Building new pc with WC advice needed

[yousif666]

Hi

 

I am planning on building a new rig since mine is now 7 years old so its time to change, here are the specs that i am planning to go for:

 

CPU: Intel i7 5930K

GPU: EVGA GTX 980 (only 1 for now, planning on SLI in future)

Case: Caselabs SMH10/Magnum SMA8 or Corsair 900D

The caselabs would cost me around $685 including the shipping charges, and the corsair is $450 from local retail place.

PSU: I already have Ultra X3 modular PSU and planning on using it for this build, its 1000W

Monitor: Still waiting for the new ones to be released, IPS 27 inch g-sync perhaps. 2K res.

HDD: 3TB WD Black. 1 Samsung 850 pro 256GB

RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4 2666MHz (PC4 2666) C15

 

 

So i did alot of research regarding the parts of WC and btw i am new to water cooling so this will be my first time to do it, i am planning on doing soft tubing since this is my first time, so what concerns me is the radiator, for now i am planning on getting 1 only witch is 480 for cpu+gpu, but if the future i will be doing SLI of both 980 so will the 480 handle? and sure i will be overclocking. or i get 480 for GPU and for cpu i get 360?

 

Regarding the rest of the parts i honestly don't see much of a difference its all about personal taste, i saw some good cpu and gpu blocks from EK and for the rads alphacool are good also, but for the tubing size, this is what i don't know a lot about, what size that will fit my needs and  what fittings (planning on transparent tubes), from witch brand, i saw alphacool fittings seem to be good of course planning on buying the compression ones.

 

As of the res i like the tubing res, i am not planning on getting a bay res, and the pump is D5, also regarding the pump, if i added SLI will i have to put 2 pumps and 2 res? for example 1 for CPU and 1 for GPUs(not planning on going for more than 2 cards)?

 

So please any advice and suggestions are welcome.

 

Thanks.

[Pugs501]

What is your budget?

What is your location?

What is your favorite color?

[yousif666]

Budget: Around $3500

Location: Bahrain, planning to buy stuff from amazon and performances-pc

Color: Black, but for the color of water planning on sun yellow.

[Shaqo_Wyn]

A single D5 pump is enough.

 

If you're going for the 900D, get the Enthoo Primo instead (cheaper and better). Of course if it's in your budget I recommend the SM8!

 

Since this is already an enthusiast build, you might as well go with max rads. A 480 or 420 for the CPU + GPU now and another 360 or 480 when you go SLI. The load temps will be insanely low and you can  run some good static pressure fans like NB E-loops B12-3's or B12-P's at a dead silent 800-1000RPM. 

 

EK makes amazing water blocks. A Supremacy EVO for the CPU and one of the upcoming GTX 980 blocks for the GPU(s) and you're golden.

 

For the fittings, if you don't want to spend too much Aplhacool, EK, Monsoon and others have good prices for fittings. However, for a small premium Bitspower offers the IMO best looking compression fititngs on the market. I recommend 1/2 ID 3/4 OD Bitspower compression fittings with Primochill Advanced LRT tubing of the same size.

 

Rads: Alphacool makes great full copper rads. The UT60's (60mm thick) are a good sweet spot.

[yousif666]

I am ordering all the stuff from performances-pc for now, so i chose EK-Supremacy EVO CPU Water Block (Original CSQ) - Full Nickel and it asked me for choosing fittings, the standard fittings witch i don't understand, the sizes are not the same as in the tubing, please someone explain to me this if possible. lets say i will be using 1/2 ID 3/4 OD, in the fittings they didn't have that in the list.

 

http://www.performance-pcs.com/ek-supremacy-evo-cpu-water-block-original-csq-full-nickel.html

[DirkW]

I am ordering all the stuff from performances-pc for now, so i chose EK-Supremacy EVO CPU Water Block (Original CSQ) - Full Nickel and it asked me for choosing fittings, the standard fittings witch i don't understand, the sizes are not the same as in the tubing, please someone explain to me this if possible. lets say i will be using 1/2 ID 3/4 OD, in the fittings they didn't have that in the list.

