First WC loop, HELP!!

[Smoblikat]

So I am planning on doing my first WC loop ever. I have no idea of where to start or what I should buy. This will be spaced out over a month or so, I bought my third GPU this morning, and I am pending on my 4th. Next week I will be buying my new motherboard, so after al that once I get some funds back its ON!!

What I want to cool:
1x2500K (Im not sure on the overclock, I run it at 4.0 right now and its 22C on air)
4xHD6970 (again, not sure on the overclock, let plan on at least a mild one)
4x4gb DDR3 2133 (yes I want a RAM block)

I can have several radiators in my case (rosewill blackhawk ultimate).
2x200mm rad
2x 140mm rad (seperate, so 1x140mm + 1x140mm)
2x140mm rad (together)
And if I need to I can get 3 360mm rads, but I dont think I need/want this.

I dont even know where to start on this stuff, so if you guys could give me a basic idea of what I am looking for or what I should get I can start a parts list and see where that leads.

I do have an EK HD6970 waterblock already, so I only need to buy 3. Im not sure if it matters, but the other 3 HD6970's are really HD6950's, but I think its the same PCB.

Thanks!

 

[dma0991]

I think it is almost necessary to get three 360mm radiators to cool all of those hardware. I recommend using a quad bridge to connect all GPU blocks together and give it a cleaner look. You could run separate loops or single loop for CPU and GPU. Definitely a strong pump is needed, MCP35x2 or MCP655. Bay reservoir or cylinder reservoir, your call.

I could recommend from start to finish but it will never give you the look that you want. Its better to sit down and use some imagination to see how you'd like the loop to flow in your rig.

 

[Smoblikat]

I think it is almost necessary to get three 360mm radiators to cool all of those hardware. I recommend using a quad bridge to connect all GPU blocks together and give it a cleaner look. You could run separate loops or single loop for CPU and GPU. Definitely a strong pump is needed, MCP35x2 or MCP655. Bay reservoir or cylinder reservoir, your call.

I could recommend from start to finish but it will never give you the look that you want. Its better to sit down and use some imagination to see how you'd like the loop to flow in your rig.

Thanks for the advice, I am VERY picky on how I want my stuff to look. I hadnt even thought of a solid block for all 4 GPU's, is that hard to install?

What I was thinking was that I run a dual 140mm rad, a pair of 1x140mm rads and on the top I could run a 2x200mm rad, the 3x360mm rads are on the side panel of my case and I dont want themm on there because it would be a pain to take the panel off. Will a 2x200mm rad perform well with that big of fans? All rads will be push/pull.

Without knowing any specifics on brand or stuff like that here is what I think I want.

Single 5.25 bay green res
MCP655 (and MCP 355?) for my pumps, I hear thats what everyone generally uses
Depending on price I will get a solid 4 GPU waterblock, but I am concerned that my cards dont have a reference PCB? They are:
MSI twin frozr 3 HD6950
XFX HD6970 (this one is reference)
Saphire dirt 3 edition HD6950
Saphire HD6950 (not the reference cooler, it has dual fans but isnt he flex edition.)
A decent CPU waterblock, this one doesnt need to be amazing since my CPU is freezing cold just on air.

I would like to use high quality tubing, either clear or red and definitley use red liquid. Unless there are issues with using colored tubes/liquid.

What sort or fittings should I use? I also heard that 3/8' and 1/2" dont have any difference in performance, so which would be cheaper to buy fittings and blocks for?

 

[dma0991]

It isn't exactly a solid quad GPU block per se but more of a bridge that connects 4 separate blocks together. If you're going for a bay reservoir, XSPC does sell ones that allows the pump to mount directly to the reservoir. Comes in single or dual pumps. Having used bay reservoirs for the first time, I would suggest using internal reservoirs instead. One is not better than the other as it is highly based on individual preference, some like it, some don't.

Too many individual radiators will just make a huge tube mess. Have fewer but larger radiators would suffice. I do suggest sticking with 120mm based radiators as the selection of fans larger than 120mm are scarce and poorly made.

Wouldn't go with a 200mm radiator either as they wouldn't fit side by side. The fan area is 200mm but the radiator is usually larger with chambers on both ends. Also, 200mm fans are not good enough to push some serious air through a dense radiator.

Tubing and liquid is also preferential. I'd go with colored tubing with distilled water and silver coil. It works and its cheap to refill.

Your case wasn't made from the ground up with watercooling in mind so finding radiator that will fit is tricky. I'd rather go with a XSPC RX360 at the top, XSPC RX120 at the back and Alphacool NexXxoS Monsta 240mm at the front/bottom. The top and front/bottom has no certainty that it will fit but some clever modding should keep them in place.

 

[Smoblikat]

It isn't exactly a solid quad GPU block per se but more of a bridge that connects 4 separate blocks together. If you're going for a bay reservoir, XSPC does sell ones that allows the pump to mount directly to the reservoir. Comes in single or dual pumps. Having used bay reservoirs for the first time, I would suggest using internal reservoirs instead. One is not better than the other as it is highly based on individual preference, some like it, some don't.

Too many individual radiators will just make a huge tube mess. Have fewer but larger radiators would suffice. I do suggest sticking with 120mm based radiators as the selection of fans larger than 120mm are scarce and poorly made.

Wouldn't go with a 200mm radiator either as they wouldn't fit side by side. The fan area is 200mm but the radiator is usually larger with chambers on both ends. Also, 200mm fans are not good enough to push some serious air through a dense radiator.

Tubing and liquid is also preferential. I'd go with colored tubing with distilled water and silver coil. It works and its cheap to refill.

Your case wasn't made from the ground up with watercooling in mind so finding radiator that will fit is tricky. I'd rather go with a XSPC RX360 at the top, XSPC RX120 at the back and Alphacool NexXxoS Monsta 240mm at the front/bottom. The top and front/bottom has no certainty that it will fit but some clever modding should keep them in place.

Great!

I will get colored tubes and some distilled water.

As for the rads, I dont want to use 120mm rads since the inside of my case only has 140mm fans, except for the side panel. What if I did a 5.25 bay res, to a pump, to a 200mm rad (I will look into how it fits and if the fans will even be able to push enough air) to the rear 140mm rad on the back, to the GPu's, to a smaller pump, to a bottom 140mm rad, directly to a dual 140mm rad, then back up to the res?

Here is alink to my case so you can see if everything makes sense, or if I am even able to mount rads on it. How would I determine that?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811147157

I am definitley open to changing my mind on everything, as I said I dont know the first thing about watercooling so please tell me if none of what I said makes sense

EDIT - After a quick google search I found this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfgxdNcqnuk

It looks like I can get a triple 140mm rad on top of my case instead of a dual 20mm one. I would prefer that.

 

[p_monks33]

I think you are going to come up short on space for radiators in that case, I had a Thor V2 and couldn't imagine fitting everything inside that I have now. I ran a high overclock on 2x 7970's and a 2600k with a 360mm and a 240mm and kept temps in the 40c range for GPU and the 50c range on the CPU. You are looking at that plus the addition of two more hot hot hot GPU's . I would want at least one more 360 for a build like you are coming up with, and I think you will still struggle with some of the heat from the GPU's. You are most likely looking at a Caselabs M8 or similar for that kind of radiator space.

 

[Smoblikat]

I think you are going to come up short on space for radiators in that case, I had a Thor V2 and couldn't imagine fitting everything inside that I have now. I ran a high overclock on 2x 7970's and a 2600k with a 360mm and a 240mm and kept temps in the 40c range for GPU and the 50c range on the CPU. You are looking at that plus the addition of two more hot hot hot GPU's . I would want at least one more 360 for a build like you are coming up with, and I think you will still struggle with some of the heat from the GPU's. You are most likely looking at a Caselabs M8 or similar for that kind of radiator space.

OK, thanks for the input! I guess I will have to look into adding a 360mm rad now.........though I dont like it. So if I get a triple 140mm, a dual 140mm, 2 additional 140mm rads AND a 360mm rad......that would cover it?

 

[p_monks33]

I think so, that's a lot of hose and rads. Ask yourself if its worth it. ? For the cost of all the gou blocks hose rads and fittings , you could come close to buying two newer GPUs.

 

[john3850]

What do the you gain with your water cooling over air.
Unless you keep your cards for over 2 years it seems a waste of money on gpu blocks.
With 2 cards its not a bad idea because its cheaper and better cooling.
Have fun cleaning the rads and adding water monthly.
Wait till you try to work on your pc with all those lines that get in the way.
Leave just one screw loose and you get tiny leak x 4 cards and a first time water user man your brave one.
The best rad goes on top were to do you put the other rads hang one outside the rear of the case.
To me the hardest part is the location of the water parts have fun and enjoy it.

