Out of curiosity, is this enough?

Soldato
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Just a quick one, a i5 3750k and a 980ti in the same loop, will a single 240 (2x 120mm) rad be enough to cool both enough?

I can't fit a 360 in my case, maybe a single 120 and then a 240, but then the loop will have a lot of resistance in it needing a pretty beefy pump...

Thoughts?
 
People will disagree with me but if it's a decent rad then yes it'll be fine, temps won't be amazing but it's doable.

Hmmmm, so, probably better to squeeze in the 120 along side the 240 then? The loop will be pretty messy unless the CPU will be happy with the warmer water... Can't see it being an issue.
 
Have a look at my build. I am running a overclocked i5 4670k @4.2 and an overclocked GTX 970 on a single AX240 rad. My D5 pump is set to 2 out of 5, and my fans spin @ 550RPM and curve up when my CPU temp goes above 50 degrees and 100% at 70 degrees (which never happens).

My coolant temp seems to sit at 38 degrees when running GTA V on max settings (1920x1080) with an ambient of around 24 degrees.
 
Have a look at my build. I am running a overclocked i5 4670k @4.2 and an overclocked GTX 970 on a single AX240 rad. My D5 pump is set to 2 out of 5, and my fans spin @ 550RPM and curve up when my CPU temp goes above 50 degrees and 100% at 70 degrees (which never happens).

My coolant temp seems to sit at 38 degrees when running GTA V on max settings (1920x1080) with an ambient of around 24 degrees.

Cool, will have a gander now. Works slowed down so it will keep me busy.
 
If you get a good 240mm rad and some good fans it should be fine.

Just keep an a close eye on temps if you decide to heavily OC the gpu,as 980tis can draw a lot of power
 
If you get a good 240mm rad and some good fans it should be fine.

Just keep an a close eye on temps if you decide to heavily OC the gpu,as 980tis can draw a lot of power

Really doubt I'll be OC'ing the GPU. CPU will be sat at 4.2 as it has been on air since I got it out the box.

My question then is, will the noise from the rad fans be louder than not going down the watercooling route? Hmmmm
 
I can't hear the fans on my rad under 900rpm if that helps. I am using the new EK Vardar fans. All I can hear really is a slight ticking noise of my D5 pump, which I need to check as I don't that that's normal.
 
Really doubt I'll be OC'ing the GPU. CPU will be sat at 4.2 as it has been on air since I got it out the box.

My question then is, will the noise from the rad fans be louder than not going down the watercooling route? Hmmmm

Not really aslong as you get PWM fans,or use a controller.

You will just want to setup them up so that they are at low RPMs at idle,and ramp up when you place the system under load.Best is to hook up rad fans to the CPU header and set a low RPM curve in the bios,I do this with 7 rad/case fans.400-500rpm at idle,800-900rpm at load.

Obv you would have to use a more aggressive profile but can still get silence at idle if you get the right kit.
 
As above comments - doable with a good quality rad/fans with fan controller, but don't expect fantastic results if overclocking quite a bit. The usual rule of thumb is one rad core for each component you are cooling, plus one spare - expect you knew that though. D5 pump would be best for this imho.
 
Aye, was thinking D5. I used to moderate a huge watercooling forum (pretty dead these days) a fair few moons ago so been out of tough.

I'm thinking a dual might work... I'll have to chuck out the disk drive in favor for a fan controller I think. But then, as you mention, might as well run them from CPU pins.

Hmmmm, I have this case:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-257-LL

So it will be a VERY tight fit... But, I think it's doable. Specially if I take out the HDD enclosure and mouth then vertically against the back case panel with velcro. Also, I'll have to drill out the disk drive rivets to get rid of that... Will be a fair amount of work! But a worth while effort I think.
 
It's possible but I wouldn't expect it to be super quiet. It might be a better idea to keep the CPU cooled on air and just stick the 980ti underwater.

You don't need a physical fan controller if you can control your fans via something like speedfan. I use it for my loop in a H440 which has no space for a physical unit and it works brilliantly.
 
Id advise against it. Ok, I have a restrictive case (NZXT H440) but I have 480mm of rad space split across two EK Coolstream 240's. All Rad fans are EK Vardar F4's and intake fan I forget the name but it had the highest intake volume I could find.

Air flow is optimized and there are no dead spots (tested visibly with a smoke machine) and cables are all tidy, but my water still hits 40+ c on a gaming session.

I have an Intel I5 and a Nvidia 980. I know the temps aren't that bad, but still higher then id want under water. Ive come from a dual loop setup where the GPU's core never even exceeded 35 under hours of gaming so I culd be just biased...
 
If you decide just to put the GPU underwater your best bet would be to just get a cheap AIO and use one of the corsair or Nzxt GPU brackets to cool the 980 with.120mm/140mm aio would be fine for a single 980ti
 
Have a look at my build. I am running a overclocked i5 4670k @4.2 and an overclocked GTX 970 on a single AX240 rad. My D5 pump is set to 2 out of 5, and my fans spin @ 550RPM and curve up when my CPU temp goes above 50 degrees and 100% at 70 degrees (which never happens).

My coolant temp seems to sit at 38 degrees when running GTA V on max settings (1920x1080) with an ambient of around 24 degrees.

These type of quotes always amaze me and make me think I'm a complete Muppet when it comes to watercooling.

I have 480, 280, 240 60mm thick rads, all in push pull, in a Primo case with 2 D5's and running all fans on 1,100 rpm I can get higher temp coolant than that (playing something like Witcher 3) and my cpu can easily hit 70. Admittedly I have 2 780ti's but with the same cpu. Really does confuse me. :)

OP - Looking at my setup and what you asked my immediate response would have been no way, but you live and learn. :)
 
You have a crazy amount of rad space, there's not much a single 480mm rad can't cool. What's the rest of your system?

Extra radiators will have diminishing benefits as your coolant will get closer to ambient temp as it passes through each rad so the temperature gradient will be less therefore less energy will be removed. Each rad adds resistance too, so you add dual pumps which will dump extra heat themselves into the coolant. It's all a balance really.
 
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I don't want to thread-jack, but my coolant is only ever close to ambient when I first switch it on, after that it's a good 5 or 6 degrees higher just surfing. Play a game and it can rise to 15 degrees higher than ambient air. My system really just seems to run hot no matter what I try. I've just bought an Aquaero 6 to try and monitor things a little better. After that, new fans, a move around of rads and then I give up. :)
 
I don't want to thread-jack, but my coolant is only ever close to ambient when I first switch it on, after that it's a good 5 or 6 degrees higher just surfing. Play a game and it can rise to 15 degrees higher than ambient air. My system really just seems to run hot no matter what I try. I've just bought an Aquaero 6 to try and monitor things a little better. After that, new fans, a move around of rads and then I give up. :)

Being 5-6 degrees above ambient is pretty normal to me. My room is currently about 25-26 degrees. I'm running GTA V on ultra setting with my CPU and GPu on a single 240 rad, with fans going 550rpm. Peaking 40 degrees, but if I turn the fans up it will go down to 35ish.
 
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