Planning my water cooling rig

[thething55]

I have been using a basic closed loop system for a year or 2 and I am ready to go for a full custom loop.

 

I am planning to order and use a obsidian 900D for my case and fill it with 4 radiators. I am hoping to include 2 480mm, 1 360MM and 1 140mm radiators in the loop(s) which will basically fill every available radiator slot in the case. I am going to be running a 5930K, (140W) a GTX titan X (250W) and a 780TI (250W) though the loop currently but over time I may add, remove or change cards/processors in the loop.

This gives me a TDP of around 800-900 when I consider the power for the rest of my components.

 

Currently, I have a H60 I believe for my CPU and all of my GPUS are air cooled.

 

I'm not really sure where to go from here. I am watching though the ultimate water cooling guide but I suspect that would some information in it will be out of date and inaccurate theses days.

I haven't really decided on a budget but I don't want a cheap build that's going to cause problems later or not provide good performance.

 

Does anyone have any ideas on where to start since this will be first custom water build?

 

[shypin]

something like this but replace the gpu waterblocks in that post with respective blocks for your GPUs http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/433869-need-a-full-custom-loop-to-cool-cpu-2-970s/#entry5814783

let me know if you have trouble with picking any of the parts

 

also if you have extra money then go for a caselab case, they are much easier to work with and have much better qualities (although they are more expensive too)

[SonoDanshi]

I'd start by heading over to EKWB and looking at the compatible CPU and GPU blocks for your components.

 

After that you will want to find a res and pump (I'd suggest any D5 pump) and then you need to think about whether you want to go soft or hard tubing as that will impsct your compression fitting choice. 

 

And for the compression fittings, as a minimum you will want 2 of them for every component in your loop (4 rads, 1 cpu block, 2 GPU blocks, and either 1 combi pump/res or 2 separate items). So at a minimum you'll be looking at 16 compression fittings, but always worth buying a couple extra.

 

I would also suggest you try and visualize the loop before building it as this will help greatly when it comes to putting it together. This is what I had planned.....

 

and this is how it ended up looking......

 

 

One final thing is to also plan for a drain port at the lowest point in the loop so you can empty it for maintenance and/or if you get a leak.

[thething55]

I have looked at caselabs but they are quite hard to get in the UK and the price reflects that so unfortunately, the 900D is the best option for me. 900D still seems like a fairly good case anyway

[Elfuego]

A few things from someone who has a 900D and a custom loop in it.

 

Firstly AT most you are gonna fit 2x 480mm + 1x 240mm + maybe 1x 240 or 280 in the front.

 

However if you do this you are going to struggle with HDD bays.

 

You wont get 2x 480mm Rads in the bottom as there will be no room for the PSU.

 

I would recommend

 

1x 420 or 480mm in the top (I use a 420mm) - 60mm thick if you want single fan, 30mm if you want push-pull. Theoretically you could get an 80mm + single fan but its gonna be very tight and isnt worth the effort.

 

1x 420 or 480 in the bottom (opposite to the PSU mount), though you will need to remove the bottom HDD cage (leaving you 6 bays). (same thickness as above)

 

If you really want to goto town another 280 should fit in the bottom but you will only be able to realistically do single fan on both bottom rads.

 

You will then need to figure out where to mount your pump+res combo. Should be easy to have those rads (3) + a 120mm tuberes + pump combo if you mount it to the motherboard tray (vertically) will require some case modding.

 

Avoid alphacool rads because A> they are dirty and b> the screws are a pain in the ass in a 900D.

 

Hope this helps from someone who actually has one of these.

 

Personally I would go with an EK-X-RES (Avoid the Pirmochill CTR IIs - They look cool but the mounting system sucks donkeys balls - I intitally got dodgy clamps in the box so I asked for some replacements - They came and worked but were awful - They use nylon screws which are useless. So I ended up actually making my own custom brackets.), and a supremacy evo. XSPC rads are my preference But EK should be good). And make sure you get a mayhems blitz pro kit. Rember to get some biocide (in the UK Mayhems is the best).

 

If you can I would also get a filter (I got an aquacomputer one).

 

I am also from the UK so if you need help sourcing stuff give me a yell.

[Elfuego]

Oh also as a newbie I would recommend going 3/8" ID, 5/8" OD if you are going to do soft tubing. Its relatively flexible without kinking. I use 1/2" ID, 3/4" OD and it is not the easiest thing to make it do what you want.

Also while a big res is easy to fill and prime with and looks very cool, it is cumbersome to actually use as well as being relatively heavy. (So I wouldnt go much bigger than a 120mm Res, maybe a 240 at a push)

[Elfuego]

I'd start by heading over to EKWB and looking at the compatible CPU and GPU blocks for your components.

 

After that you will want to find a res and pump (I'd suggest any D5 pump) and then you need to think about whether you want to go soft or hard tubing as that will impsct your compression fitting choice. 

 

And for the compression fittings, as a minimum you will want 2 of them for every component in your loop (4 rads, 1 cpu block, 2 GPU blocks, and either 1 combi pump/res or 2 separate items). So at a minimum you'll be looking at 16 compression fittings, but always worth buying a couple extra.

