Ultimate Water-cooling Setup

[Aristotelian]

I'm not sure why you need 3x480mm. I have a 480mm and a 360mm in my Corsair 900D with the CPU and 2x780s watercooled and could easily add memory, and a monoblock to it with no issues whatsoever. My GPUs see a max of 38C under 100% load. General rule of thumb is 120mm for each component and anything more is generally overkill. You also need to take note of how thick the radiators are. 40mm vs 60mm vs 80mm(monsta!) etc.
Monoblocks are really more for looks than anything else however they are nice to have if you can afford them and I will be getting one once I do a full upgrade next year.
I have the swiftech mcp655 and I highly recommend it. It is an extremely powerful pump with a life of 5+ years (24x7) and probably the best pump on the market. I also got one of these http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1...l_D5_Mod_Top_-_POM_Version_BP-2D5TOPP-BK.html which allows you to put 2 swiftechs pumps in series. Just note that if you do decide to go with a single mcp655 pump you will need to modify it to accept G1/4 threads for compression fittings.
I bought Bitspower compression fittings in my loop and a few Koolance Quick disconnects QD4 for my drain outlet and GPUs. They are pricey but extremely high quality. Just note though, fittings could easily run you $100s if you go fancy and try to avoid angled fittings.
I went with 1/2"x3/4" tubing since that is the largest size tubing available and supposedly provides the best flow rate.
Also make sure you use distilled water instead of colored fluid as they gunk up your loop.

Thanks a lot for taking the time to weigh in. I am actually hoping that 3x 480mm are way over the top. Nothing in this build is based on 'need' - instead, I reached out to you guys because I have no clue what I'm doing (but am learning from all of you) but - money, I do have. And I'm using this as a learning experience having built many computers but never doing a watercooling build to learn a new skill.

The radiators I ordered (3x 480mm EK coolstream XE) are 60mm thick, and I'll be coupling them with GTs in push pull (24 of them). I'm still reading up on fittings, tubes etc. so thanks for coming in - rather than worrying that I don't 'need' what I'm doing, I'm worrying more that I'll miss something interesting.

Probably difficult for a novice to achieve as there's so much to read but I wanted to achieve the best cooling I possibly could through a watercooled setup, with some bling. I'm also having some difficulty with the bling aspect, and know not to use coloured liquids but damn, those show builds sure do look fantastic.

 

[ddogg]

ddogg, nice rig.

Thanks!

If overkill is the name of the game, 3x480s would certainly be one way to do it. I think I went a little overboard with my setup as well. I have 20 fans in my case. What's awesome is with a watercooled setup you can power them down so my rig is whisper quiet. Make sure you get a good fan controller to control all your fans.
Those show builds do look nice with the colored liquids but they are not practical. Expect to clean your loop every couple months rather than once a year or even longer. They could also gunk up your pump over time. Overall, a bad idea! Get colored UV tubing like I did if you want colors in your loop.
Since money is no objection here, get compression fittings over barbed and a few quick-disconnects. Make sure you sketch a diagram of your loop before you build it. Once you do it the first time, building future setups is a joke I think I re-assembled mine in 15-30mins when I had to take it apart to clean.
Head over to overclock.net if you want to get ideas on crazy overkill water-cooled setups. Adding tasteful "bling" is going to be difficult (atleast for me). Alot of people mod and paint their cases themselves to get that desired look.

 

[Aristotelian]

Hey guys,

So I did more research and have been looking at an Aquaero 6 XT fan controller - it seems to be a higher end fan controller, but:

Reading more about the Gentle Typhoons, apparently they are wattage hungry to startup, but less so running.

The fan controller has 4 channels (source: http://aquacomputer.de/tl_files/aquacomputer/downloads/manuals/aquaero_5_6_en_2014_04_14.pdf)

Capable of 2.5 A per output, independent of output voltage, resulting in 30W at 12V - and outputs will be disabled at 3 A. And the GTs require 0.36A at 12V (4.32 W) to startup, meaning to be on the safe side I should be doing a max of 7 GTs per normal fan channel (not PWM) on the fan controller. That means for the 24 GTs I am planning I would be almost entirely populating the 4 channels of the fan controller, leaving me with the 2 PWM channels which have a maximum current load of 1A each.

