Spec me! (Please?)

Emjay86

Emjay86

Emjay86

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Hey guys,

One of 'those' threads...

Would some of you be so kind as to spec me a new watercool loop please?

Basically im looking for a loop to cater for my CPU and 2 GeForce 580GTX cards (SLI ofc).

I don't have a budget as I will be buying the parts over time rather than a one lump sum (due to currently moving house and whatnot! Money sink!!!).

The only thing im fixed on currently is a frozenq cylindrical reservoir, with the colour theme being orange. I have opted for DI water fluid so the tubing will also be an orange UV type. I have also decided on my fan setup so theres no need to add them to the list.

Thanks in advance!!

Also in regards to the frozenq reservoirs how would a black and orange (UV) setup look? Obviously black doesn't really do much in UV so would it be a waste to add it or not? Cheers again!
 
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I hate to be a bump chump but im hoping to get at least a few of the items needed soon so... Bump chump I am...

Oh dear... :(
 
Sorry I was a bit brief wasn't I.

I have a Corsair Obsidian 800D case. Naturally a 360 rad would fit to the upper of the case. Id like to get a setup that doesn't require me to cut the case at all (id probably botch it up and make a mess!).

Also im in favour of UV tubing rather than fluid because out of the 3 brands of UV fluid I have used all of them have resulted in very poor UV quality results and all have caused some sort of gunky build up over very short periods of time. Overall I think ive decided to go against anything with dye because of that now. I was originally expecting to just buy a few new parts but after close inspection I need to buy a new block and rad due to gunk build-up... God I hate the stuff...

So basically if you guys could treat this as a completely brand new setup rather than an upgrade that is more to what im looking at.

Also if its easier to just label the most efficient of each component then thats fine.

Im basically looking for a system to which I can keep my graphics cards to around 70C max while playing games and whatnot. Hopefully it would allow me to overclock also...

Anyway thanks in advance :)

In regards to the 480, obviously as a singular I cannot add that due to case restraints however there would be a possibility of adding a 120 to the rear fan I guess. My only issue with that though would be the inevitable squeeze to get the rad there... Id rather a 360 rad running the loop if possible. If of course I have to bite the bullet and get the additional 120 then fair enough.

Also as a long shot im 'willing' to take into consideration an external rad. I havn't however researched as to how good this can potentially be which is why im a bit unsure on that!

Thanks again
 
Yes it is expensive, I know, but that's a very good loop :)
you could put the 120mm rad on the 120mm fan mount on the midplate ;)
and you could swap the res and pump for this if you wanted a bay res intead:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-140-XS&groupid=962&catid=2141&subcat=

also, in terms of the coolant, mayhems is the best coolant you can get and the dye they use doesn't get all gunky ;)

YOUR BASKET
1 x OcUK Tech Lab - D5 Vario Pump & Alphacool Clear HF D5 Top Value Combo £84.98
1 x EK CoolStream RAD XTX (360) £74.99
2 x XSPC Razor GTX580 GPU Waterblock **Also Supports GTX 570** £55.99 (111.98)
1 x XSPC RayStorm CPU WaterBlock (Intel) £49.98
1 x EK-CoolStream RAD XTX (120) £39.98
1 x EK Multioption Reservoir X2 250 Basic £33.98
2 x Mayhems Pastel - Gigabyte Orange Coolant 1L £14.99 (29.98)
14 x EK PSC Compression Fitting 7/16 [16/12mm] - G1/4 - Nickel £3.29 (46.06)
3 x XSPC 7/16" ID [16/11mm] High Flex Hose - Clear £2.99 (8.97)
1 x OcUK Value PSU Bridging Connector (24 Pin) £1.3
Total : £494.77 (includes shipping : £10.50).

 
Things to swap fro kiis spec^^
Res (frozen one you wanted in op)
Tubing, masterkleer is better.

Things you may want to swap (mostly aesthetics)
The blocks, so you have matching ones.

As kii said, mayhems coolant is good stuff and you won't get any gunk
 
Thats pretty much what I was after. Thanks for that.

Also im still a bit skeptical with the fluids. I was intending on using mayhems h20 but im still very wary of coloured dyes.

I have used Feser 1, Primochill and some other brand I forget the name of now. Either way all 3 lasted all of a few hours to a full day before the UV properties wore off and left me with a non-reactive coloured fluid. Im at a point now where my CPU block has some sort of gunk build-up in it and my res is peppered with little white blobs of gunky fluid. Also all of my tubing has become cloudy and generally just looks like its covered in dust constantly. Generally my whole loop has become a piece of garbage because of dodgy fluids so im very wary of using anything coloured anymore.

I did actually have a mayhems aurora fluid laying around which I was going to use with a bay reservoir but due to the problems ive had with gunk and bad fluids in general im not sure its worth doing.

Whats the difference between UV fluid and UV tubing then? Im guessing there is something up with the UV tubing as ive heard suggestions to use UV dye often.

Thanks
 
Cleeecooo said:
Uv dyes are visible in the res :cool:

With mayhems dyes, the uV effect stays for ages :) also, no gunk :D
Click to expand...

True enough. Its one of the reasons why initially I was going to get a bay reservoir to give that extra angle of seeing awesome fluid.

That being said the FrozenQ res looks pretty awesome with just DI water running through it as the coils are what you want to light up. Sure you can add UV fluid to it but that only takes away from the aesthetic (in my opinion!). If you do a quick youtube search for a FrozenQ res you will see 9/10 it is with DI water and it looks perfectly fine. The only difference of course is most people go with Blue or Red. Personally while I do like blue and red colours id rather something a little more striking. Such as black and orange (case is already black so that will compliment for starters!).

