Spec Me A Water Cooling Set-up Please - Need Help :-/

theufnk007

theufnk007

theufnk007

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I have finally decided to try out water-cooling due to the overclocking potential and the fact I can use less fans.

I have a Silverstone TJ07 case arriving on Monday along with a new shiny i7, I have also purchased a Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 - should I have purchased the Gigabyte GA-EX58-Extreme Intel X58 (which has water-cooling capability?)

I have also got a Radeon 5870 card, but will be upgrading to the 2gb version when it gets released (is there a block that will fit both?)

I don't know a great deal about water-cooling so want to sure I purchase the correct items. Should I just have 1 loop and cool the CPU or two and cool the gpu and Motherboard (if I made the wrong choice with the mobo?)

Any advice is welcome if you think i am best just to clock the processor and cool that, it is fine with me, or similar if you think cooling the gpu and processor makes more sense then please let me know that as well:confused:

As I said I am open to suggestions and would like to get a fairly decent overclock, budget is not a major factor but I will be limited by the size of the case...

Need some preconfigured components, could I just go for kits that ocuk sell or is it better to purchase items separately!!!!

Any help/suggestions is most welcome as well as components I will need to buy. Am hoping to get this ordered today..
 
Most watercooling loops have the same number of fans as a aircooled case.
The differance is that are running at 800rpm :)

Try clocking it with air first - then see of watercooling is worth a try.
The TJ07 is a great watercooling case btw - enjoy the build.
 
You can just about squeeze 2 PA rads side by side in the bottom but it is a real squeeze!
It will take max a PA120.4 and a PA120.2.
To be honest if you are upgrading the graphics card do you want to pay out for a block to only have to change it when you change the card? And with full cover blocks you will be changing them with most card changes!
If you want the best I would put a 120.4 rad in the bottom, an EK res next to the mobo and have a DDC or D5 pump cooling the CPU and mobo. That way you only need 1 loop and it keeps it simple for future upgrading of CPU's and graphics.

If you look under the case gallery there are a million pics of how people have fitted water cooling into their TJ07 case and will give you ideas on how you want to do yours.

Just note when fitting a rad in the bottom you will have to consider how and where you will mouont the HDD's as you will loose their designed cages.

Good luck mate!
 
Thanks for your reply, I should have expanded further. I currently have a Coolermaster Stacker 832 and in total it has 8 fans, I currently have a Q6600 up to 3.8 on air but the water cooling means I should a. have a quieter install and b. get more performance from my system.

I can quite easily install the system I used to be a plumber :-) but have not got a clue what to buy, I know I want black tubing with a wrap around UV coil but am unsure what I need to purchase as there are so many options!
 
The 5870 water blocks will not fit a 5870x2 - completely different sizes. 5870 full cover blocks alone cost around £70.

Probably best to say what sort of budget you have if serious considering watercooling.
 
Budget is not a huge problem, as long as I can adequately cool what you guys think I should cool, I mean do I really need watercooling on the mobo (benefits of this?)..

The radiator issue in the bottom of the case concerns me somewhat as I do have 5 x HDD's so this case might not be the best option if I can't put a radiator in the bottom.

What do most people do with their hardrives in this case if they put raidators in the base?!

Thanks for the suggestions guys
 
Right, my PERSONAL advice would be this..

XSPC RX480 rad (4x120mm)
4x Akasa Apache PWM fans & 2x Akasa PWM fan splitter cable
Aqua Cuplex HD Core i7 CPU block (looks nice! EK Supreme i7 is good too)
Swiftech Laing D5 pump (quiet and variable speed)
EK Multioption Res250 R2 (or what ever you like the look of)
6x EK 1/2" G1/4 fittings (for CPU block,res and rad)
2m XSPC 7/16 tubing Black
2m 3/4" anti kink coils
Akasa 8pin PSU extension cable (due to distance PSU is from mobo)

Maybe a pump bracket to help with mounting the pump?

How is that?
 
Get 2x Lian Li EX-332B hard drive bay kits and you can fit 6xHHD's and a DVD to the front of the TJ07.
And dont forget the EK X58 mobo kit to cook that!

Edit..
I dont cool my mobo as I dont think my north bridge or south bridge gets that hot. But have a look at some clocking forums to get an idea if you need to on that mobo with the sort of oc you are hoping to acheive.

You can always add it at a later date mind!

I would have as big a rad as you can, because it will just last you longer as hotter chips come out! My PA120.3 is way over the top for just my CPU, but I know it is and will easily handle an i7 or the new 6core chips when they come out and if I bother to upgrade!
As I said I dont do the gfx card. Got stung when I first went SLI. Got 2 and they both would not fit the next card so they got sold when the cards went and have stuck with air since! If you think you will keep the card a few years then it might be worth it.
 
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I get that to around £383 with vat exluding the non kinky things as they don't have blue :-( - That price does seem quite excessive for just cooling the CPU, but I guess I can add a GPU block when I get my 5870 x 2 (what else would I need to add this in?)

Many thanks for pointing me in the right direction , a few of the items are currently out of stock which is annoying as I wanted to order these items today so I could take delivery on Monday :-/

I will change my card, not that often but generally when something bigger and better comes along but would think I would keep it for a period of at least 1 year!
 
I think I have decided to cool the mobo can you tell me what I need in order to do that please?! Mobo is going to be Gigabyte GA-EX58-Extreme Intel X58, do i need blocks?! I can I just fit the pipes onto the mobo?! Also what do people use to secure the pipes to the barbs?! or do the barbs just hold the pipe in place?!

One more question, what solution do I need?! as the pipes are goin to be black just need clear fluid?!
 
Hi mate
I would get that EK X58 kit I listed. Looks like you will need an extra 6 barbs to fit the mobo blocks. same 1/2" G1/4 fittings mate.
You should not need anything extra to seal the tube to the barbs. You could et clamps or use tie wraps but the 7/16 tubing is so tight a fit you will probably need to drip it in boiling water to make it soft enough to fit over it. When it cools it will be so tight you will need to cut it off!

To add a GPU block later its just a case of draining the loop and cutting it where you want to fit the GPU into the loop! I would say a 4x120 rad should be enough to cool everything, but I would put the CPU and mobo before the GPU in the loop.

It is a lot of money, but you should only need to buy once! I have had mine for nearly 5 years. Well most of it!

As for solution as you are going with black tubing some distilled water and a couple of drop of PT Nuke Biocide should do you nicely. Distilled water is cheap and the Biocide to stop algey (???!).

Any more questions ask away mate. I will do my best to help.

Oh, dont forget to leak test it and run it for 24hrs when you first fill. Or ever night. ANd dont plug the power into the mobo, gfx or HDD's. Just the pump and fans mate.
 
Thanks for the help Phunky...I amlost set to spend but....

I am confused have I go about plumbing it all in?!! can you shed any light on how I do this?!!

i.e mobo to cpu? what does the res connect to?!!

Any pointers would be greatly recieved, as soon as I recieve I will start a project thread.

Many thanks,
Lea
 
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