Liquid cooling for a 6800XT in a Micro ATX case

[Sarra]

So, I'm looking at doing a custom loop, but only for a planned GPU. I obviously cannot get a 6800XT yet, as they are not in stock anywhere at the moment, so I've been looking at planning for the loop itself.

 

I have a Fractal Design Meshify C Mini case, a 3900X CPU, and a ND-D15S on the CPU. The CPU cooler is fairly close to the top of the case, and I'm not entirely sure I would be able to get a radiator and fans between the top of the case and the top of the D15.

 

So, I'm considering a setup where I mount a 280mm Radiator on my case intake, and leave the rest of the internals pretty much alone. I have ordered two brand new Noctua A14 fans, which I'm going to use to replace the current 120mm case fans I've already got that came with the case (one is going in the rear for exhaust, the other on the top behind the CPU cooler as exhaust). I'm hoping that these would be sufficient for most 280mm radiators?

 

Will the heat from the radiator cause undo effect upon the CPU temps? Or should I go and do a dual rad setup, 280 exhaust and 120 exhaust (and get a water block for the CPU as well, so I can run the 280mm on the top)? I've never done any watercooling before, and the D15 won't be wasted if I do end up watercooling the CPU, since I can toss it in a planned second system I will be building soon.

 

My current 'meantime' GPU is a GTX 980, with the really nice EVGA ACX cooling solution, and in my old machine, I wasn't ever getting over 63C, but in this machine, there's less airflow, so the GPU runs around 73-75c while gaming, so I'm worried that a newer GPU with a higher thermal load might not be able to keep itself cool while gaming. There's pretty much no airflow around the card, I could take the rear PCI blanks out, but I'm not sure that's a great idea, mostly due to dust ingress.

[Letgomyleghoe]

If you're going to water cool your GPU I would recommend water cooling your cpu while you're at it

21 minutes ago, Sarra said:

So, I'm considering a setup where I mount a 280mm Radiator on my case intake,

this will make it so your CPU cooler is taking in already hot air, not exactly ideal

22 minutes ago, Sarra said:

My current 'meantime' GPU is a GTX 980, with the really nice EVGA ACX cooling solution, and in my old machine, I wasn't ever getting over 63C, but in this machine, there's less airflow, so the GPU runs around 73-75c while gaming, so I'm worried that a newer GPU with a higher thermal load might not be able to keep itself cool while gaming. There's pretty much no airflow around the card,

those temps are fine, i would wait and see if water cooling is needed.

[Sarra]

1 hour ago, Letgomyleghoe said:

If you're going to water cool your GPU I would recommend water cooling your cpu while you're at it

this will make it so your CPU cooler is taking in already hot air, not exactly ideal

those temps are fine, i would wait and see if water cooling is needed.

Alrighty, I guess I'll start preparing to do a full custom loop for the CPU and GPU.

 

Only issue I have with 'temps are fine', is that the 980 is roughly 165W TDP, and the 6800XT is 300W TDP. The space the card occupies is really quite low airflow, so I'm worried about temps...

 

But at this point, since the GPU isn't even available, I'll just hold off until I do have one in hand to see if I need to WC the entire rig. For now, I'll at least put the new fans in and see if that makes any difference.

[ChrisLoudon]

6 hours ago, Letgomyleghoe said:

If you're going to water cool your GPU I would recommend water cooling your cpu while you're at it

Agreed. It adds a bit of complexity but will complete the look and feel.

 

Having just taken a quick look at the radiator support for this case, I would plan around dual 240 rads (front and top) to pull air from the front and then expel at the top. I know it can support a 360 at the front but there becomes a point when things looks too cramped although might be worth looking at if it doesn't impact the aesthetics.

 

I would also be tempted to explore a 120mm pump  / res combo unit from the likes of EK. This could then be fitted on the rear 120mm fan mount. see https://www.ekwb.com/shop/reservoirs/reservoir-pump-combo/ek-d5-series/ek-quantum-kinetic-flt-120-d5-pwm-d-rgb-plexi

 

A more typical pump / res combo unit would also work but from looking at other examples, they appear to be either strapped to the front rad or mounted horizontally across the bottom of the case. 

