Pointlessly expensive Water-cooling Build – Help and Advice Hello All, I am plannin

[sidrockrulz]

Pointlessly expensive Water-cooling Build – Help and Advice

Hello All,

I am planning on a new water-cooling build and I’d some input / ideas / constructive criticism from you guys here who have technology geeks / geniuses / gamers / awesome people!
This computer will be strictly used for gaming purposes at 3x1080p with an upgrade to 3x1440p in the near future!

This is not my first water cooled build, so I’m not completely new to this. But, this will be the first build I want to do with Acrylic / Plexiglas tubing.

I have a pretty good budget, but I have to say the budget will be limited to bang for the buck / my usage / purpose of the build. I do not intend to simply throw away money to impress the online community and friends.

I am also aware that technology keeps getting updated, but I am looking to build something that will still perform well 3 years from now.



Processor
Z97 i7-4970K or x99 i7-5820K

Now that the x99 platform is released, is the 5820k a performance boost enough for me to invest in the platform, especially that DDR4 Ram and the Motherboard is more expensive too?

Is the lower clock speeds on the 5820k going to be better?

I would love a 5930k, though I don’t think I need it that much at 500$

It kind of sucks that the 5820k does not support x16/x16. It will support x8/x8/x8, which is the same as the 4970k.

AMD equivalent?

Motherboard
ASUS Maximus VII Formula –Z97 – It looks awesome and it’s got a water-cooling loop!
Asus x99 Deluxe or the EVGA x99 FTW or the EVGA x99 Classified

The Asus z97 is about 350$ now. The Asus x99 Deluxe and the EVGA x99 Classified are 399$ and the EVGA x99 FTW is 299$. Is the extra 100$ worth investing in the EVGA x99 Classified or the Asus x99 Deluxe?
Does anyone have a different suggestion on the motherboard? Are there any that are a better bang for the buck while still maintaining OC functions and good features? MSI Mpower? Gigabyte G1? ASRock?

Also, how important is Motherboard Cooling? How much does it affect OC and performance?

How much benefit does the aftermarket water block benefit me if I decide to go with a non-water block cooled Motherboard?

Does anyone have any recommendations from experience on what boards have been great for overclocking?

If anyone suggests an AMD equivalent, what boards would you suggest?

RAM
Again, DDR4 vs DDR3

Is I was going the x99 way, I would definitely need a DDR4, and these are about a 100$ more for a 2x8GB.

Also, I know DDR4 currently has higher CAS latency, but higher speeds as well. How much is this going to be a factor?

How much benefit will water-cooling the RAM do?

Graphics cards
Now that NVIDIA has launched the GTX 980 and the GTX970s, the GTX 700 series is dropping in price pretty radically.

The GTX900 series cards definitely have more technology and features and lower power consumption and temperatures!

The 970s are 350$ and the 980s are 550$. GTX780Tis are about 450$.

I am definitely doing a SLI configuration, so here’s the question…
Does dropping 1100$ in a 2Way 980 make more sense or 1050 in a 3 way SLI? Which would perform better?
Or does it make sense to get 2 way 980s and add one later on if I need to boost performance ?

Should I even be thinking about the 700series?


PSU

With the newer cards drawing a lot less power, would an 850W work for a 2 way SLI? Or a 1000W for a 3 Way SLI?


Water-cooling

CPU: I’m going the Swiftech route, anything better?

GPU: I’d like a full cover water block. Also, correct me if I’m wrong: The Stock back plates aren’t going to fit the GPU water blocks.

Any suggestions on the Pumps, reservoirs, GPU water blocks, fans, tubing manufacturers, fittings?

Can I do copper/metal tubing? I’ve read that distilled water will damage the tubing. If this is true, don’t they affect the solid copper water blocks?


Other
Finally, is a good sound card worth it? I do not like headphones, so I will have a 7.1 surround setup

Does anyone have anything else to add about the build?

So, if I do an x99 build, it will cost me about 250$ more in components. Is this price bump worth it ?
Also, if I get the 5820k, would it support more than 32gb of RAM if I decide to add in the future ?
I guess this covers most topics I have questions about.

My case: Cooler Master HAF Stacker
Storage: 256GB SSD; 2x2TB HDD
Optical Drive: LG Blu Ray burner
OS: Windows 7 x64 Pro


ALL suggestions welcome!!

Merged all 6 thread into GH. In the future please do not cross-post
-ViRGE

 

[KaRLiToS]

Forget AMD cpus if you want to game at 3 x 1440p. You need to get a 3930k or 4930k or the 5930k. You need 42 lanes for multigpus for your 11.5 megapixels setup.

Dont watercool the RAM.

Get 3 x GTX 980 ( hell yeah).

Sorry I am on cellphone.

 

[mistersprinkles]

Post was too long. Gave up half way.

It kind of sucks that the 5820k does not support x16/x16. It will support x8/x8/x8, which is the same as the 4970k.

Z97 supports 8X8X. If you want more GPUs you need a board with a PLX chip for 16X/16X or 16X/8X/8X

You can get the 5820K with ASUS' X99-E WS and get 16X/16X/16X/16X as it has dual PLX chips.

