New, but very interested

sw1ft

sw1ft

sw1ft

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13 Aug 2008
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So I'm looking into building a new system over the coming months, slowly swapping out old for new parts until I'm fully upgraded. I've always loved the look of watercooled PCs (let's face it, who doesn't?) and so I want to look into building a custom loop but I have a few questions.

I've posted my spec in the general hardware section but the bits worth mentioning are:

i5 3570k
Gigabyte windforce 670gtx
Gigabyte Z77X-D3H
Samsung green
Fractal arc midi

Firstly is the case suitable for a watercooling system on the CPU and GPU? What options are available for cooling ram, and is it really necessary?

I want to go for a real neat loop, I think when going to the effort of watercooling if it looks like arse it's a bit pointless really, would an optical bay res tidy things up with limited space?

What are the deciding factors for rad size? I want to keep everything inside so would I be better using 2 small rads?

Finally what sort of fans are required in the case, obviously depending on the size of the rad there will be a few there, are they sufficient or does the case still need reasonable airflow to cool other components?

Sorry for all the questions!
 
Don't worry about the questions everyone has been there at some point.

It's a midi case so yes it is suitable for watercooling, I have Lian Li PC-50R which is pretty much the same size as Arc Midi and with a bit of modding I've managed to fit quite a bit of kit in it. If you plan to cool both your CPU and GPU and you want to overclock be sure not to hold back with the amount of radiators you get. I'm running a 60mm thick 240 rad, 30mm 120 rad and a 30mm 140 rad which cools the exact same hardware you have. Don't bother trying to watercool the ram, waste of time and money and lets face it watercooling is expensive enough as it is.

As for the type of res it depends on what parts you buy and what cooling equipment you go with. You might like to look at this thread for ideas. However if it were me I would stick a fat 60mm 240 rad at the front such as the XSPC RRX240 and a 60mm single at the rear. Looking at that thread it looks like having a rad in the top cuts of access to the CPU's 8 pin connector, I can't work out how you plug it in. Maybe he's plugged it in before mounting the rad, either way looks tight. Anyway by the looks of things you have lots of options, but I think you would be better off with a tube res with a pump mounted right below it.

The most important part to keeping your chips cool is the amount of cooling surface you have so the more rads the better. Don't bother trying to run a 3570K and GTX670 on a 2 slim 120's, kind of pointless you might was well get a hydro cooler from Antec or Corsair. A custom loop with plenty of rads will romp all hydro coolers performance wise so don't hold back.

As for fans well just match the fan size to the rad, if you rad is going into a 120mm fan spacing then you 120mm fans, 140 mounts need 140mm fans etc. Gentle Typhoons are all the rage but there a bit pricey. I'm using my Lian Li stock fans with a Enermax 120 for my rear rad which are all hooked up to a fan controller which keeps the whole system very, very quite (the pump is the nosiest thing but I'm going to rig that up to the fan controller soon).
 
Thanks for the info, I'm gonna have a read of that thread now! So is it really a matter of trying to get as many rads into the case as possible? It makes sense to have as much heat being dissipated away from the components, I'd just be worried that I'm doing it wrong with so many rads!

Are there any extra maintenance steps with watercooling? At the moment I clean the fans out every few weeks and do a full strip and clean when I get OCD about it! Apart from checking the water level do I need to do anything else?

Your rig sounds pretty perfect haha! Always loved Lian Li cases, so watercooled ones are geek porn for sure! Do you find space is too tight to have a good looking loop? I know function > form but there has to be a balance in my eyes.
 
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Pretty much but there is a point were the more rads you install the return in performance diminishes to the point where there is no point in adding more the coolest your ever going to get on water is room temperature.

For that sort of rig you want the equivalent of a 45mm to 60mm triple rad would be ample for your needs.
 
brilliant thanks mate, yeah I understand, you're cooling with room temp air so you're never gonna get it lower.

when you say triple rad, what does that mean exactly (total noob question I know)?

and is 45/60mm the width of the rad?
 
ahh ok, so single, double, triple and quad means how many fans it will take (essentially)?

so would a single 45mm in the front and a double 45mm on the top be sufficient to cool the components above?
 
That would be plenty, you could get away with a 30mm single in the front if you really wanted or if space were an issue. Just make sure you measure it all out before hand (don't forget to account for the fans!!) so you know everything will fit and won't snack on things like memory modules or block access to the CPU's 8 pin connector.

I done a rough job of this on my last build, I wanted to put a 140.1 rad (singe rad for a 140mm fan) in the top of my case and I knew it was going to be tight but thought I could get it in. When it came to actually fitting it it proved a nightmare, firstly it would go in the direction I wanted it because the barbs were snagging on the ram. Then when I went to put the roof of my case back on with the rad attached it kept hitting the top frame of my case which prevented from putting the roof on. This resulted in me going to B&Q buying a junior hacksaw and cutting the top of case to make it wider just so the rad would fit. After an hour and many swear words latter I got it done but I had to decimate the frame to do it. I was lucky because I was chopping through aluminum if it had been steel then I would have a creek without a paddle so watch out for little things like this.
 
Yeah after reading a few threads on here I'd be sure I measure everything twice, people have got themselves into right pickles! I see even on that thread you linked he has had to cut a hole in the top of the case, but it looks like that's been done for access to a screw? What is that, a bleed screw?

I hate being new and asking stupid questions but I will try and learn, I know how frustrating it can be answering stuff like this.
 
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