About to venture into water...

[krnmastersgt]

And could definitely use some guiding advice. Been spending the past few days just looking at parts non stop for a while and now I'm really confused on what I want to get!

What I think I need:
1. Pump: Not really sure what's considered good here, people seem to like Swiftech's pumps quite a bit though

2. Reservoir: Again, not really sure what's good at all in this section. I read that the more water in your system the better performance you'll see due to the volume of liquid being a more stable rise and drop in temperature (harder for the components to heat more liquid), would that justify getting a really big reservoir?

3. Tubing: Have heard nothing but good things about Primochill's Advanced LRT, so most likely going to be grabbing that. Do I go for red tubing or clear tubing with red dyes/coolant!?

4. Fittings: Seems barbs are more reliable, however I do really like how compression fittings look though they are more expensive. I've read some issues with leaking but as long as tubing dimensions are considered, shouldn't be a problem it seems?

5. Waterblocks: Strongly considering the Koolance and XSPC blocks for the R9 290 once I can get my hands on one at MSRP. Not really sure what's good for the CPU block, the XSPC products seem like a fun blend of good performance and shiny LEDs as I plan on being able to showcase my case to people (trying to get into basic modding, no huge themed systems but basics like sleeving and such so want a nice looking case to show off).

6. Radiators: While I've seen a few popular models/lines for the other parts, I don't really see that being true here, I plan on getting a decent thickness 360 rad to mount the front of my Air 540 but I'm not sure that'll be enough to cool an OC'd 4770K and R9 290, thoughts?

7. Fans: While I have quite a random assortment of case fans lying around, I believe that cooling radiators requires a slightly different airflow design as you want to focus the air path through the rads whereas many fans will just diffuse in a large conal fashion. Was thinking of getting some Noctua NF-F12s for their popularity and quiet operation but it's a bit expensive since you can buy 3-4 cheap Cooler Master fans for the price of 1 and I may break a fan or two trying to paint them!

From the reading I've done, I don't really need to worry about CPU before GPU or vice versa much as it'll make little difference in cooling performance for both of them, just so long as I put the reservoir before the pump every else doesn't really matter.

Mainly looking for parts recommendations and such, general tips and tricks would be very helpful as well!

 

[guskline]

krnmastersgt: I'll comment. I've only built 1 custom cooled rig ( and rebuilt it) but I've learned a lot. BrightCandle, a regular poster on this forum helped me very much. His radiator formula is basically a calculation of the number of radiator 120mmspaces needed based upon Total wattage output of the cpu and gpu. I have the exact cpu as you in rig 2 below OC'd to 4.5Ghz. I measured wattage on intelBurnTest at @85Watts max. Add in a R9 290 at 300W std and up to 400W OC'd and you get from 380 to 480 watts.

BrightCandle calculated the spaces based upon a 800rpm fan speed. For 380 watts it would be 380/130 =2.9 spcaces and at 480 it wouyld be 480/130=3.7 spcaces.

I learned in custom water cooling you can never have enough radiator space. In your Corsair 540 I would use a standard 360 radiator in the front and a standard 240 in the top. That gives you plenty of capacity.

I would use colored tubing and not use dyes or colored coolants. I use distilled water and a silver coil. (Bought most of my thing from FrozenCPU.com). I'm old school and used barb fittings because they generally don't leak BUT the compression fittings are easier AND quality ones properly done will not leak.

Pump? I use a Swiftech 655-b. A brute of a pump and well worth the $$. I used a combo pump/bay reservoir from XSPC but with your case and the room you have on the one side I would mount a tube type reservoir above the pump intake.

Fans do matter so look for fans with good static pressure. I really like the Corsair SP 120 fans. A little pricey but great static pressure. I spent @$35 and bought a 6 channel NZXT fan controller and run 6 Corsair SP120 HP fans on low speed with the ability to crank them up if I have to. I used clear tubing because I built my rig more for use without it being a "show piece" (I used 1/2"ID, 3/4" OD tubing I bought from Frozen CPU).

For GPU, buy a quality full water block from EK, XSPC, Koolance etc and take your time mounting it on the GPU. I use 90% IsoProphyl alcohol to clean the gpu chip and memory chips before mounting the new block.

