Spec me a cpu and gpu loop please

l33th3tr33

l33th3tr33

l33th3tr33

Associate
Joined
17 Feb 2013
Posts
317
Hey guys, I'm taking the dive when I get payed this week and getting a loop.
First off I've got a fractal R4. I was thinking of getting a slim 240 rad for the roof but I won't have enough room to use it in push/pull. On the other hand I could just have the rad on the outside and cut a couple holes for the hoses.
Is there another option? Maybe two 120 rads, one at the bottom and the other at the back?

Another thing is I can't have a bay reservoir as all the slots are occupied, Plus I like the look of tube reservoirs, so I'd like a tube.

As for the blocks, I've got an i5 1155, and a msi 7970 oc.

Now for the 'somewhat' important part, price. Around £300 would be spot on.

Cheers guys.
 
If you don't move your PC around too much and don't mind having an external radiator buy phobyas 1080. It is amazing bang for buck and more rad than you will ever need. There is an enclosure for the rad if you don't like the idea of it being in the open. If you do move your radiator around i have heard of a few guys on this forum using quick disconnects in their loop to make things easy.

£300 is a tight budget for a CPU and GPU loop (non second hand). It is late so i will spec you tomorrow if no one has done it but major money savers would be to go for ek 4.0 pump rather than a D5, don't worry about its power, it is more than enough for the loop you have in mind.

I say if you don't have enough room for push/pull just go with one set of fans, performance difference is not that much if you use decent fans.
 
Avenged7Fold said:
If you don't move your PC around too much and don't mind having an external radiator buy phobyas 1080. It is amazing bang for buck and more rad than you will ever need. There is an enclosure for the rad if you don't like the idea of it being in the open. If you do move your radiator around i have heard of a few guys on this forum using quick disconnects in their loop to make things easy.

£300 is a tight budget for a CPU and GPU loop (non second hand). It is late so i will spec you tomorrow if no one has done it but major money savers would be to go for ek 4.0 pump rather than a D5, don't worry about its power, it is more than enough for the loop you have in mind.

I say if you don't have enough room for push/pull just go with one set of fans, performance difference is not that much if you use decent fans.
Click to expand...
That would be great, thanks!
I've got some GT 1850's that I could use, and £300 is just a number, I can go over.

EDIT: I looked at that rad and it's out of the question. I'm not having a monster like that just for a cpu and gpu loop, at £15 a pop on GT 1850 fans it can take a backseat.
 
Last edited:
The GT's would be the best choice of fan and since you have them already, its money saved! To be honest, you really want about 360mm worth of decent brand radiator to cool both gpu and cpu and give you overclock headroom. You can go 240 on top and 120 on the front or back if you want to keep it all inside the case. If you have another place to mount drives, you can actually remove the two drive holders and put a 240mm there.

I will spec a 240 + 120 but the cheaper route which offers a bit more cooling would be to get a 480 quad radiator by phobya (square one) and have it externally on a stand or desk if you dont move it around much. (i think those radiators RRP at about £55 and have a really good fin density)

You can save a few quid on spec bellow by using barbs instead of compression fittings and a cheaper CPU block (to be honest, its really worth splashing for the supremacy since its universal and performs incredibly well with little flow restriction)

YOUR BASKET
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-FC7970 - Nickel Plexi CSQ £79.99
1 x EK-Supremacy - CPU Waterblock - Nickel Plexi £56.99
1 x EK DCP 4.0 Pump (12v) £39.98
1 x Bitspower Z-Multi 150mm Water Tank £36.98
1 x Hardware Labs Black ICE Radiator GT Stealth 240 £35.99
1 x EK CoolStream Radiator XT 120 (120.1) £26.99
2 x XSPC 7/16" ID (16/11mm) High Flex Hose - Clear (1m Length) £2.99 (£5.98)
12 x XSPC G1/4" to 7/16" ID, 5/8" OD Compression Fitting (Black Chrome) £2.99 (£35.88)
Total : £330.16 (includes shipping : £9.50).



The only thing im not to sure about in this build is the stealth radiator. Though it has high fin density and its said to have good performance, it is supposedly fairly restrictive on the pump, which is why ive chosen the much more powerful 4.0 EK than the 2.2. A better pump like a D5 would require a top costing you over £70 rather than just £40. A i have seen pictures of a 27mm thick radiator with fans mounted there, so that gives about 5cm of clearance. You could instead of the 'black ICE Stealth' radiator, mount the GT's on the outside of the case and have XSPC's 35.5mm radiator or EK's 47mm thick radiator fitted there. This in my personal opinion is a much better choice since it is the same price and far less restrictive on your pump.
 
SirConfused said:
For reference, here's an interesting comparison between push/pull/push+pull: http://www.overclock.net/t/1292456/1-fan-vs-2-chapter-2-push-vs-pull

I found that when researching my own loop just a week ago, the thread is from last year but the info still seems relevant as far as I can tell.
Click to expand...

I saw a few comparisons like this. These are quite useful when putting together your loop as it puts the idea of push pull performance into perspective. Ive seen people sacrifice good thick high fin density radiators for cheaper thinner ones, just to fit in an extra pair of fans. Also people who have gone with stealth builds due to not being able to fit in push and pull fans, just to find that their pump struggles because the radiator on the stealth builds restricts flow quite a lot. The worst possible radiator decision i have seen is someone who decided to drop the idea of a well known branded radiator to go for factory mass produced no named ones, to save money so that he can spend what he saved on extra fans for the the push/pull. /facepalm

Radiator quality is as important as waterblock and fan quality.


As you can see from results, there isn't much drop in temperatures with an extra set of fans. You will see better performance from a thicker radiator (from a good brand like EK/XSPC or phobya) than a thin radiator or the same quality and push/pull fans. OP is quite restricted on radiator space for the top mounted 240mm.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom