Suggestions for my WC Setup please

Franco_cov

Franco_cov

Franco_cov

Associate
Joined
7 Sep 2007
Posts
547
Hi,

I am in the process of updating my watercooling and basically wanted to know what is the best rad and fans money can buy as I want to get the most out of my current setup.

I was thinking of a triple rad and a doube rad on a single loop with my XSPC DDC Pump/Res

My hardware to cool is an overclocked 2.4 6600 to 3.72 and 2 x HD4890's in crossfire

And whilst I am at it I am currently using 3/8 tubing does it help to increase this to 1/2 ? and currently using feser blue, as I like the idea of if i get a slight spillage it dont knacker anything up.

I await replies before ordering :p

pics for what i have already can be found Here


As I think my fans are as basic as they come and my rad is the original rad I got in a alphacool kit 9 months+ (cost £100 in total) so rad may not be too good as it just about cooled a 4870x2 but several months on the card became fault (thankfully got refund) but was wondering was it due to poor cooling?
 
Current setup is Pump/res -> triple rad -> cpu -> HD4890(1) -> HD4890(2) -> Pump/res

thought about doing the following setup(s)

Idea 1
------
Pump/Res -> Double Rad -> Cpu -> 2nd Pump -> Triple Rad -> HD4890(1) -> HD4890(2) -> Pump/Res

Idea 2
------
Pump/Res -> Double Rad -> Cpu -> Triple Rad -> HD4890(1) -> HD4890(2) -> Pump/Res

or.. instead of double rad in my hdd bays add a single rad on my read 120 fan and do...

Idea 3
------
Pump/Res -> Single rear Rad -> Cpu -> Triple Rad -> HD4890(1) -> HD4890(2) -> Pump/Res

Idea 4
------
Pump/Res -> Single rear Rad -> Cpu -> 2nd Pump -> Triple Rad -> HD4890(1) -> HD4890(2) -> Pump/Res

As I want to overclock my cards i felt a the triple would be more suitable for my gfx cards than my o/c cpu and the single or double rad could cope with the cpu ??

Suggestions to this and my previous thread would be more than helpful.

Overclockers order on stanby until I know whats best to setup and parts to get :)
 
I was under the impression that you had only ever used the triple radiator for the cpu according to your other thread.

Feser 1 filled all my blocks with crap, took me quite a while to strip them down and clean them. I will not be using it again.

If you use two pumps they should be adjacent to each other or in different loops, not one halfway down the same loop. It really does not matter what order you put the rest of the things in your loop, minimise tubing length. Xtreme did a series of tests on tube diameter, for it to make any diffierence to flow you have to go smaller than 8mm inner diameter. 1/2" and 3/8" and so forth are all identical.

I have already recommended noctua fans (most expensive), scythe s-flex (middle) or yate loons (cheapest) as the fans that should be used with a radiator. You should use shrouds between the fan and the radiator as it much improves cooling and it slightly decreases noise.
 
You connect the outlet of one directly to the inlet of the other, someone on xtreme did it beautifully. ill see if i can find it

Not the one I had in mind, but shows that it works xtreme forums

Not sure the guy with four D5s was being sensible, but its good to see that two ddcs each with a reservoir top works, I think I'd go down that route
 
Last edited:
thx jon you been a real help and do really appreciate your advice :)

so for example:-

1st Pump(with res top) -> 2nd Pump(no res) -> double rad -> cpu -> triple rad -> gfx card 1 -> gfx card 2 -> 1st pump(with res top)

Also that shroud looks cool (excuse punn) but i dont have room for a shroud on top of my rad due to the top of the case but should be able to put one under the rad with a fan? would that be of help or do you need both sides or none at all?

And what speed fans should i get 1600rpm? This fan ?

if the above setup is correct i was thinking of getting the following:-

Scythe S-FLEX 1600RPM Ultra Quiet 120mm Fan
Black Ice GT Xtreme 360 Radiator
Black Ice GT Xtreme 240 Radiator
Laing DDC 1+ Ultra 18W 12V DC Pump

And use my existing XSPC DDC 18w Ultra Pump/Reservoir

And keep using 3/8 Barbs and Tubing

Would this be sufficent to cool all my cpu and 2 hd4890' with the above setup suggestion with the option to overclock my 2 gfx cards as well ?
 
