Need advice on build plan

dobbo049

dobbo049

dobbo049

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12 Oct 2011
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8
Hey guys,
I've been building and upgrading my PC for about 7 years now, though I've never done a big build. It started as a basic gaming PC and every year I upgrade a component or two to keep up with the requirements for gaming.

I recently started planning a "fantasy" build that hopefully soon I'll be able to start. For power and for looks. I've decided this time that I want to do a custom water cooling loop. Ive been doing a lot of research over the weekend and evenings and I've come up with a plan that I'd like to do. I've never done water cooling before, so I need some advice.

This will be housed in a Corsair C70 Vengeance Case

My basic plan is...

Reservoir will either be a single or dual bay reservoir with pump. Probably the EK ones. Unless anyone can suggest otherwise (I don't think I'll have room for a separate pump).

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CPU Block will probably be the EK-Supremacy Clean (intel i7 4770K).

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Top radiator I was thinking XSPC EX280 (mainly because it's thin), along with corsair SP140 fans.

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VGA Block will be EK-FC770 GTX (Nvidia GTX 770).

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Bottom radiator will probably be the XSPC EX140 with corsair SP140 fan. I think you can fit another 280 on the bottom but it's pushing it very close to the PSU and means I have to remove a front fan.

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From there it goes back up to the reservoir.

I'm planning on using 16/11mm tubing and bitspower fittings. With mayhems orange pastel coolant.

Question time ...

1. Is there anything obviously wrong with this setup?
2. Would this setup give me room for overclocking and possible expansion (of for example another VGA or motherboard block)?
3. I read somewhere not to mix metals. Does that mean I can't mix copper with nickel? Not a problem if so but I need to know because I might have to change a block.
4. I plan on adding two temperature sensors. Where is the best place to put them (the sensor I mean, not the display)?
5. I've see a lot of builds with taps at the bottom of the build. I assume that's to help out with coolant changes etc. Is it worth having one?

Think that's all for now. Any advice would be extremely appreciated.

Thanks :)
Stewie
 
Hi stewie and welcome to the forums ;)

1. Set up ok but sometimes your better off going for 120,240 etc rads for more fan options but if your limited then bigger is better.

2. Overclocking yes, expansion i'd say no, need more raddage!

3. I have copper+nickel and no problems.

4. If your talking inline sensors just use one and stick it on a spare res. port, water temp will more or less equalise.

5. Drain ports help no end if you change things regular, i use QDC's for this.


Have you bought the case?? One with more options maybe better suited for future expansion??
 
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1. Nothing wrong but you could change components out depending on budget/priorities. I noticed you put radiators between blocks, which can make setups use excessive amounts of tubing. Loop order doesn't matter (especially with res/pump combo's), I would use whatever route which would make use of the shortest amount of tubing.

eg.

-Bitspower fittings are expensive but are widely used due to aesthetics. To save money and spend elsewhere you can go for another brand.

-There are better radiators for the cash. I dislike using 280mm as they make case compatability difficult for the future and come with little benefit over 240 rads. Larger surface area is sort of canceled out by the sub par fan performance (when comparing to 120mm fans). Though the sp140's are great, they are a bit on the loud side. Money would be better spent on EK PE 240mm radiators. These are higher performing and have very similar specs to the much more expensive AX xspc series but with a lower price tag.

2. expansion for motherboard block is only pump dependent, as they add very little heat to the loop. For two 770's and a 4770k i would aim at 480mm of radiator total for some overclocking wiggle room. For single 770 and 4770k 360mm worth is plenty enough.

Pump wise there are a few options. D5's are the quietest and have the highest flow but higher flow does not produce better temperatures over weaker pumps which are adequate for the job. D5's are also the most expensive. The cheapest adequate option for two blocks and a few rads is the 2.2 EK bay res combo, but it wont be able top handle much more. DDC pumps are a good middle ground but can be a little noisy, though a good 20/30w per channel fan controller can put a leash on the noise.

3. Ignore most metal mixing advice as a lot of it is built on rumour and fear mongering. Nickel/brass/copper is fine together. The reason for no metal mixing is to avoid galvanic corrosion when the liquid becomes conductive over time. As long as you avoid mixing reactive metals (in contact with coolant) which require less voltage across an electrolyte to encourage corrosion. The only common reactive metal you see in watercooling is aluminium but that is only used in radiator fins, which don't come in contact with coolant, so it is irrelevant.

4. I like to monitor my water temperature and my block temperature. So i put one in my reservoir plug and another attached to the block base. Core temps are best read from a program. Way i see it, water temperature is really the only useful thing to be looking at, but measuring block temp and water temp can provide some interesting info on the heat transfer between the base of the block and coolant on the loop.

5. Loop draining is important to make things easier. No need for taps or quick disconnects if you don't want to. My reservoir has an excess of tubing i hide away, in case i want to pull it out and drain it from the reservoir.
 
Awesome thanks for the great response guys :D

1. I picked the 140mm over 120mm because I honestly assumed bigger was better but if there isn't much of a difference then the I'll save the money and space and get the 240mm and 120mm. And that is a good point on fan options too.

