Help with my first liquid cooling attempt

[stuckinasquare3]

Liquid/water cooling was always one of the things that I thought was always too scary for me to attempt. Recently though, I thought it might be a fun project to try out and a good way to boost the performance of some of my aging components. There are so many different options though, how does one even know where to begin? Open loops, closed loops, all in ones, etc.

I suppose the first thing I should do is outline my goals:
1) not spend a lot of money
2) not buy a new case
3) water cool a cpu and gpu with the option of adding a second gpu in sli

Currently I have a thermaltake level 10gt that I love and want to keep forever. It has all 4 5.25 in bay's available for water cooling use. Inside that case I have an x58 motherboard with an i7 920 and a 670gtx.

I've ruled out options such as the corsair hydro series because they only cool the cpu and can't be expanded to cool the gpu. At this point I was looking into the kit options and also building a custom setup but I can't seem to figure out the most cost effective way to get all the things I need.

Here are the things I think I will need based in my research:
1 pump, maybe the mcp655-b
1 bay reservoir (here's a link to both in a combo http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1...55_w_Blue_LED_Light_-_Clear_Silver_Black.html)
1 240mm radiator for the top of my case (?)
1 120mm radiator for the front or rear of my case
Some tubes
Cpu water block
Gpu water blocks

Some questions:
Am I missing anything?
Is the pump strong enough to push through all these things?
I've heard there's something called a "pump top". Is that something I need?
Do I have enough radiators?
How much should I expect to pay for all this?

Thanks!

 

[Subyman]

Very quickly, this is what I would do (and have done in the past):

-XSPC Dual Bay Res for DDC
-Laing DDC pump
-Bitspower compression fittings
-XSPC Raystorm or EK Supremecy CPU Block
-EK Universal GPU Block
-Ramsinks for cooling the VRAM chips on the GPU
-Tygon tubing (the black is pretty rad)
-Alphacool XT45 radiators, whatever size will fit
-Fans (XSPC and Yate Loons are cheap and perform within 10% of the high end stuff)

I'd probably go with either 2x240mm radiators or one 360mm + a 120mm radiator. I'd have to see how the radiators fit in the Thermaltake, hopefully its easy.

Questions:
1: You'll need fans but other than that not really, there may be misc pieces that you'll need to order such as a kill coil, biocide, fan mounting screws, 90 degree fittings, maybe a fan controller, and such. But as long as you aren't in a huge rush, then you'll be able to plan everything.
2: A D5 or DDC will be plenty for what you are doing.
3: Not with the bay reservoir made for the D5 or DDC.
4: Typically for every 100W of dissipation, you need one 120mm radiator to stay at +10C ambient. So 2x240mm rads will do 400W dissipation while keeping the water at +10C over ambient.
5: It depends. I'd budget around $300-400, but after you initially spend the money those parts can keep being reused for many, many years. I still use bits power comp fittings from 5+ years ago. Radiators are essentially timeless. You could also slowly piece it together with used parts and save quite a bit, especially on fittings. I see large lots of fittings going for $50 but would cost $150+ if bought new.

Keep checking the marketplace on various forums and you can piece it together over time very easily and cheaply.

 

[stuckinasquare3]

Thanks for helping out! A couple more questions, what are ramsinks and compression fittings? I'm not sure where I could fit those radiators. I'll have to do some more research

 

[aigomorla]

why are u using ramsinks? where are u gonna use them?
Get a full covered GPU block... dont go for core only... :\
Ramsinks are a PITFA... 80% of the time i have had 1 of them fall off and never could get to reattach.

compression fittings are an option to make your fittings blinger.

I also will say compression fittings are a newbie thing, because once u get in the hobby long enough, you'll realize compressions are more painful then bling.

 

[Subyman]

why are u using ramsinks? where are u gonna use them?
Get a full covered GPU block... dont go for core only... :\
Ramsinks are a PITFA... 80% of the time i have had 1 of them fall off and never could get to reattach.

compression fittings are an option to make your fittings blinger.

I also will say compression fittings are a newbie thing, because once u get in the hobby long enough, you'll realize compressions are more painful then bling.

I recommended a universal GPU block so he doesn't have to drop another $120 every time he gets a new GPU.

 

[aigomorla]

I recommended a universal GPU block so he doesn't have to drop another $120 every time he gets a new GPU.

problem with universals on today's gpu is the vregs and other components.

without the full cover he would need to buy a sink, and active fan that area.


For the lower end cards, your only option is core only, however at that point id recommend u getting a beefier stock card and not watercool it, then a lower tier one just so you could overclock it.

The price of the universal + sinks would probably upgrade him 1 platform, and would be a better merit, then trying to overclock a lower tier card with watercooling.

 

[smackababy]

I recommended a universal GPU block so he doesn't have to drop another $120 every time he gets a new GPU.

I wouldn't recommend these for newer GPUs. They run how and without active cooling on the everything, you're asking for trouble. I suppose, he could set up heatsinks on the other parts of the card and have a fan aimed at it, but that kind of defeats the purpose of watercooling.


OP, a 120x2 and 120x1 would give you a bit of room to OC, if you want. You're looking at around 300w of TPD to cool with the processor and GPU and you have around 375w in rads (generally around 125w per 120.1). Adding another GPU without more radiator isn't really a good idea.

I would not use compression fittings. They are more costly, don't really offer much other than a large PITA to install (try fitting 2 on a CPU or GPU block), and give very little more security than a barb with a zip tie. I guess some people think they look better.

