Water Cooling - Buyers Guide

it's no problem at all. it will help you alot if you ask as many questions as you can , and gather as many different opinions as you can , before begining if it's your first experience with liquid.

 

is that chenbro really the case you are using? i was just looking at some images of it , and you could probably do just about anything you want really. literally anything if you intend to drill and/or cut.


like how "external" are you wanting it? everything outside the case except the block and the tubes running to it ,. or just a specific piece?

and did you have a budget in mind for what you want to put into it?

 

Hi,
Yes I really use the Chenbro, it's an amazing case, lot of space

You're right, everything outside the case except the block and the tubes running to it, something like the Zalman Reserator XT.
But I've no idea if it's silent and efficient enough to cool down my 5870.

As I don't have too much space around my PC I can't really use a big cooling tower with lot of fans.

I don't really like the idea to have too much water inside the PC, and I would prefer avoid to drill & cut my case.

And I don't really care of the budget.

http://www.swiftnets.com/ seems to have really interesting stackable radiators
http://www.swiftnets.com/assets/images/products/MCR320/mcr320-qp-staked.jpg
is that good to cool down a GFX card ?

Enough for both CPU and GPU ?

Thanks for advises.

BR

 

the mcr320 stackable you linked would handle pretty much anything you wanted while using low rpm fans . they just aren't very space friendly ,unless you have a place in mind for something that large already.

if you are worried about having the mass of the fluid storage inside the case , you could get a swiftech mcr320-qp-res and mount it to the rear 120mm fan with one of the many rear case radiator mounts on the market . so your radiator , reservoir ,and fillport would all be outside bolted to the back of the case . then feed the tubes in through an empty pci slot and just mount your pump inside the case and make the loop go like this.

320rad/res - (put a T or Y fitting somewhere along this piece of tubing for an easy drain) -pump - cpu - gpu - 320rad/res

what online e-tailors can you use to get watercooling parts from?

 

Don't get the stackable rads. They are less efficient with low rpm fans than a single rad. They cause too much restriction in air flow. With 3 layers of fans they might be okay, or with some high RPM fans, but for quiet cooling you are better off with a single rad (be it Swiftech or XSPC etc)

From skinee's site:
http://www.skinneelabs.com/Radiators/Swiftech/MCR320S/MCR320S.html

 

Hi,
Thanks for your recommendations.

BR

 

i do agree stackables aren't a practical all-in-one radiator solution at all , and some users might even find it's more than they care to deal with .

but then again i don't see them as being for just any system either . the fact that a stackable configuration has a lower pressure drop than a single radiator(for obvious reasons , more area for the liquid to go in a single stretch of tubing) , that property alone says to me it is probably better suited for systems running 4-5+ blocks and multiple radiators in a loop . so if you add a 'stackable' as a second radiator to a multiple block system , you get all the benefits of adding radiator's , without the side effects and restrictions to the loop of doing so .

and people should know before even looking at seriously purchasing one that the expense doesn't end with 2 radiators attatched with a row of fans in the middle like it's mostly shown in pictures . for an mcr 320 stackable it's more like 6xshroud spacers and 9x120mm fans for those fans in the middle to even do anything that could be called 'helping' . so even if you buy cheap sleeve fans ,that is still quite an expense when you havn't even bought the radiator yet . which is the standard mcr320 and a stackable version which is about $10~ more than the standard , and suddenly you have spent close to what an entire liquid system could cost in it's place . and if you want good fans .... it's game over on price .

the end result of what you have is a small wall standing vertically , or a thick table top laying on its side . that's why i told alkerion they weren't space friendly . but they do have a place in my opinion , that place just isn't for everyone's system as a primary radiator .

 

l am currently getting my things from 2 different shops as to fans and accessories and my main things from the US, the aussie stuff arive tomorrow and the main things from the use in 1 week. will post photos and more once l get it all.

