First water cooled build!

[TheDeadGhost]

I'm going to build my first watercooled PC in about 6 months (or after the GTX 800 series is released) I will be reusing the motherboard, ram and CPU from the current PC so the only things that I'm really changing are the case and GPU. I will put a link to the best page I found but because I currently live in sweden it will be in swedish, though you can easily get around that if your using Chrome because you can translate the page.

 

Specs (for the water cooled build):

CPU: Intel i7-4770K

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87X-D3H

RAM: Crucial BallistixSport 1600MHZ

GPU: GTX 800 series (probably an 880)

Case: Corsair Obsidian 750D

Storage (simplified): 1 SSD and 1 HDD

PSU: Corsair RM850

 

 

Water cooling (this is what I need help with):

Pump: Swiftech MCP655

 

Reservoir: Need help with.

http://www.coolerkit.se/shop/reservoarer-263s.html

I have mainly been looking at cylinder resevoirs but I am open to using other ones (but please consider the case I'm using and mounting options).

 

CPU Waterblock: Need help with.

http://www.coolerkit.se/shop/intel-sockets-370c1.html

I need whatever is the best from this site. Or whatever offers the best price to performance (as long as it is has good performance!).

 

GPU Waterblock: I don't need help with this (yet) because I'm waiting for the GTX 800 series.

 

Radiators: This is what I'm thinking for this:

Triple 120mm rad in the top (or is it better to have a dual 140mm? the case supports both)

Dual 140mm rad in the front

Dual 120mm rad on the bottom (or would it be better to not have a rad here and have the pump down here? and would that decrease performance?)

http://www.coolerkit.se/shop/radiatorer-261s.html

 

Fittings: Bitspower HF Push-on 13/10mm

 

Tubing: PrimoChill PrimoFlex Advanced LRT 13/10mm (only thing I need to decide on with this is the colour, but that's something I can do on my own)

 

Cooling Liquid: EK - Ekoolant Clear

http://www.coolerkit.se/shop/ek-ekoolant-clear-2587p.html

 

Fans: Noctua Redux PWM 120/140mm running at low rpm (or will I need them running at a higher rpm when im gaming or doing something which requires more power?)

I have also been looking at the Corsair SP120 Low Noise fans but there are no SP 140mm versions, so instead I would have to use AF140's in the front rad.

 

And I think thats mostly it. I have 2 final questions though.

 

1. Push or pull? (or both)

What are the advantages of each (if any) and if I have both which rads should I have it on if not all of them?

 

2. Which fans/rads should be pulling air in and which ones should be pushing air out? At the moment I'm thinking about having everything pulling in and the rad at the top pushing air out (like Linus had in the Overkill build guide).

 

Thanks!!!

[D3LTA9]

Reservoirs - you have two main choices in terms of style and mounting application. You use a tube res and mount it where ever you have room to squeeze it in or you can use a bay res which will occupy 1 or 2 5.25" slots in your case. Either way I would recommend getting a pump/res combo unit as it saves extra fittings, extra mounting hassles and more chances of a leak. There are other more basic options but these are the ones generally used. Personally I think bay reservoirs are a bit easier to work with as you dont have to worry about space to mount them or possible complications with tight angles with other components as much. Aesthetically I generally prefer tub style reservoirs though so you will have to decide what you prefer as both will do the job the same.

 

Waterblocks -  there is very little difference between all the big companies that make them. Id say go EK or XSPC but others will be fine as well. 

 

Radiators - you dont need that much rad surface area for 1 gpu and 1 cpu. You would be fine with 120.3 (360mm). If you want to add a second gpu then 120.5 would be plenty (say 360mm top mounted and 240mm front). I personally use the slimmer rads like the alphacool st30 or swiftech MCR-XP as they perform very similar to rad's twice as thick at low to medium fan speeds. 

 

Fittings - yes go with compression fittings if you like them. I think they are the best. Would recommend bitspower in terms of brands. Monsoon also have some good ratings from reviewers but then I have heard of some bad experiences from people that really come down to poor quality control (colours not matching, no proper packaging etc) so I choose not to chance it with my loop and went with bitspower.

 

Coolant - Unless you are running mixed metals like aluminium and copper in your loop (dont think you are as generally all blocks are cooper these days other than some nickel plated cooper) I would not spend the extra on coolant and just use distilled water with a silver kill coil as it provides the best performance and is the cheapest (dont hear that much!).

