Spec me a first time WC loop!

IceShock

IceShock

IceShock

Soldato
Joined
16 Dec 2005
Posts
4,054
Location
Halifax W'Yorkshire
Hey there, iv never done water cooling before, but how hard can it be :D

Im going to mod my case (drum roll, gets the dremmel out of the shed)
and when its complete i might go down the route of water cooling.

Iv measured up everything and all the mods i need to do, and if i went for the wc here are the stuff i require:

a 2 fan radiator, (140mm fans)
a 7950 waterblock and a cpu block to fit my 2500k,
also id like one of them res/pumps thats like a beer can cylinder shape.
also, id like quite fat looking tubes, not skinny ones the width of a ball point pen :)

Also if your wondering why iv made a spec me thread, its because iv no idea what fittings and tubes etc will work with what, so id need all them also :)

and also i need to cheapest possible, i dont require best gpu/cpu blocks, cheapest will do, i dont fancy paying 50 quid more on stuff for just 2c better temps etc lol.

Thanks :)
 
Hey quick questions;

-What 7950 is it? (need to know if ref pcb) Sorry I know your sig says amd but just want to check.
-What case is this going in? (Get an idea of how thick the rads can be)
-Is there an ideal amount to spend under?
- Most importantly do you have a color scheme in mind? :D
 
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In almost all my builds, i have had the option of putting in 140 rads but have put 120 rads instead due to better variety of fans and radiators. Decent 120 fans on a decent 120 radiator at the same price bracket will yield similar or even better results than 140's due to their price premium and lack of SP fans.
 
thanks for the replys, its a saphire vapour-x 7950,
and my case is a akasa eclipse 64.
budget is as cheap as possible, and fluid would like to be blue, not too blue so that the tubes look like paint though, thin enough fluid so i can see through it, but also thick enough that i can see the blue.

okay avenged7fold for the fan advice, a 2 fan 120 radiator would do fine then :)

(edit, also if your wondering how id get a 2 fan radiator in a eclipse, where the front mounting of 1 fan is, im going to dremmel away all of the unessasery drive bays as i only use the top two, one for cd drive, one for hdd, then there will be 13.5 inches of room to play with vertically and ill be cutting holes for the fans on the front of the case.)
 
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EK i think have some radiator mounting brackets which would do the job, i am sure a few drill holes after dremeling the front apart, isn't a problem for you :)

Unfortunately, your card is not compatible with any EK waterblock. Heatkiller might have one available though. If i were you, i would put the card on the bay and net enough cash to be only a few notes a brand new 280x price.

Alternatively, there are universal blocks which fit, thoguh you will need Ram sinks, your MOSFET on your cards seem to have a separate heatsink on them already. The VRM temps and RAM temps wont be as cool but the core will be and the others shouldnt run into any problems anyway with some heat sinks on them.

*Edit*

No fit i am afraid, on any full cover blocks.
 
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ah i see. okay, ill look into getting a new card, but that a side,

would you be able to make a list of all the other parts id need?

thanks :)
 
This is what you would need for a GPU core loop, including the shim to make contact (needed for some 7950/70s not sure about your but will be willing to bet!) and also the RAM and VRM heatsinks.

YOUR BASKET
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-DCP 4.0 X-RES (Incl. Pump) £79.99
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-Supremacy - Nickel £52.99
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-VGA Supremacy - Nickel £39.98
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-CoolStream PE 240 (Dual) £39.95
1 x Corsair Fan, SP120 PWM High Pressure Fan 4 pin, Dual Pack (CO-9050014-WW) £25.99
1 x Alpenföhn Passive DRAM / VRAM Chip Coolers £11.99
1 x Mayhems X1 UV Blue Premixed Watercooling Fluid 1L £7.99
2 x Primochill Primoflex Advanced Tubing 19/13 - Clear £5.99 (£11.98)
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-VGA Supreme HF Copper Shim 7970 / 7950 / 280 / 280x £3.95
8 x EK PSC Compression Fitting 13mm 3/8" - G1/4 - Black £3.89 (£31.12)
Total : £315.52 (includes shipping : £8.00).




A few angle fittings will help neaten the loop, but that would depend on how you plan to lay it out. If you can fit another 120mm somewhere, that will add a lot of overclocking overhead to both CPU and GPU.

One mroe thing to note with these core only blocks, is that the largest fittings which can fit and not get in the way of the PCB are 10mm ID ones. To use the larger fittings or tubing you wanted, you will need to use either angle adapters or fitting extenders. These would do the job, but it may make it difficult when it comes to looking pretty: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-328-EK

If you dont find the idea of core only GPU blocks, could just do CPU loop to start with, then include a the GPU full cover when you upgrade.

A full cover block list would be like the above, but without the heatsinks and ofc the core only universal block, replaced by the equivalent full cover block.
 
ty for replying, and thanks for the advice, i have a good idea what to buy now when i decide to go water cooling :)

ty very much!
 
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