My loop runs pump/reservoir into XSPC RX360 rad to XSPC EX360 rad to cpu to gpu1 to gpu2 and back to pump/reservoir. I am cooling a 3930k OC'd to 4.4Ghz (@200w max) and 2 GTX670 FTWs OC'd (@400wcombined).

As far as CPU waterblock I am thrilled with the Swiftech APOGEE HD block. Solid, easy mount and great cooling. The XSPC and Koolance blocks are also very good.

Be patient and make sure to leak test before you turn the system on. In my case I have an old AT PSU unit with an on/off switch which I attached to the pump while priming my coolant system with water. You slowly fill the reservoir until full, turn the pump on a second or 2 and turn it off. Fill more water until it seems full. Then put paper towel strips under very fitting or connection and leak test a couple hours to be sure no leaks. Fill the radiator to the top and LET ER FLY!

 

[krnmastersgt]

Thanks for the detailed response guskline!

The calculation for rad space does seem very useful! Though I do wonder, is it supposed to be /120 relative to the fan dimensions or did he come up with 130 some other way? Also I understand it's a basic formula, but does it have some way of taking into account push-pull configs with the same fans, or higher than average airflow fans like the Noctuas?

As for cleaning and mounting of blocks, while I haven't played with many waterblocks I am fairly familiar with remounting my own heatsinks and such and always have a bottle of 91% or higher isopropyl handy for cleaning, as well as a collection of q-tips and paper towels!

I've seen the loop testing method you described in quite a few videos and will definitely be following that advice. One thing I did note though is that when pumps are turned up the amount of coolant in the reservoir lowers quite a bit, if one were to fill the res while a variable speed pump is spinning at max then just shut off the system would the "excess" coolant that wouldn't be in the system if the res was filled with the system off create any potential pressure issues? Or is a water loop not likely to have enough coolant shrink from the system running full blast to matter relative to the seal of the fittings/equipment. A half empty res is not a pretty thing, but a leaking/broken system is far worse!

Do people also still use flow meters to see if their system is running smoothly?

 

[guskline]

I'll try to answer your questions. I think BrightCandle used a standard 120mm radiator with the fan spinning at 800 rpms to come up with a denominator of 130. If you increase the fan speed the denominator increses ( less rad space) but that falls off. In part it is based upon his research and the idea that on a true liquid cooling system you want your fans almost silent. His calculation is based upon push only. Push/pull increases cooling capacity slightly but also increases noise (2 fans vs 1)

With your nice new Corsair 540 it would be perfect with a standard 360 rad in front with fans pushing through it and a 240 fan on top with fans pushing air up.

My pump does not have the variable speed. It runs full all the time and honestly isn't noisy at all. I have my system filled with just a slight bubble at the top of my reservoir and no leakage, the seal holds. It isn't under high pressure.

Remember it will take days to get all the bubbles out of the system. I would run my system 24/7 and check every day and add a wee bit more distilled water until it evened out. I've had it running for 2 months without problems.

 

[smackababy]

1. A DDC or a D5 are pretty much standard. Quite a few companies make replicas of each of these, and they work just fine. I always recommend dual pumps, but it isn't required.

2. Reservoirs aren't required, but I wouldn't recommend going without one. Just remember to make sure it is feeding your pump, and you will be just fine. I don't have a ton of experience with bay reservoirs, but they seem to work pretty well from what I've heard. I prefer the standard and have used the same Bitspower res in quite a few builds.

3. The size of your tubing matters more than the brand, however, I generally go with Tygon. It is a bit more expensive, but it is good quality. I would go with a colored tubing over a dye. Unless something has changed in the past couple years, dyes and colored coolant will stain tubing and gunk up your stuff.

4. Compression fittings look nice, but aren't practical in some applications. Fitting 2 1/2ID compression fittings on a CPU block? Nope, not happening. I haven't had a problem with zip ties, but I am not as picky on looks.

5. Blocks are pretty much come down to looks. I try and avoid EK due to tool marks on their products (and more of them refusing to even acknowledge the problem), but they perform just fine from what I've heard.

6. Radiators are something I know little about (as I still use my Thermochill PA120.3s and will never give those up!). As far as how much, I generally go by a 120.1 for ever 125w of heat needing to be dissipated. I believe BrightCandle suggests 130w.