Or, to be on the safe side for the 24 GTs I should put 6 on each of the 4 ports (non-PWM) and then hook up the case fans to the PWM - although this might make for some tricky cabling (like a case fan at the rear, guess I'd hook that up to the motherboard itself).

I have some detailed questions about this - when I sandwich a 480mm radiator like this:

XXXX
------
XXXX

Where the Xs represent 120mm fans each - 4 on top, 4 on the bottom, push pull: how can I NEATLY daisy chain the cabling together so I don't have this tumbling mess of fan wires? Is there a neat way to extend the cables and link them together? Or would this require re-cabling each fan? Since the radiator will be black, the case will be black, and the fans will be black with grey fan blades, my wife is pushing for a very click black/silver (shiny) look, that bitspower is also able to help out with.

Though a broader issue will be my hope that a 'black' enthusiast X99 motherboard (perhaps an updated evga classified) will be released around broadwell-e.

TLR: am I picking a great fan controller? Is there a great CLEAN way to link lots of fans together?

I am also re-considering the bay reservoir - thinking of a dual reservoir tower behind the front panel of the case, underneath the fan controller + optical drive that I'll be putting in the 5.25" drives. That way I'd have more space at the bottom between the Corsair AX1500i and the reservoirs for drives - I'll find some kind of sleek cage for SSDs underneath the motherboard layer of the Core X9 and run the cables away from the windowed panel, behind, to try to make the look as slick as possible.

 

[aigomorla]

the core X9 was on sale at newegg for 89.99 dollars this black friday.. did you pick one up, because i did.

Personally i dont like software controlled fan controllers.
I dont want to relay on software to adjust my fans, and would rather do it manually.
Although the perks in having software control would be better dynamic response in regards to your system, but im sort of old fashion in the sense of set and forget it.

 

[dlerious]

the core X9 was on sale at newegg for 89.99 dollars this black friday.. did you pick one up, because i did.

Personally i dont like software controlled fan controllers.
I dont want to relay on software to adjust my fans, and would rather do it manually.
Although the perks in having software control would be better dynamic response in regards to your system, but im sort of old fashion in the sense of set and forget it.

I've got the Aquaero 6 XT here. Not running a lot of fans though - 6 Vardar F3-120 and a few Swiftech Helix 120 (PWM). I haven't gotten around to playing with the Aquaero very much, but I haven't noticed any difference between Aquasuite and ASUS Fan Expert. The Aquaero is also touch screen if you don't want to use the software.

 

[dlerious]

Hey guys,

So I did more research and have been looking at an Aquaero 6 XT fan controller - it seems to be a higher end fan controller, but:

Reading more about the Gentle Typhoons, apparently they are wattage hungry to startup, but less so running.

The fan controller has 4 channels (source: http://aquacomputer.de/tl_files/aquacomputer/downloads/manuals/aquaero_5_6_en_2014_04_14.pdf)

Capable of 2.5 A per output, independent of output voltage, resulting in 30W at 12V - and outputs will be disabled at 3 A. And the GTs require 0.36A at 12V (4.32 W) to startup, meaning to be on the safe side I should be doing a max of 7 GTs per normal fan channel (not PWM) on the fan controller. That means for the 24 GTs I am planning I would be almost entirely populating the 4 channels of the fan controller, leaving me with the 2 PWM channels which have a maximum current load of 1A each.

Or, to be on the safe side for the 24 GTs I should put 6 on each of the 4 ports (non-PWM) and then hook up the case fans to the PWM - although this might make for some tricky cabling (like a case fan at the rear, guess I'd hook that up to the motherboard itself).

Darkside has staggered length fan splitters http://www.performance-pcs.com/dark...x-fan-y-splitter-cable-jet-black-sleeved.html . I don't know if there's a non-PWM fan hub that would let you control voltage - I have the Swiftech PWM hub http://www.performance-pcs.com/swiftech-8-way-pwm-splitter-box-sata.html .

 

[Aristotelian]

@aigomorla: I can't benefit from Black Friday sales because I live in continental Europe. It's all more expensive here heh, maybe except EK products since they're produced nearby.

