Watercooling build need advice

[james 1]

Hi, I recently decided that I want to watercool my computer due to it making alot of noise and the fact it was heating my room up. The main source of the heat and noise was my 4870x2 so I decided to tackle this first and found a second hand EK 4870 x2 waterblock for £35 which I have already purchased.

I should mention that I have a AMD phenom 720 (stock) and the case which I have is a NZXT M59 which has space at the top for a double rad or I could mod it to make space for a triple rad, also space for 120mm rad front and back.

I have been looking online and I think I have found a setup that comes under my budget of £250:

CPU: HEATKILLER® CPU Rev3.0 754/939/AM2/AM3 LT Water Block, £41.72
http://www.watercoolinguk.co.uk/p/H...-Rev30-754939AM2AM3-LT- Water-Block_826.html

GPU: EK 4870 x2 waterblock, £35

Radiator: EK-CoolStream RAD XTC 280mm Dual Radiator, £53.90
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/ek-co...-dual-radiator

Pump: EK DCP 4.0 (12V DC Pump), £36.26
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/ek-dcp-40-(12v-dc-pump)

Res: Aqua-Computer AT14B Aquatube 1/4" Black Reservoirs, £26.25
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/aqua-...ervoirs-(at14b)

£50 for tubing, fittings and cooling fluid

TOTAL: £243.13

I have also seen other CPU waterblocks that are more expensive but I am not for if they do a better job as I do plan to overclock the CPU:

Aqua Computer Kryos PRO
EK-Supreme HF- Full Copper

I would like you guys to advise me on where I could improve my setup and is a double rad is more than enough to cool the graphics card as well as the CPU because I heard that for each core you need a 120mm rad to cool, also what do you think of the pump is any it any good?

Thanks james

 

[Zap]

Hi, I recently decided that I want to watercool my computer due to it making alot of noise and the fact it was heating my room up.

There is a problem with this statement (bolded above).

The purpose of a cooling system is to move heat from one place to another. It doesn't reduce the net amount of heat.

I'm sure there is some "law of thermodynamics" out there that people smarter than me can recite. Water/liquid cooling usually achieves this task of moving heat more effectively than air cooling. If something runs cooler, then that means it moved more heat. That heat does not disappear. Thus, if you use water cooling to make your CPU/GPUs run cooler, the heat basically moves into your room faster!

To make your room cooler, either make your computer put out less heat (not cool them better, but create less heat to begin with such as underclocking/undervolting, or replacing parts with slower/more efficient parts) or move the heat out of your room (ducting exhaust from computer to outside the room).

is a double rad is more than enough to cool the graphics card as well as the CPU

The radiator and fans will determine how quickly the loop can expel the heat. A dual rad will cool your dual GPUs and single CPU just fine, as long as you don't have unrealistic expectations of HOW COOL your parts will run. Likely they will run cooler than with the stock air cooling, plus quieter. Also, your radiator choice looks to be thicker than the typical radiators, which helps.

 

[james 1]

Fair point zap I never thought off it like that, or maybe I worded my objectives in the wrong way.

I wanted to watercool to make my parts run cooler and quieter I don't mind the heat in the room because its very rarely hot in England lol.

I want my GPU to run 75c on load and the CPU to run 45c on load are these figures achievable bearing in mind a 3.2 overclock on the CPU I want

 

[Zap]

My guess is that your CPU would probably run hotter than 45°C under load, but the GPU at 75°C is attainable. Since they'll all be in the same loop, you'll want to have the CPU block before the GPU block, so it gets cooler water.

 

[james 1]

Does any one know if an AM3 waterblock will be compatible with the new AM3+ motherboards and I have a pair of Fractal Design 140mm which run at 600rpm and have a air flow of 39 CFM which I think might not be enough to achieve the temps I want.

 

[Schmide]

...the case which I have is a NZXT M59 which has space at the top for a double rad or I could mod it to make space for a triple rad, also space for 120mm rad front and back.

I mounted a rad at the top of that case and it isn't easy. It really doesn't fit but I like a challenge. There's only a few mm clearance to the MB and I had to mount the fans on top.

That's a Black Ice Stealth at about 30mm, that EK is like almost 50mm. It will never fit inside.

Yes that is a camelback cricket that was in the shot so I took a close up of it. At least it doesn't make noise.