 

Good Luck

[Sarra]

3 hours ago, ChrisLoudon said:

Agreed. It adds a bit of complexity but will complete the look and feel.

 

Having just taken a quick look at the radiator support for this case, I would plan around dual 240 rads (front and top) to pull air from the front and then expel at the top. I know it can support a 360 at the front but there becomes a point when things looks too cramped although might be worth looking at if it doesn't impact the aesthetics.

 

I would also be tempted to explore a 120mm pump  / res combo unit from the likes of EK. This could then be fitted on the rear 120mm fan mount. see https://www.ekwb.com/shop/reservoirs/reservoir-pump-combo/ek-d5-series/ek-quantum-kinetic-flt-120-d5-pwm-d-rgb-plexi

 

A more typical pump / res combo unit would also work but from looking at other examples, they appear to be either strapped to the front rad or mounted horizontally across the bottom of the case. 

 

Good Luck

Would I require dual 280's? I had no intention of doing a 360, but if I could go with a 280 and a 120... Or am I going to exceed the capacity of that much radiator?

 

Ah, I see about the 120mm res. I actually could front mount that, if I remove the separator at the front of the PSU shroud, then I would have a more convenient place to put a loop drain in...

 

I should have plenty of room for a res, and if I'm doing 2X 280mm rads, a large res shouldn't be required?

[ChrisLoudon]

16 hours ago, Sarra said:

Would I require dual 280's?

For me, custom loop water cooling is as much about the challenge of planning and building the loop and making it look good as it is about the cooling performance.

 

If your case can fit multiple rads and it look sweet then go for it.

 

On the performance front, I would say a single 120 / 140 rad is the minimum you should be looking at per device cooled but the moment you either want to overclock or include a higher-end product like a 6000 series AMD GPU or 3000 series Nvidia card then you really need to be looking at larger 240 / 280 rads.

 

The size of the res doesn't really matter so whatever fits and looks good is my rule. Personally, I think the rear 120 fan mount is bit redundant and a perfect place for res and the relatively new solutions from EK as previously suggested would be my initial plan.

 

With regards to a loop drain, maybe think about a bit of modding to keep the PSU cover in place as removing it might spoil the clean look of the build. Without seeing the case in-the-flesh I can't say for certain but there might be scope to drill out a pip sized hole and use a cube shaped 3 or 4 way splitter to divert flow downward to a ball valve where you would just screw on a bit of spare flexible tubing when you needed to drain the loop.

 

I have 3 water cooled systems as follows:

 

Lian Li o11 Dynamic - CPU + GPU + dual 360 rads and the side distro plate acting as pump and res

Corsair 280x - CPU + GPU + dual 240 rads and a tiny EK100 pump res combo hidden in the secondary case compartment.

Corsair 250d - CPU + GPU + 240 rad + 120 rad and a larger EK140 pump res combo. This build required some modding and a dremel but was pretty cool to do given how small the case is.

 

In terms of cooling performance across all 3 systems, I don't see much of a difference. See sig for full specs.

 

 

[Sarra]

6 hours ago, ChrisLoudon said:

For me, custom loop water cooling is as much about the challenge of planning and building the loop and making it look good as it is about the cooling performance.

 

If your case can fit multiple rads and it look sweet then go for it.

 

On the performance front, I would say a single 120 / 140 rad is the minimum you should be looking at per device cooled but the moment you either want to overclock or include a higher-end product like a 6000 series AMD GPU or 3000 series Nvidia card then you really need to be looking at larger 240 / 280 rads.

 

The size of the res doesn't really matter so whatever fits and looks good is my rule. Personally, I think the rear 120 fan mount is bit redundant and a perfect place for res and the relatively new solutions from EK as previously suggested would be my initial plan.

 

With regards to a loop drain, maybe think about a bit of modding to keep the PSU cover in place as removing it might spoil the clean look of the build. Without seeing the case in-the-flesh I can't say for certain but there might be scope to drill out a pip sized hole and use a cube shaped 3 or 4 way splitter to divert flow downward to a ball valve where you would just screw on a bit of spare flexible tubing when you needed to drain the loop.

 

I have 3 water cooled systems as follows:

 

Lian Li o11 Dynamic - CPU + GPU + dual 360 rads and the side distro plate acting as pump and res

Corsair 280x - CPU + GPU + dual 240 rads and a tiny EK100 pump res combo hidden in the secondary case compartment.

Corsair 250d - CPU + GPU + 240 rad + 120 rad and a larger EK140 pump res combo. This build required some modding and a dremel but was pretty cool to do given how small the case is.

 

In terms of cooling performance across all 3 systems, I don't see much of a difference. See sig for full specs.

 

 

Mmm, so a dual 280 would be more ideal, yes. I'm not looking at overclocking, but that could change. The GPU will more likely be OCed, but in general, I prefer longevity over brute performance. My last PC was a Haswell based machine, LGA 1151, with a GTX 980, and that system still works and runs just fine, and I intend to keep using it until it's well and dead.

 

For the PSU cover, there's a cutout at the front that cane be removed with a pair of screws, and it opens up the PSU shroud enough to allow a triple RAD to be installed; I don't think the entire shroud itself can be removed without drilling rivets.

 

My biggest concern for the entire system is GPU temps; If there was sufficient cooling for the GPU, then I would be fine with air cooling, but... I think I'll have to get the 6800XT and try it before I decide which way to go. The CPU is fine with the D15... I hope the blocks for the 6800XT's are capable of cooling the GPU, RAM, and VRM's, though.

[Deli]

19 hours ago, Sarra said:

Mmm, so a dual 280 would be more ideal, yes. I'm not looking at overclocking, but that could change. The GPU will more likely be OCed, but in general, I prefer longevity over brute performance. My last PC was a Haswell based machine, LGA 1151, with a GTX 980, and that system still works and runs just fine, and I intend to keep using it until it's well and dead.

 

For the PSU cover, there's a cutout at the front that cane be removed with a pair of screws, and it opens up the PSU shroud enough to allow a triple RAD to be installed; I don't think the entire shroud itself can be removed without drilling rivets.

 

My biggest concern for the entire system is GPU temps; If there was sufficient cooling for the GPU, then I would be fine with air cooling, but... I think I'll have to get the 6800XT and try it before I decide which way to go. The CPU is fine with the D15... I hope the blocks for the 6800XT's are capable of cooling the GPU, RAM, and VRM's, though.

If your main concern is GPU temp. Why not simply replace the case with one with good air flow to the GPU, like Lian Li O11 mini. Replacing the case is much cheaper than building a custom loop.

[Sarra]

5 hours ago, Deli said:

If your main concern is GPU temp. Why not simply replace the case with one with good air flow to the GPU, like Lian Li O11 mini. Replacing the case is much cheaper than building a custom loop.

Well, I guess I could. I'm not entirely sure what I would do with the Meshify C Mini.

 

Right now I'm just hoping that either the new A14 fans are sufficient to keep the card cool, or that I can get a good AIB card with a beefy cooler that makes it work better. But we'll see. I might also try popping out the PCI slot blanks on the case to see if that improves airflow enough to cool off the temps.

[Sarra]

13 hours ago, Sarra said:

Well, I guess I could. I'm not entirely sure what I would do with the Meshify C Mini.

 

Right now I'm just hoping that either the new A14 fans are sufficient to keep the card cool, or that I can get a good AIB card with a beefy cooler that makes it work better. But we'll see. I might also try popping out the PCI slot blanks on the case to see if that improves airflow enough to cool off the temps.

lol Yeah, the A14's made a massive difference for the GPU. Like a 12c difference. So yeah, I don't think I'm going to need to do watercooling now... This should be good to go as it is.