Watercooling Question?

Monstermunch

Monstermunch

Monstermunch

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New rig time very very soon, was wondering about the setup. I'm looking at an Opty 175 and the swiftech kit, plus the chipset and vga coolers.

If I do this am I best to set the system up on air first to check that everything works or am I okay just slapping it straight on water at stock and checking it all?
 
Monstermunch said:
New rig time very very soon, was wondering about the setup. I'm looking at an Opty 175 and the swiftech kit, plus the chipset and vga coolers.

If I do this am I best to set the system up on air first to check that everything works or am I okay just slapping it straight on water at stock and checking it all?
Click to expand...

straight on water... aslong as your not planning to keep taking parts in and out at the start just... :)
 
well you "should" leak test the watercooling first for a while so if your prepared to wait for that slap it on, if not start installing on air while you leak test, least then if something leaks there's no risk (but of course you will be using de-ionised water won't you)
 
TBH you would be much better off building your own kit from scratch - the 175 is an awesome chip (not worth the money over the 165/170 in my opinion, but hey... each to their own - I'd save cash there and buy better water-cooling kit!)

There are plenty of threads on 'what should I buy...?' - but something along the line of:

Pump: D5 (pound for pound THE best pump money can buy, especially if you can rig it up to about 17v)

CPU: I'm a Danger Den fan (but then that's because I like Pelts) - The Storm is excellent as well

Gpu - again - Maze 4-1 (Danger Den) or the plain Maze 4 is awesome - don't bother with the full card coolers - memory does NOT benefit from 'extreme' cooling - saw a thread from a guy who went Phase on his - gained +1Mhz! Not good value!

NB: Don't bother, it will not help! Havin said that - as long as it doesn't interfere with the Gfx card, you can always use an AlphaCool - but they are major flow killers for no oc'ing advantage

Res: Make life easier - I like the cylindrical ones - but the Bayres's are nice and easy to fit

Radiator: Minimum 120.2, preferably a 120.3 (though those in the know will tell you that on that rig anything above the 120.2's is showing off - the real advantage is that you can run the fans slower on the 120.3's so quieter!)

Tubing: 1/2 inch man myself, but again, the 3/8 stuff is easier to use for very little penalty - just buy lots! (6 feet as a minimum if this is a first build! You'll understand after the first cut :p )

And that's about it - enjoy!
 
cavemanoc said:
TBH you would be much better off building your own kit from scratch - the 175 is an awesome chip (not worth the money over the 165/170 in my opinion, but hey... each to their own - I'd save cash there and buy better water-cooling kit!)

There are plenty of threads on 'what should I buy...?' - but something along the line of:

Pump: D5 (pound for pound THE best pump money can buy, especially if you can rig it up to about 17v)

CPU: I'm a Danger Den fan (but then that's because I like Pelts) - The Storm is excellent as well

Gpu - again - Maze 4-1 (Danger Den) or the plain Maze 4 is awesome - don't bother with the full card coolers - memory does NOT benefit from 'extreme' cooling - saw a thread from a guy who went Phase on his - gained +1Mhz! Not good value!

NB: Don't bother, it will not help! Havin said that - as long as it doesn't interfere with the Gfx card, you can always use an AlphaCool - but they are major flow killers for no oc'ing advantage

Res: Make life easier - I like the cylindrical ones - but the Bayres's are nice and easy to fit

Radiator: Minimum 120.2, preferably a 120.3 (though those in the know will tell you that on that rig anything above the 120.2's is showing off - the real advantage is that you can run the fans slower on the 120.3's so quieter!)

Tubing: 1/2 inch man myself, but again, the 3/8 stuff is easier to use for very little penalty - just buy lots! (6 feet as a minimum if this is a first build! You'll understand after the first cut :p )

And that's about it - enjoy!
Click to expand...


Thanks for that guys. Bascially i'll be in no rush to get the system up and running cos i'm planning on building the new rig with this one still running and then sell the parts on afterwards.

As far as the CPU goes, the only reason I have in going for the Opty 175 is the multiplier (x11) cos the HTT doesn't seem to go much past 280mhz on any mobo.

Gfx card wise I had only planned on cooling the GPU and then sticking some zalman fins on each memory chip, just for safety.
 
Actually I would recommend building it and testing with the supplied stock heatsink. Once you know it works, then set up the water cooling and leak test.

Yes, you can get better than the Swiftech kit if you shop around and are prepared to spend more money. On the other hand, it won't actually be much better - maybe a degree or so, and the chances of buying something incompatible are much higher than just buying a kit.

Now normally I wouldn't recommend a kit because until recently a kit meant something crap but these days the Swiftech kits are extremely good quality and exceptional value.
 
It's a very silly idea that just popped into my head, but people keep talking about Eheim pumps for water cooled systems.

Just found a fish tank bucket filter system in my shed i've had for years and on the top there is an eheim pump that'll do 1900litres/hour. Do you think that'll work!

LOL
 
My first watercooling setup was just a common pond pump in a box (from a certain electronics shop) filled with water, so yes it would work but sepends on how noisy it is!
 
Monstermunch said:
It's a very silly idea that just popped into my head, but people keep talking about Eheim pumps for water cooled systems.

Just found a fish tank bucket filter system in my shed i've had for years and on the top there is an eheim pump that'll do 1900litres/hour. Do you think that'll work!

LOL
Click to expand...

Make sure you clean it out well. And in action through tubing, blocks and rad, you will get much much less than 1900 lph.
 
Just in answer to one of your earlier questions, i would set it up on air and then watercool it. Couple of reasons...

1) If any of it doesn't work you can't blame your watercooling
2) If any of it doesn't work you've gone nowhere near endangering warranties on stuff like gfx cards by removing the stock cooler
3) If you need to monkey about with it to get it to work like reseating stuff its a lot lot easier with it air cooled than having tubing in the way.

Its probably over cautious but I remember a build ages ago that had a 6800ultra in it, never tested it and just cracked on with the watercooling and it didn't work. I had to then put it all back together to confirm it wasnt my block mounting skills (it wasn't the card in the end either but thats even more the point.. I just started assuming I'd cocked up fitting the waterblock)
 
Ill second the idea of testing the system first it just gives you that little bit less to worry about. The first time i set up my watercooling i think my heart was close to failure and that bios everythings ok 'BEEP' at startup just seemed to take ages!!

Ive just recently had the same problem as matt100 with a 6800gt it turned out to be the card but i disasembled my watercooling setup all the same which is just a pain in the ....!!
 
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