Spec me - first watercooling setup

Ucof

Ucof

Ucof

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Wales.
Hello!

Current setup:
GPU: MSI R7970, possbly going to get Crossfire this afternoon.
CPU: i5 2550-K
Case: Silverstone FT-01

I'm toying with the idea of watercooling my PC for both GPU and CPU, and have looked at the following:

EK Water Blocks EK-FC7970/R9 280X CSQ £67.99
XSPC X2O 750 Dual Bayres/Pump (Black) V4 £59.98
EK Water Blocks EK-Supremacy Clean CSQ - Nickel £52.99
Magicool Copper Radiator - 180mm £47.99
EK-EKoolants UV Green EK-EKoolants UV Green £5.99
2x Primochill Primoflex Advanced Tubing 13/10 - Clear £11.98

Total : £246.91

Due to the case having 180mm fans, I was hoping to use a 180mm rad and connect it to the front bottom fan as I have removed all the 3.5" drive bays (http://www.silverstonetek.com/images/memo/FT01Remark-01.jpg) and there is plenty of room for the rad there.
I was going to have a res and pump combo in the 5.25" drive bays.

I am unsure of what fittings to use - can anyone recommend any improvements or alternatives to the above or suggest good fittings please?

Thank you!
 
I've bought myself a XSPC res with D5 pump built in from the member's market for a bargain price, but unsure which way the water flows from it. There's an opening in the top left corner that I would guess is the outlet, meaning the bottom right is the inlet - is this correct?

Im still unsure on fittings however - is anyone able to offer any advice?
 
Which res is it as there are a few different ones from XSPC?

Since you bought it used you will want to test it out anyway so just attach some tube, get a bucket and test it out.

Last thing you want is to build your system and have a problem with the pump.

As for fittings, it is personal preference, if you already bought the 13/10 tubing you listed above then you obviously will need 13/10 fittings to go with it.

I would go with some compression fittings from here: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=962&catid=1529&subid=2582
The Monsoon ones look nice and plenty of colours to match your build.
 
Are you intending to cool the CPU and the GPU with one single 180mm rad? I'm sure the rule of thumb is 120mm for each block and an extra 120mm on top, which would mean 360mm of rad for what you want to cool.
 
In this picture of the bay res:http://i.imgur.com/26RqLmSl.jpg
The right centred hole in the reservoir section is the inlet and the other is the outlet.

Going by your first post wish list I changed the tube to my preference of 16/11 as I like the thicker walls and added some fittings, obviously you can pick whatever colours you want.

YOUR BASKET
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-Supremacy Clean CSQ - Nickel £52.99
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-FC7970/R9 280X - Nickel CSQ £50.00
2 x Magicool Copper Radiator - 180mm £43.99 (£87.98)
1 x EK-EKoolants UV Green £5.99
3 x Primochill Primoflex Advanced Tubing 16/11 - Clear £5.99 (£17.97)
10 x Monsoon 16/11mm (ID 7/16 OD 5/8) Free Center Compression Fitting - Green £4.99 (£49.90)
Total : £264.85 (includes shipping : ).

 
Jp - the holes round that way don't make sence to me (Im not saying you are wrong, Im saying that I dont understand fully) - are the pumps set to push or pull by default? I'm guessing pull as that would give a watertight seal all the way around the system. Having the outtube from the pump into the res, and then the res outlet only a few mm away seems to me to not be either watertight, or get a good surface area for the water to mix and distribute heat evenly - am I missing something?

dfour - I hadn't thought of using UV tubing - that could make some good sence.
 
Well I haven't used this res before, I was just going by what I could see online and from using D5 pumps myself.

lGKCc52.jpg


To me, the left port is the out and the right is the in.

The pump should be sucking in fluid from the res section.

Like I said though, best thing you can do is test it out when you get your other parts.
 
dfour said:
Personally I would recommend using uv tubing over dyes as dyes stain everything over time as I found out.

XSPC HighFlex Hose 7/16" ID, 5/8" OD, 15.9/11.1mm, 2m, Green/UV Green £6/£12

Just use some deionized water form halfords/tesco etc and a Mayhems Fine Silver Kill Coil £4:50 for nasty killing duty.

could even save more money by changing the nuice shiney monsoon fittings out for Bitspower cable tie set 20 pieces 120mm UV Green £2:99
Click to expand...

Are you advising him to use cable ties instead of compression fittings?
 
String said:
Are you advising him to use cable ties instead of compression fittings?
Click to expand...

Its an option and I did forget he will have to buy barbs as well so it would still be cheaper that compression fittings. I use cable ties myself as I have been water cooled for so long it would cost me a fortune to upgrade to compression fittings next time I rejig my rig.
 
String said:
Personally, I wouldn't use cable ties.
Click to expand...

Thats what the 24 hour leak test is for :p

If I was building a water cooling rig now I would most likely go for compression fittings but there where none when I started water cooling. I would need 20+ comression fitting to do my rig as it stands. To much money for no real (non bling) gain IMHO.
 
I think il'll go for those compression fittings, but will respray them UV green rather than the green they are now.

Just remembered that I wanted to have a clear cpu block, in order to see the UV fluid inside - whats the best way (if there is one) to clear out staining? flush vinergar through for 24 hours?
 
The best thing I found was milton fliuds but it still wouldnt remove all the staining from my old res. :(
 
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