RAM heatsinks are never worth the pain they are to use. I think most of those are mostly for visuals, as I don't think aggressive RAM overclocking is a thing.

Yate Loon fans are good if you're trying to save money. Personally, I only use Gentle Typhoons, but I also don't mind paying $15+ per fan.

If you want to save a bit more money, go with something other than Tygon tubing. It is the most expensive, but it does look the best. I think Masterclear is cheap and works well enough.

Don't forget a silver kill coil. It might seem like a waste at $7, but you only have to pay $0.50 per gallon for distilled water after that.

Also, I don't believe the Level 10gt is very watercooling friendly, but I'm sure people have made it work. Google up some set ups and get an idea on how to fit as many radiators as possible in it.

 

[Subyman]

problem with universals on today's gpu is the vregs and other components.

without the full cover he would need to buy a sink, and active fan that area.


For the lower end cards, your only option is core only, however at that point id recommend u getting a beefier stock card and not watercool it, then a lower tier one just so you could overclock it.

The price of the universal + sinks would probably upgrade him 1 platform, and would be a better merit, then trying to overclock a lower tier card with watercooling.

I've had great luck with ramsinks as long as there is direct flow from the front case fans over the cards. The easier way is to simply buy the full cover, so that is an option but it does cost more in the long run. Every GPU purchase gets $120 added to it.

 

[stuckinasquare3]

Wow lots of great responses!

So it sounds like compression fittings aren't something that's necessary for a water cooling setup. It sounds like I need to decide, do I want to buy a full coverage water block for my GPU with the benefit of not having to install ramsinks but the downside of having to buy a new water block every time I upgrade (which arguably may not be that often). Whereas, I could by a universal block but then I need to buy/install ramsinks as well. My Level 10GT has a pretty sizable side-door fan so I'm not worried about keeping those ramsinks/vram chips cool.

It also sounds like I'll need more than a 240+120 radiator to cool a CPU and two GPUs. I'll have to do some research to see if I can fit a 360 in the case.

 

[aigomorla]

It also sounds like I'll need more than a 240+120 radiator to cool a CPU and two GPUs. I'll have to do some research to see if I can fit a 360 in the case.

this is highly arguable on fans and which radiator is used, and how loud you can tollerate those fans.

360 > 120 + 240

Because of flow loss on the 2 rads vs the single 360.
However from a thermodynamic easy point, the performance is about the same due to the near similar surface area.

 

[Subyman]

I've never had trouble installing or fitting my bits power compression fittings. What type of problems have you guys had? If you are using large tubing, they can be hassle I guess. I use 3/8ID 1/2OD tubing. I love the size. They fit fine on my Raystorm block.

If you are going basic, then barbs are completely fine. I used them for years before we had compression fittings to buy I build my setups for looks as well as use (if I'm going to spend $400 on stuff, I want it to look good too haha), so barbs+zip ties were the first thing to go for me. Some people buy one size bigger with the barb so the fit is super tight, but I don't care for that.

 

[stuckinasquare3]

What is the silver kill coil? Also, what are barbs?

 

[dma0991]

What is the silver kill coil? Also, what are barbs?

Silver coil / Kill coil is what its name describes, a coil of silver. The reason for adding it to the loop is that silver has anti microbial properties and over the period of using, it will prevent formation of algae in the water. I use a combination of silver coil and distilled water, which has been maintenance free for almost a year.

These are barbs. They screw on to radiators, blocks, reservoirs and tubings are connected with this. All watercooling components use a standard G1/4 size; you can have different size(3/8, 1/2) barbs for different tubing diameter or use compression fittings.

 

[Gulo]

You probably cannot fit a 360mm radiator inside your case without some major cutting. However you can put a 360 or 480 rad outside the case if you don't mind the ugliness.

-Make sure you get some good quality high static pressure fans.

-With people upgrading to new AMD cards you can probably find some good used gpu block deals. Watch out for old nickel plated EK blocks, there were some major corrosion issues with those.

 

[stuckinasquare3]

I was actually thinking about just sticking a 480 radiator on the top of my case. Then I thought, if I'm going to be putting this big thing on my case, what about investigating one of those all in one units that sits on top?

 

[stuckinasquare3]

If I buy the mcp355 + xspc reservoir dual bay combo will that be enough for a CPU! two gpus, and radiators?

 

[smackababy]

I've never had trouble installing or fitting my bits power compression fittings. What type of problems have you guys had? If you are using large tubing, they can be hassle I guess. I use 3/8ID 1/2OD tubing. I love the size. They fit fine on my Raystorm block.

If you are going basic, then barbs are completely fine. I used them for years before we had compression fittings to buy I build my setups for looks as well as use (if I'm going to spend $400 on stuff, I want it to look good too haha), so barbs+zip ties were the first thing to go for me. Some people buy one size bigger with the barb so the fit is super tight, but I don't care for that.

Let's see. No GPU block or CPU block I've used could take two 1/2 ID 3/4 OD compression fittings. I suppose smaller tubing would have smaller fittings, but on my Heatkiller blocks, they touched to the point I couldn't tighten them.

 

[Puffnstuff]

I'm a big fan of the swiftech mcp 655 pump (rebadged d5) and koolance also has a version of it as well. Don't skimp on your tubing either as well as the clamps. Also don't forget to put a drain in your line for service.