Custom water loop for a newbie

[Doomman]

So I am looking for some help with creating my own custom water loop for my PC.  I am currently running off air and i hate the noise and the wimpy amount of overclocking I can do on my 7970 because I bought a reference design.  I plan to ditch my current case, a Enermax Fulmo advance and get a Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 and have a thick dual 120mm rad in the front after taking out the hard drive cages and a thin dual 120mm one  I was looking for recommendations on radiators to get/if this will be enough for overclocking my i7-2600k and 7970 , fans (other than noctua's I can't stand their colors), pumps, waterblocks for both my 7970 and i7-2600K and just any recommendations or tips in general for a newbie

[Saladin]

If you dont like Noctuas look at eLoops or gentle typhoons or for a budget corsair SP 120 quiet editions, as for pumps go with a D5 type pump (such as a swiftech MCP 655, though the brand doesnt matter), water blocks are your choice GPU http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l3/g30/c309/s1590/list/p1/Liquid_Cooling-Water_Blocks_VGA_-_Card_-_ATI-HD_7970_Water_Blocks-Page1.html CPU http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l3/g30/c325/s1118/list/p1/Liquid_Cooling-Water_Blocks_CPU_-_Socket-CPU_Socket_LGA115x-Page1.html I buy from frozencpu.com and performance-pcs.com. Keep your res above and before your pump, the rest of the loop order doesnt matter.

[airdeano]

So I am looking for some help with creating my own custom water loop for my PC.  I am currently running off air and i hate the noise and the wimpy amount of overclocking I can do on my 7970 because I bought a reference design.  I plan to ditch my current case, a Enermax Fulmo advance and get a Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 and have a thick dual 120mm rad in the front after taking out the hard drive cages and a thin dual 120mm one  I was looking for recommendations on radiators to get/if this will be enough for overclocking my i7-2600k and 7970 , fans (other than noctua's I can't stand their colors), pumps, waterblocks for both my 7970 and i7-2600K and just any recommendations or tips in general for a newbie

 

for a CPU/GPU loop a 360x 60 radiator or 2x 240x 60 radiators is my minimum

support. the 360 will need some fan speed to keep temps low under a heavy loaded

condition. on the 2x radiator config, easy 1000-1200rpm can keep a good temp line.

depending on your overclocking skills, temps might be higher. the 2x config can fit

a lot of cases with minimal/no modding.

 

pump support has two options D5 or DDC (18w)

reservoir is preference and look.

 

easiest would be to find some build guides of chassis you like and see what they had

to do to water cool their build. sometimes that chassis might not be the "best" to

handle cooling support. the arc midi would be a champion chassis to look into.

[Prophet of Entropy]

get the fractal ARC XL and a slim 360 (if you don't need the top 5 1/2in bays you can remove them and use a thick rad up top), cheaper then multiple rads, and if you want to put 2 GPUs in your loop you can get a 240 rad for the front and still have plenty of cooling. 

 

 

as for blocks just use a name brand, ek, xspc, koolance, swiftech, they all pretty equal. what looks good to you. (I think 75% of EK look like shorn scrotum)

[Rollergold]

Radiators: For a beginner I would get Alphacool's NexXxoS rads as they have a metal plate under the screw holes so you don't punch a hole in to the rad, all copper for performance and low fin density so you can good cooling with quiet fans.

Water Block (CPU): Most perform within a few degrees of each other so pick the one you like. I run the Apogee HD from Swiftech as I like it's mounting mechanism and the looks aren't half bad to my eye

Water Block (GPU): Like the CPU block most perform within a few degrees of each other so buy based on what looks good to you. I run the XSPC Razor V2 blocks on my GTX 680's

Pump: If you can find space for it go for a Vario or PWM controlled D5 pump. DDC pumps are another good choice if you lack space but unless you keep some airflow over it or install a heat sink on the bottom of it will tend to overheat. EK also now sells a metal replacement housing for DDC pumps which will combat the heat issue and make the pump look better.

Reservoir: Buy based on visual preference. Some say bay res's are harder to bleed compared to a tube res but I never had an issue with getting the air out though my Swiftech Maelstrom bay res. You can also get pump res combo units if you want to save space

Fan's: Gentle Typhoons AP15 or AP14's are my pick.

 

Also pick up a replacement IO bracket so you can turn your 7970 into a single slot card.