help with a loop

dcgamer

dcgamer

dcgamer

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Joined
7 May 2012
Posts
45
Hey,

I'm new to this whole watercooled malarkly but I'm thinking of giving it a go for my new build.

What I want to know is what type of reservior and pump is the best? Personally I like the bay reseriours, but I'm sure I've read that these are not as good.
Also, is it better to do a single loop or a dual loop.
My plan is to put a 240 rad in the case.

The rig I'm thinking of building is:

  • Cooler Master CM-690 II Lite Dominator Case - Black
  • OcUK Battle 750W Dual Rail High Efficiency Modular '80 Plus' Power Supply
  • AMD Bulldozer FX-6 Six Core 6100 Black Edition 3.30Ghz (Socket AM3+)
  • EK Water Blocks EK-Supremacy Clean CSQ
  • Asus M5A97 EVO R2.0 AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard
  • Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9)
  • Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2x 2048MD GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
  • EK Water Blocks EK-FC7850 Full Cover Waterblock - Nickle Plexi

What are your thoughts on how I should do it and with what type res/pump and barbs?
Budget will be about £150 for the remaining components
 
You will need more than a single 240mm radiator to cool both your cpu and gpu. By the looks of your build list, you are on a fairly tight budget. I'd suggest leaving watercooling both your cpu and gpu and sort just the one and improve the system spec. (like a decent 500-650W seasonic or corsair psu, getting a piledriver rather than bulldozer cpu and a 990 chipset motherboard) I tried to get watercooling cheaply and whilst it did sort of work, i had to add a second radiator as temperatures were not much better than air cooling. (CPU temps were worse and it still set me back £250) Since spending another £90 on a second radiator, angle fittings and some extra fans it is now outperforming air cooling.

I have a CM-690-II lite too. This is what i did with mine. XSPC D5 vario pump as i consider it to be the best for reliability, lifespan and performance. XSPC D5 res was fine with a single radiator but there is nowhere to put it now i have two. (hence it now sits atop my second radiator) If my 5.25" bays were empty, i could probably put it up there. I reckon a bay res with a separate pump or a tube res is the way to go. I went with 1/2" barb fittings and xspc 7/16" hose, which doesn't need any clamps to secure the tubing. The top radiator is 45mm thick and the bottom one is 35mm. (though i could fit a full size 60mm or possibly a monsta 80mm in the bottom.) The 45mm in the top is the absolute maximum with my hardware, as it just overlaps the memory latches. Other motherboards will have different allowances. (my mobo is a 790FXT-UD5P, use the top screw holes as a guide for working out how thick a rad you can fit)
 
Thanks for your input guys.

BTW Kei, have you cut your hdd enclosure or does it split like that?
And with regards to the top rad, are the fans mounted on top but inside the case, or are they mounted outside?
 
The bay splits as standard. There are several screws to remove and out it will come. The fans are mounted inside between the top of the case and the top dust filter panel.
 
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Ah, thanks for that. Great design by cooler masters letting the bays split.
BTW, love the braiding that you've done. Must have taken an age to do!
 
Makes no odds cooling that cpu with an ek supremacy as it'll fit any current socket should he choose to change. The gpu is a choice you have to make. A universal gpu block would be ideal as it would be reusable but obviously it only cools the core not the memory or vrms. The main investment is in the pump, reservoir, radiators, fans and fittings. The blocks usually change with each upgrade and you can claw some money back by selling the old blocks on.

TBH, was it really worth me investing over £300 watercooling an old phenom ii that doesn't oc very well and an unlocked HD6950?
 
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