Recommend me a full watercooling setup for my PC

L31mr0d

Ok, i'm thinking I won't be upgrading my sig rig anytime soon, so I want to silence it.

But I have no experience with watercooling and whats needed. So could someone recommend all the components i'll need and where I can get them from (preferable all from the same e-tailer to save on shipping)

I'm going to want to cool my Quad, NB, SB, 2x8800GTX's and possible my HDD's. For fans i'll be running some 800rpm S-Flexs (maybe 1200rpm but on a controller)

I'm guessing i'll need a triple rad for this also, which will also mean i'll need another case to house it *sigh* so a recommendation on a good large case that could house a complete watercooling setup as well as all my HDD's would be appreciated.

Budget? ... lets say €500 for the watercooling gear not including the case.

Anti

Im in a similar boat as yoruself. I used to watercool but have lost touch in the last while. So ill be following this closly to look for ideas. I do know though, that the silverstone tj-07 and the tj-09 are excellent cases to watercool with. Lots of room and easy to hide the cables without havign to butcher your case.

TheThreeDegrees

get reading!:)

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=70

L31mr0d

Oh I will be reading akimbo to this thread. Just looking for advice on which brands to go for, what kind of tubing I need. What has worked for people here.... etc

Ok lets start with logistics. Will a triple rad with 3 800rpm fans be enough to cool all the components I listed above.

TheThreeDegrees

Ok heres some eye candy shops:

These are three Ive used in the past two weeks.

http://www.specialtech.co.uk/ EXCELLENT (but awaiting a lot of stock) email before you buy
http://www.over-clock.co.uk/acatalog/ HAVENT ORDERED FROM THEM
http://www.chilledpc.co.uk/shop/index.php RAPIDO DELIVERY

And of course no post is right without mentioning Petra's!

L31mr0d

Whats a good brand to go for for the different blocks I need and what kind of thickness of tubing should I get?

Do you think I should set up 2 different loops? Like have 2xdouble rads, one cooling the 2x8800GTX's and the other cooling the rest?

RoyalMarine

yeah id say dual loop keeping one for the graphics card's and the other for everything else.
what case is it l31mr0d?
im also looking to wc my rig and will watch this closely

all i know about brands is "friends dont let friends buy thermaltake"

awhir

Lmrd for cooling ur 2xgfx,cpu(hdd's are a waste btw , why not nb ?)you are going to need a dual loop are a loop in serise (2 rads and maby 2 pumps),

for cases my case is a great case i you get rid of the front hhd bay you can fit a pa120.3 and pa120.2 which is all you need.

for parts,

2xEK full block for ur gfx
EK block for Nb
D-teck fusion or Ek supream for cooling cpu
2xddc 3.2 18w (powerfull and quitesmall)
2xEk RES or swiftech micro res or t line

for tubing 7/16 is good does not require clamps since it is quite tight on the barbs.

some other nice cases for a dual loop would be the tj-07 (antis case), lian li v2000

just have alook at the watercooling gallary on XS

sebastianlieken

i was jus lookin at water-cooling there a few days ago, havnt a clue about it but personaly id go for the thermaltake kandalf lcs n use that as the first stepping stone, its just too big for my liking. also, i was lookin at this big ass yoke, looks class, plus its also a kit, and ya can have an optional fan http://www.quietpc.com/ie-en-eur/products/watercooling/reserator1-v2

awhir

dont go near thermaltake they mix silver and copper,they allso use cheap parts,go for a custom loop,also that zalman tower is passive so it would just be par with air cooling

KamiKazi

be sure to update your build log when you start building it!

awhir

here where u can mount the 2nd rad ,

requiem1

i love those thermochill pa rads, i'm stuck with a stupid aquacomputer dual rad right now i really need to change my setup. I'm thinking for a dual loop getting two of these cause they're neat and save a bit of space and hassle.

awhir

was board so said i make ya a good build

http://ekwaterblocks.com/shop

cpu block,2 gfx blocks,nb block,2 res's

EK-Supreme - Plexi (universal socket) EK-Supreme - Plexi (universal socket)
- Fittings 1/2" ID
49.95EUR (11.970,02Sit)

EK-FC8800 GTX/Ultra EK-FC8800 GTX/Ultra
- Fittings 1/2" ID
160.24EUR (38.400,00Sit)

EK-NB EVGA 680i Acetal EK-NB EVGA 680i Acetal
- Fittings 1/2" ID
33.95EUR (8.135,95Sit)

EK-Multioption RES 250 rev.2 EK-Multioption RES 250 rev.2
- Fittings 1/2" ID
79.89EUR (19.146,00Sit)
Sub-Total: 324.04EUR (77.651,97Sit)

2x360 mcr rads

http://www.specialtech.co.uk
Swiftech MCR320QPK 3 x 120mm Radiator Swiftech MCR320QPK 3 x 120mm Radiator
total:114

2xddc/top

http://www.petrastechshop.com/

2x Laing DDC w/ Petra'sTech DDCT-01s Top Combo

total:
136


so



total :
324
136
114
---
574



now this is all top parts/try and shop around

KamiKazi

any news on the build l3imrod?