 

Fans - I know Notcuas are much liked by the community but so far I havent had a build that works with their colour ways so have never used any. They are generally regarded as quieter and better performers than the corsair equivalents. Scythe Gentle Typhoons are also another very highly regarded (if not the most) for noise to performance ratio in watercooling but expensive and hard to find (and I think they look cheap personally despite their performance). I would say go with whatever fans look best with your build, use a fan controller or PWN on your mobo to set profiles, one for gaming and one for desktop operations. Then you can ramp up the fans when you need the extra boost.

 

Fan Orientation - Push, pull or push/pull does not matter, the difference in temp is negligible with all variables taken into account. use whatever looks best/easiest way to mount. 

 

Case airflow/layout - there is a bit of discussion on this but I have always subscribed to the theory of intake at the front and side (if used) and exhaust out the top and rear. Works well for me but sure there is other configs possible. 

 

Think that was everything? Hope it helps

[TheDeadGhost]

D3LT4 thank you for your reply!

 

For the waterblocks I have now been looking at the EK Supremacy CSQ - Gold or Full Copper. Which one would give me the best performance?

 

Reservoirs: I will be removing the 2 bottom drive cages so I would be able to go for either cylinder or a bay reservoir and thanks to your comment I will not use a rad on the bottom of the case so I will have quite a bit of room there for an external pump. You said that it would be better to go for a built in pump so then which bay/cylinder with a built in pump would you recommend? I was planning to use the Swiftech MCP655 just because Linus deeply recommended it and he used it in both the NCIX water cooled build and the one on the LTT channel.

Just took another look and right now I'd have to say that I'm leaning towards either the EK RES X3 150 or 250.

 

Thanks for your help with the rads! I have chosen the EK Coolstream PE 240/360.

 

Fittings I have now chosen Bitspower HF Push-on 13/10mm. Thank you!

 

Coolant I am going to stick with the one listed above because it is ready to go without adding anything extra things to it, and it is also non-conductive (I usually worry about... well everything).

 

Fans I will stick to the Noctua fans and probably add an NZXT Sentry 2 (and maybe a fan hub, if needed).

 

Your message helped A LOT! The only things I'm wondering over right now are the reservoirs and what material for the waterblock (Gold or Copper).

[airdeano]

For the waterblocks I have now been looking at the EK Supremacy CSQ - Gold or Full Copper. Which one would give me the best performance?

 

Thanks for your help with the rads! I have chosen the EK Coolstream PE 240/360.

 

Coolant I am going to stick with the one listed above because it is ready to go without adding anything extra things to it, and it is also non-conductive (I usually worry about... well everything).

 

Fans I will stick to the Noctua fans and probably add an NZXT Sentry 2 (and maybe a fan hub, if needed).

 

water blocks are mostly aesthetic and perform within margin of error.

 

not a knock to the new PE rads, but the XT would be a better choice, since the

750D can easily house them and make availability easier. plus you don't have

to run high static or loud fans to get air into a low fin-per-inch core.

 

all non-conductive coolants eventually become conductive.

 

you might look to an PWM controller as the f12 fans are PWM and PWM fans

do not like to be voltage controlled. the PCB isn't enforced to being low voltage

run for prolong periods and they do tend to buck and whine. the Sentry 2 is not

PWM controlled. another is the gentle Typhoon, but those are scarcely becoming

difficult to buy as Nidec ceased making the GT/AP line for Scythe a bit ago and

what is on the shelves is what is left to have. as of 11/2013

 

FrozenCPU,

Regretfully, both Nidec and Scythe have decided not to continue their business relationship.

We will not be able to fulfill your Gentle Typhoon order.

We will be promoting the new Grand Flex fans. These are supposedly better than the Gentle Typhoons.

We need to get the message out to the public. I should have some samples by early next month.

By the way, Scythe reserves the right to the name Gentle Typhoon.

That means Nidec can’t sell the product to anybody with our label, our package, our brand and etc. attached to it.

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Hank Peng

SCYTHE, Inc.

[TheDeadGhost]

Would I be able to use some software program to control the fan speed? Basically I only want a low speed and a higher speed setting. I just want the fans to go a bit faster while im gaming.