@aigomorla + dlerious + others: I changed my mind about 'software controlled' - I found this just now:

http://www.lamptron.com/product/controllers/cw611/ it can do 6 channels up to 36 watts per channel, and the nobs allow for watt adjustment which means I can lower the supply to each channel. It is also useful for flow rate and pump power. This seems ideal to me and it's reasonably priced around USD 100.

This would let me control the pumps, fans, and monitor flow rate in the same display panel interface (a 5.25" bay).

What do you guys think about that? Using my previous calculations, I could go for 8 GTs per channel, say using 3 channels for the 24 GTs for the radiators, then the other three channels: 2 for the pumps (one for each pump if I do end up with 2x 12V pumps in series) and one for the flow meter.

Edited this part to say thanks dlerious: http://www.performance-pcs.com/dark...x-fan-y-splitter-cable-jet-black-sleeved.html I should be able to use one per radiator.

And the third radiator at the side of the core x9 would need a longer version of such a fan extension to reach all the way up to the 5.25" bay controller area discreetly - I'll have to measure this out to be sure.

At this stage, I'm going to be getting the case soon (ordered), radiators (ordered) and fans (ordering very soon) with the fan controller (will order as soon as you guys let me know that I can't do much better...) and then I'll start measuring things out for that cabling and customization. The motherboard/cpu/videocards don't exist yet for the build so I can't measure out piping.

I'm in this build for the long run, might actually be hitting up some of the modders from the Thermaltake core x9 competition to see if they'd be willing to help me out - any idea how much modders charge to help build?

 

[aigomorla]

I personally use a FC5

http://www.lamptron.com/product/controllers/fc5-v3/

 

[renegade800x]

Who says 2 480 are overkill? Here's mine, a total of 5 480 rads, triple loop (gpu 2x480, cpu 2x480 and motherboard 1x480 - the chrome one), Noctua fans all at 900 rpm, 7 pumps (cpu loop has 3 for extra pressure, gpu and motherboard 2 pumps each).

Case is basically 2 Lian Li V2000b bolted together then reinforced down the bottom with aluminum bars. Looks nice and it's very imposing. Heavy too

The 2 extra side panels that remained after bolting the cases were used to make the front and top covers. Top cover is there because the top of the right case (where the 4x480 rads panel is fitted) is cut out to allow air inside.

I'll let the pictures speak.

Case and cooling system were built in 2009 and was rarely serviced to date (dust blown every 2 years). Still works like a champ, never had a pump failure or leak (hope I don't jinx).
Koolance quick disconnects make dismantling for cleaning an easy task. They are resilient, no leaks at all after all these years.

1 Reservoir -> 1 Pump -> CPU Waterblock -> 1x 480mm radiator -> 1 Pump -> 2x GPU waterblocks/SLI bridge -> 2x 480mm radiators -> back into the 1 Pump.

I wanted to run that idea past you guys to see if it makes sense. On a lot of other forums I see people mentioning running pumps in "series" which, if I understand, means that they run in the same part of the loop pumping almost twice as fast as a single pump would.

More pumps don't increase flow by very much but they do increase head pressure. If you run a congested loop consider the shortest route and place pumps accordingly. First pump will act like a "supercharger" for the second.. so if the second pump encounters difficulties pushing the water, first pump will force feed it therefore helping it. Multiple pumps help with redundancy too so if one fails there will be another still moving the water.

 

[Aristotelian]

Thanks a lot for posting, Renegade800x. I think I'll be fine with 3x 480mm radiators especially because I'll be using 24 1850rpm Gentle Typhoons in push/pull. I'm doing a lot of research on the watercooling components and it's a bit of a shame to come across amazingly rated parts (e.g.: http://www.xtremerigs.net/2014/01/23/ek-dual-d5-top/2/ - look at those stats!) but find them discontinued, and not available anywhere.

I have decided to do two d5 vario pumps at a medium setting to reduce noise; I'm looking at reservoirs now, I notice that you mount yours at the back - is that to assist in disconnecting the flow from the loop and/or filling it?