L31mr0d

yeah sorry about the delay, and cheers awhir for the recommendations. Looks like I might be getting a car in the next few months so thats going to take priority for now. I'm going to continue reading around about watercooling and keeping an eye on Anti's build log

Inquitus

OK L3imrod, it just so happens I have just lashed out on my new watercooled rig just this week. I usually upgrade my PC every 12months or so, but due to the lack of any real progress on the Graphics and CPU front over the last roughly 12months I can spend my budget on a new case and custom watercooling setup.

There's a number of different MMods cases, from ones for 2 systems in one box, 2 watercooling loops etc etc. As I am just going to have a Quad and 1 GPU (no SLI) I have decided with this pump and the 1/2" tubing I don't need 2 loops. One of the other cases allows for 1 triple rad loop, and 1 single rad loop, should that suit your requirements more.

This is what I have gone for.


http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p3WWkKSXp93AIjXGokV9OIQ

I have always wanted a mmods case, so now is the time to get one. I am planning on keeping it along with the pump, rad, radiator etc. for the next number of years.

Copypasta of ther excel sheet below

Grouping Part Description From Ref# Availability Price

CASE: Mountain Mods U2-UFO Horizon over-clock 144 pre-order £315.00
Fan/HDD Rack over-clock 267 stock £9.39
Blanking Plate aqua-pcs na stock £8.49

H2O COOLING: Thermochill PA120.3 Tripple RAD no fits aqua-pcs na stock £47.50
Thermochill PS120.3 RAD Shroud aqua-pcs na stock £9.99
12V Laing D5 Pump 1/2" over-clock 397 stock £57.87
Swiftech Apogee GTX Extreme CPU block 1/2" specialtech na stock £41.29
Swiftech Stealth 8800 series GPU block 1/4" aqua-pcs na stock £54.00
EK-NB North Bridge EVGA 680i block 1/2" no fits aqua-pcs na stock £19.10
EK NF4 Rev 1.1 for South Bridge 1/2" over-clock 78 stock £19.98
2 x EK Mosfet 680i 1/2" over-clock 500 stock £44.76
EK Multi-Option Res400 Rev2 Reservoir 1/2" over-clock 174 stock £28.78
Koolance Drain Valve no fits aqua-pcs na stock £7.50
2 x 3/8" BSP to 1/2" Barb - Nickel (for RAD) aqua-pcs na stock £3.90
4 x 1/4" BSP to 1/2" barb (for GPU & Drain) over-clock 22 stock £4.62
12 x O-CuK 1/2" ID Steel Reinforced PVC Tubing 1ft over-clock 361 stock £12.60
20 x 10mm to 16mm Worm Drive Clips over-clock 6 stock £10.00
2 x Fesser One UV Black Coolant 1Ltr specialtech na stock £13.96

FAN COOLING: 8 x SilenX Fan Ixtrema Pro Red LED fans specialtech na stock £122.40
8 x AC Ryan Meshx Fan Guards 120mm specialtech na stock £15.36
Zalman ZM-MFC1 Plus Fan Controller Black specialtech na stock £18.84

COSMETICS: Alphacool LCD Display 240x128 Black Scan LN15462 stock £70.49
AC Ryan TWIN10 CCFL 2 x 10cm Red catode light specialtech na stock £53.49
Akasa Cable Management Kit specialtech na stock £4.56

RoyalMarine

Inquitus wrote: »

OK L3imrod, it just so happens I have just lashed out on my new watercooled rig just this week. I usually upgrade my PC every 12months or so, but due to the lack of any real progress on the Graphics and CPU front over the last roughly 12months I can spend my budget on a new case and custom watercooling setup.

There's a number of different MMods cases, from ones for 2 systems in one box, 2 watercooling loops etc etc. As I am just going to have a Quad and 1 GPU (no SLI) I have decided with this pump and the 1/2" tubing I don't need 2 loops. One of the other cases allows for 1 triple rad loop, and 1 single rad loop, should that suit your requirements more.

