1st WC in HAF 932

Hi folks,
First time in forums, Been reading up on WCing and this forum was highly recommended. If anyone could give me any thoughts on my plan it would be much appreciated!

System:
HAF 932
GA-ex58-ud3r
I7 920 @ 3.6 GHz
P&C 750w PSU
5870 crossfire setup

WC:
Rad 1: Feser X-Changer Triple 360 mm Extreme Performance
Yate Loon D12SL-12H x5
Watercool HEATKILLER® CPU Rev3.0 1366 or MC-TDX for Intel I7/Nehalem/1366
EK Radeon HD 5870 VGA Liquid Cooling Block x2
DD / Laing DDC-12V Center Inlet 18 Watt Version 3.2 X2
XSPC Acrylic Dual 5.25in. Reservoir for Two Laing DDC's
Tygon R3603 3/8in. ID 5/8in. OD
Rad 2 and 3: Feser XChanger 120mm Xtreme Performance Radiator X2
Danger Den High-Flow Fitting (G 1/4" Thread, 3/8" OD) x6,x10



Will be building in 2 steps (Separate loops)due to funds:

Step(loop) 1: Res-Rad1-CPU-Res

Step(loop) 2: Res-Rad2-VGA2-Rad3-VGA1-Res

Here is a rough diagram



Noise is not really an issue, plan on taking the i7 to at least 4GHz

Was wondering a couple of things:

1. With my domino, I run pretty warm under load @3.6, temp is 65 or so. What kind of temp drop will I be looking at temp wise with these parts and setup?

2. Is one loop possible running through 3 rads and also a better choice? This would save me some cash on extra pump.

3. Will all this fit in a HAF932 case without modding it? Ive seen some other HAF setups. Eyeballing it and looks like it could work

4. Any advice on the parts I have chosen?

5. I know I’m cutting it close with my PSU right now. Would this push me over the top?

6. As for flow on the second loop, Is it better to run loop from top, work down through rad 3, vga 1, rad 2,vga 2 and finish going up to res?

Any feedback would be great!

Though I don't know a whole lot about water cooling (I just set up my first in my HAF932), I do think you should know that using a 3x120 rad at the top will pretty much render your top two 5-1/4" bays useless. The top one for sure is gone and I didn't feel I could really put anything very long (like a drive) in the second without reducing airflow to part of the rad (I'm using the same one as you). As for speeds, you should get a very nice increase. Though I'm using a different block (Apogee XT), I've gotten up to 4.14GHz with max temps of 63C.
Oh yeah, and 7/16"ID 5/8"OD tubing was recommended to me and it works quite nicely.

1. not sure.
2. you could run it all in one loop, but your cpu will suffer as your pushing it with a 1 rad per card of that size. ideally a triple 120mm for the 2 cards, but 2 single 120mm's will work.
3. not sure.
4. good stuff, well done.
5. i see no issues the extra fans and pumps won't use that much power.
6. the way you have it is fine, route it anyway you want.

Thanks for the replies guys!
Stlnvet, I was planing on using the Reservoir in 2 of the bays 1 dvd drive. that leaves 3 to play with. It may be tight.Did the rad fit in the existing screw holes?
Spawn, I'm kind of stuck for room in case. I cant figure any way to fit 2 triple rads. With doing seperate loops,1 with triple rad for CPU and other loop with the 2 single rads for the cards. I will probably not be ocing the cards and they run lot cooler than 4800 series.Would that 2nd loop cool as much as the stock fans or less?

Have you not considered using a RADBOX outside the back of the case for the GPU's and routing the tubes through the existing W/C holes in the case?

you will be fine with the 2 rads for the gpu's the way they are, don't worry. at worst you will have the same temps as stock, but lower noise levels. but even then i don't see the temps being an issue. but if you did have the space i would opt for a triple.

No i hadn't thought of that. I didn't notice any radboxes for purchase on any of the sites I went to. Is it a certain type of rad or just a modification?

It's made by swiftech:



It's just a little blck box really that allows you to mount an external RAd to your case.





