Liquid Cooled Case - Enough Cooling Capacity?

[villious]

Hello. I have a Thermaltake LCS liquid cooled case. It has (2) 120mm fans on the radiator. Will that be enough to cool a Core 2 CPU and (3) SLI'd GeForce 8800GTX Video cards?

Should I add another dual 120mm fan radiator? Any opinions are appreciated.

[Vio1]

i think not. 3 sli cards will produce a lot of heat.

[villious]

Would an additional dual 120mm fan radiator take care of the four heat sources? Maybe put the CPU and one GPU on one radiator and the other two GPU's on the other radiator?

[voigts]

For starters, I seriously doubt that the pump can handle a CPU and dual cards much less triple cards. The waterblock that I see with that kit is an old Maze 3 looking design and is going to noticeably lag behind the current Fuzion/Apogee blocks. And there is no way their dual rad is going to handle SLI cards and a GPU much less triple cards. You are going to need a second dual rad (Swiftech MCR220 is the best choice dollar for performance) and another pump. You could split the setup into two separate loops if you add a second pump.

Just as a general rule of thumb, Thermaltake anything when it comes to watercooling stinks. Their watercooling products are not made with quality to last.

[Jas]

Getting lots of peopel with Thermaltake kits in here lately.

If I were you, I wouldn't even think about water cooling 3 GTX cards. First off, EXPENSIVE, two, you might as well build a sedond loop for them, and with a hefty radiator as well, something 120.3 in size. Air cooling them would be FAR easier, Far cheaper, and easier to maintain. If yo uaren't planning on over clocking the graphics card (which is basically a moot point when running tri-sli), you really have no need to water cool them.

[voigts]

Getting lots of peopel with Thermaltake kits in here lately.

If I were you, I wouldn't even think about water cooling 3 GTX cards. First off, EXPENSIVE, two, you might as well build a sedond loop for them, and with a hefty radiator as well, something 120.3 in size. Air cooling them would be FAR easier, Far cheaper, and easier to maintain. If yo uaren't planning on over clocking the graphics card (which is basically a moot point when running tri-sli), you really have no need to water cool them.

You have a point about overclocking tri-sli to be rather pointless.

I would still like to see a tri-sli setup watercooled just for the fun of it. If I had the money I would build one just for the fun of it. But yes, air cooling probably does make more sense since overclocking these is pointless.

[Conumdrum]

Hiyas, glad you made it to this forum. I'm the same one that was on Toms H. You'll get much better info here than on Toms. Don't forget xtreme systems forum too!

[villious]

I'm not planning on overclocking the GPU's. So you're telling me that two dual 120 rads and two loops, two pumps (one for cpu and gpu) and (one for gpu and gpu) is pointless?

Basically, here's what I have. A Thermaltake LCS case that will cool the CPU and one GPU. A Koolance Exos-2 LX External Water Cooling Kit that will cool the other two GPU's. A few fans in the case for ventilation. Is this doable?

Thanks so much for the great info!

[ancalime]

Well like others have said Thermaltake water kits are complete garbage. The same goes for Koolance. Both of these companies use low end components and also mix aluminum and copper in their loops.

There is no point water cooling your graphics card if you aren't going to overclock them. The stock heatsink will be sufficient, unless you are just trying to do it for the bling..

[villious]

I've got a koolance case that I've been running for over two years with no problems. It's been a pretty good case and I overclock my CPU with it. I understand that I'm not using the cadillac of cooling systems. I'm just trying to make do with what I have.

I also like the water cooling. Cuts down on the number of case fans and provides better overall cooling than stock fans. But that's just me :)

[villious]

Oh, another question. I have two identical Thermaltake pumps. Can I run them both in the same loop for redundancy or better flow?

[voigts]

Oh, another question. I have two identical Thermaltake pumps. Can I run them both in the same loop for redundancy or better flow?

There is no question that good watercooling provides much better cooling than air. But normally you watercool for performance/noise reasons. And since overclocking 3 cards is going to be really unnecessary, then you are left with silence in which case it is hard to beat an HR-03 with just a bit of case airflow. But of course there is nothing wrong with watercooling them all, and if that works better for you, do you what you think is best.

You can most certainly run two identical pumps in one loop. You are usually best off running them in series as it nearly doubles the head pressure. Running two pumps in parallel tends to greatly increase the flow, but not if there is a lot of restriction in the loop.

[villious]

Could you explain running them in series vs parallel?

[Jas]

Series means you run the pumps in a strait line, on eafter the other. In parralel mean syou split the line and run the pumps side by side. With you rpumps, series would be the better way to go.

[villious]

Roger that.....thank you for the explanation.

[Jas]

No Problem, and good luck!

[Conumdrum]

If someone was to put 3 full cover blocks on 3 GPU's then 2 pumps in series would be a good idea. The full coverage blocks do restrict flow.

In this situation, a 120x2 for a GPU/CPU, and a 120x2 for the other two GPU's using non-full coverage blocks and heatsinks on the ram/mosfets on the vid cards would be my choice. I'd consider adding a NB cooler, but an HR-05 with good air flow through the case is fine.

Of course thats TWO full loops, not cheap. Making them fit in a case, a whole different story.

You do understand that you probably have corrosion in your system due to the alum/copper problem? What do you run for anti-corrosion fluid? The TT fluid?

[villious]

I was planning on using PCIce. Is that anti-corrosion? Is the Thermaltake fluid anti-corrosion?

[Jas]

Don't waste your money on the over the counter stuff. Buy a gallon of distilled water., get yourself some antifreeze (volkswagon, and toyota ANITfreeze are uber) mixe about 90-95% distilled water with ~5-10% anitfreeze, and optionally a biocide, and or some UV dye for color.

[greyharte]

Don't waste your money on the over the counter stuff. Buy a gallon of distilled water., get yourself some antifreeze (volkswagon, and toyota ANITfreeze are uber) mixe about 90-95% distilled water with ~5-10% anitfreeze, and optionally a biocide, and or some UV dye for color.

actually TT's coolant is the best low maintainance coolant i have used ... i ran the same original solution even adding distilled water as needed for close to 15mos all i did when i was modding my loop was run the stuff thru a coffee filter before putting it back into the loop ... my anti freeze loop w/ biocide i have had to change completely twice in the last 6 mos

[villious]

Is PCIce bad stuff?

[Conumdrum]

If you type PCice into google you'll get enough hits to make up your mind.

[villious]

Help me refresh my memory..... If you have a radiator, pump, reservoir, cpu and gpu......what is the proper flow direction and series for the components to go in?

Pump ------> Radiator -------> CPU -------> GPU ------> reservoir ------> back to pump?

[Albuquerque]

Help me refresh my memory..... If you have a radiator, pump, reservoir, cpu and gpu......what is the proper flow direction and series for the components to go in?

Pump ------> Radiator -------> CPU -------> GPU ------> reservoir ------> back to pump?

There really isn't a "right way", it's all personal preference. Ultimately the direction or order doesn't matter, the water will eventually heat-soak to the same temperature regardless.

[Blazing fire]

Hello. I have a Thermaltake LCS liquid cooled case. It has (2) 120mm fans on the radiator. Will that be enough to cool a Core 2 CPU and (3) SLI'd GeForce 8800GTX Video cards?

Should I add another dual 120mm fan radiator? Any opinions are appreciated.

Wow, 3 880gtx? I wonder what happens when you couple it with a QX6850.