I'm going to be using a TT Core X9 and I've been reading their forums about modding. Ideally - the outside is completely slick - with a front 5.25" bay housing a Lamptron CW611, some kind of blue ray drive. One side (of the case) - I need to make it a sort of fan wall - I need to think it through, so the other side can be almost pure glass (or transparent) to show off the innards.

=========================================== TOP
2x 480 mm radiators + 16 GTs push pull
B...............................................R.....................Bluray drive.......F
A...............................................E......R..........CW 611.................R
C..(motherboard + vcards +cpu)....S......E...........Dual pump top.......O
K......................................................S...........(hdd cage for 4-5......
........................................................................SSDS)...............N
................................................................................................T
Corsair AX1500i (on one side); 1x 480mm radiator + 8 GTs push-pull....
============================== =============Bottom

The idea is that the front of the case would pull air towards the inside of the case; the radiator fans would suck air being pulled in out - the top ones out of the top, the bottom ones out of the bottom; and then the back of the case (where the motherboard outputs are) to suck air out of the back.

I should be getting the case soon but I'm travelling for a few weeks and won't have much time, but the next stage is to consider how to optimize the air flow through the case, and see whether or not I can (or should) place the reservoirs inside; and, if there's a way to easily fill reservoirs inside the case.

 

[moonbogg]

who says 2 480 are overkill? Here's mine, a total of 5 480 rads, triple loop (gpu 2x480, cpu 2x480 and motherboard 1x480 - the chrome one), noctua fans all at 900 rpm, 7 pumps (cpu loop has 3 for extra pressure, gpu and motherboard 2 pumps each).

Case is basically 2 lian li v2000b bolted together then reinforced down the bottom with aluminum bars. Looks nice and it's very imposing. Heavy too

the 2 extra side panels that remained after bolting the cases were used to make the front and top covers. Top cover is there because the top of the right case (where the 4x480 rads panel is fitted) is cut out to allow air inside.

I'll let the pictures speak.

case and cooling system were built in 2009 and was rarely serviced to date (dust blown every 2 years). Still works like a champ, never had a pump failure or leak (hope i don't jinx).
Koolance quick disconnects make dismantling for cleaning an easy task. They are resilient, no leaks at all after all these years.



More pumps don't increase flow by very much but they do increase head pressure. If you run a congested loop consider the shortest route and place pumps accordingly. First pump will act like a "supercharger" for the second.. So if the second pump encounters difficulties pushing the water, first pump will force feed it therefore helping it. Multiple pumps help with redundancy too so if one fails there will be another still moving the water.

thats badass dude!

 

[renegade800x]

Thanks a lot for posting, Renegade800x. I think I'll be fine with 3x 480mm radiators especially because I'll be using 24 1850rpm Gentle Typhoons in push/pull. I'm doing a lot of research on the watercooling components and it's a bit of a shame to come across amazingly rated parts (e.g.: http://www.xtremerigs.net/2014/01/23/ek-dual-d5-top/2/ - look at those stats!) but find them discontinued, and not available anywhere....

You can't go wrong with 3 480 rads even with lower speed fans, they are more than enough for the hardware we have today... remember mine was built with cooling 3 GTXs 480 in mind and those were extremely hot compared to GPUs today. Even so, after 24h of running prime95 and furmark at the same time (this was to check both overclock stability and whether my enermax 1250w PSU would hold the stress) the air coming out of the GPU rads was just warm.
Test was done during the summer in a non air conditioned room to create a worse case scenario.
CPU at the time was an i7 975 overclocked at 4.5ghz for daily use. CPU loop was barely warmer than room temperature after 24hrs!

I do think 1850rpm fans will be pretty noisy, noisy enough that you won't hear the pumps even at maximum. Consider reducing fans speed, use Noctua 1300 rpm fans IMO.
I'm not familiar with TT's X9 case, wouldn't hurt to buy some sound damping foam to line the whole interior just like I did in my build. It will help keeping the noise down.
21x120mm fans at 900rpm, 7 laing ddc ultra pumps and when I first started the system the noisiest component (only thing I could hear) was the memory cooler, 2x40mm fans at 3-4000rpm. Got rid of it and it's whisper quiet with 21x120mm fans. My laptop makes more noise!

