Help with spec please

OcNewBoy

OcNewBoy

OcNewBoy

Associate
Joined
5 Dec 2013
Posts
4
Hi,

Hoping for some advice. I'm new to water cooling but would like to add it to my current build project.

I have

BitFenix prodigy itx case with an i5 cpu & an r9 290 GPU. My aim is noise reduction rather than overclocking at the moment. But if it's possible I'd look to expand at a later date.

I'd even settle for just cooling the GPU if it's possible to do that with a more simple setup as that is the main noise in the unit. (3000rpm I read somewhere)

Haven't thought about budget and I can see almost all of the kits on ocuk are out of stock.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, the Turing test to get past the anti spam when signing up took a great deal of effort and I'm struggling to get advice through webnotes.
 
Would you be willing to change case?

A 290 and a i5 should have about 360mm worth of radiator but if its silence your after, the more the better. If you don't mind going external, a single 1080 phobya radiator will be more radiator than you will need if you went tri fire 290's and is the most silent option as 4 180mm low speed silence fans could be used on the radiator instead of 9 x 120 fans. If you are worried about transporting it, use quick disconnects to make the radiator easily detachable.

The way i see it, a 1080 radiator will likely cost almost the same as a new case which sports good watercooling options. It will also mean that you will never be required to dish out more cash for more radiator if you wanted to add to the loop.

Watercooling isn't cheap though, how much do you have to spend for a gpu + cpu loop?

This would be my kit of choice for silence and performance with enough radiators and fan that adding two more 290's wouldn't be an issue. If you have some 180 fans spare, you can save yourself up to 80 quid. The ones i have specced are the best in the business for watercooling but are overkill until you add more GPU's. You could do this £90 cheaper by choosing a smaller radiator but itl be a fair bit noisier and will give you very little overclocking room. To cool both your CPU and GPU and any other parts you might add requires the loop to go external or to get a case to fit your current loop in, which might be the right route to go if you plan on expanding, since your current motherboard cant Crossfire.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Watercool Radiator MO-RA3 9x120 PRO - black £159.95
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-DCP 4.0 X-RES (Incl. Pump) £79.99
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-FC R9-290X - Acetal £79.99
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-Supremacy Clean CSQ - Nickel £52.99
4 x Silverstone 180mm Fan SST-FM181 £22.99 (£91.96)
2 x Primochill Primoflex Advanced Tubing 13/10 - Clear £5.99 (£11.98)
8 x EK Water Blocks EK-CSQ Fitting 10/13mm G1/4 - Black £2.99 (£23.92)
Total : £500.77 (includes shipping : FREE).



This next build would allow you to move to a bigger motherboard and keep the loop internal. Will be noisier and will cost more down the line when you expand but money has been saved by getting a case to suit the expansion of watercooling and any extra cards you might add. Unfortunately doesnt include fans and adding more than a gpu and CPU will require more than a 360mm radiator (a 240 can be put on the roof).

YOUR BASKET
1 x Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case - Black (CC-9011030-WW) £129.95
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-DCP 4.0 X-RES (Incl. Pump) £79.99
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-FC R9-290X - Acetal £79.99
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-Supremacy Clean CSQ - Nickel £52.99
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-CoolStream PE 360 (Triple) £49.99
2 x Primochill Primoflex Advanced Tubing 13/10 - Clear £5.99 (£11.98)
8 x EK Water Blocks EK-CSQ Fitting 10/13mm G1/4 - Black £2.99 (£23.92)
Total : £428.80 (includes shipping : FREE).



End of the day cost between them wont be any different, main differences are as follows:

First build:
Case is the same
Loop is external
Radiator overhead is huge and so silence is easily achievable

Second build:
Case is changed allowing for motherboard upgrade and Crossfire
Loop is internal
Not as much radiator overhead and will be louder and probably not silent when overclocked (adding a 240mm radiator will make it silent until you add more blocks)
 
Last edited:
That's awesome, exactly the kind of advice I was after.. Thank you for your help!!

Turns out more expensive than I was expecting (£250-300 mark) so it might be new year before I add it now. :-)
 
The prodigy can handle a 240 on top and a 240 on the front and a 120 on the back. It's tight but doable, but you'll lose the 5.25" drive and the HDD bays.

But yes it will cost at least £200 for the basic CPU with another £90 odd for the GPU.
 
Trust system is reserved for members market trading but appreciate the thanks anyway.

