Full water loop for 4770k+R9 290

[LIGISTX]

I'm not a huge fan of rear mounted rads, just because of the aesthetics. My plan is SLI'ed 980's. Even then 4x worth of 140's is overkill but I dont want the fans to be spinning very fast. No one has ever been hurt by increasing the rad space

This is the first ati card I have had since my X850XT, and I forgot how much heat they produce. It's just unfortunate because I wasn't planning to water block if AT ALL. But then my stupid kuhler 620 crapped out, the 650 replacement is all propitiatory BS (I could get the water block to mount, but not being able to change the fan and all is not going to work for me...).

I'm really happy I got a r9 290 for 230 bucks, but I kind of wish they didn't have a 275 tdp... Lol. If I would have got a 770/970 like I had planned I could EASILY do the 240+140, but then again, I got like 1.5x performance with the 290. Lol.

1.5x performance vs a 770, which costs the same. Don't worry, I realize a 970 is about 10% better than 290, but costs over 100 more. Between selling my new kuhler 650 and saving that 100, that just about pays for all my water cooling gear.

[Faceman]

This is the first ati card I have had since my X850XT, and I forgot how much heat they produce. It's just unfortunate because I wasn't planning to water block if AT ALL. But then my stupid kuhler 620 crapped out, the 650 replacement is all propitiatory BS (I could get the water block to mount, but not being able to change the fan and all is not going to work for me...). I'm really happy I got a r9 290 for 230 bucks, but I kind of wish they didn't have a 275 tdp... Lol. If I would have got a 770/970 like I had planned I could EASILY do the 240+140, but then again, I got like 1.5x performance with the 290. Lol. 1.5x performance vs a 770, which costs the same. Don't worry, I realize a 970 is about 10% better than 290, but costs over 100 more. Between selling my new kuhler 650 and saving that 100, that just about pays for all my water cooling gear.

Right now is the perfect time to water cool your card.  These deals are only available until Nov. 2nd, so act fast if you decide to do this:

 

Kraken G10 Bracket for $10 shipped via Tigerdirect.com

 

H55 120mm AIO for $46 + shipping via NCIXUS.com

 

Insanely low price to be able to drop temps by 40-50C, and reduce noise.  I paid around $90 for just my Bracket and AIO, you could get the same for $60.

[LIGISTX]

Right now is the perfect time to water cool your card. These deals are only available until Nov. 2nd, so act fast if you decide to do this:

Kraken G10 Bracket for $10 shipped via Tigerdirect.com

H55 120mm AIO for $46 + shipping via NCIXUS.com

Insanely low price to be able to drop temps by 40-50C, and reduce noise.

Yea I had a kuhler 620 on my 470, but I ended up breaking the 620 (forgot to turn fans up and got the gpu up to 104c, no bueno). So I figure instead of buying a new AIO, I'll just go full out and use my 240l like I initially intended, to set up a real loop.

[LIGISTX]

Now I'm also thinking about de lidding my 4770k, bring them temps down a bunch. I need about 1.33 volts to get my 4.4 ghz stable which isn't great. And at that in aida64 it hits mid 70's which isn't horrible. But that is in my 240l with SP120 high performance fans at bull blast.... Could probably drop those die temps by a solid 15c.

[LIGISTX]

And I just realized, back fan can only be a 120 in the 350d. Lol. Maybe front 280 is in order...

[LIGISTX]

Question for the watercoolers out there! Or just people who might have good input.

 

I am going to be getting a 280 rad I think in addition to my 240. I will put the 280 rad up on top and move the 240 rad to the front of the case. The 240 rad has the res built in as it is a 240l, and first question is if I go from this rad (with res portion at the top since it will be mounted vertically) to the CPU block (pump), will this be ok? Even if the res is below the pump? The output of the radiator should always still have water since the res will be at the top of that radiator, correct?

 

Second, I will be blowing in "warm" air into my case since the front 240 will be acting as an intake. The top 280 will be exhaust. Should I make the rear 120 exhaust or intake? If I go with intake, I will get positive pressure + blowing some ambient air in instead of only front rad heated air. If I make rear 120 exhaust I will have 2 120's pushing air in, a 120 and 2 140's pulling air out.... Seems like it should be an intake to me, but I don't know if that is in fact a smart idea.

 

To give a visual, the red parts are rads with air flow direction, and blue part is the rear 120 I am deciding on.

 

[LIGISTX]

R9 290 block ordered. Will hopefully start to dimension it out and machine it to fit my non reference card at the end of this week!