7. The best fans are Scythe Gentle Typhoons, which are now called something else I believe. They are expensive (over $15 per fan), but are the very best. Other than those, Yate Loons are really good and cheap, only being <$3 per fan.


Other than the parts, remember to leak test (running the loop without the other stuff running for 24 hours is generally a good idea). Putting some tissue paper on the fittings will also help you tell if you have micro leaks. I bleed port and a fill port are nice additions, but certainly only there for convenience purposes.


I just read your post about the calculations BrightCandle uses, and I can't comment for him, but my estimation is from reading tests and data summerizations on water blocks. The difference of fans (and push / pull) has very little effect on overall performance. The largest impact is noise. A high static pressure fan works great at low RPMs on certain radiators (the PA120s being one of them). The estimation is also for a 10C delta (change in temperature). Let's say your calculation has you at like 3.2 radiators required. You'd be okay with just 3, but you wouldn't get 10C deltas. Closer to 11C, which is fine. I wouldn't recommend on going for a higher delta and skimping on radiators with a CPU in the loop though. If you were just doing a GPU, a 20C delta would be just fine, especially with the R290.

 

[Aikouka]

The Corsair Carbide Air 540 isn't really a great case for water cooling. I'd be rather wary about clearances for a 3x120 radiator in the front as you don't have that much space between the floor/ceiling at the closest 120mm fan mount hole. For example, my XSPC AX360 has about 35mm between the closest 120mm fan mount hole and the edge on the port side. 35mm is about an inch and a half (24.5mm per inch).

Also, can you even mount fans at the top? The whole point of the 540 is for air to go unimpeded from the front to the back in the motherboard area. I looked at photos, but I couldn't make out any mounting areas, but I did notice that there's also a severe lack of space at the top anyway. A thick radiator + 25mm fans would be rather difficult if not impossible.

In regard to reservoir size, I recall reading on Martin's Liquid Lab that you would need a rather large reservoir (I mean over a gallon) to see a difference in temperature due to the sheer amount of water.

Although, you know... I've been growing increasingly tempted to get out of water cooling and was considering just going with an Air 540 since my 900D would not be a great choice for air cooling. Seems like a perfect match.

 

[smackababy]

Although, you know... I've been growing increasingly tempted to get out of water cooling and was considering just going with an Air 540 since my 900D would not be a great choice for air cooling. Seems like a perfect match.

Not liking the 900D or just not liking water cooling?

 

[Z15CAM]

Here's what I've ordered for one and possibly 2 x's 290X's:

Reservoir Pump/Combo:
Koolance RP-401x2 with one PMP-400 for one bay 5.25 - You can use the Swifteck pump here with variable motor control cost approx $20 more. If you have 2 x's 5.25 bays available you can opt for the Koolance 402X2 to use larger pumps and larger Reservoirs. I would have went with the Koolance 402x2 but I only have one 5.25" optic bay available - Using the other Bay for an Optic drive. You have the option to run Single Pump 1 & 2 reservoirs, 2 pumps in series for Single and Dual Loop. Koolance make a nice product here. Great Product.

GPU Water Block:
I recommend either the XSPC Razor or EK-FW. Looking at the Koolance Design suggest the Rear VRM's are passively cooled Vs Active VRM Water Cooling of the XSPC & EK designs.

Fans:
Definitely Noctua NF-A14 PMW's; 120's or 140's, whatever your case can handle.

Barbs:
Bitspower G1/4 High Flow 3/8IN Barb Fittings for 3/8IN ID Tubing - Dark Nickel Plated - will do just fine

Hose:
PrimoChill PRIMOFLEX&#8482; Advanced LRT&#8482; Onyx Black 3/8 ID 5/8 OD

Radiator:
Depends on what your case will fit. I can easly fit 2 x's 280x60x140 rads in my Fractal Arc Midi. The Top location presently handles a Corsair H110 AIO 280x30x140 rad for the CPU. I ordered a Black Ice SR1-280 Silent Revision 1 Dual 280MM Fan 2-ROW Radiator for the front location with the Noctia Fans to cool one and possible 2 x's 290X's. Alpha Cool makes reputable rads in various sizes for a descent price but Black Ice is modern and more efficient but costly - Not saying XSPC don't make good Rads. Be aware fans spacing on Rads the Std is 15mm but Corsair uses 20mm - Can cause mounting issues but easily modified.

