First Time Watercooling - please help!

nadfink

nadfink

nadfink

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Hi all,

Finally decided that I've spent too long admiring some of the epic watercooled builds on here and need to make to leap to water myself!

So I wondered if some of you good seasoned watercooling gents could help me out with some advice please?! I guess the first question is given that my case isn't exactly built with watercooling in mind, can I make it work?? And if so, can I make it look good?

Obviously the only option for the position of my rad is going to be the front = x3 120mm fans. Now the clearance between said fans and my gpu doesn't really leave much room for maneuver! Noob question - once I add the block to my GPU will I have more room to work with, or will the card length remain the same? I assume the PCB length will dictate it, but thought i'd ask anyway!

I've tried to link a couple of pics, which i've never done before so go easy on me if it doesn't work!

Would appreciate any advice you can give. Prob gonna go Haswell or SB-E if I can't wait that long so wanna get everything prepared to hopefully put everything under water - fingers crossed.

Cheers
Fink

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Hi mate, just finished my first watercooled build so I'm by no means seasoned, but I did a fair bit of research before doing my loop so maybe I can help a little. From the look of your case you should easily be able to mount a thin 360mm radiator in the front, you will need to measure the distance you've got between the GPU and the front of the case (EDIT: Including fan thinkness of course!) and work out how much room you've got for a radiator, and then find one the correct thickness, they come in a wide range of thicknesses so that shouldn't be an issue.

Bare in mind though, some of the thinner radiators make up for lack of thickness by having more closely spaced fins which require higher static pressure fans to achieve good performance, so make sure you check whether your fans are up to the task if you go down that route and if not look into high static pressure fans such as Corsair's SP series.

And about your GPU, yes the length will be dictated by the PCB so you are not going to gain any room length wise when you add the water block.

Someone with more expertise might have to advise you on the cooling performance you should expect from a single 360 rad in a CPU + GPU loop, as I'm still a bit confused about how much rad space is really nessessary per component.

Hope that helps a bit,
Cheers
 
Hi, thanks for that mate, that does indeed help.

I've quickly measured up and I have just over 6cm between the end of the GPU and the front of the case. My current fans (bitfenix spectre pro's) are about 2.8cm, leaving just over 3.2/3.3cm for the rad. So by those quick measurements it looks like it could fit ok. Obviously like you say i'd have to pick up a slimline rad - presumably something like this: ?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-024-BX&groupid=962&catid=1523&subcat=

And then look to add some good rad fans if the Bitfenix's aren't up to the task...

From looking/admiring other peoples builds on here, my thinking for the loop is to mount a combined pump/res at the bottom of the case and go res - 360 rad - CPU - 120 rad maybe? - GPU - res. Is that an order which would work? And I guess the next question would be how good would the cooling performance of that loop be? I'm happy for there to be some fan noise as long as I'm seeing good/improved temps on the CPU & GPU??!

Cheers
 
Personally I think if you wanted some effective watercooling, and to make it nice and tidy, you'd be hard pushed without some heavy modding, the top compartment and the length of your GPU are the killer here. Would you be looking to cool both CPU and GPU?
 
Hi jinxpad, yep I'd prefer to get both under water. I did half expect to be told it was a no - go haha! I do have an 800D sat on the bench which I could obviously use - I just love this Lian Li case!

What do ya think would be the most difficult? Fitting the rad & fans on the front or just simply fitting in everything I need?
 
I think getting a good performing Rad at the front which will even fit, I don't even think the SR1 would fit :/

and then tubing routing and getting your pump and res in there too, would be very difficult imo.
 
Personally I'd butcher the roof/top compartment for some radiator space...its just asking to be done :D

Lovely case btw, shame about the GPU length taking up some valuable radiator room.

Measure up the roof, you may fit a nice thick 360 up top and leave room to keep some of the 5.25/3.5 bays in tact :)
 
pgi947 said:
Personally I'd butcher the roof/top compartment for some radiator space...its just asking to be done :D

Lovely case btw, shame about the GPU length taking up some valuable radiator room.

Measure up the roof, you may fit a nice thick 360 up top and leave room to keep some of the 5.25/3.5 bays in tact :)
Click to expand...

Thanks pgi, that's not the first time that butchering the top compartment has been suggested - like you say it does appear to be a bit of a waste of space! God knows what damage i'd do to the case and myself though if I got out the dremel :eek: Think i'd best pick up a budget case and have a practice first haha

I guess i'll have a re-think then - maybe sell the 690 and pick up x2 7970's / 680's to free up some space at the front.

Spent some time googling, trying to find examples of this case under water & struggled to find any that didn't have external rads mounted - something i'd rather avoid.

Cheers for the all the help all! :)
 
There are places that will do the mod for you, iirc they aren't THAT expensive either, especially when you're dealing with a nice LL case.

Buy a nice mesh plate too and you can pretty much afford to make a little bit of a mess of it as the cover would hide any rough cuts etc...
 
pgi947 said:
There are places that will do the mod for you, iirc they aren't THAT expensive either, especially when you're dealing with a nice LL case.

Buy a nice mesh plate too and you can pretty much afford to make a little bit of a mess of it as the cover would hide any rough cuts etc...
Click to expand...

What a bloody good idea :D, just had a look round and sent out a few inquiries so will see what sort of price i'm looking at!

Cheers
 
Thanks Rich,

I have to admit, I do like the sound of that plan :)... Would love to just get a kit ordered & get on with it.... All i'm thinking now is, even if I do get that 360 rad in there - am I gonna get decent cooling performance for both CPU & GPU? I'll see what sort off quotes I get on butchering the case first I think...

Wow, just seen your build log - looks amazing! That clean look is what I would want...maybe I should just get the 800d out & do a proper job on it!
 
Mine is nothing special, just a little colour co-ordination and some cable tidying.

The 360 on the GPU and CPU should be sufficient, but it probably won't give you really low temps. You could fit a 120mm rad to where you have the sealed rad unit now at the back and that will help a lot. Get a fat 120mm rad, with one fan pushing out.
 
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