CPU water loop + GPU later?

[GrimEvoX]

So I am going to be trying my hand at doing a custom water loop for my system. It has a i7 6700 CPU and a single GTX 1080. I have been looking for over a week now into water cooling and I am just unsure of one thing. How much do I need? I plan on using a 40mm 360mm rad. But I cant figure out my reservoir. Would a mid sized reservoir be enough or do I need one of the larger ones? Or should I move to a thicker rad? 

[Simon771]

Don't bother with reservoir  that much. Big ones are mostly just to show it off

360mm rad ... well that's minimum. Simple rule: 120mm rad space for each component + additional 120mm.

But if you have more space, I would recommend you to get either 480, or 360 + 240.

 

It will work with 360mm rad, but temps won't be that great. Also you will need to run fans a bit louder.

 

About thicker rads ... it's good so you can use fans at lower speed, because more air can get trough it, because thicker they are, less fins they have.

So thicker rad = same temps for lower fan speed. In most cases at least  40mm seems just fine for me.

 

Just let us know what you alread picked, and we can tell you what else do you need.

[Mobby Dick]

3 minutes ago, GrimEvoX said:

So I am going to be trying my hand at doing a custom water loop for my system. It has a i7 6700 CPU and a single GTX 1080. I have been looking for over a week now into water cooling and I am just unsure of one thing. How much do I need? I plan on using a 40mm 360mm rad. But I cant figure out my reservoir. Would a mid sized reservoir be enough or do I need one of the larger ones? Or should I move to a thicker rad? 

1. The more radiator, the better. I would use 240mm for each part to cool. Still you would be fine with a 360mm.

2. Reservoir size is not really important imo, it's just more comfortable to fill your loop with a bigger one.

3. Thickness is not that important when it comes to radiators. 40mm would be fine and more quiet than a thicker one because your fans can don't need to spin that fast to move the air through the radiator.

4. There is one more thing with radiators: The number of fpi (fins per inch). I think 10 fpi is the most common, but there are also 20 fpi radiators, which obviously have more cooling performance, but again need faster spinning fans to push the air through the radiator.

5. I personally would already watercool the GPU, if you can afford good waterblocks, since you get a lot better temps.

6. Good watercooling parts are really important. If you don't have the money for good waterblocks and so on, wait and save money until you can afford them.

[Mobby Dick]

4 minutes ago, Simon771 said:

thicker they are, less fins they have

I don't think they have neccessarily less fins, you can still choose different numbers of fpi.

[Simon771]

Just now, Mobby Dick said:

I don't think they have neccessarily less fins, you can still choose different numbers of fpi.

Yap that's true.

But usually we go for more thick rads, because less fpi and we can run fans slower.

 

But yeah ... you can get thicker rad with even more fpi than some slim rads. But That would be a bit crazy.

Imagine 60mm rad with 24fpi ... you would need tornado to move air trough it

 

[DocSwag]

I just noticed something.... You said you have a 6700 and want to watercool it, but that's a locked CPU?!? Unless you made a typo, you won't really get much out of watercooling unless you really like the looks of wc and want to do it for fun.

[Dschijn]

If you want it easy and less custom: EK Predator. Very easy to add the GPU later within seconds.

[GrimEvoX]

1 hour ago, DocSwag said:

I just noticed something.... You said you have a 6700 and want to watercool it, but that's a locked CPU?!? Unless you made a typo, you won't really get much out of watercooling unless you really like the looks of wc and want to do it for fun.

Yes this is what I have. I really don't have a drive to OC the CPU or the 1080. I am just thinking of taking the next step in building my PC and upgrading.

[GrimEvoX]

1 hour ago, Simon771 said:

Don't bother with reservoir  that much. Big ones are mostly just to show it off

360mm rad ... well that's minimum. Simple rule: 120mm rad space for each component + additional 120mm.

But if you have more space, I would recommend you to get either 480, or 360 + 240.

 

It will work with 360mm rad, but temps won't be that great. Also you will need to run fans a bit louder.

 

About thicker rads ... it's good so you can use fans at lower speed, because more air can get trough it, because thicker they are, less fins they have.

So thicker rad = same temps for lower fan speed. In most cases at least  40mm seems just fine for me.

 

Just let us know what you alread picked, and we can tell you what else do you need.

So you said 120mm for each component + 120mm for overhead. I only plan to do CPU and one 1080. So a 360 rad would fit that? Or does the 1080 just put out that much heat?

[KE2012]

1 minute ago, GrimEvoX said:

So you said 120mm for each component + 120mm for overhead. I only plan to do CPU and one 1080. So a 360 rad would fit that? Or does the 1080 just put out that much heat?

A 60x360 rad is probably enough if your not overclocking imo 

[Simon771]

On 29. 7. 2016 at 4:33 PM, GrimEvoX said:

So you said 120mm for each component + 120mm for overhead. I only plan to do CPU and one 1080. So a 360 rad would fit that? Or does the 1080 just put out that much heat?

Sorry for late reply.

Yeah 360mm will work, but when you OC everything to the limit ...that might be a problem.

That's why we always recommend as much rad space as you can fit in your case.

120mm for each components + aditional 120mm is bare minimum.

[Dschijn]

Why not conisder an EK Predator? Very easy to add a GPU into the loop with the prefilled GPU blocks.

The 360 is cooling my 5820k @ 4.5GHz and my GTX 1080 @ 2.1GHz easily and quietly.