how much rads is enough?

[killallbot1993]

Hi guys! I'm interesting to build a hard pipe water cooled sistem with existing pc parts that I have. 
PARTS:
i7 4790k
asus z97 armored edition
asus gtx980ti sli (second is on the way)
corsair air240

So my question is will it be enought cooling for cpu and two gpu with one 240mm rad in the front like I saw on linus video from pax prime 2015 (look picture) or I needed one more on the top and order costum printed top cover?
thanks

[Bajantechnician]

Hi guys! I'm interesting to build a hard pipe water cooled sistem with existing pc parts that I have. 

PARTS:

i7 4790k

asus z97 armored edition

asus gtx980ti sli (second is on the way)

corsair air240

So my question is will it be enought cooling for cpu and two gpu with one 240mm rad in the front like I saw on linus video from pax prime 2015 (look picture) or I needed one more on the top and order costum printed top cover?

thanks

120 for each cpu, 120 for each gpu,

example: 1 cpu, 2 gpus,

so total, AT LEAST 360

 

(technically at least 360,

240 should also be pushing it

[Enderman]

you should have more than that

at least 240mm for the CPU, and 120mm for each GPU

[Cheddle]

Hi guys! I'm interesting to build a hard pipe water cooled sistem with existing pc parts that I have. 

PARTS:

i7 4790k

asus z97 armored edition

asus gtx980ti sli (second is on the way)

corsair air240

So my question is will it be enought cooling for cpu and two gpu with one 240mm rad in the front like I saw on linus video from pax prime 2015 (look picture) or I needed one more on the top and order costum printed top cover?

thanks

 

speaking from the AIO dream - Ive never built a loop.... all temps factor ambient in my room around 22-25 degrees

 

I ran a 120mm on my CPU and a 140mm on my GPU for several months.

 

CPU would float around 60 degrees in games (5820k @ 4.5ghz - 1.27v) GPU would float around 50 degrees (980ti @ 1.47ghz - 1.23v) never very loud at all. my case fans are on 7v (140mm fractal fans) and they are around the same level of noise as the radiator fans.

 

Under heavy CPU workloads the 120mm AIO would SCREAM... this was mainly as I had no real way to control the fan speeds except based on core temps (not water temp)

 

Now im using a 240mm for the CPU, still a 140mm for the GPU. CPU/gpu temps are now 50 in games, I haven't seen water temps over 33 degrees on the 240mm. the 140mm water temps will see 50 degrees after time (somehow this is a few degrees higher than my GPU core usually shows... blame X41 temp sensor) - If I max the 140mm fans I dont see over 40c on the gpu.

 

--

 

Based on my rad/aio config and my water temps I am going to say with a 280mm you might run into trouble... it would either have to be some moderate over clocks or some noisy fans (or both)...

 

360mm or 280mm+140mm or 140mm+140mm+140mm are the minimum configs I would try this setup with. Not saying you NEED to use this much rad area, but if you dont you might as well just stay air cooled.

 

note: im playing at 4k, my GPU is ALWAYS at 100% utilization... if your GPU's are taking it easy, say running at 1080p vsync... then you could easily go with a 240mm rad for the whole lot... its just going to be a real bad day when everything wants to run at full load.