Going liquid cooled. Experts chime in on parts!

Page 5 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 28, 2005
20,894
3,246
126
easiest way i find is not to buy it all at once. spread the purchases over a month or two. and with that koolance res, you can get one loop up and running and add the other later when you have the parts.

as for the dual gpu, I opted for an hd4870 X2 card and it's served me well so far and I don't plan on replacing it for a couple of more years.

lol... there is no slowly in this model tho.

They want to see gpu... im like SIGH... its always the biggest option they want. lol..

You see if its a cpu only loop, and they expand later on... its only a 230 dollar upgrade in the future.

With the gpu first and cpu second.. well, u got the 230 dollar upgrade up front, and your upgrade path is only 70 dollars.

So in short your eatting the difference at start instead of at the end.
 

ViviTheMage

Lifer
Dec 12, 2002
36,189
87
91
madgenius.com
easiest way i find is not to buy it all at once. spread the purchases over a month or two. and with that koolance res, you can get one loop up and running and add the other later when you have the parts.

as for the dual gpu, I opted for an hd4870 X2 card and it's served me well so far and I don't plan on replacing it for a couple of more years.

single gpu is cute, but I plan to upgrade in 6-12 months for BF3/d3 as well...6950's wont last forever, haha.
 

aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 28, 2005
20,894
3,246
126

OVerLoRDI

Diamond Member
Jan 22, 2006
5,490
4
81
LMAO... thats a big OOPS from john... :D

let me know how it turns out.

John is sending the correct part via priority mail, so I should have it on Friday. I was hopping he would overnight it, but.. oh well.

Everything else looks great. I am surprised at how massive the apogee gtx is and how much it weighs. The GPU blocks are also pretty dang heavy too. The scythe fans are incredibly quiet, I plugged them into my spare PSU I'm going to use for leak testing and they are so soothing :) The tube color isn't exactly what I was expecting, but it is slightly transparent which I am excited about. Also the pump is way bigger than I thought it would be. Very excited to get started on all this but also very sad I have to wait more :(
 

aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 28, 2005
20,894
3,246
126
Everything else looks great. I am surprised at how massive the apogee gtx is and how much it weighs. The GPU blocks are also pretty dang heavy too. The scythe fans are incredibly quiet, I plugged them into my spare PSU I'm going to use for leak testing and they are so soothing :) The tube color isn't exactly what I was expecting, but it is slightly transparent which I am excited about. Also the pump is way bigger than I thought it would be. Very excited to get started on all this but also very sad I have to wait more :(

lol..

EDIT..
Wait u sure its the GTX and not XT?
the GTX was discontinued a while back ago.

Pump is big.. im guessing you got the D5?
:\

And im guessing you wanted the feser tubing on the right then the primochill tubing on the left.
IMG_1288.jpg



LOL overloard.. i am going to put a bet on how long your system stays up b4 u itch to tweek it.

3 weeks tops b4 u find something new u want to add.

So u might as well order the tubing u want again, for when that happens. :p

with your
EK-FC6970- Acetal


do you not need a top heatsink for the top stuff (memory/vrm)?

That is a full cover block ViVi.
It grabs everything on 1 block, and offers port options top and down for easly SLI connect.

This is why i am trying to nudge u in full cover blocks if u scale video cards.
 
Last edited:

nitromullet

Diamond Member
Jan 7, 2004
9,031
36
91
Differences between that and XSPC?

This has sort of already been answered, but it mainly comes down to materials.

The main body of the Koolance res is milled from a solid block of acetal, and the XSPC is constructed from acrylic sheets glued together. Acrylic is a weaker material than acetal much more susceptible to cracking at the threads, plus it has joints that are glued. For purposes of water cooling the main body of the Koolance res is virtually indestructible. I personally would feel much, much more confident running a loop with the Koolance bay res than the XSPC.
 

nitromullet

Diamond Member
Jan 7, 2004
9,031
36
91
the pump is way bigger than I thought it would be.

Yes, D5 pumps are a little cumbersome, but if you're running a single pump I'd take the reliability of the D5 over a smaller DDC any day. There are things you can do to make the pump easier to work with though.

Getting an aftermarket top, like the EK or Bp makes the pump a little smaller, changes it from an awkward round shape to a square shape, and allow you greater flexibility in terms of tubing and fittings.

Another option is the reservoir/pump combo ViVi is talking about. http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/kordu5reforo.html. This allows you to mount your pump(s) in two drive bays, which will make the D5 pump much easier to work with.

