First time water cooling - proposed setup

Tornado2012

Tornado2012

Tornado2012

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Joined
18 Apr 2012
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10
Hello Everyone,

So after doing some research I've decided to take the plunge into water cooling and would greatly appreciate any advice you guys can offer. The items I will be cooling are:

i7 930 overclocked to 4Ghz
Two GTX 470s (this is my main reason for water cooling - they run so hot and are very noisy). I've gone as far as I can with air cooling and can't get a quiet set-up with them both running in SLI.

I want a very quiet water-cooled set-up and depending on temps would like to do some small overclocking with the GPUs. I'd like to keep within a £500 budget and want decent value for money parts.

Based on how hot these cards are I think I will need 2 radiators? Below is the rough plan for my equipment. I would welcome recommendations.

Pump

D5 Vario Pump & Alphacool Clear HF D5 Top Value Combo

Waterblocks

I was looking at something like the EK-FC470 GTX - Acetal+Nickel (l haven't chosen one for CPU yet).

Radiators

I am thinking possibly 2x XSPC EX360 120mm Radiator - Black.

Would this be a good choice and can anyone recommend what quiet fans I could mount to these? Also, this may be a silly question - but I plan to have the radiators outside the case - is it ok to just have them loose on the floor around the side of my desk? There may be better radiators more appropriate for external use? How much consideration do I need to give to the sequence? being as I want them outside the case, the easiest solution would be:

PUMP > RAD > RAD > CPU > GPU > GPU > RES > PUMP

however i'm not sure if in this type of set up, for better performance, I should be looking at something like:

PUMP > RAD > CPU > GPU > RAD > GPU > RES > PUMP - obviously this makes things much more difficult as tubing would need to go outside the case twice.

Reservoir

I understand the reservoir isn't overly important. So was just going to go with something like the Twin 5.25” Bay Reservoir from XSPC BR525DALU.

Tubing

Primochill tubing PrimoFlex Pro 19/13 (1/2"ID)

Fittings

A dozen 1/4" Thread Compression Fitting for 1/2" ID - 3/4" OD Tubing : Black Nickel - believe these are appropriate?
 
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MCP 655 is D5 Vario pump!
OCUK has it with an aftermarket top which is a good deal!(D5 Vario Pump & Alphacool Clear HF D5 Top Value Combo)
From the research I have done a DDC 18W would do the job with a small foot print than D5.

EK Supreme HF is a popular option for CPU block in here. But there are other blocks out there ;)
http://martinsliquidlab.org/category/blocks/

As for the Fans Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm 1850 RPM on a fan controller would be ideal.
But as with every thing, there are other alternatives like from Akasa and Noctua.

Loop order has been discussed so many times - It matters very little - so just have the loop order in the easiest way to route tubing.

Refer martins web site for radiator reviews as well, i think its having a 360mm rad shoot out ;)

What case are you using by the way?
 
Thanks for your reply.

I see your point regarding the pumps! (I knew my first post would end up including something embarrassing!)

I've amending my post and left the D5 Vario Pump & Alphacool Clear HF D5 Top Value Combo. I do like the look of this pump, although it is pricey compared with others but am willing to pay if the performance is worth it and it's quiet. From what I can see, not much price difference between this and the DCC 18W (taking in to consideration it says the DCC on OCUK doesn't come with fittings).

Yes I've read the typhoon fans seem to be a popular choice so imagine I'll go with those.

The Alphacool NexXxoS UT60 (360) radiator seems like a good choice (although again, quite pricey). Any comments with regards to whether I actually need two radiators and where I should place them (i.e. does it matter if they're just resting on the floor outside the case).

I'm using a Cooler Master CM 690 NVIDIA Edition case.
 
ZT-40201-10P is the product number that needs to match to be sure.

BTW, I am planning external watercooling too, you should check out the phobya 1080 or 1260 rad.

1080 rad can be found for approx half the price and you can buy a stand for it too. It comes with a bracket to mount 9x 120mm fans or you can buy an extra to mount 4 x 180mm.

1260 rad has a bigger stand obviously and is 9x140 or 4x200/4x220

Both offer plenty of cooling capacity for you.
 
Thanks Optima. I've double checked and my GPUs are definitely model number ZT-40201-10P.

I am liking the sound of the Phobya 1080. Definitely seems appropriate for my set up. I've found what looks like a decent bundle deal - the 1080 rad with 9x Gentle Typhoon 1450 RPM fans - just realised that bundle is out of stock though! :(

Another noobish question - given the radiator is external, what's the easiest way to get power to the 9 fans? and presumably I need something like the Sunbeam Multi Fan Power Port? (although that only supports 6 fans!) how do I connect them all!? lol

Noise is also an issue for me - I probably wouldn't want them running at 1450 all the time - but fan controllers don't seem to support so many fans.
 
I would go for 4 x 180mm if you use that rad (silverstone ap181s). Will probably be cheaper (going by ocuk prices for gt1450 and ap181s), cooling will be plenty and they'll be quieter than 120mm fans at the same airflow. Alternatively phobya do fans for it too.

Then you can hook them up to a cheap fan controller (I'm going to use an nzxt sentry mesh)

As for power, you can run a molex from the pc or use a laptop-style external psu, again by phobya.
 