Last edited:
I use those fans :) Very pleased with them. I've probably got about 10 of them though, so will carefully avoid working out how much I spent on fans. They;re out of stock though. One of the noctuas is recommended, but I'm not certain which it is. A thread titled 'which noctua fan do people use on radiators' will probably get an immediate answer.

1st pump with res top to 2nd without res top to eveything else in whatever order is most convenient/prettiest/uses the least tubing. The first time you use it, I'd run the pump with the res by itself for a little bit before turning on the second. It's not good for pumps to run without water in them, which I think is why one of the photos shows two of them using reservoir tops. Don't run a ddc upside down either, otherwise you're good.

As for shrouds, its the side with the fan on which needs them. One per fan, between fan and radiator. If you have fans on both sides, then they each need one really, but the radiator starts to be very thick.

So yeah, case -> rad -> shroud -> fan will be excellent. You don't need to buy the 8 quid tfc shrouds either, just get an old broken 120 and rip the middle out. I bought 5 of them off Samsung and used those, as I didn't have any spares lying around.

Higher speed the better for cooling generally, the deltas will cool best. High speed is not so good for noise, so its a compromise. The 1600rpm scythes are good at 12V and not too loud for me, at 7V they're currently doing just fine on my radiator and make much less noise.
 
so in my case i only have room for a fan and shroud under the rad and a fan above the rad ? is that ok?

Also if the deta's are best for cooling do i use them instead of the scythes? i dont really want it nosiy as that was one of the reasons i decided to water cool the cards. Also why would you run a dc upside down? Apears the Delta's are 4000rpm and noisy buggers?

All for interest if either one of the pumps fail would the other still pump the liquid around so you may get higher temps but prevent serious over heating?

Also a quick question everytime i have to empty my system i have to tip the res upside down to empty and then let it fill itself through mavity etc then empty etc until as much as I can get out is out.

and how you join the shroud to the fan, i assume you attach the shroud first then the fan but the shroud would use the normal screw but how the fan then fix on does it simpy screw as normal into the shroud ?

Also when i attach the rad to the hdd box i will be using the holes where the fan to the hdd was originally so with it being a double rad holding half the rad should be secure enough? do i need to put anything inbetween the rad and hdd box in case of vibrations? which would also mean that on the double i can only have the 2 fans pulling(no shroud either) due to depth limitations.
 
Last edited:
Fan and shroud under radiator is probably good enough by itself, I'd go with that myself and spare yourself the money for another 3 fans. You can use the deltas, but you won't like the noise. Ask youtube about them, they're not subtle.

If one dies, the other will cheerfully push water through it. Temperatures will get worse, but components aren't going to die immediately. You'll have ages to notice it's running too hot or making funny noises. Redundancy seems quite a good argument in favour of using two pumps to me.

Drain lines man, they're so worth it. Ive got one of these from this very site, with a barb screwed into one end and an end cap into the other. Put a T junction inline with your loop, with a short tube coming off the middle of that to the valve. The end cap is from paranoia rather than necessity.

Keep the valve closed all the time. When its time to drain the loop, unscrew the end cap, and no water comes out. Put the valve into the neck of a bottle and open it. Close it when no more water comes out, tip the case around, repeat. Much easier.

I don't know about your radiator. The fesers I use take M3 threaded bar, so I use long M3 screws, going through fan, then through shroud, then into radiator. Alternatively you can screw shrouds in to radiator, then fan into shroud. Your call. I bought 40 10mm long M3 screws with nuts and washers for £1.83, so I've used those to connect almost everything together.


