Planning WC layout - Help meh!

jinxpad

jinxpad

jinxpad

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Hey Guys,

I've found this place by far the best place for advice on setting up my new rig.

First off this is the Planned purchase list (Definitely subject to change based on requirements and recommendations).




Before I actually go ahead with my purchase, there are a couple of things which I am sure I'll need to change in terms of quantities of certain products on the list such as the fittings.

I want to have an internal setup, I mean... it's one of the big reasons I got the 800D in the first place.

As such, I'll only be cooling the GPU and CPU. I only have a single 480, but I want to keep it nice and cool (I've seen the benchmarks of watercooling these cards and it seems amazing to see an OC'd 480 on load to peak at 55-60oC).

What I really want to know is the best way to setup this system once I have it all ready to go, such as waterflow routes etc as I want to make it as efficient as possible.

I also want to (as I'm sure you can understand) want to keep everything as tidy as possible. I'm planning on drawing up a little schematic on my intended setup but if anybody has any suggestions on either the layout of the kit or indeed some of the components I have chosen, I would greatly appreciate it.

Many thanks!
 
Your mileage might vary but,

...I am sure that the 480 owners will chip in, I am not sure that a 120.3 has sufficient cooling capacity for an o/c'd i7 and a 480. Certainly not enough to maintain good temps whilst not sounding like a hoover-craft....

I recall Rjkoneill saying in his build thread that a he wasn't too comfortable with the temps he was getting with just a 120.4 cooling an i7 and 480.

My own experience of w/c a 920@4200 and a 5870 in the same loop is that I needed more than one radiator if I wanted a cool and quiet loop. (I have a 120.4 thermochill in the bottom of my tj07 and a black ice stealth 360 in the roof).

For the loop I would go

| res > pump > (which ever order works/looks neat/uses less tube) > res |

Others will say

Res - > pump -> chip -> gfx -> Rad -> Res

What I really want to know is the best way to setup this system once I have it all ready to go, such as waterflow routes etc as I want to make it as efficient as possible.
Click to expand...

Giving you a guide to this really would spoil all your fun, honestly, research, read, more research, check out build logs: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=126, more reading, mess around with tubing, take your time buy power tools,...figure stuff out :D
 
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Thanks for the heads up.

I just had a good read on that Rjkoneill build thread. Very interesting stuff, I do have a spare 240 Black Ice Radiator (although some of the fins are slightly damaged :( ) which Ive had for a while.

I'm constantly doing some research or some other but its always great to hear feedback as well, so much appreciated.

I did notice though that Rjkoneill was using 2 pumps and cooling the motherboard as well, which I won't be doing as I've heard is mainly for aesthetics and just adds heat to the loop.

I'm going to be going over to a friends place this weekend to checkout his loop, and has a similar rig to mine, but has a 5970 instead of the 480, so I'll see how he has his loop setup as well.

more advice is appreciated as always :)
 
Can I suggest, that you maybe try and source the 18W version of the DDC pump from somewhere.

Maybe add a second 120.2 rad in the loop. Rich has now dropped down to a single pump, but I know he is adding a 120.2 into his loop to help with temps.
 
I'm actually thinking of getting the D5 now. And if I did get a second Radiator, would I use the 120.2 for the GPU or CPU?
 
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jinxpad said:
I'm actually thinking of getting the D5 now. And if I did get a second Radiator, would I use the 120.2 for the GPU or CPU?
Click to expand...

You would use them both in the same loop mate :p

I would try and put the 120.2 between the CPU and the GPU if possible. If not, just put them one after each other, so it's basically like a 120.5 rad.
 
jinxpad said:
I'm actually thinking of getting the D5 now. And if I did get a second Radiator, would I use the 120.2 for the GPU or CPU?
Click to expand...

D5 makes more sense for this,a single 10w DDC certainly doesnt have enough oomph for a multi-rad loop.

Vinni3 @H|H said:
Might want to drop the coloured fluid and just use red tubing as the fluid will stain/gunk up your system.
Click to expand...

Also in agreement here de-ionised water with an additive is more than sufficient.

As for the loop itself you cant go wrong if you start with start with res>pump.
From there go with whatever is easiest/neatest to plumb/route.
 
Looking at some numbers a stock 480 puts out 250w of heat, i7 @ 4ghz is also around 250w so your looking to dissapate at least 500w plus any heat dump from the pump. Looking at skinnee's results for the ek rad even with a low performance delta of 15 degrees you'll only shift 453w with fans at 1000rpm
ekcs360cwchart.jpg

http://skinneelabs.com/ek-cs360.html?page=4
Thats a fair amount for a tripple especially the ek coolstream, it's a mid performer and you would be better to go for something like the sr1-360
hwlabssr1360cwchart.jpg

or pa120.3 if you are happy to use noisier fans (they scale slightly better than the sr1 which is king of low rpm fans and better for near silent loops)
pa120.3
pa1203cwchart.jpg


All from http://skinneelabs.com/triplesv2.html?page=4

A double in the same loop would really help but is not totally necesary.
Are you aiming for this to reduce noise, temperatures or both?
 
