Is it time to watercool?

[Rids]

I think I've been bitten by the watercooling bug.

I currently have the rig in my signature - although it is all in working order and chews up anything that I throw at it, I'm afraid that it looks like an absolute dogs dinner. I've got a Corsair H100 at the top of the case, modded so its packing a full 4 fans instead of the 2 it comes with. I have cables going all over the shop, I have two air cooled overclocked 7970's that can really crank out the noise when they are put to work... and in general it just looks a bit "meh"

I was looking at a little project to sort out the cabling, tidy it up a bit, maybe add a nice shiney light to bling it out... and then I had a look at the Watercooled Cases thread and my jaw pretty much dropped. I've always been terrified at the prospect of Watercooling.. I think its something that I would need to ease myself into - however I think I'm ready to start taking those first baby steps.

I have a Corsair 800D - pretty much the ideal case to get me started. In an ideal world I would like to have a full loop to include the CPU, and both graphics cards - however I believe that I would have issues cooling all of that off a single 360 radiator. Having had a read through other threads here, I've seen some very helpful and knowledgable posts - so I guess this is kind of an initial "spec me" thread.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

 

[Cleeecooo]

A good 360 rad is ok, but off the top of my head, the 800D can house another 240 aswell and that should help things along.

What sort of budget do you have in mind?

 

[_lecro_]

If you dont mind cutting some holes you could have a 480 in the roof and a 240 in the bottom .

 

[Rids]

A good 360 rad is ok, but off the top of my head, the 800D can house another 240 aswell and that should help things along.

What sort of budget do you have in mind?

Looking at the cost of pumps, a pair of VGA blocks, etc - I would be surprised if I see much change from £500. Not looking to drop that all in a single hit though, perhaps an initial CPU loop to start bringing in a VGA loop further down the line? Or would it be better to go all out straight away?

 

[Cleeecooo]

Looking at the cost of pumps, a pair of VGA blocks, etc - I would be surprised if I see much change from £500. Not looking to drop that all in a single hit though, perhaps an initial CPU loop to start bringing in a VGA loop further down the line? Or would it be better to go all out straight away?

It's easier to do it all in one go.

Just to check, you are fine with voiding your gfx card warranties right?

£500 seems about right for the better components.

 

[Rids]

It's easier to do it all in one go.

I feared you would say that! Am I taking on too much here for a first attempt at watercooling?

Just to check, you are fine with voiding your gfx card warranties right?

From what I've read today on the Graphics Card forum I think my Powercolor warrantee is not worth the paper it came printed on - in the words of Ivan Drago - "if it dies, it dies"

£500 seems about right for the better components.

Just for the love of god, don't tell the wife.

 

[Cleeecooo]

Where did u buy the card from?

If you do your reading, then you'll be fine for a first time

Of you mess up, other people on these forums will be able to help you

 

[Rids]

Where did u buy the card from?

If you do your reading, then you'll be fine for a first time

Of you mess up, other people on these forums will be able to help you

Picked the cards up from OCUK, two weeks later they dropped in price by £30 a pop but hey what can you do eh?

I've been doing my reading, and I think I'm going to take a different attitude to this than my usual PC building exploits - instead of trying to whack it all together in 3 hours on a saturday morning I may book a fair amount of time off from work and do it properly!

 

[ThePengu1n]

instead of trying to whack it all together in 3 hours on a saturday morning I may book a fair amount of time off from work and do it properly!

This is a most excellent idead When I put my loop together back in november (my first go at at it ) it took me a whole day. I think you realistically need two full days for this (maybe even 3 if you leak test for 24hours) For me it was a great experience and I'm looking forward to stripping it down and redoing it somewhen (damn you Mayhems and your boss looking coolants)

Just remember to tale your time with everything and when you get stuck, Youtube, Google and these forums are most definetely your friends

 

[rjk]

your 2600k and a pair of 7970 cards will be fine on a good 360 rad like an SR-1

the low TDP of your CPU and both GPUs will mean that you will be able to do it easily.

you need a good pump. so a DDC18w or maybe a D5 if you want total overkill

and then some good fans on the SR-1 rad like apache or gentle typhoon 1450/1850rpm.

extra rad space would not hurt, but you can do it easily on a well designed 360 based loop.

a good watercooled system takes the best part of a day to put together.

take your time and enjoy it.

 

[Gamble2004]

Really enjoyed building my first loop in the 800D recently, would definitely recommend it! I only went for a CPU loop this time around, although already thinking about adding the 7970 into the loop soon!

I agree with all the above posters about taking your time putting it together! I believe mine took about 4-5days, whilst going to work still.

I found the support brilliant on here when I ran in to any problems, I'm sure they'll be happy to help you along the way! I'll help you where I can, even though I'm still relatively new to the whole watercooling scene!