This is what I have gone for.

my whole family would linch me if i even concidered buying something like that lot!
your gonna have some sweet rig when its finished!

oh AND DONT FORGET THE WORK LOG!!!

L31mr0d

sorry for the bump but i'm back into getting a watercool setup together now. I installed a second 8800GTX into my P180 and the noise is doing my head in, also the overclocked RAM, Quad, 4xHDD's, 2x8800GTX and the ridiculously hot SB mean I can't even put the side on the case anymore... which completely negates the whole point of owning a P180

So my first big question is about the case. I don't really mind height and length but width would be an issue in the space i'm working in so a MMods case would be out of the questions.

What would be the best case currently to house a triple and dual rad internally as well as everything already in my system?

i'll rep+ for all help given.

PogMoThoin

TJ-09 FTW, loads of space, pullout motherboard tray and looks great, here

Mount triple rad on top like Awhir & other double rad in hdd bay

Anti

TJ-07 is still better for cooling, and looks better when watercooled. Especially as you can hide all your rads down the bottom.

L31mr0d

PogMoThoin wrote: »

TJ-09 FTW, loads of space, pullout motherboard tray and looks great, here

Mount triple rad on top like Awhir & other double rad in hdd bay

But is there bigger? I really don't mind however high or long it is, plus aesthethics mean nothing to me, I don't care if its fugly as long as its functional.

PogMoThoin

Anti wrote: »

TJ-07 is still better for cooling, and looks better when watercooled. Especially as you can hide all your rads down the bottom.

Only the Tj-07 is smaller

L31mr0d

What about the Lian-li's? Is there any of those I could add to my shortlist. I want at least 3 I can read up on to see which will be the best.

awhir

L31mr0d wrote: »

What about the Lian-li's? Is there any of those I could add to my shortlist. I want at least 3 I can read up on to see which will be the best.

there is too manny lian li'sto list so im only going to list 2

1.V2000 -lagre like the tj07 and has the bottom chamber which is handy for putting rads.


2.A70B -my case just look at my log and you will know all about it

L31mr0d

awhir wrote: »

there is too manny lian li'sto list so im only going to list 2

1.V2000 -lagre like the tj07 and has the bottom chamber which is handy for putting rads.


2.A70B -my case just look at my log and you will know all about it

what clinched it for you when you where choosing yours?

awhir

great air cooling , loads of space ,well built,options of fitting a 120.3 and 120.2 inside the case,looks cool,once moded with mobo holes very easy to run cables,able to fit 10 hard drives ,Its a Lian Li /!!!!! its a great case for watercooling as there is so much room to work with and you got so many options .

If i were you i would go for a 120.2 on the top (room for hdd's) and a 120.2 down in the botom hdd bay.

btw just look around the LC part of XS and you willl find the case you want.

L31mr0d

I'm starting to edge towards the TJ07, although the V2000 does look tempting. I think the TJ07 has a lot more watercooling worklogs out there so it should be pretty simple to just follow them. Although so far, most of the logs seem to require the builder to own a metal working shop.. I have a dremel I don't want to have to double my budget buying tools for this thing.

Anyone have a workshed with some metal machining tools I could use? Preferably around dublin

PogMoThoin

Anti had A tj-07 in his add on adverts, but the add appears to have vanished

awhir

tj-07 ftw
http://www.murderbox.com/gallery.html

TonyM.

L31mr0d wrote: »

I'm starting to edge towards the TJ07, although the V2000 does look tempting. I think the TJ07 has a lot more watercooling worklogs out there so it should be pretty simple to just follow them. Although so far, most of the logs seem to require the builder to own a metal working shop.. I have a dremel I don't want to have to double my budget buying tools for this thing.

Anyone have a workshed with some metal machining tools I could use? Preferably around dublin

http://www.chilledpc.co.uk/shop/index.php?cPath=36

Check out there modding and powdercoatiog service.

L31mr0d

Ok I think i've settled on the TJ07.

now I just need to choose everything else :rolleyes:

I'm going to be using 2 loops so should I also go for 1 pump and 1 res or 2 of each? I've seen some build with double rads that only have 1 pump and res?