Use small Quality Zip-Ties to clamp the Hose to the Barbs.

This solution should leave room for expansion, specifically for dual loop CPU/GPU/MB or 3 loop solution with an AIO on the CPU ... etc. By the way I'm very impressed with the Corsair H110 CPU AIO.

As far as hose routing: the Load (CPU or GPU) comes after the Rad; such that, the loop will be - Rad to GPU or CPU to Pump Inlet to Reservoir and back to Rad.

----------------------------------

7 2700k/ASUS P8Z68-V Pro Gen3/Corsair H110 AIO (running @ .996v/1600Mhz to 1.376v/4600Mhz 24/7 between 36 to 67C), 4 x's 4GB sticks of Samsung MV-3V4G3D-US DDR3 running at 1.34v/1866Mhz 9-9-9-24 1T with 4GB's assigned to a RAMDisk drive to handle Win7 64 Bit Sluff and negate writes to the SSD, Samsung 840 Pro 256 SSD, 2 x's WD5001AALS HDD's in Raid-0, 1 x's WD1002FAEX 1TB, ASUS DRW-24B1ST DVDRW, Hauppauge WinTV HVR-1250 PCIe, 2nd Intel NIC for Dual Networking, XFX 850W Pro Black Black Edition modular PSU, AMD Ref Gigabyte 1000Mhz R9 290X/Accelero Xtreme III, eVGA GTX 280 in reserve for Physic's-X support, Fractal Design ARC Midi R2 case, QX2510 Samsung PLS 2560x1440 res display at 120Hz.

TOTAL Investment on this Platform including 13% HST Tax Plus Shipping is approx $2,534.00 spent over a period of a year.

Aside from Mfgr's 10 to 15% price markup selling to the CDN Market the killer is the 13% HST Tax and cost of shipping in Canada. I pd $3000 for a 386-40 DX in 1994 - LOL.

The Arctic Accelero III and G10 solutions are a piece of Crap for Enthusiasts.

 

[Aikouka]

Not liking the 900D or just not liking water cooling?

Honestly, I'm having some issues with noise, and since I've turned off the fans and noticed that the noise persisted, my guess is that either the pumps are being noisy or it's my PSU. I do have the infamous Corsair AX860, which is known for coil whine, so I guess I wouldn't be surprised at the latter. However, if it's the former, I'm kind of stuck since I can't use the PWM control on my pumps as they just turn off when you connect the cable. I figured that I could just switch to the manually-controlled D5 pumps and a dual-bay Koolance reservoir (my Dual-D5 top wouldn't let me access the speed dial), but that's nearly $320 more to spend!

 

[Z15CAM]

Personally I will say away from PMW controlled pumps and let them run 100% on 12V - If you don't like it run them with 7v but you're trading cooling efficiency. It's OK to run PMW fans off the CPU/MB PMW connectors or PMW connectors on the GPU Card.

As far as PSU Coil Wind I have no issues with it using the XFX 850W Pro Black Full Modular Edition - It's an identical KM3 design MFgr'd by Seasonic and Corsair AX PSU's and $20 cheaper - The XFX design is the BEST PSU on the market for the money in my opinion.

Take it or leave it but what I've presented is probably the most up to date water cooling solution on the market to day.

After all it amounts to how much Voltage Off-Set we can run Vs Mhz and Temps.

 

[krnmastersgt]

I'm okay with there being not too much clearance for the front mount radiator, likely going to ditch the magnetic dust filter as well and just house the fans in the pocket in the front.

As far as the top mount, there are mounting positions for up to 2 140mm fans so I don't think I'll have too much issue mounting a 240mm radiator up there. As far as clearance is concerned, it looks like I have a little over 3 inches from where my board will mount to the top of the case, which is 75mm of clearance, there are quite a few rads out there below 40 and fans are typically 25 so I think that while a snug fit, I should be able to mount a top 240 or 280, going to see if the mounting positions allow me to put my H110 in there as a quick estimate of whether I can mount a 280 rad in there.

As for tubing size mattering more, I thought the ID of the tubing didn't affect the overall performance of a water loop (talking the difference between 3/8 and 1/2) as the liquid spends roughly the same time over the surface regardless (smaller ID = faster loops but more passes over given period of time). Is this wrong?