Ok, thanks for the help so far. This is my full list:

GPUs: EK FC470 GTX Nickel Plexi Waterblock (x2)
CPU: EK Supreme HF Copper Plexi Waterblock
Radiator: Phobya Xtreme Nova 1080 Radiator (4x Silverstone SST-AP181 fans)
Reservoir: Twin 5.25” Bay Reservoir from XSPC
Tubing: Primochill tubing PrimoFlex Pro 19/13 (1/2"ID)
Fittings: 1/4" Thread Compression Fitting for 1/2" ID - 3/4" OD Tubing : Black Nickel (x12)
Pump: D5 Vario Pump & Alphacool Clear HF D5 Top Value Combo
Fan Controller: NZXT Sentry Mesh 5 Channel Fan Controller

For fluid I will probably use Distilled water with SWIFTECH HydrX Anti-Corrosive Liquid. I will possibly buy a 'Phobya - 230V to 12V Power Adapter - Molex 4-pin Socket' for the fans unless I can easily connect to one of the molex connections from my PSU.

If I order the above am I good to go?
 
If you are buying EK blocks, check for compatibility using EK Cooling Configuration.
Also it might be worth pointing out that Copper blocks, when not handled and used properly, have a tendency of tarnishing and discoloring. Although there are ways to remove or clean them, it may be easier just to go for a Nickel block!
EK did have a Nickel plating issue some time ago, but it is supposed to be fixed with the new "EN" plated blocks.

Might I also suggest RayStorm!
The internals and the base are copper but at least you would not see it from the outside if it gets tarnished! (Also reviews are good on the block as well)

If you are using Distilled water, get a Silver Kill Coil(or 2) as well.

If your Anti Corrosive liquid is based on Copper Sulphate base then better read up on the warnings from EK!

Also what PSU are you using?
Read up about "PSU Jump Start" ;) (for leak testing)
 
Thanks Avathar. I've checked and the EK blocks are compatible.

I do like the look of the RayStorm actually. It's slightly cheaper and based on reviews it seems to perform just as good if not better. I do like the look of the Koolance CPU 370 too but it seems only very very minor increase in performance so not worth the extra money.

The PSU I'm using is a Enermax Revolution 85+ 1050W. I'll buy a bridging plug for jump-starting.

Unless anyone has any other comments I will put my order in!
 
I got a Koolance CPU 370!
I went for that when the initial EK Nickel fiasco started and found out my 9 month old block was effected! I was bit worried how EK first handled the situation but they turned it around after many many user posts in various forums(including here). However I didn't even want to open the replacement block I was sent by EK and sold it elsewhere.
Koolance CPU 370 to me looks different, and before EK released its #6 plate - was outperforming EK Supreme HF!(not so much now :mad: )

Reason I asked about the PSU is, you can do the PSU jump start with out the use of a bridging plug! Just use a paper clip!
But you PSU cables should be color coded for that! My PSU(AX750) has all black cables, so I had to do it the hard way :D

Oh and don't forget your kill coils! Even if you have the anti coro - you still need Kill Coils!

Use MS paint or similar simple program to plan your loop with an image of a stock photo of your case(with the side panel off).
 
Thanks for all the help, unfortunately it looks like my project is going to be delayed as the damn EK FC470 blocks are out of stock :(

I do also have a final question - presumably the best option for an SLI setup is to buy an EK FC Bridge with 2x EK FC Links?
 
Have you thought about getting a couple of passive rads instead, very quiet and a lot less faff with getting power to loads of fans.
 
I would have thought a passive rad would need to be a lot bigger and may struggle to handle cooling my cpu and two extremely hot GPUs? If this isn't the case and their cooling performance can be just as good as something like the phobya 1080 with 4x 180mm fans, i'll definitely look into it further!

Avathar - can you tell me what those ways are? My mobo supports 3-way SLI so typically I have my GPUs in slots 1 and 3. This leaves a decent amount of space between them. Is the easiest way to simply connect some tubing from the 1st GPU to the second?
 
Yep that is the easiest! And then there are SLI connectors(links) similar to this one.
But I do understand FC bridges do have their looks in favor of them(arguably).

On another note, what motherboard do you have? I know you have an i7 930 but not all x58 mobos support all the PCI-E lines on 1 and 3 PCI-E slots do they?
 
I think i'll just connect the cards with some tubing then. Saves a bit of cash! I just wish the waterblocks were in stock - have to wait 10-14 days! :(

My mobo is a Asus P6T6 WS Revolution. It supports x16 3-way SLI.
 
Hi all,

Hopefully it's ok to post in this old thread. I finally got all the parts I needed and just wanted to do you the courtesy of sharing my results.

I have two GTX 470s running in SLI.

Idle Temps = 27 & 30 degrees
Load = 40 & 39 degrees
Load (Overlock - both cards @ 900Mhz and 1150 voltage) = 47 & 46

Under air my second graphics card (stock cooler) used to heat up to 100 degrees and the noise was ridiculous - so am very pleased with the results.

Load temps are using Furmark - playing Final Fantasy XIV online with overclock the temp is usually around 50 degrees (although occasionally jumps to around 53).

Also note that these temps are with the radiator fan speed as low as possible (using fan controller) so are virtually silent AND the pump isn't on max speed (it's on speed 3 out of 5). With fans and pumps on max you could take another few degrees off :)

CPU i7 930 2.8Ghz (Overclocked to 4Ghz)

Not done much monitoring on this but idle the temps seems to be between 31-34 degrees and under load (prime 95) temps are between 54-60 degrees (previously with after market aircooler temps could hit 90 degrees).

Thanks again for all the help!
 
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