RoyalMarine

im building a new rig and using 2 loops.

im 50/50 on wether to use 2 pumps. but ive got 3 here so its not a huge issue. more of performance and noise is the problem.

but im probably gonna use 2 independant loops.
2 pumps 2 res 2 rad's.

awhir

2 loops means that they will be seprate so yes you will need 2 pumps,2rads,2 res's/tlines,blocks.

you could go for a tripple and a dual rad as they fit nicly in the bottom of a Tj07

L31mr0d

awhir wrote: »

2 loops means that they will be seprate so yes you will need 2 pumps,2rads,2 res's/tlines,blocks.

you could go for a tripple and a dual rad as they fit nicly in the bottom of a Tj07

yeah... i'm going to start needing recommendations on where to house everything. I also want to have 4 HDDs in this thing. HDD space seems to be one of the biggest issues from the logs i've been reading. I was thinking about mounting the dual rad in the top then having the triple rad on its side in the bottom. It might leave enough room for a HDD caddy and the PSU

Anti

A tripple rad will mean you will have to remove both hdd cages. but that dosent matter. Go to woodies/b&q and just buy some screws, rubber mounts and fit the hdds in the 5 1/4 bays. Or you can mount both hdds cages in the front. Ive seen this done on XS a few times now. Looks trick as **** if the screws are black/chrome.

conzy

The V2000 is horrible imo, looks like a powermac that got beat with an ugly stick!

L31mr0d

hmm... yeah i've seen some logs where the HDD cage was modified to fit in the 5" bays. I could also maybe get one of those MMods brackets that lets you mount the HDDs off the rad.

Ok, so how important is RAM, HDD and NB (SPP) cooling? I'd like to have no fans in this system except for the rad fans. Should I look into watercooling all of those also?

awhir

ram,hdd,nb(may be hotter on a nivida) cooling is unimportant none of these need good cooling to work.There just for bling bling

IF you are doing 2 loops go for Cpu-SB and Gfx-Gfx


you can just put a low profile copper sink on the NB or some of the stock heatpipes acctualy are just a cooler with the heatpipe lying over and a fancy cap covering the sink.

L31mr0d

awhir wrote: »

IF you are doing 2 loops go for Cpu-SB and Gfx-Gfx

So should I use the triple rad to cool the CPU and SB? and then use the dual rad for the gfx cards?

In regards to the reservoirs, should I just go for 2x5" bay reservoirs like these ones?

http://www.chilledpc.co.uk/shop/product_info.php?cPath=42&products_id=45

awhir

personaly i would go for a Ek res as they are the SEx.....

RoyalMarine

i was warned away from those 5" bay resevoir's

L31mr0d

RoyalMarineComm wrote: »

i was warned away from those 5" bay resevoir's

where you given a reason why?

EDIT: From doing a bit more reading around I can't find anything bad being said about bay reservoirs. It would also save the headache of having to mount them somewhere in the middle of the case.

What do people think about these reservoir/pump combos?

http://www.xspc.biz/baypump750.php

L31mr0d

How does this look for the layout of the first loop?

awhir

L31mr0d wrote: »

where you given a reason why?

EDIT: From doing a bit more reading around I can't find anything bad being said about bay reservoirs. It would also save the headache of having to mount them somewhere in the middle of the case.

What do people think about these reservoir/pump combos?

http://www.xspc.biz/baypump750.php

im drunk but 5" res are suppposed to leak and meant to be much harder to bllllleeed then EK resses,just post a froum on Es and they will tell ya ..


andyt

Auvers

Hey L31mr0d what are you doing with that Tuniq Tower when you sort out your water cooling?

L31mr0d

Auvers wrote: »

Hey L31mr0d what are you doing with that Tuniq Tower when you sort out your water cooling?

This is probably going to be a long build. It will probably be near the end of summer before I have all the parts and am ready to start it. Also, I don't know if i'll be selling the Tuniq, i'd like to keep it as a backup should I have issues with the watercooling.

Also, how does my loop look? Is there a convention to what order things need to be in a watercooled loop?

RAD > CPU > RES > PUMP > SB > mosfet

L31mr0d

awhir wrote: »

im drunk but 5" res are suppposed to leak and meant to be much harder to bllllleeed then EK resses,just post a froum on Es and they will tell ya ..


andyt

yeah thats my only worry is leaking and cracking. But it would be so convenient to have the res mounted in the drive bay and it would also make refilling a cinch.

Also, what needs to be done when bleeding an EK res?

Inquitus

make sure you put a drainage point at the bottom of each loop.

something like this is dead handy

http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=608058

nibble

Inquitus wrote: »

make sure you put a drainage point at the bottom of each loop.

something like this is dead handy

http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=608058

Yep handy alright but I wouldn't use that koolance one as it's made of aluminium, and we all know what happens with alu and copper. I use a Danger Den fillport for drain.

And like Andy said don't go for a bayres, they're hard to bleed and that xspc pump/res looks particularly bad IMO. The pump is, well frankly just crap. Stick with a DDC or D5 for pump, and I'd go with an EK res or a swiftech microres.

conzy

Why is all the koolance crap Aluminium fools!