 

[Aikouka]

I'm okay with there being not too much clearance for the front mount radiator, likely going to ditch the magnetic dust filter as well and just house the fans in the pocket in the front.

I don't have access to the case, so I can't measure anything. My warning came just from looking at photos on Newegg. Although, looking at this photo, it will probably be fine. However, after looking at this photo, I'm a little worried if you try to do a 2x120 at top and a 3x120 at the front.

Although, if you need a 2x120 radiator, I just happen to have a XSPC AX240 that I'm not using and was planning on selling anyway!

 

[krnmastersgt]

If I mounted the rad + fans inside the case, it might give me some clearance issue with another rad mounted on the top, however there's a front panel that can be removed and is just empty space + magnetic dust filter. I plan on not using that dust filter and just placing the fans in there, with the rad being the only part inside the case for my front 360.

Also how much for the rad? A bit thicker than the ones I was looking at but I think I have a few mm to spare

 

[Z15CAM]

Absolutely No argument just read what I said!

And I'm really short on patience when things Cook Up and giving the benefit of doubt for the AMD 290/X. and I can't cook Chicken any faster.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Any recommendation for the CPU waterblock Z15CAM? I saw the GPU blocks and am glad to see people like the Razor despite the extra bling factor from the acrylic they use around the block which can look pretty nice.

So far:
Pump: Swiftech 655, D5, or DCC variant... which is pretty much every pump on sites like frozencpu lol. Definitely going to have to look more into this still, all recommendations so far are solid.. just there's so many variants from the big names I don't think there's much of a wrong choice?

Reservoir: Basically as long as it doesn't cause problems, any res seems to be suitable for the usage. So I guess I'll just find one I like the look of, whether it has any added bling factor to it or not and just run with it!

Tubing: I'm still digging the primochill, though I've seen the name Tygon mentioned quite a few more times than just here. Both seem like top notch companies though so will decide between the two.

Fittings: Seems everyone who's used to water uses barbs + zip ties or some type of tight fitting wrap, I still like the look of compression fittings over them though and I think ones made for the correct tubing and from a good name will be just as leak resistant as barbs + ties. Still deciding if I should or not though, and if so I really need to consider tubing dimensions so I have the correct compression fittings whereas barbs only have to worry about ID.

Waterblocks: Heavily leaning to the XSPC Razor for my 290, performance from it seems good and the acrylic border gives me some more styling options. For the CPU block I could follow suit with the Raystorm I suppose, as XSPC seems to be a good name in the water world, if not constantly making sure to have added looks to their functionality. Other names I'm looking at are Swiftech, EK, Koolance, Bitspower, and Phobya. Not particularly hung up on any one brand, just going to look through and see which I like the designs of then look into performance most likely.

Added curiosity for the CPU block, I see a few out there that also have pumps built into the block, are these pumps strong enough/recommended to drive an entire loop? If not, would it be dangerous to use them as well as another pump in the same loop as they might feed at different rates building up pressure in 1 part of the loop? That or one of the pumps burns out I guess.

Radiators: As long as it don't leak, doesn't seem there's too big of a difference between the rads especially when they come from the big names in water.

Fans: Good ones for static pressure and noise, though even my high RPM Corsair AF series fans I have on the side (while noisy for fans) are so much more bearable than the fan noise I had with my 7970. I really do want to get the Noctua's, but they are pretty pricey fans! will experiment with the air path for the fans I have lying around to see if I have a solution on hand already, otherwise not sure what I'm going to do with these yet.

As per rads, most likely going to get a nice thick 360 rad for the front mount, a thin 240 rad for a top mount just to get some extra rad space in there, and POSSIBLY a single 140 rad in the back as well. Don't think I'll need more than a 240 + 360 but I am aiming for a really quiet build so if it means another rad, then it means another rad.

 

[Aikouka]

Any recommendation for the CPU waterblock Z15CAM? I saw the GPU blocks and am glad to see people like the Razor despite the extra bling factor from the acrylic they use around the block which can look pretty nice.

I use a Koolance CPU-380I. I went with it since the price is fairly similar to other options, but in my research, it's performance was usually top notch.

Pump: Swiftech 655, D5, or DCC variant... which is pretty much every pump on sites like frozencpu lol. Definitely going to have to look more into this still, all recommendations so far are solid.. just there's so many variants from the big names I don't think there's much of a wrong choice?

