First Water Cooling Project

[gfd]

Greetings

I am going to build a machine primarily for flight simulation. As many of you know, Flight Simulator X is CPU intensive. However, as time goes on, I will probably play other games and so I will put in a high performance video card. I will want to overclock the CPU and so will want to maximize cooling. A mid tower case is necessary, due to space considerations. I'd like to list the major parts and my cooling ideas. Also, I will list my concerns. The benefit of your experience and knowledge will be most apprecitated.

 

Machine:

-Arc Midi R2

-ROG Maximus VI Hero

-4770K (I understand first take with overclocking shows the part gets very hot)

-EVGA GTX water cooled Titan

-16 gig (2x8) DDR2 2133 or 2400

-1000 watt Seasonic Platinum power supply

-Blu Ray internal drive

-2 SSD

-1 spinning hard drive

 

The main parts could change. But the need to overclock and cool the parts will remain the same; given the nature of FSX

 

Cooling:

As most of you know, the Arc Midi R2 supposedly can accomodate a 240 rad in the top and a 240 rad in the front (if middle hard drive cage is removed and bottom cage is repositioned. I am guessing that a 120mm rad can be installed in place of the rear fan. The bottom fan mount will be out of service due to relocation of the bottom drive cage. I calculated a max load of 800 watts at full load with a bunch of headroom (this number may be ridiculous...please bear with me as I am a newbie :).

 

Plan

-cool CPU, GPU and a potential future second GPU

-240mm intake rad in front

-240mm exhaust rad in top

-120mm intake rad in rear

-bottom 120mm position is not available

-hook pump(s) up to 8 way PWM connector to have motherboard control rpm's based on cooling requirements

 

I am assuming the configuration will produce positive case pressure and that that will reduce dust buildup inside the case, provided the intakes are properly filtered

 

 

Proposed Parts

I originally thought to purchase a Swiftech H220 and expand. My concern is that the H220 pump will not be adequate for 3 radiators. I could always add another pump, however I read elsewhere in the forum that dual pump systems should use the same pumps. I believe the H220 pump is not available as a separate item. I could be mistaken that the H220 pump will not service 3 rads. Therefore I'll list an alternate setup and if you think the H220 pump is adequate, I can always substitute the H220 for a pump/rad/reservoir/waterblock.

 

-5 x Noctua NF-F12 for rads

-2 x 240mm Swiftech MCR-x20 Drive combination Rad/Pump/Reservoir (uses MCP35X pump)

-1 x 120mm Swiftech MCRx20 QP Res combination Rad/Reservoir

-1 x Swiftech Apogee HD CPU water block. GPU waterblock is built into EVGA card.

-8 way Swiftech PWM connector

-tubing, connectors, coolant

 

If H220 Used

-H220

-3 x Swiftech Helix PWM fans (2 fans built into H220)

-1 x 120mm Swiftech MCRx20 QP Res combination Rad/Reservoir

-1 x 240mm Swiftech MCRx20 QP Res combination Rad/Reservoir

-waterblock built into H220

-8 way Swiftech PWM connector included with H220

-tubing, connectors, coolant

 

Questions

-will 3 rads give me approximately 800 watts of cooling

-will the fact that all 5 fans are blowing through rads cause overheating of other components (motherboard, memory, hard drive, etc). That is a concern based on the fact that all fan locations are taken up

-is the configuration correct to maximize cooling regardless of wattage

-will the configuration create positive pressure. Is that desirable

-could the H220 pump service 3 rads (that would save a considerable amount of money). The H220 pump has a max 3000 rpm.

-the MCP35X pump has a max rpm of 4500 and I assume it can't be matched with the H220 pump if more than 1 pump is needed. Is that correct

-if I can use the H220, would replacing the fans with the NF-F12's be overkill

 

I realize that many of the questions are product specifiec and perhaps are best addressed to the manufacturer. However, I imagine that the principles are those you have dealt with in the past. I also admit that I know very little about water cooling a pc.

 

So there it is. A very long post. I apologize for its length. But I wanted to give as much information as possible to make it easy for anyone who wishes to reply. I would like to wish you all a good evening and thank you in advance for any help you can send my way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gts250ftw]

well normal corsair pumps are around 1.8 watts 

the h220 pump is around 6/8 watts not sure which

the d5 pump is 24 watts (4m head)

 

the d5 pump is very good and if you are looking for a future 2nd graphics card id say go with a d5...its has a 50000 hrs life span according to the companies 

 

also i dont think having 2 pumps that arent the same will cause any problems

[Whaler_99]

Hard to say what the cooling needed for those new chips will be in combo with a Titan and wanting to overclock.

 

Those 240 rads though may have clearance issues, with the pumps the way they are. That case is pretty small with minimal clearance. I would go with two standard 240 rads and a 120 in the rear if really needed. Then get yourself say a micro res and a laing d5 vari pump.

 

The NF-F12's though are the way to go though....

[airdeano]

Plan

-cool CPU, GPU and a potential future second GPU

-240mm intake rad in front

-240mm exhaust rad in top

-120mm intake rad in rear

 

Proposed Parts

-1 x 120mm Swiftech MCRx20 QP Res combination Rad/Reservoir

 

great you planned it out, but some flaws are going to pop out.

 

you will not be able to mount a rear 120 radiator and fan if a 240/280 is mounted in the roof. not enough

room. just barely enough for fan and 10-15mm.

 

 

a 2x 240x 60 will just prolly be enough to keep the CPU/GPU cool, but because the reviews

aren't complete, no word on thermal efficiency of larger radiators and combinations of GPU

used.

since linus did his OC guide, at 4.7GHz holding 75° on a H100 w/F-12 fans is pretty hot and

to pile on an 250w TDP overclocked GPU, you got some thermal questions to answer.

 

airdeano

[gfd]

Thank you all for your guidance. If I understand this, it looks like 2w x 240 rads, 1 x slim fan in the rear. Regular rads with a separate reservoir and high quality fans and pump.