Help with Fan shroud design / system setup

Hi everyone

I am new to water cooling, but not to building my own computers. I have not yet built my system, as i am waiting for i7 / Nehalm

I have however bought my case (TJ07), and radiator (HW GTX 480), with pump Ehiem HPPS 12v, along with a 5.25 Fass-O-Matic drive bay reservoir.

Now my questions are:

• I have 1/2 barbs throughout, but the outlet to the HPPS pump is smaller (at 8mm) than 1/2, so i am thinking i should change to a Laing D5??

I have come to the descision it would be best to mount the rad outside, in a box of some sort - as i have x8 Panaflow 38mm deep 134 cfm fans, which i plan to run in a push pull config, with shrouds making it too big even for the mighty TJ07!!!! (This would also also leave me space inside the case for a second loop if required in the future) This rad box would then sit underneath my TJ07.

• Any ideas as to what i should use for a rad box for a quad rad with 8 fans on shrouds? I was thinking of constructing a box out of MDF, as i want to deaden the sound of those huge fans!!

• Will one Laing D5 be enough to run the system?

I plan to run it: Pump (sitting at base of TJ07 case) > Radiator (external rad box) > CPU > GPU (x1) > RAM > Reservoir > Pump

Any help / suggestions will be greatly appreciated quys and gals

Kind Regards

Phil

Is this the general idea of what your thinking of doing ?

Hi

thanks for the reply rjcouture
Yes that's the general idea but with the fans on the side of the box
Kind regards
Phil

Seems I'm the only one replying that one D5 pump is enough for that.
I was hoping other people could help you with your rad box thoughts I know enough that at the least 4 of the fans should push the air through the rad and the other 4 in a 2x2 fashion on the box pull out the air seems logical to me.
I'm fairly new to watercooling have you checked any of the stickies in cooling and watercooling that may help.
unfortunately I can't help to much further.

Is there a reason that you're wanting to watercool your RAM? That's not something that is done very often, at least not around here. It would be better to go pump>CPU>NB>GPU>rad>reservior>pump.

This would get more hits if it were in the watercooling section. Hopefully a mod will move it.

Axis

A D5 should be OK, although I would agree with axis01 that watercooling the RAM is not necessary. It is unlikely that you would see any increases in overclockablity, but the increased restriction would decrease the performance of the entire system, but to each their own. Order is unimportant for cooling, so the best order is whatever allows you to run the shortest amount of tubing and makes routing the tubes the least painful.

As for the radbox, MDF is an ideal material. Easy to work with, and it will help deaden vibration. Obviously, make sure there is adequate ventilation for airflow.

Rad Shroud

Thanks for the reply guys... glad one D5 pump should be enough :O)

I was thinking of water cooling the RAM as DDR3 runs very hot when you over volt and overclock it, so I’ve heard? As i am not made of money i plan on not buying the extreme CPU, and as such it will be multiplier locked, so i will need to get all my overclock from the FSB hike.

RE Cooling loop, i am waiting for i7 (Nehalm) core CPUs to be released before building my PC. Nehalm CPU's will have an integrated memory controller, and as such the new X58 chipset Nehalm setups should not have a northbridge :O) Therefore my loop would be Res > Pump > Rad > CPU > GPU > RAM
Or CPU > RAM > GPU if the loop is shorter that way.

I have come to the conclusion that MDF (the thickest stuff i can get) is the way to go, over plastics due to sound issues. I am still wondering just how much lower the noise will be due to the rad box though, as the fans still have to suck and push air, and of course the fan blades will only be a couple of mm from the box opening, so really how much quieter will it be.......should i recess the fans by several cm inside the box, and then run ducting, like an internal shroud duct?
I am also thinking of sticking soundproofing rubber inside of the MDF rad box, like the stuff people use in cars for sound proofing.

RE ventilation in the rad box, i plan to make the box fit as tight around the rad as possible, is this the best way, as opsed to having a large space around the rad inside the box?

I dont want to house anything other than the fans and rad inside, with a few mm around for the molex connectors on the fans perhaps (or might extend wires and just have all the molex connectors in base of my TJ07 case) - think this would be neater and better actually.: beer:

I am crap at woodwork, and am having a joiner round to finish up my new kitchen, and so am going to task him with it lol Today i made up the rad and fans, and have posted some pics

Kind Regards

Phil

How is the box coming along did the woodworker help?

Hi

Hi rjcouture

The joiner has not been round as yet, hoping he will be round this week though!

Phil

As thick as that rad unit is you won't be getting much sound-proofing from an enclosure unless you make it much wider than your case. Suggest you get a fan controller (or two?) for those monsters!


One D5/MCP655 will run that loop easy. I'm not familiar enough with Eheim pumps to comment much on that choice but looking at the specs for the HPPS Plus I wouldn't use it for that big of a loop.



BTW - I like the counter-top, looks a lot like mine ...!