I'm not sure what size RAD they take upto but just an idea you could try?
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_ylAfxGSiVcg/SLx73vqUY-I/AAAAAAAAADM/Vg92qRxDbaI/DSC01151.JPG

koolance has a neat one, costs more but is really neat.

http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/product_info.php?product_id=829


and if you go with the swiftech version try to get the rev 1, not rev 2. the rev 1 is made of metal as oppose to the rev 2 being plastic.

Looks interesting. I'll check them out. Does distance the water has to travel have any influence on cooling? With my reservoir in front it seems the cycle may be a fair distance.

Some people have their loops many "MANY" feet long, say for example: From thier PC to a window where they put the RAD. Alsong as you have a decent pump you will be ok and it won't affect your temps..

EDIT: btw, your pic seems to be missing pumps. Are are you using a combined rez/pump setup?

jmdixon85 said:

Some people have their loops many "MANY" feet long, say for example: From thier PC to a window where they put the RAD. Alsong as you have a decent pump you will be ok and it won't affect your temps..

EDIT: btw, your pic seems to be missing pumps. Are are you using a combined rez/pump setup?

Click to expand...

Combined reservoir/pump is the way he's doing it, A good choice for saving space in my opinion.


Things look good, but I'll definitely use more rads for the GPU loop. It's not that your way of doing it is a no-go, it's that I find it a bit of waste in money to spend so much on a watercooling and not actually having better temps afterwards.

Also 2 single rads don't give you alot of headroom to overclock the 5870. In general, I would use a single 120mm rad for every 100watts to have optimal temperature.

Just adding a single 120mm rad or replacing one with a 240mm will greatly affect your temperatures.

How about this: 1 Res, 1 Pump, 2 loops

http://www.watercoolinguk.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=36&products_id=1544

jmdixon85 said:

How about this: 1 Res, 1 Pump, 2 loops

http://www.watercoolinguk.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=36&products_id=1544

Click to expand...

I think skinnee does some strange things now and then... read more than just his reviews before you decide (with the link to skinnee at watercoolinguk in mind)

I had three of that reservoir/pump housing (3 loops in my system), but found temperatures went through the roof so I bought Bitspower MOD Top instead - and temperatures dropped like a stone.

read this @ http://www.realredraider.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=11038

I read skinnees tests with mixed feelings, something just don't "feel right"... but that might be just me

sofmisfortune said:

Thanks for the replies guys!
Stlnvet, I was planing on using the Reservoir in 2 of the bays 1 dvd drive. that leaves 3 to play with. It may be tight.Did the rad fit in the existing screw holes?

Click to expand...

It won't be tight if that's all you're using in the drive bays. I have a fan controller also with a drive and bay res and everything is fine. And, yes the radiator fits the existing holes perfectly.

Just had a thought, would a radbox fit to the HAF? They are designed to mount to a 120mm fan fixing arn't they? The HAF has a 140mm rear fan. Suppose they must be a 140mm - 120mm adaptor tho.

jmdixon85 said:

Just had a thought, would a radbox fit to the HAF? They are designed to mount to a 120mm fan fixing arn't they? The HAF has a 140mm rear fan. Suppose they must be a 140mm - 120mm adaptor tho.

Click to expand...

if the haf had any good design to it then it would offer mounting holes for 120 as well as 140mm fans. my TT does in the front and bottom.

Just stuck my head behind mine, and it does indeed also have 120mm mounts Should have checked before posting, lol

Typhoon III- I checked it out and the review from skinnee which is good but checked the cx reviews and RRtech thread and not so much. I think I'll stick with the xspc and 2 loops as I'll be doing the cpu first, then vgas later on. Actually that leads to one more question. With that reservoir is it possible to run 1 loop first and add a second down the road?

Radbox- That seems like it may be the way to go although I wouldn't mind keeping it all internal. Another thought I had was removing the the 2 (or 3 if necessary)bottom 3.5 HDD trays and placing a third 120 rad there. Will three seperate 120 mm rads give the same perfomance as 360mm rad?

If you remove the bottom HDD trays I still don't think you would have enough room for a tripple rad. You would also need to remove the PSU but since your also having a tripple rad at the top there would be no where for it to go. And yes, I don't see why 3 120mm rads would do any worse than a 360 rad.