I need some advice with a full loop set up please

[arai]

As the title says, I'm in the process of getting the parts for my first full hard line set up & I dont know if I've made a mistake or not as my case
(Silverastone FT02) isn't the best for watercooling & I need some advice.

I was planning on using a twin bay Monsoon m2 reservoir in the bottom two bays with 16mm tubing, running to a Evga gtx1070 FTW then up to a 120mm 30mm
Alphacool radiator with a 120mm fan then down to the 7700K then down to the 360mm 30mm Alphacool ST30 radiator then back up to the reservoir but...

I suddenly started thinking that the reservoir might be too low as the 120mm top radiator will be 5 or 6" higher up than the reservoir ?

I was considering on not using the 120mm radiator & just using the 360 30mm but don't think the 360 will be enough on its own,
also the reason I'm going with the 30mm radiator is that I only have 40mm clearence to play with.

I'm also unsure about running the 360mm 30cm radiator on top of the stock 180mm fan's in the case or whether to take the stock fan's out &
just get new 120mm fan's instead as the 180mm fan's are at least 5 yrs old now & use new dust filter's to replace the case's stock filter's ?

thanks

 

[Brizzles]

The reservoir position is not a problem. You can put the reservoir anywhere aslong as the pump is next in the loop.

I would get 3 x 120s to get the best out of the radiator

 

[arai]

thanks for the reply.

do you mean get 3 x 120 fans instead of sitting the radiator on top of the 2 180 silverstone penetrator fans ?

 

[Brizzles]

thanks for the reply.

do you mean get 3 x 120 fans instead of sitting the radiator on top of the 2 180 silverstone penetrator fans ?

Yes

 

[arai]

I think my plans have changed again with how many radiators & what size to go for, I was planning on a 120 x 300mm radiator for the top of the case & a 360mm x 30mm alphacool Xflow radiator
for the bottom of my FT02 case but seeing as I need to change my fans over, I've thought about ditching the 120 radiator in the roof & getting a deeper (45mm or the 60mm at a push)
Xflow radiator instead of the 360mm x 30mm, what do you reckon's the better set up ?

thanks

 

[Brizzles]

I think my plans have changed again with how many radiators & what size to go for, I was planning on a 120 x 300mm radiator for the top of the case & a 360mm x 30mm alphacool Xflow radiator
for the bottom of my FT02 case but seeing as I need to change my fans over, I've thought about ditching the 120 radiator in the roof & getting a deeper (45mm or the 60mm at a push)
Xflow radiator instead of the 360mm x 30mm, what do you reckon's the better set up ?

thanks

I'll assume a typo on this '120 x 300mm' , and assume you mean a 120 x 30mm and a 360 x 30mm.

For ease of fitting, and loop, i would go with the single 360 x 45 or 60mm, the temp difference between the 2 would be nothing worth worrying about.

 

[VKleita]

What Brizzles (As Usual) says is correct.

Your at the point of diminishing returns, the difference wont be that big.
Go for what is easy to fit and good quality and you should be set.

 

[Bluntwrapped]

If you haven't already bought them I'd take a look at the Black Ice Nemesis rads instead. The Alphacool rads offer more options for mounting barbs with in/outlets on both sides and top, but the Black Ice Nemesis are superior in every other way.

 

[arai]

yeah it was a typo & thanks for pointing out the black ice rad's as I didn't know any other maker made the x flow design, I'll have a look at them cheer's.

 

[arai]

@Brizzles, thats what I was thinking, plus the shape of hardline tubing was going to be a pain & by going with a single 360, it'll give me a more subtle design, thanks.

@VKlieta, thanks for the advice.

@Bluntwrapped, thanks again for pointing out the Black ice xflow but after looking at the spec sheets, I cant see any difference between the Nemesis 360GTS Xflow
& the Alphacool 360mm x 30mm Alphacool ST30 rad except that the Nemesis looks a bit better built, does the Alphacool have a poorer rep or are there other problems with them ?

 

[Bluntwrapped]

The Black Ice rads are brilliant arai, solid design and great quality. They're higher restriction than the Alphacool rads but the cooling capacity is far superior to anything I've seen/used before. They're really well optimised for a range of fan speeds.

I downsized recently from larger rads including a 120mm Alphacool, to 3 Black Ice Nemesis. My temps are better than before with less rad surface area. They really are that good

 

[VKleita]

@arai

This might be useful sir

http://thermalbench.com/category/radiators/

 

[arai]

thanks very much guys, it's made me change my mind about the Alphacool radiators & think about getting the a BlackIce radiator instead,
so I was looking at the 360 Xflow & quite like the look of it but then I started to think that seeing as my FT02 case is quite wide, I was considering
about going with the larger 420 Xflow radiator which uses 140mm fans instead of the 360 Xflow which take 120mm fans ?

I'm also going to have to remove all three of the exhisting 180mm fans & fan filter brackets anyway to fit in any radiator longer than 400mm
& drill out the rivets holding the five drive bay cage in place & reshape it to a two drive bay & re rivet it back on to the case,
that way I'll have plenty of space to mount a drain valve onto the radiators bottom inlet making it the lowest point in the loop.

then I just need to order fans, I was going to go with PWM as I've got plenty of connectors on my asus maximus ix code MB & was considering
corsairs ML pro fans tho I'm open to any advice if theres anything better ?

thanks

 

[arai]

ah what a pi$$er, the Blackice radiator only has two port's & I didn't notice it sooner, this muck's up my plan for the drain tube going into the bottom port as it
would have been the lowest point in the loop but as it doesn't have any, it look's like I'm going to go with the Alphacool radiator after all as they have more port's,

 

[VKleita]

Cant you use a T peice or something ?

 

[arai]

I could but it mean's that thing's will be very tight as I was planning on having the drain tap on the left side of the case under the Hdd cage's
& I dont want to have the drain tap on the right hand side of my case as that's where the psu cable's are, plus, I'd prefer to have the drain tap in a better location
so that I could empty the full loop easier, so that's why I'm looking at the Alpha cool's again, I was wondering if I'd be better going with a 30mm thick radiator with
fan's in a push/pull or would I be better going with a 45mm thick radiator with fan's just pushing ?

if anyone could please help me with a few question's I'd be grateful, I've already got all my connector's & 90' bend's (alphacool HF) but I was wondering if it's ok
to use a G1/4 20mm revolvable extension on my drain tap (radiator - 90' bend - 20mm revolvable extension - ball ****) & the pressure in the loop wont blow it off ?

also,if I get a 420 radiator & use a twin bay res in my loop cooling both cpu & gpu, is 2ltr's of coolant enough ?

thanks

 

[VKleita]

T peice with drain, put a stopper on the end, when you want to drain attach a soft tube compresstion instead of the stopper, attach soft hose of whatever lengh you like (For ease of draining) remove when done.

At least thats what i did.