 

http://www.performance-pcs.com/ek-supremacy-evo-cpu-water-block-original-csq-full-nickel.html

Blocks, Rads, etc. usually have standardized 1/4" openings. So you need fittings that are 1/4" on one side, and matching your tubing on the other side.

[yousif666]

From my understanding that this will fit just fine with my cpu block and the tubing if i will be using 1/2 ID 3/4 OD?

 

http://www.performance-pcs.com/ek-csq-fitting-13-19mm-g1-4-nickel.html#Specifications

 

because here the thread size is G1/4 

 

And for tubes:

- Inner diameter: 12,7 mm (1/2")

- Outer diameter: 19 mm  (3/4")

 

so if i take a bunch of these fittings for all my stuff it should be fine right? or there are things i have to watch out for?, I will be ordering:

 

- EK-SUPREMACY EVO CPU WATER BLOCK (ORIGINAL CSQ) - FULL NICKEL

- EK-CSQ FITTING 13/19MM G1/4 - NICKEL (x10)

- ALPHACOOL NEXXXOS UT60 FULL COPPER 480MM (for gpu)

- ALPHACOOL NEXXXOS UT60 FULL COPPER 360MM (for cpu)

- PRIMOFLEX ADVANCED LRT TUBING - 1/2IN. ID X 3/4IN. OD - CRYSTAL CLEAR (x4)

- SWIFTECH MCP655 G3/8" THREADED EDITION 12 VDC D5 PUMP WITH SPEED CONTROLLER (still don't know the specific fittings for it as they gave me option to choose so i chose non because i will be using the EK fittings.)

- Regarding the Res i still haven't decided witch one and i am willing to install the tubing res, i saw that http://www.performance-pcs.com/primochill-ctrtm-compression-tube-reservoir-system-phase-2-d5-enabled-240mm-clear.html but from the website i saw that it comes with rigid fittings so i don't know if this will work with standard tubing or its only for rigid tubing?

 

please help, thanks.

[DirkW]

@yousif666
 
These fittings look correct for the tubing you chose. Should fit all the listed parts... except for the pump. (I was only aware of MCP655s with that ugly plastic barb-fitting... never seen a threaded edition before). But G3/8 is different from G1/4. So your fittings would not fit these pump. You'd need G3/8 to 3/4OD 1/2 ID fittings - just like the ones they offer in the options dropdown menu.

 

But since the MCP655 is just a rebranded D5, you might as well check some other D5s instead... differences should be neglible. Or get another pump-top for it with G1/4 openings. The Res you linked also says something about "NEW D5 Compatible Pump Head" - so maybe you wouldn't even need another pump-top, if you choose that one (not sure though... I can't figure out what it means exactly.)

[spwath]

Get tj11, much better case

[yousif666]

How will i be doing the loop for 360 for cpu and 480 for gpu using 1 res and 1 pump?

[Hanksy]

nothing wrong with the 900D great case

[yousif666]

@yousif666

 

These fittings look correct for the tubing you chose. Should fit all the listed parts... except for the pump. (I was only aware of MCP655s with that ugly plastic barb-fitting... never seen a threaded edition before). But G3/8 is different from G1/4. So your fittings would not fit these pump. You'd need G3/8 to 3/4OD 1/2 ID fittings - just like the ones they offer in the options dropdown menu.

 

But since the MCP655 is just a rebranded D5, you might as well check some other D5s instead... differences should be neglible. Or get another pump-top for it with G1/4 openings. The Res you linked also says something about "NEW D5 Compatible Pump Head" - so maybe you wouldn't even need another pump-top, if you choose that one (not sure though... I can't figure out what it means exactly.)

 

I think i chose a Res that fits a D5 pump witch i wasn't planning to do, here is normal res without pump top, http://www.performance-pcs.com/bitspower-water-tank-z-multi-200-v2-clear-body-pom-version.html#Details if anyone have better ones or recommend others please tell me.

 

And regarding the case it seems i will be getting the 900D since the local store sell it and i cant afford a lot to pay for SMA8+shipping charges.

[DirkW]

@yousif666

 

You can mostly choose Res by looks (and space in the case). As long as you don't buy the cheapest no-name stuff, they all pretty much work the same. After all it's jst some watertight box/tube with two holes for tubes - nothing fancy or high tech.

