• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

Need help with a design

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.
Kemon

Kemon

Member
​
Joined
May 22, 2006
So i'm trying to build a machine on an asus A8N32-SLi deluxe board. I'm going to put two 7900 GTX's on this thing with a sound card inbetween them... with this setup there won't be much airflow in that area since the GTX's are 2 slot cards and i'm worried about my graphics cards overheating... so i've decided to go with water cooling for this thing.

What should i get for cooling 2 graphics cards and a cpu?
 
Alright well here are the specs.

Athlon 64 X2 4800 + CPU
ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe mother board
2X EVGA Geforce 7900 GTX video cards

I'm on a budget of about 400 dollars or so and i'm hoping to be able to cool both my CPU and both my Graphics cards. I don't know what kind of case to get for this. I also have no idea what a good company is for water cooling as this is my first venture into using it.

Let me know what other info you need and i'll provide it.
 
I've been trying to figure that out it looks like it should though.

The lay out of the board is like this

PCI-E
PCI
PCI
PCI-E
PCI

So based on that the video card should take up the first slot and cover the second, leaving the third slot open for the sound card. Then the second video card will take up the 4th slot and cover up the 5th slot.
 
your budget is kinda going to hurt you in 1 major area and that will be the case.

getting a good roomy case cost a bit more but in the long run are definately worth it as you upgrade other components and keep the same case.

in your situation i would not go with a standard res for a loop. i say this because you have a budget and you can build a combo air trap/res much cheeper and it will be a bazzzziiiilllion times more effective if done right.

that leaves the cooling components.

in the stickies such as :
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=369636

youll notice the first one on the bullet list asks about noise to performance .
this is a rough idea that as you get more experianced you can answer better but the concept is important for which design you want and what rad pump and fans to buy

if you want quiet you will want different parts than if you want MORE POWER cooling.( note in some cases this will require purchasing ear plugs or other hearing protection)
 
Ah

Sorry I didn't specify, the budget is just for the cooling part... i have a 4,200 dollar budget for the just the computer itself and i've got money for a case, plus 400 for the cooling system itself.

That in mind, what case should I get? My current computer is about 5 or 6 years old. It's in a thermaltake XaserII case and this thing is pretty big, and loud compared to any other computer i've ever worked on. This thing has 5 90mm fans so it's pretty loud. I'd like the system to be somewhat normal as far as loudness goes... but i definately want good performance... i could probably flex my budget and get maybe 600 dollars for the cooling system itself. That should be enough right?
 
And sorry for all the questions... I've been working on computers a long time but this is totally new to me.
 
in that case ( pun intended )

i would go with a very expencive case that you will keep for at least 6 years . my recomendation is lian li g70

http://www.lian-li.com/Product/Chassis/Server_Full_Tower/Classical/S_C_PC-G70.htm

600 dollars will provide you with an outstanding system that will never have to be upgraded if you mean not counting case. but even for 300 you can get a very good system .

personally i would get a swiftech storm and a pre modded 18w 350 pump and an xflow gt 2 or 3 or a bip 2 or 3 for silence or a bix 2 or 3 for cooling power ( though if you do that you want stronger fans meaning a lot more noise for not that large a difference in cooling ability)
 
Ok cool i'll do some research on that then. I like that storm water-block that's pretty cool. Sorry just a few more questions... what company would i get a pre modded 18w 350 pump from? And are BIP and BIX companies?

What's so special about that case? I love big cases, my thermaltake is huge.
 
if you look at the size of the g70 its the same size as a pc 75 which is huge ( 60cm tall huge) but it is designed so that 1 psu slot is above the mobo and one below. this allows for space for cooling components the be situated either way and more freedom to design a good loop.

bix and bip are short names for black ice pro ( the thinner one) and black ice extreme( the thicker one needing stronger fans to be effective)

looking through the stickies and some of the forums you can see lots of links to swiftech and danger den and the like. finding a pre modded top for 350 pump is a little bit harder. it might be feasable to ask a member of the forums here to make you one or take the pump to a plastics manufacturer and have them just cast one with a slightly larger input ( 13mm ID or maybe even try a 14mm ID)
 
Ah ok that's what i figured you liked about the case cause that was what caught my eye.

So now the radiator cools the coolant, and obviously the pump pumps the coolant to where it needs to go.

So how do i do this for the system i'm looking at? I have three things to cool 2 graphics cards and one cpu... do you just make one big loop going from radiator to pump to cpu to graphics card to graphics card? Or do i get a radiator for each thing and a pump for each thing so they're all on their own system? I'd think if i ran it in a loop the coolant would get hot and whatever's last in line wouldn't get cooled as effectively. Also do i need a res. to store coolant in too?

And thank you so much for your help so far, you're very knowledgable!!
 
Last edited:
1 big loop usually untill you get into advanced cooling.

read the stickies on how it works and that should explaine everything.

as for the needing a res there are 2 styles with and without. for that case a specifically designed rad in conjunction with good parts can be used to be very effective but it requires modding skills if you do it my way ( you end up with an Outstanding loop)
 
Are the mods i could do myself? I like to think i'm pretty handy.

One other question, how does the system stay cool eventhough it's looping through all three of the things i'm going to? doesn't it get hot before the last one?
 
if you are going to run 2 of those video blocks and the storm you might want to just get 2 mcp350 pumps and run them in series and then have an uber system.

for the rad you want the one that has 2x fans or 3x fans .
 
The one i linked to is a 3x fan system. so that should be good... If you run 2 pumps in line do you get twice the power? Or does it just boost the original pressure from the first one just a little bit more?
 
Twice the power isn't specific enough.

2 pumps in series equals twice the pressure, and 2 pumps parellel equals twice the flow, if I'm not mistaken.
 
Kemon said:
So how do i do this for the system i'm looking at? I have three things to cool 2 graphics cards and one cpu... do you just make one big loop going from radiator to pump to cpu to graphics card to graphics card? Or do i get a radiator for each thing and a pump for each thing so they're all on their own system? I'd think if i ran it in a loop the coolant would get hot and whatever's last in line wouldn't get cooled as effectively. Also do i need a res. to store coolant in too?
Click to expand...

Well from what Ive learnt in the forums, just run the components in whatever series where the lengths of the tubes is minimized. However alot of people say that the reservoir should be on the top of the whole loop for filling and bleeding purposes. When the coolant runs from the first block to the last block the temperature difference is 0.5C, so there won't be much difference, hence it's better to design your loop according to minimum usage of tubing.


citronym said:
2 pumps in series equals twice the pressure, and 2 pumps parellel equals twice the flow, if I'm not mistaken
Click to expand...

you should be right... (i haven't touched physics since 2 years ago)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

K
need help choosing a mobo for a build
Replies
2
Views
376
EarthDog
EarthDog
MaddMutt
Is There a Recommendation on Upgrading a Benching Setup
Replies
16
Views
1K
Woomack
W
W
FEATURED One more bad experience with EKWB products
Replies
9
Views
667
Woomack
W
A
newbie , ram for ga ep45-ud3p
Replies
4
Views
453
Sologuy
S
Al_bundy
Liquid Extasy Waterblocks
2
Replies
35
Views
2K
67Elco
67Elco
Back