Most pumps are based on the Laing D5 or the Laing DDC. The 655 is just a D5 variant. DDC runs hotter and louder for the same level of performance compared to the D5, but it's also significantly smaller. They actually sell small heatsinks that can go on the DDC to help keep it cool.

You probably want to go with a D5 variant if you can. Someone recommended a Koolance bay reservoir earlier, but I'm not sure how well that would work in the 540. My thought is that the 540 has a vertically-oriented 5.25" drive bay, and I don't know if that will be problematic for the pumps.

Reservoir: Basically as long as it doesn't cause problems, any res seems to be suitable for the usage. So I guess I'll just find one I like the look of, whether it has any added bling factor to it or not and just run with it!

I doubt that the looks will mean much, because I assume you'll have to install it in the PSU area because of the limited room in the motherboard area. Well... depending on how many 3.5" HDDs you're using, you might have some room on the floor to mount a D5+Reservoir combo. Something like this + this + some D5 pump. Although, I've never used those parts, so I can't vouch for them!

Tubing: I'm still digging the primochill, though I've seen the name Tygon mentioned quite a few more times than just here. Both seem like top notch companies though so will decide between the two.

I use the Primochill Advanced LRT tubing, and it works fine. I've never tried the Tygon stuff though.

Fittings: Seems everyone who's used to water uses barbs + zip ties or some type of tight fitting wrap, I still like the look of compression fittings over them though and I think ones made for the correct tubing and from a good name will be just as leak resistant as barbs + ties. Still deciding if I should or not though, and if so I really need to consider tubing dimensions so I have the correct compression fittings whereas barbs only have to worry about ID.

Compression fittings are fine. Supposedly, they loosen a little over time, but that's not a huge deal. The biggest complaint though is that they're simply more expensive as they're a barb with a thread + an outer casing (the compression part). In my experience, they usually run about $5 each, and you'll need two per physical item in your loop. You have plans for two radiators, a CPU block, GPU block, reservoir and pump, which means you need 12 fittings. You can possibly combine the last two using the method that I described earlier (or really just about any reservoir+pump combo), but that's still 10 fittings.

The one thing about water cooling that you learn really fast... it all adds up fast!

Radiators: As long as it don't leak, doesn't seem there's too big of a difference between the rads especially when they come from the big names in water.

There are some differences that you want to keep an eye on. The reason why people are recommending fat radiators earlier is because they typically have a much lower FPI (fins per inch) compared to skinny radiators. That may sound bad, and technically it is in regard to performance/volume, but in a lot of cases, it's all about the noise. A high fin density is going to require more flow.

Also, the reason why I went with the AX radiators from XSPC is that in my research, they came up as the best performing with the exception of some ridiculously expensive radiator (I believe from Alphacool). The AX series has a slightly high FPI at around 14-16, which is manageable, but it's about as high as you want to go.

Fans: Good ones for static pressure and noise, though even my high RPM Corsair AF series fans I have on the side (while noisy for fans) are so much more bearable than the fan noise I had with my 7970. I really do want to get the Noctua's, but they are pretty pricey fans! will experiment with the air path for the fans I have lying around to see if I have a solution on hand already, otherwise not sure what I'm going to do with these yet.

Personally, I've grown to dislike Corsair fans. I've used a lot of Corsair products over the years, and you know what goes first with all of my AIO coolers? The fans. The fans also really aren't that quiet. Although, I wonder if my complaint is coming from the default fans that Corsair provided on my 900D. I keep meaning to replace them with some SPs and AFs (SP in front since the air is passing through the HDDs).

Anyway, Noctua is nice, but expensive. Also, they use the ugliest color known to man. :|

 

[krnmastersgt]

I'll likely go for a D5 variant pump then, I don't mind having a larger pump as if I don't like the aesthetics I'll just hide it away in the back section of the case.

I was going to go for an internal reservoir, as a basic check to know that my system is flowing properly and as a top off point. It also doesn't look that bad and I have an idea of where I'll be mounting mine. Was leaning towards something like this Bitspower 150mm Res, though I'm still looking around for other options.