Of course, these all cost (more) money. There are three reasons I'm running on air and not water right now: cost, cash, and funding. :)
 

OVerLoRDI

Diamond Member
Jan 22, 2006
5,490
4
81
System is currently being leak tested. I built the loop using very generous hose lengths, and then will shorten them when they actually go in the machine. As you may remember, Jab-tech failed at sending me the reservoir so I am using a big 2 gallon jug of distilled water.

The system is very quiet (once it was fully bled) even at full pump speed. I'll post some pics once I get more together, but currently it is just a mess of blocks, tubing, and a big jug on a table :D
 

aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 28, 2005
20,894
3,246
126
I am going to move all of Vivi's post's which doesnt relate to overload into his own thread.

So we can stop jacking overlord's thread.

EDIT:

Overloard, cleanup has been conducted!
The Thread belongs to you again!

Cases and Cooling Moderator
Aigomorla
 
Last edited:

OVerLoRDI

Diamond Member
Jan 22, 2006
5,490
4
81
Loop assembled! pics coming soon :D

Took about 6 hours to assemble, and aigomorla, you were right, the EK blocks were a pain, but I managed. The system is currently being leak tested but so far nothing is dripping and it sounds beautiful.
 

OVerLoRDI

Diamond Member
Jan 22, 2006
5,490
4
81
I knew watercooling was amazing, but hearing and see it work first hand is just unbelievable.

Originally:
Furmark w/ powertune +20
Air: ~95C and loud
Water: 45-50C and quiet

Similar results with my DC program, this is just unbelievable. The computer is basically as quiet as it used to be at idle no matter what.

aigomorla,
I give it less than a week before I start to tweak again.. I want to get a proper crossfire/sli connector to replace tiny runs of tube between video cards. I also think I want to get a 140mm radiator to help cool the water before it hits my cpu. Also I need to get some 45 or 90 degree bends, I had to get really creative with my tubing. Also some shiny clamps would be great :D

My loop order is currently:
Pump -> Video cards in parallel -> CPU -> Radiator -> Reservoir
The cards are in parallel simply because of the tubing issues I ran into, but honestly the cards are running at identical temps, so parallel seems to work perfectly fine.

I may reverse the loop simply because the heated water from my gpus heats up my cpu, which is slightly annoying, and a few more C on the GPUs from CPU doesn't matter much, but the other way around does... Currently though, GPUs are both running 100% and CPU is running at 50% and it is only at 40C. Reversing the loop would result in lower CPU temps and only slightly higher GPU temps, so I think I will do that next weekend, or when I get more clamps/fittings/tubing/radiator. This is expensive and way too awesome.

Pictures:
http://img848.imageshack.us/g/img0043y.jpg/
 
Last edited:

ViviTheMage

Lifer
Dec 12, 2002
36,189
87
91
madgenius.com
I would have reversed the loop from the get go for sure.

nice numbers, what fans?

I've never seen someone loop like that either ... any reason you aren't going through the gpu's in a loop? I've never seen them go up like that.
 

aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 28, 2005
20,894
3,246
126
aigomorla,
I give it less than a week before I start to tweak again.. I want to get a proper crossfire/sli connector to replace tiny runs of tube between video cards. I also think I want to get a 140mm radiator to help cool the water before it hits my cpu. Also I need to get some 45 or 90 degree bends, I had to get really creative with my tubing. Also some shiny clamps would be great :D


welcome in getting your foot wet.

This is normal... u will soon find out your h2o eq cost more then your entire computer.

But hey! this is a hobby no? :biggrin:


You see now why i can almost gaurentee half your load temps on gpu now? :D
Its a normal result.


Overloard... QDC's is your next upgrade im seeing that would merit the most worth.
Here is an article i wrote on XS back when QDC's were very unpopular.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?p=3642925#post3642925

Koolance has new ones called VL3N's and VL4N's which have improved flow.
So the only thing holding people back from QDC's is price.
 
Last edited:

OVerLoRDI

Diamond Member
Jan 22, 2006
5,490
4
81
I would have reversed the loop from the get go for sure.

nice numbers, what fans?

I've never seen someone loop like that either ... any reason you aren't going through the gpu's in a loop? I've never seen them go up like that.

I'm going to reverse it pretty soon. Currently I'm cleaning up all the carnage and enjoying the quiet and low temps of my system :)

Scythe Kaze-Jyuni, the 1200rpm version
https://www.jab-tech.com/Scythe-KAZ...0mm-Case-Fan-SY1225SL12M-1200rpm-pr-3943.html

If you are talking about the weird parallel GPU setup, that was my only option. I couldn't have tubing coming out of the bottom of the 2nd GPU because the tubing couldn't flex without kinking because of the PSU. So my only option was to use the top ports of the top video card block. So I did some research and found that parallel setups work fine at higher flow rates and with no more than 2 cards. The cards run at identical temps so it is working fine.