 

[nitromullet]

Here's some help and advice for using this forum:

1) don't spam your post across multiple sub forums.
2) it's good that you have a lot of questions and are doing your research before you buy, however, your post asks questions about literally ever facet of building a PC. Consider breaking down the questions by component, and asking those questions in their respective sub forum.
3) Remember that we all read and respond to posts in our spare time at our leisure. You will most likely get more responses to your questions if you follow my advice above, but no one is under any obligation to help you so be patient.

 

[Yuriman]

Does anyone have a different suggestion on the motherboard? Are there any that are a better bang for the buck while still maintaining OC functions and good features? MSI Mpower? Gigabyte G1? ASRock?

Also, how important is Motherboard Cooling? How much does it affect OC and performance?

How much benefit does the aftermarket water block benefit me if I decide to go with a non-water block cooled Motherboard?

Does anyone have any recommendations from experience on what boards have been great for overclocking?

A $400 motherboard will give you little to no overclocking advantage over a $120 board, perhaps with the exception of extreme cooling. You're mostly paying for "user-experience features" and extra PCI-E lanes. I can't speak for X99-based boards, but for Z97, watercooling offers no advantage.

How much benefit will water-cooling the RAM do?

None.

Does dropping 1100$ in a 2Way 980 make more sense or 1050 in a 3 way SLI? Which would perform better?

Tough call, SLI scaling is occasionally an issue, but generally speaking I believe 3 cards would outperform 2. I'm inclined to recommend you go two cards though, and throw in a 3rd down the road when you need it and prices are cheaper, these are fast-depreciation items.

With the newer cards drawing a lot less power, would an 850W work for a 2 way SLI? Or a 1000W for a 3 Way SLI?

Doing a bit of math, a Haswell quad at stock will draw about 80w, and the 980's are rated at 170w TDP, so with 2 cards and the CPU you're at about 420w. Give an extra 50% for overclocking safety margin and other system components and you're still only at 650w. I think 1000 would be plenty for triple SLI. You could probably even get away with 850 on an X99 + triple SLI build if you plan to keep it at stock, though with your budget there's no reason not to go with a little extra.

Water-cooling

CPU: I’m going the Swiftech route, anything better?

GPU: I’d like a full cover water block. Also, correct me if I’m wrong: The Stock back plates aren’t going to fit the GPU water blocks.

Any suggestions on the Pumps, reservoirs, GPU water blocks, fans, tubing manufacturers, fittings?

Can I do copper/metal tubing? I’ve read that distilled water will damage the tubing. If this is true, don’t they affect the solid copper water blocks?

I went with Swiftech, and was very happy with what I got. I can't speak for GTX980 compatibility with waterblocks, but I've had no issues with running waterblocks just on the cores of modern cards, with a fan blowing on the stock heatspreaders. Full coverage on a 980 is likely to be more aesthetic than necessary.

For pumps, I'd say dual MCP355, and get heat sinks for the bottom of them because they don't dump heat into the loop (and often eventually die from overheating). 655's have higher potential flow but are considerably noisier and don't bring that much more in real-world performance. For 3x 980's you'll want at minimum a triple rad with push/pull fans, probably a triple + a 1x120.

Tygon 3603 is my choice for tubing due to its excellent bend radius without kinking, though some stretches of silver-lined tubing might not be a bad idea. Avoid mixing metals in your system (ie, copper and aluminum) as they'll cause each other to corrode. Copper tubing is technically possible, but it's a nightmare to work on anything.

That said, I built a similar loop for a friend with dual 290X's and he was able to get slightly higher overclocks, and there was noise reduction, but I don't feel it was even remotely worth the cost.

~~~

As for sound cards, with your budget I'd do it. Grab an Asus Xonar.

 

[Yuriman]

I suppose I'd like to posit it slightly differently:

For a reliable, low-maintenance, cost effective and fast PC, I'd go with a 5820K and dual 980's, with the option of throwing in a 3rd down the road. Don't spend $400 on a motherboard. Watercool only the GPUs, and only do this if you're noise-sensitive. Get a very nice tower heat sink for the CPU. Grab a nice ~1000w PSU and a sound card.

Watercooling is a lot of trouble for not a lot of return, unless you're shooting for low noise and GPUs are your weak point.

 

[SlowSpyder]

For whatever it is worth, I have this Swiftech pump. I'm really happy with it, nice and quiet, looks like it provides good flow.

 

[Yuriman]

Here are some hard numbers to help you form an opinion about pumps: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums...e-Comparison-(Petra-s-Radiical-Alphacool-etc-)

My choice is a Swiftech MCP355 (Laing DDC) with a replacement top. IMO it's a better pump than the MCP655 (Laing D5) due to its higher head pressure.

 

[mfenn]

Given how low power the GTX 980 is, is there really any point to busting out water cooling other than "because I can?" The card has a lower TDP than the GTX 760, and you don't see people getting excited about putting those under water.

 

[schmuckley]

Hey,Guess what? You could cool better than that for cheaper.
http://www.overclock.net/t/406256/the-official-bong-lovers-club-56k-fail/0_100
I built CPU loop for $170..added GPU for $40 more.
..been running it for quite a while now./.always 6-11c below ambient