Radiator to hard drive box? Ive missed something along the road here. Pardon? I dont think you can fit a radiator where the fan used to be, since the radiator is far thicker. I thought the plan was to fit a double in the space above the hard drive cage but below the dvd drive? Probably cable tied onto the holes either side of it
 
blimey good idea never thought of that good man :) i was thinking of it vertically and fixing to the back of the drive bay and pushing the drive bay in further giving about 2 or so inches to the fron of the case for 1 inch rad and 1inch fan but if it fits in bay then even better.

I will check that out in the morning :) when i get home from work.

Thx again for advice and will keep you posted so I think i will stick with the fans you use :) for silence.

Do i use these to replace the fan on the hdd and the rear of the case or do i use some other type of fan to keep airflow in the case ?
 
That's your call. You can get fans optimised for airflow, look for a respected make offering high cfm but low noise. It'll be static pressure lt lacks. I've put scythe s-flex on everything, it seems to work well as a general purpose fan. I'd probably replace the hard drive fan, and the rear case fan, and make shrouds out of them myself.

I'll look forward to the next update :)
 
Only thing I have just realised is if i do manage to fit a rad in the drive bay as you suggested horizontal then i can see a problem as the heat is going to rise within the drive bay and not out of the case in terms of fitting it vertically?
 
Nope, I'm not suggesting mounting it horizontally. Mount it vertically, spanning across many drive bays. Fans intake from the front of the case and exhaust into the case interior. The barbs would then either be at the very top of the case near the triple radiator, or at the very bottom near the pump.

We don't know if a 240 or only a 120 will fit, as I can't really measure your case without having one myself
 
Hi,

yes thats what i meant by fixing it to the hdd bay to secure the rad in place as if i am fitting a double then i can align the 4 holes where the original hdd fan was with either the top four, middle four or bottom four holes on the rad.

So will be securing have of the double rad by using the drive bay and should be fairly secure and neat?

I will slide the drive bay further towards the inside of the case as i should be able to move in an extra inch or so as i will position the hdd so that its above the pump with the res. Then i should be able to fit the double rad and fans on one side "pulling" into the case then with the side 200mm fan that comes with the case as stndard and the rear exhaust fan that should get rid of the heat from inside?

Also is it better to add the t junction for the draining point below the gfx cards as it would be a lowest point ?

That also reminds me as i have not managed to find it on ocuk yet is there a cable you can get that will plug into a fan header on the motherboard that will power several fans? As ideally i would like one to power the 3 fans for top rad then another to power the 2 for the front? and then i can monitor the speeds more easier as well

btw i have almost 10 inches in height in the front so should be able to get a 240 in there
 
Last edited:
Hmm. Ok, what I had in mind was the radiator mounted separate to the hard drive bay. So the drive bay in its normal position, with all of the radiator above it.
If there's space to screw it onto where there is currently a fan, that would be very tidy and still keep the hard drives cool. A nice solution really, measure lots to check it'll fit there though. Yes, definitely like this idea.

T junctions for draining are a fantastic idea. T junction, middle part running to a valve. Minimal restriction to flow, makes life a lot easier. Lowest point in the loop is the best place for it, yes. T lines for filling are probably better than reservoirs really, but are more hassle which I can't currently be bothered with.

This Y adapter will run two off one header but be aware that running many fans off one header is not recommended. My old board was rated up to 24 watts per channel, but I believe that to be exceptional. I'd suggest this instead, it has a molex power connector and will drive three fans from the cpu fan header. I'd personally use this for the triple, and run all three at whatever speed your motherboard asks, and run the other two using the first Y splitter.

I don't/wont use fan controllers. I don't see the point. I either run fans at 7V all the time, or control them through software. The current box has one exhaust fan and one northbridge fan running at 7V, two on a 240 radiator running at 7V, and one with a radiator either side running off the cpu fan header. This isn't optimal, but is working well enough for now.
When eventually a certain retailer pulls itself together and gets me a working (fast) computer back, everything will be up to 12V with two chipset fans, but when browsing everything except the cpu fan will be off or running at 30% rpm or so. None of this needs a fan controller, so I don't really understand why people use them. It just wastes a drive bay.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom