Watercooling Noob needs help

[Harbz]

Im looking to get into Water Cooled Systems, specially because of the Swiftech H220 AiO. Once i get it, i aim to customise it so my GTX 670s(Went with these Graphics Card over the suggested ones, as my mate gave me one 670) also will fit, but i need help on where and what waterblock to buy for both 670's along with tubing and connections, and if i will need like another pump or radiator for it. I was wondering would i be able to use it the in Antec P280 Case, also will a Seasonic Platinum 860W PSU be powerfull enough for it all. Specs - i7 930, X58A-UD3R, 2x GTX 670 FTW's, 6Gb XMS 1333, 2 ssds,and one hdd.... will that power that all ??

[R4STABAN]

PSU will be fine.

Watercooling can't be spoon-fed, no offence. This is the research you need to do:

-How many radiators and what size/thickness can the antec p280 hold. Are there any restrictions caused by (for example) motherboard mosfet heatsinks fouling top radiators.

-How many radiators will I need? (I will say you need another 60mm thick 240 rad to get the quietness benefit of watercooling - that's a freebie from me)

-Are the 670s reference design or custom pcbs? Are full cover waterblocks available? if not, are universal blocks viable?

-What tubing size will you use? What type of fittings (compression or barb)? What coolant will you use?

Personally I don't see the point buying this AIO and then turning it into a full loop immediately. You can get custom cpu blocks that look much nicer or even match your gpu blocks if you go full custom straight away. The ability to go custom on this product seems to be aimed at those who've had it a while and decided they're gonna give it a go.

Some info can be hard to find, so I recommend using the EK Cooling Configurator (google it) to find out whether your card is a reference design PCB. If it is it will be compatible with all reference 670 blocks.

tubing size and fitting size can be a little hard to understand for newcomers so I'll give a little explanation here. Tubing has 2 measurements - Inner and outer diameter. if you're using barbs you just need to match the inner diameter and use jubilee/hose clips to keep the hose secure. if you're using compressions you need to mathc the inner and out diameters of the tubing and fittings.

I work in mm because I can't stand this old people's inches rubbish, so: 10mm-13mm tubing is matched with 10mm barbs or 10mm/13mm compressions. (Note the 'g1/4''' in the descriptions of lots of watercooling parts, including fittings, that's just the size of the thread that fittings screw into. the standard is g1/4'' and anything other than that is either obscure stuff or old thermochill rads afaik.

The most important part of watercooling is research and planning stage. otherwise you buy incompatible stuff and sit with an unusable machine while you get replacements. Or you end up with a rubbish watercooling config with too few rads, unoptimised fans etcetcetc

[Whaler_99]

^^^ Lot of good stuff.... I would say PSU is fine, you will definately need another 240mm rad if not a 360mm for cooling all that. I don't think the P280 was ever designed for WC. Might fit the 240 in the roof, but that be about it. If you do get the H2O kit, the pump it comes with should be fine for all that. But, you will definately need some sort of res added...

[Castiel]

All the above is great information.

One thing that i would add is dont try and cheap out. Money spent on quality stuff to a certain degree is well spent. One thing id especially look at is your fittings. I have compression fittings myself but when i re do my loop ill be getting more. Buying a few extra swivel fittings or 90 degree fittings can make it so much more neater and easier to put together.

[YowZman]

NRG is right, if you're gonna start cooling your graphics, you wanna start with a custom loop straight away. yeah, it costs money, yeah its complicated, but its well worth it IMO. this forum is kinda new but if you spend any time on overclock.net, there's LOADS of info on there.

[Harbz]

OK thanks a lot guys, and i understand what u mean NRG :D. I will go and do more research and look into parts and everything :D

[Dark_Nemesis]

A little piece of advice, don't save money by cheaping out on the fittings. Get good quality compression fittings. It tends to get so messy if a hose slips of and sprays coolant all over the inside of your rig =) Good luck on your build btw! :)

[Harbz]

Thanks Dark_Nemesis :D

I kinda know what im gonna do now, so what i will do is post what i intend to buy and see what you guys say

Case - Corsair 900D

Pump and Res Combo - Either XSPC D5 Dual Bay or XSPC Twin D5, not too sure which one yet, although im thinking the single one will be more than powerful :D

CPU Block - XSPC RayStorm Waterblock

Rads - XSPC RX Series 360mm, 480mm and/or 240mm <--- RX Series as its the 60mm thick rad series :D

GPU Blocks - x2 XSPC Razor GTX 680 Full Cover : RayStorm Style

GPU SLi - XSPC Razor SLi Flow Bridge

Tubing - XSPC 7/16" ID UV Blue Tubing : 2 meters

Fittings - 12 Straight Compression Fittings, and 4 90Degree Compression Fittings

Fluid - Mayhems Pure H20 with a Steel Kill Coil

Fan Control - Scythe Kaze Master Pro <--- can i connect like two fans to one fan header on this? If i can then this is fine if not then any suggestions for replacements ?

Fans - All Noctua NF-F12 will be but into this case :D

Thats all, hope i havent missed anything out