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Thanks for the info Jeff, (although Im not quite sure what the delta temperatures actually mean >_< ).

Essentially I'm really looking to reduce noise and heat, however more heat than noise especially on the 480. I'm very much leaning towards getting a second radiator, maybe a 240 to stick in the loop just for the graphics card, but im not sure where I'd put it in the loop.

Res > Pump >240 Rad > GPU > 320 Rad > CPU > Res

Would that be a good loop? I've been trying to find the Thermochill 120.3 but everywhere seems to be sold out :( I didn't realise I'd need more powerful fans however which kind of puts me off. If a secondary Radiator to deal with just cooling the GPU would mean I could use lower RPM fans and provide good cooling, it's a route I'd much prefer.
 
Delta temps are water temp under load minus ambient air temp. The pa120.3 is being phased out and should be replaced soon with the TA series. If your going for quietness get the 240 as well.
 
Legion said:
D5 makes more sense for this,a single 10w DDC certainly doesnt have enough oomph for a multi-rad loop.
Click to expand...

With the exception of the BI GTS radiators add very very little restriction to a loop.

It's worth bearing in mind that if after building your loop you discover that the 10w DDC is not powerful enough it is very easily modded into the 18w DDC which has greater head pressure than the D5 (which is what is important in a loop like this with a couple of restrictive-ish blocks).

As stated by JeffyB you are going to struggle to get 'good' temps if you have both an over clocked 480 & i7 on one 120.3 rad with quiet fans. A stock GTX 480 will kick out around 300w of heat let alone when overclocked, so adding a 120.2 as well would be advisable.
 
Excellent, I'll grab the SR-1 360 and add a the EK 240 to my loop, as I do want to keep this as quiet as possible, I can handle noise from my PC, but the 480 @ 100% is just absolutely ridiculous, and when it tops 89oC, that noise just doesn't cut it.


Thanks so much for the help guys, I'll get a work log going once I grab all the gear. In terms of the pump, would I be best going with the D5 then for this dual loop setup? Or would the 18W version of the swiftech be sufficient?


Edit: Looks like the 18W Swiftech it is then :)
edit 2: GAH!!! Can't find the 18W in stock anywhere!
 
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If you go for one of the DDCs make sure you get an aftermarket top like the XSPC res top or EK top (using the top port as the inlet), since stock DDCs have a very restrictive 90 degree inlet which kills performance. However the D5s performance is relatively unhindered by the stock top.

A word of warning before you do place an order, some people report that the 18w DDC can be a little noisy (I own a D5 so I can't comment), and unlike the D5 it doesn't have any speed control so it can't be turned down. In theory if you do find it however you could desolder the relevant bit on the 18w DDC and make it into a 10w DDC if the noise is too bad.
 
one thing i have noticed in the gtx rigs i have cooled is that it doesnt take much to drop 20 deg off the peak load temp on them. What you do find is that your i7 will suffer more from being in the same loop.

Its wierd. But thsts what i have found, Fermi responds VERY well to LC but it dumps a lot of heat into the loop that means you need more rads or faster fans.
 
jinxpad said:
Excellent, I'll grab the SR-1 360 and add a the EK 240 to my loop, as I do want to keep this as quiet as possible, I can handle noise from my PC, but the 480 @ 100% is just absolutely ridiculous, and when it tops 89oC, that noise just doesn't cut it.


Thanks so much for the help guys, I'll get a work log going once I grab all the gear. In terms of the pump, would I be best going with the D5 then for this dual loop setup? Or would the 18W version of the swiftech be sufficient?


Edit: Looks like the 18W Swiftech it is then :)
edit 2: GAH!!! Can't find the 18W in stock anywhere!
Click to expand...

I think there are a few places on the net that have the 18W DDC in stock :p I know of one...email me in trust if you need to know where.
 
Squakingcow said:
It's worth bearing in mind that if after building your loop you discover that the 10w DDC is not powerful enough it is very easily modded into the 18w DDC which has greater head pressure than the D5
Click to expand...


Head pressure on a "stock" DDC is actually slightly worse than a D5,it's only when you add custom tops or a top mounted res that they can actually surpass a D5.

The D5 is also a fair bit quieter than a DDC and can be turned down even lower,this is something else you should consider.
 
gahhhh decisions decisions, I know the pump is a very important part, so i want to make the best decision especially on this part of the setup.

So it's definitely a split between the 18W DDC and the D5... just which one now to get....
 
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