Water cooling lesson please

didgemaster

didgemaster

didgemaster

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Taunton, Somerset
It has been suggested that I try water cooling on a new setup. I know nothing about water cooling so I will need to learn all about it if some one is willing to help.

The system I am hoping will be in a HAF932 although this can be changed

possibly 3 X GTX260s and a core i7

What will I need to run this and what are the power requirements?
 
read the sticky first didgemaster - that should help fill in the background and the concept / how too's of watercooling.

A tri card + i7 setup is serious money - £300+
will you be folding on the i7 as wells as the three 260's.

I'd be tempted to use gpu blocks on the cards air cooling the GDDR and i7
single loop with a PA120.3 and DDC pro with XSPC top
(with barbs, tube, and ram sinks it's £250 new from OcUK not inc fans or grills)

Personally I'd stick with aircooling as the 260 will have high shader clocks but stock (or underclocked) core and memory.
BUT I don't know of any boards that can take three cards with passive aftermarket coolers.

Edit: just noticed that biffa recomened you go down this route.
As he uses this setup so knows what is sounds like - go with the loop above - and use MM if possable
 
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Don't know what your budget is... but maybe consider a closed system for the CPU like the new corsair h50? Very cheap package for the cooling power, and takes up hardly any room in your case.

As for cooling GPUs, I have found it very expensive to do so (atleast for me) with cooling blocks alone costing £50-£80 each, which adds a fair bit of cost before you even have a water system in place.
 
From what I can gather this is what I will need for water cooling the three gpus

3X water blocks...............XSPC Full Cover Razor GTX 260 - Acetal £169.02
Radiator.........................Thermochill PA120.3 120mm Triple Radiator £ 60.94
Reservoir & Pump...........XSPC Dual 750 Bay Reservoir & Pump - Clear £ 40.24
3 XFans.................Akasa AK-FN057 Apache Super Silent 120mm Fan £ 32.94

£303.14

I will also need connectors and tubing :eek:

What connectors do people suggest?
 
New folks to watercooling should always use barbs imho - much more forgiving

lose the full cover blocks for Swifty MCW60R - that's £70 saved
your'll need 2x 1/2ID G3/8 threaded barbs for the PA
and 2x 1/2ID G1/4 threaded barbs for the res/pump

Drop the xspc duel bay and get the DDC pro 10w XSPC res top combo (much better and quiter too)

with 2m of masterkleer 7/16 it come to £250 + 30 for fans.

The full cover blocks are very restrictive (hard for water to be pushed through) and three in one loop will need
a good pump. They do offer the advantage of making the tubing easier, but you'll need to buy two barbs for each or an straight sli connector.

£30-35inc with get you a PA120.3 with barbs on MM
£35-45ish will get you a ddc with top
 
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