Water Cooling

amx · 13 Mar 2006 at 09:38

I bought a rig a few weeks a go, and it's a bit noisy. Rather than invest in some fans and air cooling, i thought I'd like to have a crack at using some water cooling for the CPU (opty 170), GPU (X1900XT-X), and North Bridge (DFI NF4 Ultra). I have never used water cooling before.

I would like to go for a more custom set-up, as I like the look of the danger den drive bay resovoirs.

My understanding is I need the following:

a radiator
a pump
a resevoir
some tubing
a water block for each component
a fan for the radiator

I'm assuming that as I want to use a resevoir, I won't need a fill / bleed line with a y-connector as the air will collect in the resevoir (providing i don't fill it to the brim

I'm also assuming that a 120.1 radiator would be sufficient to cool the three components I have in mind (the cpu will be overclocked once the water cooling is in place). I also assume the best place for the rad is at the front where the 120mm intake is?

I'm using a Lian Li PC7 plus and I don't think I could fit a bigger radiator in without major mod's and using the dremel was never a strength of mine

Any comments or suggestions before I try and piece together a system? would I be better buying a kit?

samcat · 13 Mar 2006 at 10:23

Single 120 would do, but temps wont be that great cooling all 3 items.

Personally, zalman passive on the NB, get a 120.2 or 120.3 and build a radbox

Sam C

amx · 13 Mar 2006 at 10:27

Thanks for the reply.
What is a radbox?

amx · 13 Mar 2006 at 12:36

also, does any companies make gpu water blocks that cover the core and the memory?

Zefan · 13 Mar 2006 at 12:39

yep, dangerden and another one (Name scapes me)

amx · 13 Mar 2006 at 12:43

Crikey, the danger den NV78 gpu cooler is £85

Zefan · 13 Mar 2006 at 12:43

Look around more.

Cheaper make = Innovatek. Not sure on the quality of these products however. Danger Den is the doggies though

samcat · 13 Mar 2006 at 12:53

You dont need to watercool the memory on your gfx.
Dont even need heatsinks on it.

DD maze 4 gpu block.

Radbox is a seperate box that sits under your pc with the radiator and the pump in it.

Sam C

weescott · 13 Mar 2006 at 13:14

Have a look in the watercooling Sticky in my sig.

amx · 13 Mar 2006 at 13:40

Ill have a read of the watercooling FAQ Weescott!!

As i'm going to be water cooling everything, it seems reasonable to cool the ram aswell as I intend to remove all of the system fans apart from the 120mm intake which will cool the hard disk drives.

I'm hoping the exhaust fan in the PSU will get rid of any hot air that generates...

welshtom · 13 Mar 2006 at 13:42

your pwmic temps will go through the roof if you do that, esp since you have a dual core cpu in there

amx · 13 Mar 2006 at 14:08

:/
best leave the 120mm fans in then

amx · 13 Mar 2006 at 14:32

As i'm such a noob, would it be worth selling my PC7+ and buying a Koolance PC3-426BK as that also seems to be based on a PC7 case aswell?

weescott · 13 Mar 2006 at 16:18

You will take a big perfomance hit with that as oposed to a good custom kit.

welshtom · 13 Mar 2006 at 16:21

i'd buy the pc7 if it was silver

Dup · 13 Mar 2006 at 16:36

Why not get a kit instead?

I've heard a lot of good things about the Swiftech Apex Ultra which comes in at £150 here at OCUK.

It only cools the CPU but for the cost of a GPU + northbridge block and some tubing +barbs and clips you'll have a nice looking and efficient setup that will have instructions for the most part!

Aquacomputer do a G70 cooler that cools both RAM and GPU.

Edit don't forget there is two types of tubing, I can't remember the small size but make sure all the fittings are the same 1/2" or all the smaller size tubing!

weescott · 13 Mar 2006 at 16:44

There are loads of sizes of tubing.

6mm, 8mm, 10mm, 12mm and the newer 7/16".

Northbridge and chipset blocks are not recomended.

The Swiftech Apex Ultra is indeed a good choice.

quadboi · 13 Mar 2006 at 16:56

Yes, Do not buy the Northbridge blocks =AWFUL

amx · 13 Mar 2006 at 19:13

OK, i've had a look at the swiftech kits and it looks as though you lose the exhaust fan to support the double rad.
Where would you put an exhaust fan instead?

MikeTimbers · 13 Mar 2006 at 19:35

You don't "lose" the exhaust. The exhaust air goes through the radbox into the rad and out the other side. Because the major source of heat in the computer has already had its heat removed to the radiator, the case gets much less hot meaning the exhaust air is not significantly hotter than the ambient air.