SPEC HELP: First water cooling loop.

[MNA24]

Hi All,

I need a little help as I have come up with the following spec for my first true CPU water cooling set-up. The loop will work as follows, this is an incredibly crude drawing:

I have added a 90 degree rotary adapter as I want the inlet to the reservoir to be pointing up towards the CPU block rather than horizontal.

If i have made any errors in terms of fitting sizing or if there are any changes / extras i should also purchase please let me know.

Cheers.

 

[MNA24]

Have you double checked the XSPC EX radiator will fit inside the 600T?

I have a 650D so its got more headroom up top so i'm confident it will fit.

 

[MNA24]

Ah I read 650D as 600T in your sig

no problems, they are both the same chasis anyways just mine has a little hat on for extra room on top

 

[MNA24]

Question - Would he be safer with the 1/2" barb fittings with the 3/8" tubing?

I've swapped out the tubing for ID - 7/16" OD - 5/8" which is a perfect match for the spec of the compression fittings, it would have been a bit of a snug fit otherwise, cheers for the heads up.

 

[MNA24]

no, the compressions fit perfectly

EDIT: also, do you have decent fans?

So your saying that tubing is ok? just the tubing isnt to the spec of the compressions? Would it not be a nightmare to put the tubes onto the the fittings then another nightmare to screw down the compressions due to the extra 1mm in the tube thickness?

I have a couple of Noctua NF-F12 PWM to put on the radiator.

 

[MNA24]

Any chance for some pics of the setup ?

No problem, here you go:

If you have any questions or want any additional photos of anything in particular just say so

 

[MNA24]

MNA24, what are your temps like?
Looks like you're cooling a CPU and 2 GPUs on a thin double and a thin single rad (is why I'm asking).

Idle temps with my CPU at 4.4ghz (1.32 vcore) and the two GTX580s at stock:

CPU = 36c
GPU 1 = 35c
GPU 2 = 33c

At gaming load for a couple hours on BF3 id be looking at:

CPU = 48c - 52c
GPU 1 = 50c-54c
GPU 2 = 47c-52c

 

[MNA24]

What is that you are using to house your hard drives thats underneath your DVD drive?

I need one

It's a silverstone CFP51, holds up to 4 x 3.5" drives and has a blue LED 120mm cooling fan which can be easily swapped out for something else:

Only bad thing i can say about it is the internal housing isnt black, but it could be easily painted.

 

[MNA24]

Thanks for the pics! Looks great!
Have you ever had that combo not water cooled?
I am really surprised with the temperatures - they are amazing, considering only one slim double and one single thick rad...

I really need to do some proper measurements and see what rad I could fit on the top with my mobo combo...

Thanks

Yes i did have that combo running without water cooling (kinda) which is what made me pull the trigger on a custom loop as i was having temp issues. I had to purchase the mesh replacment window for the 650D sidepanel with 4 x 140mm Noctual Fans as the GFX cards are TwinFrozr ii so all the hot air was being ejected into the case unlike a stock blower style on reference cards. These caused temps around 86c on both cards so it was getting too toasty for my liking, was also creating a bit of noise as a result. The mesh panel took the card down to around 68c-70c. CPU temperature is about the same as now but i was using a corsair H100 and could only overclock to 4Ghz as the previous mobo i had too much vdroop. I could fit in push pull with that motherboard though (GA-990FXA-UD5).

Now i can run the case with the window side panel and I can only guess my good temperatures come from optimizing the airflow in my case. The noctua NF-F12 fans do a great job on forcing air through the radiators. Cool air is being braught in through a BitFenix Spectre Pro 200mm and i modded that intake by cutting out the grill with a dremel and putting some blowhole trim round it, the increase airflow was insane. I have pictures of what i did if you wish to see them. Air is also blown into the CPU area via the Silverstone HDD mounting cage i posted a picture of. Oh and good cable management also helps.

You could probally go push pull with a 240mm radiator in the top if the mobo you select doesnt have any clearance issues with the MOSFET heatsink. My Crosshair Formula V's heatsink is 2mm too tall and stops me from doing so.

 

[MNA24]

Will be doing my measurements tmrw having a day off from work before hols
I'm using the HDD cage fixed at the bottom at the moment...
You can see the setup/pics here: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18331139
I still havent updated that with new pics

Anyway... I have the fan temp controller connected to the front 200mm fan and at low speed it blows quite a bit of air while being quiet. I did think about cutting the mesh out but haven't made up my mind yet.
I saw a build with a 200mm rad on the front and maybe this would do nicely...

Nice build you have got going, should be pretty sweet when you watercool it.

I couldnt move the HDD cage to that location as my AX1200 PSU is too long and it would interfear with the modular cables.

I scrapped using the cases built in fan controller as it didnt have a great deal of control, plus nearly all my fans are PWM so i wanted to get some nice low RPMs when idling. I use the headers on my motherboard as i can control their speed using the asus FanXpert software which allows me to create speed curves based on temperature.

I'd recommend cutting the grill out if your going to strip your pc down again and remove everything. I researched a lot about the phobya 200mm rad even to the point where i had it ordered and delivered but bailed as the modding you need to do is very sketchy.

 

[MNA24]

Thanks! Maybe I'll get time to update it tmrw
What mods?

Btw. pics of the front being dremelled out would be nice

For the modding the grill is best cut out for max airflow to the rad, which i did as that's easy enough. Extra lower screw holes need to be drilled to fit the rad to the case which need to be placed pretty well as it can cause other problems when fitting. The rad would need to be orientated so the barbs are at the bottom which will make bleeding a pain in the ass, also depending on where you drilled the screws, the bleed screw on the rad will clash with the Optical bays meaning you have to cut out / drill out a portion. It all stems from the fact the rad isnt a true 200mm is actually 230mm as it also takes fans of that size. I mean its do-able but its not a quick fit, something i didnt want to attempt incase a screwed it up.

I'll post the pictures of the grill removal this evening when i get in from work.

 

[MNA24]

Didn't take any photos while i was cutting......as i was cutting

Spectre Pro 200mm fan mounted after cutting, edges looked pretty nasty but I had a solution coming in the post.

Lined the cut edges with blowhole trim to make things look way better and get rid of any sharp edges:

Final product after cutting, applying trim and mounting the fan:

The change in airflow was insane from changing from the stock fan and cutting out the grill.

 

[MNA24]

Looking great Seems like I have to do it then lol
Me was wondering if 230mm fan would fit... But I guess it would be a bit wasted space anyway...
Shame 200mm version is louder than 230mm while running at the same speed.
What do you have it on? Is noise acceptable?

I have the fan running between 700-800 RPM depending on load, because there is no grill any more to cause turbulence it's very quiet. The hum from my water pump is louder than the fan and that itself is quiet.

 

[MNA24]

Made a few changed to my setup:

• Swapped all radiator fans to pull
• Cut out the 120mm rear fan grill for improved air flow.
• Replaced tubing from XSPC Clear to Masterkleer due to staining from a previous coolant.
• Changed some elements of the loop fittings and tubing arrangements

Pictures detailing the changes:

 

[MNA24]

Have I asked what rad you've got on the top?
Looking really neat

Thanks, The rad up top is a XSPC EX240