 

I would also suggest you try and visualize the loop before building it as this will help greatly when it comes to putting it together. This is what I had planned.....

 

and this is how it ended up looking......

 

 

One final thing is to also plan for a drain port at the lowest point in the loop so you can empty it for maintenance and/or if you get a leak.

 

 

Nice rig, and good point on the drainport, personally I use a QD fitting pair which I can then just connect to another piece of hose with another QD fitting on it. Not the neatest but its pretty effective. For practical reasons I couldnt actually do a normal drainport.

[SonoDanshi]

Nice rig, and good point on the drainport, personally I use a QD fitting pair which I can then just connect to another piece of hose with another QD fitting on it. Not the neatest but its pretty effective.

Thanks. And that's exactly what I have. I used a 45degree T-Splitter coming straight out of the pump. The straight part if for the main loop and the angled section has a male QD fitting.

[Elfuego]

I dont have the T-Splitter. I just disconnect the QD and connect it to another tube (its on a rotary fitting so it becomes the lowest point and its after the pump so I can to some extent pump out a lot of the water) . Makes it a lot faster when you have a 3Litre Loop.

[thething55]

I like the look of solid pipes but they have always looked hard to work around so I think I am going for soft tubing. I am thinking of clear tubing but I haven't decided if I want coloured water or not. I assume a single loop for all 3 components will work fine and that 3/8" ID tubing will be large enough and not provide too much resistance?

[Elfuego]

I like the look of solid pipes but they have always looked hard to work around so I think I am going for soft tubing. I am thinking of clear tubing but I haven't decided if I want coloured water or not. I assume a single loop for all 3 components will work fine and that 3/8" ID tubing will be large enough and not provide too much resistance?

 

Ye it should be fine. You might need a dual pump setup depending on restrictiveness but thats something you need to caclulate (and or try).

 

However a D5 should be fine with 3-5 components and a couple radiators.

 

Go coloured tubing and distilled water or clear tubing and dyed nano fluid. Dont use standard dyes...

 

Coloured tubing and distilled water is cheaper and much better for the environment too , plus if you wanna change you just get different coloured tubing and profit.

[Elfuego]

Also remember to make provision to cool your mosfets.

 

I swapped out the rear exhaust for an SP140 (RED) and it keeps it nice and cool. I also swapped out the stock fans in the front for 3x SP 120s RED and it gives a lovely glow around the front of the case. If you want the lighting to look balanced you will need an LED strip on low in the basement.

[thething55]

I have a few radiators in mind already but an issue that I keep thinking about is the amount of fans. I'm not sure if you would (and if it would fit, I still need to check this) but I could end up with something like 22 or 24 fans if I did a push pull config. My asus board can do something like 9 controllable fans. I assume that I would either only do push pull on specific radiators and use standard molex for the rest of the build? or buy some fancy controller for all of the fans?

[Elfuego]

I have a few radiators in mind already but an issue that I keep thinking about is the amount of fans. I'm not sure if you would (and if it would fit, I still need to check this) but I could end up with something like 22 or 24 fans if I did a push pull config. My asus board can do something like 9 controllable fans. I assume that I would either only do push pull on specific radiators and use standard molex for the rest of the build? or buy some fancy controller for all of the fans?

 

PWM Splitters work, 1 PWM Header to control 3,4,5 fans. They come with molex power so you wont overload the header, makes it nice and easy to control fans radiator easily.

 

If you go 30mm thick rads you *should* be able to do push pull everywhere, top certainly will work and 1 side on the bottom, but without measuring not sure for the other side.

[SonoDanshi]

With the amount of radiators you are planning for though, I think push-pull will be utterly pointless. The performance difference on a standard radiator with decent static pressure fans is negligible. It is only a benefit if you are using very thick radiators.

[thething55]

I've been looking at theses for my 480mms. they have a good review online and I believe theses will fit with enough room left for a push pull config(Just over 25mm per fan) but I am of course looking around for other radiators.

 

www.amazon.co.uk/XSPC-5060175585073-RX480-Quad-Radiator/dp/B00IAC7NVY/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1440875980&sr=1-1&keywords=XSPC+V3+480mm+radiator

 

 

There's also quite a few radiators on overclockers which I am still going though.

[Elfuego]

Bear in mind 420mms have more surface area than 480mms. On my NexXos rads (60mm) its 1-2C difference only so personally I only run 1 fan.

 

Just be sure to get decent fans. Noctua Redux's or Maybe the 2000RPM PPCs. I have the 3000RPM PPCs and are horrible above 25% - waay to loud. I will probably end up swapping them out for Redux's. I might try the 2000RPM ones as they should also be quieter. Push pull in the bottom may actually work well because of the mesh + fan filter so I would get 30mm thick ones there if I was going to do it. I still only run 1 fan down there on the 240mm of space I have (but I have a mini PC in the basement as well .

 

Just be aware this loop is gonna set you back around £750 all in, if you use compression fittings and buy a few spares, plus buy some mayhems blitz along with tube cutters etc.

 

I hope you are also reasonably handy with powertools.