Im going to order some new fluid soon so I may just add a bottle of mayhems UV just to test. Although I do feel its a waste having an aurora sat upstairs unopened... Hmmm...

Damn you CleeCloo look at the dilema you are putting me through! :p
 
btw clee the xspc tubing is excellent, despite you telling me I'd get clouding, I haven't had any yet :p

I have heard that the frozenQ reservoirs have had wuite a lot of problems with breakages etc, but they do look awesome :)

take a look at my build log to see how mayhems pastel orange looks in a loop ;) (click the image in my sig)
 
Aurora is great, but it's more for short term use :)

Kii- I said you may get clouding. Have you tried masterkleer next to XSPC? The masterkleer is a lot clearer than the XSPC both jut having come out of the box.
 
I do like the look of that.

My only question however is how well does that work in the dark?

Obviously the case you have their has little issue with getting light to it but mine on the other hand is pretty much a black box with few areas for lighting to enter.

Of course I could put white LED's within the case but im curious as to how that would look as opposed to just going UV.

Also yea the aurora is awesome looking but I havnt got a loop worthy enough of showing it off yet. From what I understand to really get the benefits of it youd need a bay res which I dont have currently.

I personally don't refilling my rig once every 6 months if it means I can have awesome looking fluids and whatnot. That doesn't phase me. The more frequent I -have- to maintain the system is in some ways better as it will keep it in tip-top shape more often... As much of a pain in the ass it could sound :p

Im also thinking perhaps a dual loop would look aesthetically pleasing? Perhaps going black and orange with that? Could look interesting maybe...
 
Dual loop will look amazing, but is it worth the money?

UV LED's have a very nice lighting effect, but with white it is much easier to see things
 
Emjay86 said:
I do like the look of that.

My only question however is how well does that work in the dark?

Obviously the case you have their has little issue with getting light to it but mine on the other hand is pretty much a black box with few areas for lighting to enter.

Of course I could put white LED's within the case but im curious as to how that would look as opposed to just going UV.

Also yea the aurora is awesome looking but I havnt got a loop worthy enough of showing it off yet. From what I understand to really get the benefits of it youd need a bay res which I dont have currently.

I personally don't refilling my rig once every 6 months if it means I can have awesome looking fluids and whatnot. That doesn't phase me. The more frequent I -have- to maintain the system is in some ways better as it will keep it in tip-top shape more often... As much of a pain in the ass it could sound :p

Im also thinking perhaps a dual loop would look aesthetically pleasing? Perhaps going black and orange with that? Could look interesting maybe...
Click to expand...

I can recommend swiftech hydrx concentrate (green uv) It's very cheap and from my experience is great. I used it for 4 years without changing once and block was as good as new when I took it apart. ( 1 bottle for every 1/2 liter distilled water is meant to be good for 5 years)
 
Cleeecooo said:
Dual loop will look amazing, but is it worth the money?

UV LED's have a very nice lighting effect, but with white it is much easier to see things
Click to expand...

I have got a couple of UV cathodes lying around but due to my experienced beforehand the results with them were very poor. Now that I have seemingly been using poor quality dyes I wonder if it was the dye and not the cathodes after all...

I guess the tubing vs dye is a decision I can make in the future. For now I just need to get something started. I have done a lot of googling for corsair 800d dual loop builds and I have to say around 90% of them look unappealing. The ones that look half decent and above look too complex. I understand that when actually starting the project complexity will fade but as you said Cleecloo im wondering if its a bit overkill...

I think for the meantime at least a single loop is the way forward. If I really want to create a second loop after the first then I imagine it will be a lot easier from that point than where I am right now.

So for right now I need to work out where each component is going to go and whatnot. Obviously the 360 rad will be mounted to the ceiling of the case. A question on that... Do I put the fans on first with the rad under them or visa versa?

Or would the machine benefit a lot more with a push pull system. In either case which way should the air be flowing in regards to the top of the case? Should the case be pushing air out through the top or sucking it through?

The potential second rad is a bit of a difficult one atm. I have seen people placing them where the back fan is and it makes it look really clunky. I have also seen cases where it is in the bottom chamber. My concern with that is A) they all seemingly have modified the case to get the rad there in the first place and B) im not sure how great the airflow is at the bottom to effectively cool the rad enough for it to be worthwhile.
 
Cathodes are rubbish, try LEDs instead.

Re airflow at te bottom, airflow shouldn't be a massive problem, you don't need amazing flow, just enough to keep air moving through the rad.

IIRC, to get rads in the bottom you take the HDD cages out
 
Cleeecooo said:
Cathodes are rubbish, try LEDs instead.

Re airflow at te bottom, airflow shouldn't be a massive problem, you don't need amazing flow, just enough to keep air moving through the rad.

IIRC, to get rads in the bottom you take the HDD cages out
Click to expand...

Could explain why I was so bummed with my last set up. After 3-4 hours worth of the UV fluid looking awesome I was left with a very slight shine under UV light. I got more out of it by putting a torch in the bloody case...

I think taking the HDD cage out is how to go about it but im pretty sure that requires hacking away at the case in some shape or form which id like to refrain from doing. Purely because I like my things to look neat, sleek and professional and I know when im behind the tool I will get anything other than that.

Thanks for the feedback so far btw!
 
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