How would i go about cooling CPU, 2 7800GT's, 4 HDD's

Alright.. If you didnt see in the AMD CPU section i got myself an AMD 64 4000+, 7800gt's in sli, 2 gig OCZ ram, 4 74gb 10k raptors, 2 550w OCZ powerstream, and a bunch of other little goodies... Now, i want to keep this thing as quiet as i can, which is why iv thought about watercooling. The reason is this thing is about 4 feet away from my bed, and i hate hearing fans go off while im trying to get to sleep (oh the dreadful summer when my room hits 85 degrees cause im at the end of my AC Duct). It doesnt help that i have a celeron D 2.93 ghz that idles at a ridicousl 53 degree celcius and under load hits about 67, and then the high fans kick in. Anyways....

I want to build myself a WC system, but the problem is, how strong of a pump will i need to run to cool all those blocks? Is it worth it cooling the HDD's? Im also looking for an internal water system.. I dont like how the Zalman is outside of the case. Space wont be a problem for me since its in a gigantic server case (which i might change, depends). But as of right now it sounds like a jet engine. He has a ridicouls amount of fans in there, hell, he has one whole power supply controlling the fans lol. 550 watts of fan power.

Anyways, any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

This what I would get

Bip2/3 or MCR220/320 radiator
Apogee Cpu waterblock
Water pump DDC+
Either swiftech or dangerden gpu waterblock
7/16 mastercleer tubing
T line.
Some fans
Fan controller.

If you are aiming for stock performance or just a very modest overclock, but silence, get yourself a low restriction CPU block and a pair of Maze 4 Sli GPU blocks. A single 120mm copper radiator with low flow restriction and low air restriction so you can use a pair of silent 120mm fans push/pull on it. Then get a MCP350/DDC pump. And keep 1/2inch tubing throughout for lowest possible restriction. Then you're good to go.

It's not worth watercooling your hard drives, your RAM, your chipset or anything else in general. Keep a good unrestricted airflow through your case and all those components will be fine. It's also not worth getting a larger rad and more fans, unless you are going to overclock/overvolt. A single 120mm rad will do fine on stock. And it reduces the number of fans needed, which is the main goal in the first place.

If you are going for high clock or overvolting, then you need to look elsewhere.

Thank you for all of your responses. Im not planning to go all out overclock with this thing, but i was hoping to get a modest OC with it, at least to 2.6ghz, which shouldnt be to hard. Ill look into both of your requests But what would be the main difference from running a T line or a resoviour(sp?), which would work beter for my application

hitbyaprkedcar7 said:

Thank you for all of your responses. Im not planning to go all out overclock with this thing, but i was hoping to get a modest OC with it, at least to 2.6ghz, which shouldnt be to hard. Ill look into both of your requests But what would be the main difference from running a T line or a resoviour(sp?), which would work beter for my application

Click to expand...

It will depend for the size of your case to figure which is better for you.

Advantages of T line
Cheap
Small
Minimal flow restriction.

Cons
Bleeding air out of the loop takes some time.

Advantates of Res
Bleeding air out of the loop takes little time.

Cons
Sometimes harder to instal, actualy to fit in some cases. Might more restrictive depending where it is installed.

Thanks for the input, i shall look into water cooling setups and post things i see and get your feedback on them thanks everyone

I agree with meionm's recommendations.

Hard drives being not worth watercooling is something that I disagree with. Watercooling them takes a lot of heat away from the drives which can allow you to need little or no air flow over your hard drives. Raptors are know for getting rather hot if they are under heavy use. It also depends on your case as to whether you have room to mount 4 hard drives w/coolers in 5 1/4" bays. I am using a DD Aquadrive with two plain 7200rpm drives and they knock about 7c off of them vs just having an intake fan blowing on them. It also depends on how far you want to go as far as silence is concerned.

Using a larger rad with slower speed fans is the way to go if silence is what you are after. I would recommend at least a 120mmx2 rad, or even a 120x3 rad so that you can use very low (and quiet) cfm fans like yate loons or scythe s-flex fans.

Don't even think about the Zalman reserator-it really is a waste of time for you and would give lousy results.

voigts said:

I agree with meionm's recommendations.

Hard drives being not worth watercooling is something that I disagree with. Watercooling them takes a lot of heat away from the drives which can allow you to need little or no air flow over your hard drives. Raptors are know for getting rather hot if they are under heavy use. It also depends on your case as to whether you have room to mount 4 hard drives w/coolers in 5 1/4" bays. I am using a DD Aquadrive with two plain 7200rpm drives and they knock about 7c off of them vs just having an intake fan blowing on them. It also depends on how far you want to go as far as silence is concerned.

Using a larger rad with slower speed fans is the way to go if silence is what you are after. I would recommend at least a 120mmx2 rad, or even a 120x3 rad so that you can use very low (and quiet) cfm fans like yate loons or scythe s-flex fans.

Don't even think about the Zalman reserator-it really is a waste of time for you and would give lousy results.

Click to expand...

very informative Thanks.. Im looking at parts right now, ill post up my shopping cart in a bit to see what everyone thinks

voigts said:

Using a larger rad with slower speed fans is the way to go if silence is what you are after. I would recommend at least a 120mmx2 rad, or even a 120x3 rad so that you can use very low (and quiet) cfm fans like yate loons or scythe s-flex fans.

Click to expand...

Yeah I have a Scythe S-flex fan and you cannot hear it. ~54CFM ~19dB ... makes crickets sound like airplanes taking off a runway

I was looking at water blocks, and this one caught my eye. I think it looks crazy, lol. Its a 3/8 water block, but im wondering, will it restrict flow to much if im going to WC my cards as well?
http://www.frozencpu.com/ex-blc-239.html

then for a pump i was looking at this one... does anyone have any experience with it? would i need a more powerful one if im running 3 blocks? sorry, im completely new to WC'ing

http://www.frozencpu.com/ex-pmp-34.html

Now for the radiator and fans...
Heres the radioter i was looking at. Ill run 3 120mm quite fans at low speed to keep noise down

http://www.frozencpu.com/ex-rad-75.html

Fans.. 3 120mm AreoCool

http://www.frozencpu.com/fan-197.html

As for the GPU blocks.. I might hold off till i get some more cash, but how would these do?

http://www.frozencpu.com/ex-blc-183.html

CPU Block - 52
Pump - 130
Radioter - 64
Fans - 19$x3
GPU - 44x2
Various tubes and fittings - 15$
TOTAL - 404$. Thats wayyyyyy over my budget that i want to spend to WC my system... Im lookin for something around 200$. I was thinking more like the big water SE on newegg for 125$, and if need be, i can buy a better radiator or a new cpu block.. what do you think?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835106063

Thanks everyone

you can do much better than the volcano dont let the looks take you (granted looks the dogs nads) but will compromise the rest of your system. ive seen a few reviews witch have had temps rise using that compared to other more normal blocks. as for the rest ill leave it to the pros but looks good to me

Alright, thanks. What block do you have in mind?

the sticky waterblock round up is a good post plenty of info in there re good blocks but given your spending a large amount why not go for the swiftech storm everyone seems to rate it as the best. Mines mostly alphacool with a new gpu block ordered swiftech mcw60 as my other order seams to be lost.

First the CPU block

Get a Swiftech APOGEE $50 or at the very least a DD TDX $53. The Swiftech block is cheaper and would give you much better performance.

Second the water pump

Get a DD12V-D5 for $73.99 or a Eheim 1048 for $62.00. Both are available here Directron

Third the radiator.

This is were some wont go, but you can save nearly $50 by getting a '77 Bonneville radiator. It is a 2X120 all copper core, and available in most Autozone/Advance autopart stores. It will preform on par with that radiator and is way cheaper. You will need to shrowd it with cardboard, but normally with good placement in your case you won't even see the rad.

Fourth, Fans...

I use four of these fans. Two push, two pull. By placing them in front of my hard drive carriage they cool my drives just fine, and keep my water nice and cool. As hard as noise, I only hear the slight whine of my WD fluid bearing 250G HDs.

My 4400+ plus 2x7800gts are all cooled by this setup. CPU temp 40C load, GPU temp < 40C load. That is because the Nvidia temp gauge does not work properly below 40C.

Apogee $50
Eheim $62
Maze4 $117 (sli)
Rad $21
Tube $10

Total $260 + shipping

You probably won't get anything better, cheaper than this.

Vampiregabe said:

First the CPU block

Get a Swiftech APOGEE $50 or at the very least a DD TDX $53. The Swiftech block is cheaper and would give you much better performance.

Second the water pump

Get a DD12V-D5 for $73.99 or a Eheim 1048 for $62.00. Both are available here Directron

Third the radiator.

This is were some wont go, but you can save nearly $50 by getting a '77 Bonneville radiator. It is a 2X120 all copper core, and available in most Autozone/Advance autopart stores. It will preform on par with that radiator and is way cheaper. You will need to shrowd it with cardboard, but normally with good placement in your case you won't even see the rad.

Fourth, Fans...

I use four of these fans. Two push, two pull. By placing them in front of my hard drive carriage they cool my drives just fine, and keep my water nice and cool. As hard as noise, I only hear the slight whine of my WD fluid bearing 250G HDs.

My 4400+ plus 2x7800gts are all cooled by this setup. CPU temp 40C load, GPU temp < 40C load. That is because the Nvidia temp gauge does not work properly below 40C.

Apogee $50
Eheim $62
Maze4 $117 (sli)
Rad $21
Tube $10

Total $260 + shipping

You probably won't get anything better, cheaper than this.

Click to expand...

Very good list he put together there. That'll really get you a nice system for a nice cheap price. The heater core requires a little bit of do it yourself skill but not much, and for the price you can't beat it. I'd definately take a serious look at this setup as it'll be a very good one for you if you don't do the hdd's.

Thank you very much for that list Ill look into it

meionm said:

This what I would get

...
Apogee Cpu waterblock
...

Click to expand...

Is there some reason you like Apogee over Storm ...?

QuietIce said:

Is there some reason you like Apogee over Storm ...?

Click to expand...

Cause he was concerned with price.

The storm is $30 more and will only show a slight performance increase.

I would rather keep the $30.

Vampiregabe said:

Cause he was concerned with price.

The storm is $30 more and will only show a slight performance increase.

I would rather keep the $30.

Click to expand...

Ahhhh! I should have researched farther ...