 

all my parts arrived in the mail today, yehhhhhh

am going thought it all know and tonight will be pulling my computer apart to work out all the lenghts, they will put all the cooling things in to do a leak test,

will post pics when it is all up and going,

l have set out that it will take me around 2-3 days for it be fully leaked tested and installed.

 

hey all thanxs for your help again, have got it all together and leak testing am going to let it go for a few days, just to make sure,

photos at link below

any comments welcomed

http://forum.guru3d.com/showthread.php?p=3337351&posted=1#post3337351

 

good to hear Shadow, enjoy!

 

I tested for about 12hours/over night. I think I enjoyed the most when I was building my system, which was alone worth the cash, more important than the results and lower temperatures. Was fun.

G'luck with your build

 

anyone know where i can get 10/8 or 3/8 tubing in the UK? preferably UV.
im guessing 11/8 would also be fine?

 

hi,im finaly making the move to liquid cooling,i recently bought a foxconn blackops mobo and akasa infiniti zor case,the blackops already has nb water block and akasa case has grill for dual rad,for my first wcs i am considering thermaltakes prowater 770 but getting a better cpu block and adding a dual rad aswell as the single rad,all the pictures ive seen of lcs the cpu block is the first in the loop from the pump,would it not be a better idea to have a dual rad first then the cpu block,this is what i had in mind ,dual rad -cpu-northbridge-single rad then back to res,or dual rad-cpu-single rad-northbridge-res,i have chosen tt`s cooler because its out of the way in the drive bays of which the in finiti zor has plenty,my main concern is purging the liquid around the system and clearing air buble`s,i have a very good air cooled system but im just as interested in the visual side

 

Hi everyone. I went out and bought the H50 cpu cooler and some high flow low noise fans and a fan controller in an effort to quiet my computer first, and to lower my temperatures so that I can get a better overclock than with the stock Intel cooler.

It took maybe an hour to strip out the motherboard and get the cooler and fan controller installed in the case. Everything works, my idle temperatures are 39 to 40 degrees at 3800 MHz at 1.2 volts. Prime95 heats it up to 65ish degrees.

I can still hear my computer fans however, either the power supply or the graphics card fan is the culprit this time, it's very quiet though, I hear the hard drives now and before I couldn't so I guess the noise level is relative.

My next task is to find out how low I get get the voltage with the overclock.

I'm using 1333 memory and I'm wondering what difference using the fastest memory would be, will webpages burst onto the screen faster or will games look smoother, will there be any large performance increase or will the main difference be felt in benchmark numbers?

 

I am close to purchasing either a Powercolor 5870 or a 5970 LCS with an EK water block attached to it.

http://www.powercolor.com/global/products_features.asp?id=219
or
http://www.powercolor.com/global/products_features.asp?id=203

I already have the Corsair H50 attached to my CPU so I am looking for a separate loop for the graphics water cooling.

Can anyone advise on the best component solution for the GPU loop please?

 

Swiftech Edge series surfaces in UK

http://www.overclock.co.uk/news/#502

H20-220 EDGE: £204.00 ex vat £239.70 inc vat

H20-320 EDGE: £234.00 ex vat £274.95 inc vat

Mrs gave me a green light for the 320. Ordering later today.

Planning my loop here:
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=330457
Advice welcome, as I'm a water n00b.

 

hey all l am updating my water-cooling and am wondering if to do the flow in either of these two was, which would would be best to do.


option 1: res-pump-RAd1-RAD2-CPU-GPU-res

option 2: res-pump-rad1-cpu-rad2-gpu-res

which was should l do option 1 or option 2.


also rad 1 is inside the case at the top which l have a haf932 and the rad 2 in outside on the top of the case.

 

It doesnt matter. Its all one closed loop, the order won't change anything. AT BEST you could see a single degree difference.

Just make it look nice and clean and you'll be all set.

 

Anybody here know where to look for custom-equipment giving me a similar readout to the CoolIT Vantage block (listing the fluid temp, etc)? Preferrably something that can be read by the computer it is attached to.

//Svein