First full loop watercooling project

[Bazz4a]

Hi all,

New to the forum after a friend pointed me here for advice and help on how to water cool my new setup. Find it hard I haven’t come across the place before hand, so much information here.

Anyway I treated myself to a new system a few months ago with the final aim of fully water cooling it for the first time. However I have been getting myself rather confused with tubing and fittings. Also on the difference between the metals in the blocks and mixing them which I have read is a bad. I was hoping as this will be my first full build someone could help me out. The system is used for both gaming and work (VM system testing). I would like to start looking at overclocking in the future once I have it watercooled.

The basic that I want to water cool in the system is the CPU and two graphic cards. I would like to watercool the motherboard as well. The motherboard is an Asus X-99 Deluxe, however the only thing I can find that can do this fully seem to be Bitspower AIX99D Nickel Plated full block so I am not sure if it is possible as I can’t find it stocked anywhere. The CPU is an i7 5930k and the GFX cards are both EVGA 980ti SC.

I currently have a Xigmatek Elysium case that I am looking to replace when I do this. The only need on the case is room for 7 HDD, 3 x 2.5 SSD and 4 x 3.5 mechanical and of course fitting the parts above with a PSU. I have been looking at the Corsair 900D but I do like the Thermaltake Core X9 Snow edition more. I think it would go well with the white parts of the MB and fitted out with black blocks and radiators, maybe white fittings and black fluid? Also a big Newcastle United fan for my sins so would fit with team colours as well for a bonus but I am not stuck on this case, if you have a better idea let me know. One of my aims is to make the case fairly quiet when the fans are running while gaming, hence the big case with potential for lots of cooling, I have to keep the other half happy with noise level.

With the Core X9 I was thinking a starting point would be two 360 radiators in the roof to cool the parts. 480 are an option but I don’t really want to lose the use of the drive bays. After that I start getting confused, the radiators seem to be copper yet when I look at the GFX full blocks for 980ti they seem to be nickel, hence the confusion. Drive bay reservoir with pump or not? I was also thinking flow wise, do I run the CPU threw a Rad before the GFX and then the other rad or all the components first then the two rads if I was to go this option? What about controlling all the fans on the rads, how do you do that effectively?

So I open it to the floor for help, what should I be aiming for, parts wise and flow wise? Any help I would be grateful for this first time water cooler.

 

[delpy8]

hi did you start your build? whats the Core x9 like? any pictures?

 

[Noxvayl]

For flow, don't worry. No amount of planning will get you much benefit, all the water will equalise at a similar temp no matter how big your loop is. That is why watercooling is so effective, because water is a great medium to store heat and move it around. So don't worry about the order of your loop, you are better served by reducing the amount of piping in the loop or making it look pleasant depending on your particular preferences.

I go for Pump and reservoir combos, for simplicity and also because having a pump top improves performance ever so slightly by having the water feed into the pump better. If the drive bays are free then use them, some cases have little space to put the pump and reservoir elsewhere so it is a good option. The pump of choice in the water cooling community is the D5, all the vendors make one and most of them have the option to adjust performance to suit your needs. The D5 is practically silent at full speed and inaudible at low speeds. I have the EK Vario D5 and love it, goes through 2 radiators and 3 water blocks without an issue.

Something to note about case flexibility is the use of 5.25" drive bays for hard drives (if you aren't use those slots for your reservoir + pump). I do that so that I can get rid of the drive bays at the front of my case. Improved the efficiency of my loop and when using smaller laptop drives you can fit quite a few drives in those slots. I've got a Silverstone bracket with a slim DVD drive plus 2xSSDs and 2xHDDs along with 2 larger HDDs another 2 slots of mine. Something to consider to give you a different option.

As for the size of your loop, ie the radiators you are looking at. It all depends on what you want. If you want silence, and temps can range above 50/60°C, then you can go for a single radiator, best placed at intake for your case to improve efficiency (using air from outside to cool the water). Your radiator size would match your largest and most convenient intake slot. A single 240mm radiator, can get them very thick if you have space, is more than enough to cool all your components but is unlikely to get everything really cool. The more radiators the better the cooling but also the more noise from fans and pump (will require higher flow rate setting with more radiators and water blocks).

If you would prefer your loop to keep your components as cool as possible you are likely to try and fit in as many radiators as possible into the case, the bigger the better. I still recommend Noctua fans, high static pressure and the black versions have the RPM to compete against the louder options on the market.

Choosing a case is all about personal preference. My next case is likely to be the Fractal Design Define S, because I don't have lots of drives and I like the larger more flexible space to build my system in. For yourself it is not an option, you have too many drives. The Core X9 and the 900D both have good water cooling support. The other cases I would mention are the Coolermaster Cosmos as well as the Antec Signature S10, both beasts of cases with more options than you could possibly use but they can easily house the amount of drives you have along with a large water cooling loop. If those are too big, or too expensive, then the Corsair Graphite 780T has a white option with good water cooling support.