I saw that the fpi numbers for the XSPC rads, and this system is about quiet but good performance which is why I was going to go with this monstrous Alphacool 360x80 for my front mount, I have the space (I believe, going to be doing a lot of final measurements once I can decide on the card I want to get) along with a few powerful but quiet fans for the front.
The top mount 240/280 will likely be running non optimally in my set-up, something with a slim profile which normally requires a high rpm set-up with some low rpm fans just to get some additional cooling performance in there.

I haven't had issues with any of my Corsair products as of yet (though I seem to lose all associated screws for the products instantly which is rather annoying). I like their fans though I found it stupid that I couldn't use the grommet installation for their fans in their own cases due to the second layer of rubber grommets on the cases themselves don't work with them. One another annoying note for me is that I want to sleeve my PSU, but man this AX 850 has some stupid wiring going on for that...

One added note is that I am considering dropping the R9 290 for a GTX 780, both are great cards with good overclocking results for the most part however while the 290 will give me a bit more performance in gaming, I fear the Litecoin miner rush has stifled any plans of that coming through for a while. I am instead considering grabbing a GTX 780 and utilizing the Masterpass discount on NE to grab a cheap card and just run with that, added benefits are CUDA (which I don't use yet) and the new shadow play feature is actually I really do like. If that is the case I will likely be ordering parts in the next week to take advantage of that Masterpass discount.

 

[BrightCandle]

The 130 number is the number of watts dissipated at 10C with Gentle Typhoon AR15's running at 800 rpm on a PA 120.1 radiator. I believe the original figure came from watercoolinguk's forums where there used to be a strong watercooling community (no longer). They had converted the typical C/W numbers from Martin's watercooling tests to convert it into something that could be easily used to determine the number of radiators needed instead of how good a radiator was.

The comparative figure I also often use is for the thin radiators at 90W. With similar fans but on what I think was a Black Ice GT thin radiator it could only hold 90W to 10C with the same fans at that fan speed.

Both these figures are decent enough for a reasonable estimate, but the actual performance will differ based on the fans and radiators chosen. In both cases these were the best radiators and fans in their class and hence often you get worse than that. The Black Ice thin radiator was also designed for higher speed fans, it gained more proportionately from increasing fan speed than the Thermochill PA did. The challenge is that neither of these radiators can be bought any more and they haven't been surpassed by modern equivalents.

Neitherless the numbers are a darn good simplistic guide to the basic performance characteristics of radiator heat dissipation and whether the real answer is 115W for your radiator and fan combination or 140W because you run at a higher fan speed it still gets the job done because the number if 200W (well not at anything less than 1800rpm anyway) like many people seem to think it is before getting into the data.

Personally I use a HK 3.0 copper on my CPU, its one of the best blocks out there but its also kind of expensive. There are cheaper blocks available that perform very similar, the Alpha cool, even the XSPC ones are reasonable good especially for their price. CPU blocks differ by about 4C from each other so in many ways the CPU and GPU block choice don't matter all that much.

 

[Aikouka]

One another annoying note for me is that I want to sleeve my PSU, but man this AX 850 has some stupid wiring going on for that...

I was thinking about doing it myself, but I decided to go the faster route and just buy them from Corsair:

http://www.corsair.com/us/power-supply-units/psu-accessories-1.html

Unfortunately, you missed out on a great sale as I think Corsair had them for 40% off during Black Friday.

I am instead considering grabbing a GTX 780

If I do decide to drop water cooling, I'll have a water cooled GTX 780 up for sale then. It's an EVGA Hydro Copper, which means the block is already attached, and EVGA warranties carry over to secondary owners!

 

[krnmastersgt]

I was more interested in doing the sleeving as a way of customizing my build (and future builds) and learning how to do it more than just the pure aesthetics of it, I also wanted to do more than just black

I'm really at a loss as to which card to go with, both flagships have so many features going for them but many of them are in the infancy/infancy stages so they're hard to compare really. While the absolute performance edge goes to the R9s I am heavily leaning towards a 780 right now as firstly they're available and secondly the benefits for their cards are already being implemented while benefits to the R9 such as Mantle is something based on developers willing to work with them on their coding.

Also aside from fittings and everything, does the OD of tubing make a difference at all? I would imagine higher OD with the ID being the same means the tubing is more rigid and firm, which can be good or bad depending on the situation I suppose.