 

About the 900D and watercooling it... last year Linus did a video on that:

 

 

It's really overkill so maybe don't copy it 1:1, but you may find some useful information in there.

[yousif666]

Thanks alot, saw it before and and was indeed useful, now what i am concerned with is how i will be doing the loop with 2 rads, the upper rad will be 120.3 (360) for the CPU and 120.4 (480) in bottom for the GPU so how will i make the loop with single res and pump? i was reading and i read something about slitter to split the tubes and then rejoin them before going to the res? help please.

 

Thanks.

[DirkW]

@yousif666

 

Haven't heard that before... splitting a loop. Personally, I doubt that I'd ever do that. I'd say just either build one big loop with a good pump, e.g. a D5 (which I would recommend), or two completely separate loops (IMHO not worth it for only CPU plus one or two GPUs, especially not with 980s, since they don't seem to burn up as much electrical power into heat). Like I said, I'd go for one big loop, since separate loops are a) more costly, B) need more room and c) are (probably) more complex to build for a beginner.

 

Also a 360+480 setup is probably way overkill - much more than what is actually needed. 360+240 should be comfortably enough, even when overclocking. On the other hand... custom water loops aren't needed at all (kinda pure luxury items... or well... enthusiasts' toys - but I'm loving mine, and will continue to use watercooling in future builds). Plus, the 900D sure has more than enough space and with more (or bigger) rads, you'll be able to turn the fans down even more (an idea that's also been racing around in my head lately - but only for noise reasons, not because cooling wasn't good enough.)

[yousif666]

@yousif666

 

Haven't heard that before... splitting a loop. Personally, I doubt that I'd ever do that. I'd say just either build one big loop with a good pump, e.g. a D5 (which I would recommend), or two completely separate loops (IMHO not worth it for only CPU plus one or two GPUs, especially not with 980s, since they don't seem to burn up as much electrical power into heat). Like I said, I'd go for one big loop, since separate loops are a) more costly, B) need more room and c) are (probably) more complex to build for a beginner.

 

Also a 360+480 setup is probably way overkill - much more than what is actually needed. 360+240 should be comfortably enough, even when overclocking. On the other hand... custom water loops aren't needed at all (kinda pure luxury items... or well... enthusiasts' toys - but I'm loving mine, and will continue to use watercooling in future builds). Plus, the 900D sure has more than enough space and with more (or bigger) rads, you'll be able to turn the fans down even more (an idea that's also been racing around in my head lately - but only for noise reasons, not because cooling wasn't good enough.)

 

Again i thought about the caselabs SMA8, but since i am considering running cpu+gpu on 1 rad 480 i see that i dont have to buy the SMA8 but in the other hand i like it a lot, and if i bought the caselabs SMA8 i don't have to send again on a case since i don't see any other case that can mach its level, regarding the 2 rads its because i care about the temp so much so thinking that each one have a rad would be more better in terms of temps even when overclocking, but i might consider just buying a one 480 with thickness of 60Mm and let it run in 1 loop for the CPU+GPU, i know that 2 rads for a cpu plus single gpu is overkill but will it affect a lot in the temp?

 

Also regarding the splitter  i read that they also do it for drain and fill from the radiator, the drain i understood it but the fill? i always thought that the filling is usually start from the res.

[DirkW]

@yousif666

 

Splitting:

It's totally ok to use a Y-Splitter for inlet or draining ports. I thought you meant to use one after the pump to split the loop in 2 halfs (CPU and GPU with each having its own rad) and reunite them in or before the res. I wouldn't do that, because water will prefer the way of least resistance, so you have little to no control how much flow will be in each part of the loop.

 

2 loops vs 1 loop:

I know 2 loops are somewhat tempting. In the beginning I was thinking about that as well. 2 loops will need more room and cost you more - and it might perform even worse than a single loop.