I placed the reservoirs at the back for convenient filling and to have them at the highest point in the loop (helps with having an air free loop, it separates in the res).. with water cooling even without leaks you will have to top up the water every couple of months, it slowly exits the loop through minuscule pores in the tubes.

If you want the exterior sleek there are bay mounted reservoirs, it's easy to monitor water level and are easy to fill without opening up the case (have fill ports on the front). The one linked even has pump(s) attached! Must inquire whether one or 2 pumps are included, point is they can be configured to work in parallel (2 loops) or serial (one loop).
In regards to water I suggest you use simple distilled water and a few drops of biocide to prevent algae formation. A silver coin or coil also works as long as you find a place to put it in contact with the water and not get sucked into the pumps. UV water, colored and other stuff like that might corrode your rads (been there twice), water blocks or just clog them - beware!

thats badass dude!

Thanks!

 

[guskline]

renegade800x, THANK YOU for sharing photos of a great water cooling system.

 

[Aristotelian]

Hey everyone - just thought I'd add to the thread again with a picture of my own:

It begins!

 

[moonbogg]

Those boxes look beautiful. Looking forward to your progress.

 

[ddogg]

That is a really cool setup @renegade800x!

 

[Aristotelian]

Hello everyone.

I'm bumping this thread to provide an update. The build has evolved a bit.

I'll be buying a 6950X as soon as the Asus X99-e 10G WS is released. I still need to research some blisteringly quick RAM for Broadwell-E - likely focusing on really tight timings around 3200 rather than pushing for higher frequencies.

I'll be buying 2x 1080 EVGA HydroCoppers when they are released and have heard rumours that the waterblocks being used there are the Heatkiller versions, so great performance could be expected in the watercooling setup.

I'll be buying the Watercool Heatkiller IV Pro (pure copper) to cool the 6950X - it seems to be one of the best CPU coolers for this socket.

I'll be buying the AX1500i for the power supply - even if it is overkill, it has huge efficiency in power usage at every level.

BUT: I am having some difficulties in two ways:

(i) the Thermaltake Core X9 is NOT big enough for me to apply push pull fan setups to all three of the 480mm radiators. It will only work for the one at the bottom of the case. The two at the top of the case will already interfere with the 5.25" drive bays, and one of those bays is going to be used for the fan controller I've bought.

This spacing issue means that I need to find a creative and elegant way to put a radiator in, as well as two pumps in series. Would any of you have recommendations? I am thinking of doing a case mod (with a Belgian case modder Alain Simpels of Simplicity Designs) where I would cut out the 200mm front fan area to put a visible reservoir there. Or perhaps mount reservoirs there so (from the front) I could easily see fluid levels.

(ii) on fans, the thermalbench reviews show the EK Vardar FR-120ER 120mm fans as competing very well with the Gentle Typhoons, quote "within a margin of error" and the EK fans would work out cheaper for me since I live in the EU. BUT, can I get away with essentially having no case fans, but having the 16 fans split across the three radiators?

Am I better off keeping the 200mm front fan on the case? Can I cut that out to do a flashy reservoir? Or for watercooling builds is case flow still important?

(iii) on the connectors - I'll be using soft tubing, and I have to say I love the alphacool eiszapfen quick disconnects (the look should fit well with my build and they perform very well too according to thermalbench) but - perhaps here - maybe I could go a more practical route. I.e., for the CPU waterblock I hope to god I won't need quick disconnects, and I was thinking of using them solely for the videocards. Can any of you recommend premium performing connectors (between the radiators, reservoir, etc. - anywhere a connector is needed). And, is there a big difference in the tubing (for soft tubing), in terms of long term quality? I'm reading about this and apparently some tubes degrade over time and small pieces of plastic end up moving through your loop, which I'd like to avoid if possible.

One of the next bumps to this thread should be more parts purchased (and piled up in my spare bedroom), so wish me luck guys, and thanks in advance for all of your help.

 

[aigomorla]

good luck with the build..

remember to take it slow.
The biggest mistake a newbie can make is rushing things out of excitement, and doing a OOPS.

If vets like me can still do a OOPS by not paying attention, in the hands of a newbie, it can be quite disastrous, so take the time to plan and go SLOW.