[XiaoPineApple]

i have pretty much same computer spec as u well.
was thinking custom loop soon, maybe learn somthing with u ^^
(also waiting for 800series for GPU blocks.)

[D3LTA9]

D3LT4 thank you for your reply!

 

For the waterblocks I have now been looking at the EK Supremacy CSQ - Gold or Full Copper. Which one would give me the best performance?

 

Reservoirs: I will be removing the 2 bottom drive cages so I would be able to go for either cylinder or a bay reservoir and thanks to your comment I will not use a rad on the bottom of the case so I will have quite a bit of room there for an external pump. You said that it would be better to go for a built in pump so then which bay/cylinder with a built in pump would you recommend? I was planning to use the Swiftech MCP655 just because Linus deeply recommended it and he used it in both the NCIX water cooled build and the one on the LTT channel.

Just took another look and right now I'd have to say that I'm leaning towards either the EK RES X3 150 or 250.

 

Thanks for your help with the rads! I have chosen the EK Coolstream PE 240/360.

 

Fittings I have now chosen Bitspower HF Push-on 13/10mm. Thank you!

 

Coolant I am going to stick with the one listed above because it is ready to go without adding anything extra things to it, and it is also non-conductive (I usually worry about... well everything).

 

Fans I will stick to the Noctua fans and probably add an NZXT Sentry 2 (and maybe a fan hub, if needed).

 

Your message helped A LOT! The only things I'm wondering over right now are the reservoirs and what material for the waterblock (Gold or Copper).

 

No problem! Happy to help as I know it can sometimes be a bit overwhelming when you first get into watercooling with all the options available.

 

Block - hmmm I would probably just go with the full cooper block. The gold from memory was special model and will likely perform slightly better but you would have to weigh it up against the increase in price. Is cost to performance ratio worth it? I cant actually remember reading any reviews on the gold so if you are set on it maybe google some reviews before you commit.

 

Pump - Yes the swiftech MCP 655 (or d5 as it is underneath swiftechs branding) is a great pump and the general go to for most people. It doesnt matter on the brand as they are all d5 pumps. Something to consider is though is that there is a vario version with has a switch on it with 5 speeds, there is also a pwm version and a basic version (no adjustable speed). Most seem to go with the vario but you could also look at pwm version if you plan to use pwm fans.

 

Reservoir - You dont have to go with a pump/res combo unit but I would given it is your first loop and its a good idea to keep things simple as possible, my loop got more and more complex as I researched it so in the end I simplified it and upgraded in stages after getting use to how things worked out in practice. Also it is better for your pump if the res is directly feeding it with liquid as less chance of it running dry.

 

I would consider either an EK d5 x res or an EK d5 bay res, unfortunately your supplier does not stock these so you will have to go to EK directly - http://www.ekwb.com/shop/reservoirs-and-acc/res-pump-combo/ek-d5.html in fact I would actually look at getting all your EK stuff from their webshop as it likely will be cheaper - was the cheapest option for me and that included shipping it all the way to New Zealand at the ass end of the world. Your supplier does stock the XSPC d5 bay res though which you could use but you may want to keep with all EK stuff as there CSQ pattern matches on each of their components. 

 

As I have said, whether you go bay res or tube res is really up to you as both will work the same its just really the mounting and looks you need to consider. Something that may make the decision for you is that it appears your case only supports x3 5.25" drive bays so if you wanted to run a bay res, fan controller and optical drive they would have to all be single bay components which rules out a bay pump/res combo (unless you went with a DDC pump) so you would have to use either a separate pump or tube res if you this was the route you chose to take. So yeah just have a think on what is important to you.

 

Fan control - I agree with airdeano and would not run PWN fans on low voltage, I would add them to your mobo (if it supports PWM control on the fan headers that is) and then control them via software. There are fan controllers that also do this too. I use a very simple solution to swap from gaming to quiet mode. I have a sentry 2 controller and a sentry mix 2 controller. The sentry 2 controls case fans and the mix is linked to my 2 sets of radiator fans. With the flick of a couple of switches I swap profiles and can do it at any time so dont have to toggle it via software or the unresponsive resistive touch screen on the sentry 2. I dont have PWM fans though so if you wanted to go this route I wouldnt get PWM fans.

 

Think that was all?

[TheDeadGhost]

Thank you for all your help!