 

[Aikouka]

I was more interested in doing the sleeving as a way of customizing my build (and future builds) and learning how to do it more than just the pure aesthetics of it, I also wanted to do more than just black

The reason why I opted for Corsair's pre-sleeved stuff is that once you start sleeving things, you realize just how much work goes into it. It's not hard to sleeve cables, but there's an easy-and-not-as-pleasant way and a long-and-pleasing way to do it. The latter is the individual sleeving, which I highly recommend for some cases. For example, when I used my 800D, I had a ton of problems with the power supply's 24-pin ATX power connector bowing out the back side panel. It did that because Corsair's HX750 had the cable sleeved, but it was just this big, thick jumbled mess. Individual sleeving can allow you to lay wires out flat, which is really nice in those situations.

Also, Corsair has a few different colors... not just black!

Here's an older photo of the back of my 900D with all the cables:
http://i.imgur.com/d08LdW3.jpg

I've cleaned it up a bit since then, but as you can see... red not black!

I'm really at a loss as to which card to go with, both flagships have so many features going for them but many of them are in the infancy/infancy stages so they're hard to compare really. While the absolute performance edge goes to the R9s I am heavily leaning towards a 780 right now as firstly they're available and secondly the benefits for their cards are already being implemented while benefits to the R9 such as Mantle is something based on developers willing to work with them on their coding.

I ended up switching from ATi to NVIDIA a few years back with the GTX 680. I was just tired of the noise from the ATi coolers. As I tried to describe it to a friend, their blowers made more of a "WHIR" noise versus NVIDIA's, which make a "WHOOSH" noise. The prior is just a lot more annoying to me, and I couldn't stand it anymore. I also went with a nVision 3D monitor (ASUS VG278h), so while I could easily just get a 290X (or could have before the miners bought them all), I would be giving up some of my features.

As for your choice, that can depend on a few things that I don't think you've discussed in here. For example, what is your end goal? Are you planning on running many monitors... huge resolutions? If you're planning on going big, you'll probably get more out of the R9 290/X, but if you're planning on playing at 1080p or 2560x1440, then you'd probably be fine with either.

Also aside from fittings and everything, does the OD of tubing make a difference at all? I would imagine higher OD with the ID being the same means the tubing is more rigid and firm, which can be good or bad depending on the situation I suppose.

At least from what I've learned, having a bit more rigid of a tube can help avoid kinking, which just like when you're dealing with a hose outside, it's not good. I use 3/8 ID x 5/8 OD tubing. That's probably the one that I'd recommend the most in regard to maneuverability, and I've also seen it get the most recommendations around the web. You can always go larger (1/2 ID x 3/4 ID) if you really want. It probably wouldn't hurt anything.

 

[Liquid_Static]

Noctua NF-F12's are some of the best radiator fans. They're very quiet at max speed and scary quiet at 50-75%. Great static pressure too. Just dont go putting them on super high density radiators because their RPM rating is relatively low.

 

[SexyK]

FYI - if you're still concerned about running two rads in the Air 540, I recently did a custom water build in one and didn't have any issues. I used an Alphacool XT45 240mm in the top and a ST30 360mm in the front (hard to see the 360 in this shot, but its vertical in the front panel of the case). You do have to work a bit to make everything fit, but if you plan carefully the 540 can be a great case for a custom water setup.

 

[krnmastersgt]

So while doing some more parts research and such, I come across pump tops quite a lot but I'm still not entirely sure of their purpose. It looks to me mainly about changing the appearance and sometimes dampening the noise of the pump, is this something I could run the entire system without?

The aesthetics of the pump don't matter much to me since as I said before, if I don't like it I hide it in the back. I definitely want one with a controllable speed though so that I can throttle as I see fit. Currently leaning towards the Swiftech MCP655 PWM variant, hooking it up with a fan controller and just using that to change up the speed of the pump as I see fit.

That being said there are pumps out there for quite a bit less, but from some reputable names, am I going to need a very strong pump for 360 + 240/280 rad + cpu block + gpu block + res?

 

[BrightCandle]

Pump tops aren't normally aesthetic they are usually qbout changing the pressure and flow rate curve. Some tops give extra features (mine combines two pumps for example) as well as improving the flow rate. My original tops had 3/8" connectors only and the top I bought adds standard G1/4. So no pump tops aren't aesthetic, they serve a purpose you just might not know what that purpose is yet.