 

[dma0991]

Great!

I have a feeling that you're gonna need more surface area than what I've already mentioned. Probably a dual loop too. Not much can be done if the case doesn't come with a lot of radiator mounting options. External mounting is the only way to go if you want to keep this case.

As the others have said, you might want to sum the cost required. Watercooling can be quite expensive with such requirements.

 

[BrightCandle]

GPU TDP is 250W at stock.
CPU overclocked is 150W.

Total cooling required (4*250) + 150 = 1150W

You need to decide what fan speed you want. I am going to start with the whisper quiet option but if you want more then you can move up the curve in fan speed and cooling which will reduce your radiator needs.

Fan speed 800rpm and water delta of 10C.

A slim radiator 120mm will cool about 90W
A thick radiator 120mm will cool about 130W

A 140mm radiator is about 36% more area, so around 122W and 176W respectively.

Which means even with thick 120mm radiators you need 9 radiators (1150 / 130) of the thick variety.

" triple 140mm, a dual 140mm, 2 additional 140mm rads AND a 360mm"

Is about 530+ 353+ 176+176 = 1237W so that is enough without the extra 360mm.

So heat wise 7 140mm will do the job at that fan speed and temperature, assuming a single loop.

In this case you might want to consider 2 loops. The GPUs will restrict flow and dump a lot of heat into the loop. You can run the GPU loop hotter with less radiators but the CPU must not be in a hot loop. So in essence you run 1 140mm radiator and CPU on one loop and the 4 GPUs on the other. That would allow you to drop a couple of the 140mm radiators from the GPU side. They would run warmer than ideal but GPUs under water already run very cooler under water (50C maximum normally for me) so you don't have a problem with a delta of +20C instead of 10C.

The other thing you need to look into is the waterblocks for your GPUs. Cards that are not reference are often extremely difficult to get waterblocks for, you need to make sure you can get blocks for them as I suspect you can't.

 

[Smoblikat]

GPU TDP is 250W at stock.
CPU overclocked is 150W.

Total cooling required (4*250) + 150 = 1150W

You need to decide what fan speed you want. I am going to start with the whisper quiet option but if you want more then you can move up the curve in fan speed and cooling which will reduce your radiator needs.

Fan speed 800rpm and water delta of 10C.

A slim radiator 120mm will cool about 90W
A thick radiator 120mm will cool about 130W

A 140mm radiator is about 36% more area, so around 122W and 176W respectively.

Which means even with thick 120mm radiators you need 9 radiators (1150 / 130) of the thick variety.

" triple 140mm, a dual 140mm, 2 additional 140mm rads AND a 360mm"

Is about 530+ 353+ 176+176 = 1237W so that is enough without the extra 360mm.

So heat wise 7 140mm will do the job at that fan speed and temperature, assuming a single loop.

In this case you might want to consider 2 loops. The GPUs will restrict flow and dump a lot of heat into the loop. You can run the GPU loop hotter with less radiators but the CPU must not be in a hot loop. So in essence you run 1 140mm radiator and CPU on one loop and the 4 GPUs on the other. That would allow you to drop a couple of the 140mm radiators from the GPU side. They would run warmer than ideal but GPUs under water already run very cooler under water (50C maximum normally for me) so you don't have a problem with a delta of +20C instead of 10C.

The other thing you need to look into is the waterblocks for your GPUs. Cards that are not reference are often extremely difficult to get waterblocks for, you need to make sure you can get blocks for them as I suspect you can't.

OK, all of this makes sense. I do understand that its a big undertaking, but I would eventually like to do this. I already looked into blocks for my cards and there arent any, so I will have to use universal blocks.

For dual loops, would I need dual reservoirs too?

 

[john3850]

reservoirs are a extra that can create more heat I would us a tee line on the cpu and a
reservoir on the cards also wash the parts before you use them.

 

[BrightCandle]

Dual loops means dual everything. You can actually get a dual reservoir for a CD bay, and even one that takes two pumps as well which really allows you to cram the loops into a confined space. Doubling up the core parts costs money but you also save on radiators and space.