 

Something to remember first: the water will always (well, actually depending on your ambient temperature) be much cooler than those your components will reach, and it will have about the same temp (not excactly, but the differences are minimal) at any point of the loop. That's why the order of components in a loop doesn't really matter (except res directly before pump, preferably higher - but even that is not because of cooling performance, it's a safety measure for your pump, which will quickly die when running dry). And even after leaving the GPU blocks, the water will not heat up the CPU or vice versa. The water is running through your loop much too fast for any of that to happen.

 

So there is no real negative effect in running a single loop, as long as your pump can handle the resistance of that loop.

 

So why may (again: "may", not "will") 2 loops perform even worse? Well, consider the following: unless the rads (in combination with flow and fans) in both loops match the heat output exactly, chances are that one of the rads may already reach its cooling limit, while the other still has some reserves left. In two loops, where they are completely separated, this imbalance will stay. If they were connected in series in a single loop though, both rads work on all components all the time, thus always bringing all their combined cooling power to all components.

 

That's why I'd recommend staying with a single loop, as long as your pump can handle the restriction (at reasonable noise levels) - and even then I'd probably consider running a second pump in the same loop.

 

Unless of course you want to use different colored coolants in both loops - but then we're leaving the area of temps and performance and are talking about the looks. Which is a totally different story (as long as you keep all the other stuff in mind) and there, nobody can tell you what you like and want, any better than yourself.

[yousif666]

@yousif666

 

Splitting:

It's totally ok to use a Y-Splitter for inlet or draining ports. I thought you meant to use one after the pump to split the loop in 2 halfs (CPU and GPU with each having its own rad) and reunite them in or before the res. I wouldn't do that, because water will prefer the way of least resistance, so you have little to no control how much flow will be in each part of the loop.

 

2 loops vs 1 loop:

I know 2 loops are somewhat tempting. In the beginning I was thinking about that as well. 2 loops will need more room and cost you more - and it might perform even worse than a single loop.

 

Something to remember first: the water will always (well, actually depending on your ambient temperature) be much cooler than those your components will reach, and it will have about the same temp (not excactly, but the differences are minimal) at any point of the loop. That's why the order of components in a loop doesn't really matter (except res directly before pump, preferably higher - but even that is not because of cooling performance, it's a safety measure for your pump, which will quickly die when running dry). And even after leaving the GPU blocks, the water will not heat up the CPU or vice versa. The water is running through your loop much too fast for any of that to happen.

 

So there is no real negative effect in running a single loop, as long as your pump can handle the resistance of that loop.

 

So why may (again: "may", not "will") 2 loops perform even worse? Well, consider the following: unless the rads (in combination with flow and fans) in both loops match the heat output exactly, chances are that one of the rads may already reach its cooling limit, while the other still has some reserves left. In two loops, where they are completely separated, this imbalance will stay. If they were connected in series in a single loop though, both rads work on all components all the time, thus always bringing all their combined cooling power to all components.

 

That's why I'd recommend staying with a single loop, as long as your pump can handle the restriction (at reasonable noise levels) - and even then I'd probably consider running a second pump in the same loop.

 

Unless of course you want to use different colored coolants in both loops - but then we're leaving the area of temps and performance and are talking about the looks. Which is a totally different story (as long as you keep all the other stuff in mind) and there, nobody can tell you what you like and want, any better than yourself.

 

After reading that, i am considering even installing 1 rad 480 120.4 instead of installing two rads, because what i was thinking of doing is that i add 2 rads, when the water go out from the pump it goes to 480 rad to cool the gpu, from the gpu to the CPU rad 360 then to the cpu then to res but it seems like a stupid loop to me now, i only want to keep my temps as low as possible since the temp in the room without the A/C turned on is a bit hot so this is why i considered installing 2 rads, but since the 2 loops are a bit complicated to me, even if i plan it more and not rush in to it i don't want to make 2 loops, one loop should be enough and i am not planning on spending money on things i will not have benefit from.

 

So i need your opinion, in future i might considering making SLI or maybe even wait for the AMD R9 390x but for now no news about it and how much heat it produces so what i want to buy is for the long run, my old PC witch i am using now is 7 years old now, my point is that i don't do regular upgrades to my PC, this is why i am buying all the stuff now so i don't keep adding up later, so tell me your recommendation.

