rich/5UB if they can get some in on monday while I compile the rest of my requests for them :D

Also Cleee, what is your opinion on tube ID sizing and compression fittings, is 7/16 ID tube with 1/2 fittings a better option than say 1/2 and 1/2 or 7/16 and 7/16?
 
Last edited:
Thanks again, you genuinely are a fountain of watercooling knowledge :)

Just (hopefully) picked up some black sparkle 7/16 bitspower compression fittings from the MM :D
 
I'll have to remember to hunt around for some quick connect fittings too, need 4 for connecting the rad and res around my desk, was going to use 1/2" h-type snaptite couplings from work but they are far too heavy duty for this use.
 
EK now have stock of all 6870 FC blocks, should make things a little easier :)

Now do I go plexi or acetal?
 
Last edited:
So I think we now have a final spec, will be putting a build log up sometime this week called 'Project Three Piece Suite'. WC spec consisting of:

XSPC Raystorm CPU Block
2 x EK FC-6870 Nickel-Plexi VGA Blocks
2 x EK DCP 4.0 pumps in series
Phobya Extreme Nova 1080 Radiator with either 180mm bracket OR 4 x 200mm depending on hole spacing available.
Zalman Reserator - Pump stripped out, offending holes sealed up. Used as 2.5L res.
XSPC 7/16 ID clear tubing with bitspower black sparkle compression fittings
5L of DI water with mayhems drop dye (undecided on color) and mayhems biocide.

Anything missed?

First intention is to have a layout as so:
res>pump>pump>cpu>1080>gpu>gpu>res

But I see allot of loops go:
Res>pump>cpu>gpu>rad>res

What would be the most effective option?
 
Confirmed now, OCUK can get me the full cover EK 6870 blocks and are currently pricing up the radiator for me :D

Depending on if these parts need to come from mainland europe or not I could well have this build started by the middle of next week :D

Super excited :D
 
It is plexi I have asked for, not only does it look better it was cheaper than the acetal ones.

I will decide loop order once I have everything and know where I'm at in that case then.
 
Its fine radiator wise I'm dead set on the 1080, I have the room, plus it will only require 4 x 180mm fans that will be the phobya g-silent 700rpm so near silence too.

And before the 180mm thing gets mentioned I know 180 x 4 = 720, rather than its native 120 x 9 = 1080, not quite sure how phobya have managed it either but it looks the part :)

iTeks build and cyanides for that matter are both lovely, its just less hassle for me having the radiator external, plus it gives the extra cooling potential.
 
This is why I have opted for 700rpm fans, run near silent. As for powering them I have a molex pci plate and 4 way splutter cable on order. Price wise its surprisingly cheap, estimate it's going to hit around £140 for the Rad, grill, feet and fans, the Rad on its own is a mere £80.

The reason for doing this is I didn't want to mess about Modding the case to get decent thickness rads in, I toyed with the idea of a 240 in top and front but in the end price wasn't going to be a million miles away from the 1080 while causing me much more grief :)

Edit : check oc3d's video review, with 9 120mm fans its noisy as hell, 4 x 180mm is barely audible.
 
Last edited:
5-10 day delivery on the blocks so that can come out of next weeks wages, get the cpu block, pump. And radiator ordered over the weekend :)
 
Radiator and fans have been ordered, should be with me by tuesday/wednesday!

Should get most of everything else ordered later tonight or tomorrow then just a case of sitting tight and waiting for the GPU blocks.

Do EK FC blocks come with TIM? or is it something else to add to the order.
 
Of course, once I have the majority of parts I will begin my build log.

Still yet to decide what color coolant dye to use, I did want white but Mayhems don't make a white dye so was looking more along the lines of the Mayhems Deep Blue.

I will grab a tube of MX-2 or MX-4 just to play it safe, especially if I manage to balls up the block mounting.

Also for the sake of simplicity I'm going to go res>pump>cpu>gpu>gpu>rad>res. As from what I've seen GPU temps sit real low under water, so the slight heat in the water from the CPU wouldn't really make much difference.

This is how things look at the moment:
case_resize.jpg
 
Last edited:
Something else I didn't think of :p

Problem solved, found XSPC 7/16 ID white tubing coming in at around £2.50 a meter, around 6 meters should see me right I'd hope.

Next questions:

XCPC Raystorm or EK supreme HF, from what I have seen the raystorm is not only cheaper but ever so slightly better in terms of thermal performance and flow?

Biocide or kill coil?

Finally do I need corrosion inhibitor as the res is aluminium? Sure I read somewhere that its advised to use some with alu in the loop.
 
No the reserator pump has been removed and offending holes sealed up with silicone, the reserators sole purpose now is a huge res which also offers around an extra 150-200w cooling potential, originally I planned to use a pair of EK DCP 4.0 pumps but was swiftly talked round into just using a single D5 vario with alphacool HF top as seen here:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-061-OE&groupid=962&catid=2141&subcat=2145

That confirmed my thoughts on the raystorm, firmly added to basket along with a kill coil.

Any thoughts on corrosion inhibitor?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom