First WC Build Question

Hey All,

So I have question on the number of radiators and pumps i'm going to need for a new build i'm working on. Currently it will be a 2 component (CPU / Single 780ti GPU) build. I was considering the M7F MB, but i'm a little concerned with the anodized aluminum even though the core is copper. I will eventually add a 2nd 780ti, but unless I get the M7F it will remain a 2 component build for now.

I was initially going to do a single res 360mm/D5 Pump, but after further research everyone was saying 240mm per OC'd component. Initially I will not be OCing, but I will eventually be doing that. I am starting to think about adding either 2 240mm rads on the side (in addition to the 360mm on the top) of the case or adding a single 240mm rad at the bottom (again in addition to the 360mm) of the Cooler Master 932 HAF Advanced case. I think for CPU + 2 GPU the 360 + 240 at the bottom will be plenty, but I wanted to see if all of you had any opinions as this is my first WC build. Also, do you think a single D5 pump would be sufficient or should I add a second just for redundancy if nothing else?

The fans on the below part list were 4x NF-S12B for the actual case, but if I decided to go the 2x 240mm radiators i'll probably switch to the NF-F12 for the rads and end up getting 7 of them.

Any suggestions you could provide would be appreciated.

Part List:
Intel Core i7-4790K Haswell Quad-Core 4.0GHz LGA 1150 Desktop Processor
Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced - High Air Flow Full Tower Computer Case with USB 3.0 and All-Black Interior
ASUS MAXIMUS VII FORMULA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard (Possibly replace by the M7H)
Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Samsung 840 EVO 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB Dual Classified ACX Video Card
Corsair 860W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
Asus BW-16D1HT Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer
Asus Xonar Essence STX 24-bit 192 KHz Sound Card
Logitech G502 Wired Optical Mouse
Microsoft Windows 8.1 Professional (64-bit)
Innovation Cooling Diamond "7 Carat" 1.5g Thermal Paste
Asus ROG Front Base Dual-Bay Gaming Panel Multi function monitoring and overclocking display controller
Beyerdynamic DT-990-Pro-250 Professional
ModMic
ASUS PB278Q 27-Inch WQHD LED-lit Professional Graphics Monitor
Noctua NF-A14 industrialPPC-2000 PWM 107.4 CFM 140mm Fan
Noctua NF-S12B redux-1200 PWM 59.1 CFM 120mm Fan** (x4)
EK-Supremacy CPU Water Block
EK-FC780 GTX Ti Video Card Water Block
EK-FC780 GTX Ti Backplate - Black
EK-BAY RES D5 Vario (incl. pump)
EK-CoolStream RAD XTX (360)
Noctua NF-F12 industrialPPC-3000 PWM 109.9 CFM 120mm Fan (x3)
TUBE PrimoChill PrimoFlex™ Advanced LRT™ 19,1 / 12,7 mm - Bloodshed Red RETAIL 3m
G1/4" True Silver 1/2" Fitting (x8)
Single Luxury Tube Clamp LTC7 For Tube OD 3/4" (Black) (x8)
G1/4" True Silver 3/8" Fitting (x1)
Single Luxury Tube Clamp LTC5 For Tube OD 1/2" (Black) (x1)
TUBE PrimoChill PrimoFlex™ Advanced LRT™ 12,7 / 9,5mm - Bloodshed Red (PFLEXA-12-R) (x2)
Silver Killcoils - Antimicrobial .999 Fine Silver Strip (x2)

OK..here goes. If you eventually plan on adding another 780TI, an 860w PSU may not be enough. I wouldn't go with anything less than 1000w. Two 780TI's can do do 500-600w alone. There is much better TIM than the diamond stuff. All I use in MX-4 and I'm happy with it. The Asus ROG dual Bay monitor is not compatible with that motherboard, I don't believe. It's really a waste. I have the one that came with my board installed and I can see the CPU usage percentage, pump speed and clock multiplier x 100. I'd get a W/D Black drive any day over Seagate. I have had an Asus Xonar with Bose speakers and I honestly can't tell the difference between that and onboard sound. Unless the silver fittings are the same price as regular fittings, kill them for regular fittings and Dead Water with a silver kill coil. All you need is one per loop. You don't need all of that silver. I only see one 360 rad. That's not enough for a 4790k and a 780 TI. I'd go with at least 120.6.

Thank you. I really appreciate it. I thought the ROG panel was compatible, but either way I don't really need it, so i'll just avoid it. I will make some changes to my PSU and water cooling plans based on your information. Would a single D5 be able to handle 120.6 with those components?

Yes. One D5 would be fine. According to Amazon, the only motherboard compatible with the ROG dual bay are:

Compatible M/B: ROG maximus VI series mother boards & Rampage IV Black edition

This could be old information, but I remembered reading it.

BTW, I love your name. It reminds me of SumYoungChick.

to OCFs.

If you haven't purchased the case yet, I'd look for another case in that price range that can fit a 120.3 and 120.2/3 without modding. I'd look at some Corsair, NZXT or Phantek cases for that matter within that price range or higher.

As for the rads, I'd go 120.5 total minimum with that CPU + 2 GPUs. You should be fine with a 120.3 and 120.2 in the end. If you're looking to get close to 10c and under in delta temps you'll need more heat surface.

You could save some by going with all the same rad fans. If you want some premium fans at a lower price, take a look at the Noiseblockers B12 PWM. You don't want 3000 RPM fans since you'll never ramp them up that high. In most cases, the radiators are designed for low to mid RPM fans. I mean when going H20 cooling, not only temps but noise should be considered with dumping all that cash for a custom cooling system.

You could also go with a Swiftech Apogee XL or a XSPC Raystorm CPU WB and save a little dough there as well to put towards something else.

With the money saved on the fans and CPU WB, you could put it towards a roomier case with a newer water cooling friendly design.

As for the pump, one is fine but if you want redundancy that's fine as well but not mandatory.