Didnt know the prodigy could take that much radiator but id be worried about tight spaces, as these 290's dont exactly run cool. For just GPU and CPU, two 240's will be enough. You could probably fit the whole loop in budget or near it. I will have a go and will spec the enw EK rads which are 37mm thick, if that is too much for the case, teh Black ice stealth ones will fit and are around the same cost.
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-FC R9-290X - Acetal £79.99
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-DCP 4.0 X-RES (Incl. Pump) £79.99
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-Supremacy Clean CSQ - Nickel £52.99
2 x EK Water Blocks EK-CoolStream PE 240 (Dual) £39.95 (£79.90)
2 x Primochill Primoflex Advanced Tubing 13/10 - Clear £5.99 (£11.98)
10 x EK Water Blocks EK-CSQ Fitting 10/13mm G1/4 - Black £2.99 (£29.90)
Total : £344.33 (includes shipping : £8.00).



Overbudget by a bit. Can make it in budget by going for cheaper pump, but after some time you will have to replace it to add to the loop. You can take away 4 fittings, one radiator and one block to bring it well in budget for now and expand the loop to cool everything later. There are kits out there in your budget to do the whole thing but i wouldnt go substandard on watercooling. Anything on OCuk is good though.
 
Yea the amount of space for mounting stuff on a prodigy is nuts. With a little modding you could even attach a 240 to one of the sidepannels.

Those new EK-WB rads look supercool.

I just want to add that always budget another £20 at least on a basic watercooling build. You'll find that when you lay it all out that you'll need some 45/90 adaptors and you'll forget something like a kill coil or anti-corrosive/biocide and the water as well.
 
You can't fit 2x240mm into a Prodigy without modifying it or having fans stick out of the outside of case! You don't mention this to the OP. Please don't give out incorrect advice. Otherwise please prove me wrong, CoolHotCold that 2x240mm + 1x120mm will fit a Prodigy without modification or things sticking outside the case making it look like a pile of cack.

OP, my advice would to find a 200mm rad and 180mm fan to go with it up front and a slim 240mm rad top to make plumbing easier for yourself. If I didn't have the extra long 7990 this is the route I would have gone. There is a good picture of one setup on the forums of our favourite Youtube unboxer (not sure if I'm allowed to mention other forums?)

The Prodigy ITX is a large case for an ITX, but to maximise the watercooling, you need to plan ahead as much as you can. There are a lot of watercooled Prodigys out there. Do your research.
 
daveip's 200mm Xtreme Phobya rad + a 240mm is sound advice and though will cost a lil more, it give you a lot of overhead for cooling to achieve silence. Dont know if you need modding as i dont own the case but in terms of cooling power in the loop, this rad combo seems to be the best recommendation to keep things internal AND get cooling overhead.

Check out build logs and project logs in the other subforum to get a good idea on layout.
 
daveip said:
You can't fit 2x240mm into a Prodigy without modifying it or having fans stick out of the outside of case! You don't mention this to the OP. Please don't give out incorrect advice. Otherwise please prove me wrong, CoolHotCold that 2x240mm + 1x120mm will fit a Prodigy without modification or things sticking outside the case making it look like a pile of cack.
Click to expand...


It seems you are right, I must have measured my Bitfenix wrong.

It will take a 240 on top a 200 in front (all with fans internally) and a 120 on the back with the fan sitting externally.
 
This is along the lines of what I would be looking at with the tube routing done in my head plus the Phobya 200mm radiator. If you don't have a window on the GPU side, swap out the nickel/plexi GPU block for a copper/acetal. Will save a few quid but if you can show off the GPU, why not

YOUR BASKET
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-FC R9-290X - Nickel £95.99
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-DCP 4.0 X-RES (Incl. Pump) £79.99
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-Supremacy Clean CSQ - Acetal £49.99
1 x Hardware Labs Black ICE Radiator GTS-Lite 240 £37.99
1 x Silverstone SST-AP181 Air Penetrator 180mm FAN 700/1200rpm £18.98
2 x Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm 1850 RPM - 3 Pin £17.99 (£35.98)
2 x Primochill Primoflex Advanced Tubing 13/10 - Clear £5.99 (£11.98)
3 x XSPC G1/4" 45° Rotary Fitting (Black Chrome) £3.49 (£10.47)
4 x XSPC G1/4" 90° Rotary Fitting (Black Chrome) £3.49 (£13.96)
10 x EK Water Blocks EK-CSQ Fitting 10/13mm G1/4 - Black £2.99 (£29.90)
Total : £394.82 (includes shipping : £8.00).

 
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