New watercooling system!

gtabomber · 21 May 2008 at 23:46

Hi guys and gals!

Im about to purchase a new watercooling system for my PC. At the moment im running a reserator 1 plus but its a bit cack and the pump is dying.

Ive found what i (think i) need from the OcUK shop but since this is my first DIY watercooling system where its not just out of a box some assistance is needed.

Here is what ive specced up so far:

10x XSPC Tubing Clip For 1/2" Hose
1x XSPC Dual 750 Bay Reservoir & Pump
1x D-Tek Fuzion V2 Universal CPU Block (To fit AMD 64 X2 4800+ 939)
2x D-Tek Fuzion Universal VGA Block (To fit 7900GTX)
1x Alphacool NexXxoS Xtreme lll Rev2 Triple Radiator
2x DangerDen ClearFlex60 1/2" Tubing - 1m
1x Feser One UV Reactive Coolant 1 Litre
3x Yate Loon D12SM-12 120mm Case Fan

Id like a chipset cooler however these DFI Lanparty boards have the southbrige right underneath the graphics card so theres no room!

Im sure ill have to add on some connectors for the radiator etc but im all a bit new to this stuff so if some one could advise me on what else i need or if anything should be changed that would be great!

Azza · 22 May 2008 at 00:15

What is your budget?

Are you looking for lowest temps and silence or more towards silence?

With the CPU and two graphics cards in a single loop with just that rad, which isnt the best in the market, prolly one of the worst, you arnt going to get the best temperatures.

matt100 · 22 May 2008 at 00:28

Azza said:
What is your budget?

Are you looking for lowest temps and silence or more towards silence?

With the CPU and two graphics cards in a single loop with just that rad, which isnt the best in the market, prolly one of the worst, you arnt going to get the best temperatures.

x2, the kit is fine but the rad isn't.

Personally looking at the kit thats being cooled I'd spend the money on an upgrade rather than watercooling, nothing particularly wrong with an s939 x2 4800 and 7900GTX but its 2 year old tech now, 7900GTXs especially will be struggling at decent resolutions nowadays.

Azza · 22 May 2008 at 00:40

matt100 said:
x2, the kit is fine but the rad isn't.

Personally looking at the kit thats being cooled I'd spend the money on an upgrade rather than watercooling, nothing particularly wrong with an s939 x2 4800 and 7900GTX but its 2 year old tech now, 7900GTXs especially will be struggling at decent resolutions nowadays.

+1 to that.

Upgrading to the current tech would be faster, cooler and quieter than your current hardware.

Go on treat yourself.

gtabomber · 22 May 2008 at 12:13

Cheers for the replys.

What is your budget?
Are you looking for lowest temps and silence or more towards silence?

I dont want to spend stupid amounts of money but ill pay a bit more if the rewards are there.

Balance between cooling and noise is 50/50 ish. Im not too bothered about noise if i get decent cooling. Ill stick a fan controller on eventually so i havent got 3 fans at full pelt when the PC isnt doing anything!

I thaught a tripple rad would be decent but it sounds like ive picked the worst of them all! What would you suggest? Id like a large one to help with the noise/cooling balance. Why have a single struggling when you can have a tripple just breezing along!

Ill upgrade the 7900GTX's some time but my current cooling is failing so thats top of the list. My money situation isnt good at the moment so its got to wait. Ive just come out of a job and ive got a very expensive car to keep on the road!

matt100 · 22 May 2008 at 12:29

gtabomber said:
Ill upgrade the 7900GTX's some time but my current cooling is failing so thats top of the list. My money situation isnt good at the moment so its got to wait. Ive just come out of a job and ive got a very expensive car to keep on the road!

fair enough but selling all that kit and saving the £200ish a half decent watercooling system would cost you would probably get you comfortably into a Q6600/P5K/2GB ddr2 and 8800GT system that would murder your current pc in any benchmark you felt like throwing at it.

***F1ZZY*** · 22 May 2008 at 14:43

Totally agree, go for hardware upgrade long before the watercooling.

Oh, and btw I personally wouldn't run 2 fuzion gfx blocks (restrictive) and a cpu on a bay res pump. You'd be better off with a stronger pump and less restrictive gpu blocks. Moot point tho as hardware should precede the w/c.

pastymuncher · 22 May 2008 at 15:46

Azza said:
With the CPU and two graphics cards in a single loop with just that rad, which isnt the best in the market, prolly one of the worst, you arnt going to get the best temperatures.

Sorry but i completely disagree with you. I have that rad and it is very good. It may not be as good as a Thermochill but it is far from "one of the worst". I have had mine through several builds, socket 754 and 939, both with Sli'd and overclocked 7800GT's, socket 775 over 5 builds, 965P DS3P with 3.4Ghz E4300, 3.2Ghz Q6600, both with 8800GTS 320mb and then my P5E with 3.8Ghz Q6600, 4.5Ghz E8500 and now my 3.6Ghz E6600 all with my 8800GT. All rigs have been heavily overclocked and have had the CPU, GPU's and NB watercooled. All blocks are the same now as when i first put it together. Temps have always been extremely low, my Q6600 never went over 55 degrees while running Prime and currently my E6600 idles around 20 degrees and never goes past the mid 30's while gaming and high 30's low 40's while running prime. My graphics cards are the same. Idle around 30 degrees and load in the 45-55 range.

I would say that the rad would easily handle your current rig but i would change the pump to a DDC or a D5.

1kiwi · 22 May 2008 at 16:28

isn't the general consensus that you need a separate loop for cooling GFX? I second the comments above with regards to an upgrade over watercooling. *Hugs Q6600 / 8800 GT combo*

Greebo · 22 May 2008 at 16:44

beh* said:
isn't the general consensus that you need a separate loop for cooling GFX? I second the comments above with regards to an upgrade over watercooling. *Hugs Q6600 / 8800 GT combo*

Depends on the cpu/gfx and what overclock you are planning on acheiving plus size and location of your radiator(and quality).

I have a double swiftech rad mounted outside the case with 4 silent fans running full speed cooling my Q6600 and GTS G92 and it keeps the GTS to 43 degrees and the cpu to about 65 degrees running small tft prime at 3.5 Ghz.

That is more than sufficient for my purposes. Must change my sig cause I have now maxxed my GTS out at 850/2172/2100

matt100 · 22 May 2008 at 16:50

beh* said:
isn't the general consensus that you need a separate loop for cooling GFX? I second the comments above with regards to an upgrade over watercooling. *Hugs Q6600 / 8800 GT combo*

no not at all, a 120.2 would be fine for keeping a cpu and gfx under control, might not be as cool as physically possible but it should be as cool as top end air and a lot quieter.

Dual loops are still reasonably uncommon and can be a pain in the butt to service.

A thermochill PA120.3 would easily handle a top end GFX/CPU combo with NB/SB and probably even mosfets in there, the only issue would be flow rate potentially but that wouldn't concern me too much if I only had the money/space for 1 loop.

multi gfx is where dual loops become something of a necessity.

1kiwi · 22 May 2008 at 17:41

Oh ok. The reason why i asked is that i'm currently saving for a decent custom watercooling setup + a new mountain mods UFO case

I would like to have 1 loop to service my 8800GFX & Q6600.

matt100 · 22 May 2008 at 17:55

well a MM case needs several loops

gtabomber · 22 May 2008 at 18:20

Well then - project on hold. Looks like i need a new PC. Well a new job first lol.

Dual loops for the win. Ill need to find a better case. Mine is a bit cramped at the mo!

matt100 · 22 May 2008 at 18:25

I got 2 loops in a PC60.. but then I'm special