I picked bitspower because they looked of very good quality, but I did notice they are VERY expansive. So I'll definitely look at other options.

What fans would you recommend? I picked the corsair ones because I want to spray the rings orange.

.. and I kinda want a fair bit of tubing on show .. I didn't pick the radioactive pastel orange coolant for no reason ;p

2. I had a look around for some pictures and it does look like I should be able to fit a 240 on the bottom instead of the single (dropping from 140 should help) and still have space for the fan and my PSU wires. So if I were to go with two doubles at a total of 480, would this give me more option in the future?

I wanted a pump built into the a bay reservoir because I don't think I will have any space to put a pump separately. Though that does limit my options a bit. I forgot to mention the one I was looking at was the EK-BAY RES D5 vario.

3. Ok cool so metal isn't a problem.

4. The idea with the temperature monitoring was that I was going to get a couple of the XSPC ones and stick them in the double slotted single drive bay. Just for a point of interest more than anything else really. You can pretty much get them with any type of sensor you want so can go where ever. Would be good if there was a flow rate one available or something. I'll look into that.

5. Ok so I'll probably stick a tap in :)

Thanks again
 
Well the sp120's are good, not as quiet as the GT scythes but i use both in my builds for the same reason as you :p

From you mentioning orange, motherboard blocks and a 4770k, i imagine you have a Gigabyte OC board. Check my sig for a link to my project log where i have the same board and have painted the fan rings in my latest addition of pictures. The coolant i have for this build is Koolance UV red, as i felt it matched my build better than others i have used, though i would prefer to stick to Mayhems in most of my builds. If you plan to use UV lighting, i will say that pastel Mayhem coolants are not UV reactive but that point is moot if you don't care much for florescent coolant.

You want to avoid excess tubing but thats not to say it wont be on show or display. A tidy rig with clear tubing will have more impact than lengths and lengths of bright coolant in tubing. Would check a variety of build logs for whichever style makes you happiest.
 
I don't have it yet but yes that's exactly the motherboard I was going for ;) would you recommend it?

I haven't completely made my mind up on the coolant, other than the fact that it will be orange. From looking at some pics the pastel colours have a pretty good glow on their own in daylight. Obviously at night with no additional lighting there won't be much to see.

I do need to think about interior lighting though. I've used UV before and found it very overpowering, could have been because I used tubes instead of LEDs but I don't really want a violet glow alongside the orange .. I don't think it will work (unless the orange glow substantially overpowers the violet, which I don't think I'll get with the pastel). I also want to be able to turn them off so that I can have it dark if I want to.

Also forgot to add that I haven't yet bought that case but I am fairly set on it. I certainly don't want anything bigger. I currently have a stupidly oversized coolmaster that weights half a ton and hangs about 1/4 over the side of the desk (too big to fit underneath).
 
Probably the best board in that price bracket, although features are overclocking orientated rather than gaming. It wont come with an amazing sound chip like g1 sniper does but has its own custom layout bios which you can set however you want. There are a ton of features, some exclusive to the board but if you are an audiophile, you would need to grab a soundcard. I have a pair of edifiers t1600's hooked up and it still sounds great though, but i am no sound enthusiast.

Carbide 540 is a small case i keep on my desk with space for 600mm of radiator without modding. It is a cube case, so depending on where you want it, it might not fit.
 
Awesome.

Yeah that wouldn't fit. I'm happy with the case I chose anyway :)
I done some research, it seems that mayhems were working on a UV pastel range last year but got set back when it failed testing. I think I'll stick with the pastel and hope they get the new stuff sorted soon. Just need to figure out a way to hook dorm lights up to a switch, and decide whether to go UV or just simply orange.

What paint did u use on the fan rings?
 
Florescent orange acrylic paint by Humbrol.

Reason why UV wont work well with pastel even if you mixed UV reactive dye in it, is you need the UV light coming from the direction you are looking from, since the pastel range wont let much light through the coolant.
 
Regarding the size of 540.
I have a desk, with top 1200 x 600 mm size and it was large enough for 540, 24" screen, mouse and keyboard. So you probably need something of same size or bigger.
 
If I got UV lights id probably have an LED strip running around the front edge and a few extra ones in the background. So it would be in front of most of it. I know it won't be brilliant because it's not made for it, but it's better than nothing.

I just need to find some way of attaching a switch so that I don't have to have it on constantly.

Honestly I'd never fit that case anywhere lol. And I don't think I'd need to. I've never needed more width, and I don't plan on stacking up cards and stuff. I just like having the ability for a bit if expansion in the future if I need it.
 
I would advise replacing the 1x140 rad in the bottom with a nice thick 2x120 rad, much better cooling potential :)

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Ahhh yaay someone with the case I want! :D

I have been thinking about this. Does it get in the way of the wires at the back of the PSU? I have removable cables so I need to be able to access them.
 
Sorry I don't have the case, I just typed "corsair c70 vengeance water" into Google and clicked on image results. It's a good method for finding what other people have done with any case :)
 
Ahhh :( yeah I've found loads of good pics of that case. All the ones with a double on the bottom look very restricting on space behind the PSU though. I'll look into it when I get the case.
 
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