 

And regarding the splitting first i meant for the loops, for the drain i think it should be fine.

[DirkW]

@yousif666

 

I'd say something around 5*120 (360+240) should be enough for 1 CPU plus 2 GPUs, overclocked and with some room for the future. A single 480 should still work, and you might maybe go up to 6*120 (480+240 or 2x360) if the case got enough room for it (your choices seem to have that room, other than mine)... that should be more than enough cooling power for quite some time. Anything more than that, should only help keeping things running even more silently, but should not be necessary for the pure cooling power.

 

However, you mentioned that your room gets a bit hot without AC. please keep in mind, the warmer your ambient air is, the less heat the rads will be able to transfer, so cooling effiency will suffer. And remember: water cooling can only cool down to a little over the ambient temp of your room - not below it, not even with a hundred rads. So in a hot room your system is likely to run hotter as well. After all it's still physics, not magic.

[yousif666]

@yousif666

I'd say something around 5*120 (360+240) should be enough for 1 CPU plus 2 GPUs, overclocked and with some room for the future. A single 480 should still work, and you might maybe go up to 6*120 (480+240 or 2x360) if the case got enough room for it (your choices seem to have that room, other than mine)... that should be more than enough cooling power for quite some time. Anything more than that, should only help keeping things running even more silently, but should not be necessary for the pure cooling power.

However, you mentioned that your room gets a bit hot without AC. please keep in mind, the warmer your ambient air is, the less heat the rads will be able to transfer, so cooling effiency will suffer. And remember: water cooling can only cool down to a little over the ambient temp of your room - not below it, not even with a hundred rads. So in a hot room your system is likely to run hotter as well. After all it's still physics, not magic.

Well, it seems that i will go with a 560 rad instead(by saying 5*120 you mean 1 rad? or 2 rads 1 360 and 240?), and i am thinking of buying the caselabs Magnum SMA8 so i will have alot of room in the case for future updates.

Now the thickness of the radiator, how much it differ? And what kind of good fans would you recommend?, i am thinking of corsair sp120 and Noctua NF-P12 but its very expinsive.

Thanks a lot you gave me enough info to make up my mind, thanks again.

[DirkW]

@yousif666

 

I don't think there's much of a difference in performance between a single 600 (5x120) rad or a combination of two rads (240+360). Whatever fits in your case and you can connect into your loop should be fine.

 

A 560 then... so a quad-140? That should be plenty. It's after all an even bigger surface than 5x120.

 

Rad thickness... well, there are many options, from around 30mm to over 80mm (alphacool monsta series). If space in your case is not a limiting factor, I'd say stick around 40-60mm and you'll be fine. Personally I'd only go thinner for limited space in the case, and for thicker ones you'll probably need to use some very powerful (and probably noisy) fans and/or use push/pull configuration. So IMHO, very thick rads (like the monsta) are also in a way for limited space usage - limited not in that one place, but because you have no room for more rads and need to squeeze all the performance you can get from that rad. As long as there's room, I'd prefer just another rad instead, which allows for lower RPMs in your fans, resulting in less noise. My 360 is a 40mm (space limit of case/motherboard) and my 240 is 60mm thick (but with low FPI).

 

As for fans... just use some more or less silent ones with reasonably high static pressure. Again, personally, I prefer PWM-controlled fans (but my Mainboard got 8 fully functional PWM fan connectors, together with Y-cables and splitters, I could control more fans than would ever fit into my case... so your mileage may vary.) since in my experience, they are easier to control at low RPMs. (The only non-PWM fan in my case does some very annoying clicking sound at low voltage/RPMs, but if I turn it higher, the fan itself gets too loud for my liking, as the clicking stops.) Corsair and Noctua fans are very popular and are both very good products, as far as I know, but I haven't used either brand yet.

[yousif666]

Caselabs is not a problem in case of rad size, i can fit 560 down and 480 up so i have a lot of rooms in the case that is why i asked how much rads i need  

[coalminer071]

are you going to heavily overclock or overvolt and bios hack ur gpus?

[yousif666]

I will be overclocking for sure, but i will not go extreme unless my gpus are in a place where they cant play a game properly or the FPS is too low.