Will my set up cool an i7950 and 2 480gtx's in sli? Please Help

I want to upgrade my current PC with the following.

CPU - Intel i7 950 Bloomfield (Will be overclocking to 4ghz min)
2 GPU's - Nvidia EVGA 480gtx sc in sli x2
Motherboard - EVGA E760 Classified "Overclocker's Pick" 3 Way SLI
Ram -Corsair Dominator - GT 6BG (3 x 2gb) DDR3 2000 (PC3 16000) (Timing 8-9-8-24)

My Current cooling is as follows:
Radiator: Thermochill PA120.3 Triple 120MM Fan Water Cooling Radiator with 15MM Spacing
Pump: Swiftech MCP655 12 VDC Pump
Tubing: Tygon 1/2 inc ID, 3/4inc OD.
3 Radiator Fans: 3 x SILVERSTONE FM121 120mm (RPM: 800-2400RPM) (Airflow: Max 110.03CFM)

So, my questions are:
1) Will this radiator and pump (H20 cooling system) be sufficient to run my CPU, and 2 GPU's in SLI in a single loop? I will be overclocking my cpu to at least 4Ghz. Is anyone running this same configuration? If so, please tell me your temps for the cpu and gpu's at idle and max load.
2) If it won't be sufficient, will I have to add another radiator and pump? or just radiator? How much more radiator?
3) Is there anything above that you see would be incompatible?

Here is what i currently have under the hood.

Comp Specs/Signature
EVGA 780 FTW
E8500 Wolfdale 3.16Ghz (OC'd to 4.0GHz stable 24/7)
(2x) 9800GTX+ 512mb in SLI
Corsair Dominator 4GB (2x2GB) 1066 DDR2
VelociRaptor 300GB
Seagate Barracuda 250GB 7200RPM Sata
Corsair CMPSU 1000HX 1000W
Custom Water Cooling:
Radiator: ThermoChill PA120 3x120mm 1/2 Barbs
Tygon Tubing R3603 1/2 Diam.
GPU Waterblock: (2x) EK-FC9800GTX
CPU Waterblock: Swifttech Apogee GTX CU Extreme
WaterPump: Swifttech MCP655 12V DC Pump
Resevoir: Swifttech MCRES-Micro

My current water cooling loop has no problem keeping my cpu ang gpu temps very low at idle and max load. Its a single loop. It runs resevoir, pump, radiator, cpu, 2 gpu's, then back to the resevoir. Im relative new to building pc's and water cooling. Below is my first comp i put together. So any advice, suggestions would be appreciated. And better yet, if anyone has tried cooling the i7 and 2 GTX 280's in a sinlge loop with the above cooling I would appreciate it if you could tell me how it fared.

Lots more heat. Your current heatload is 450 watts or so, not too bad, your DT is about 9C or so.

Unfortunately, you'll be looking at 800 watts or so with your new setup under load. Testing loads. More like 630 or so under gamin loads.

Your DT will be double, or close to it. Your CPU won't be very happy.

Double your current radiator, another 120.3 for worry free temps.

Might, well no might, you NEED to read this. Even peeps who been here since 2008 might find magic in the stickies............. Might as well learn a bit more, by your post count you stop by and get a few questions answered. Wattage loads have changed a lot!

http://www.overclockers.com/guide-deltat-water-cooling/

Hi and welcome to OCF.

To cool what you want to put under water you will need another rad, at least a 120.2, better a 120.3. Those gpu's get hot. Your pump should be able to handle extra load. Is it a variable by chance? The regular runs at the same power as setting 4 on the vario pump.

There's always talk back and forth on splitting loops. Pros for splitting the loop would be cooler cpu temps, less strain on one pump. Cons for splitting the loop are cost (extra pump, tubing, ect.), complexity, higher gpu temps (sounds weird but there are tests that prove this to be true).

Anywhoo, yes you will need to add raddage to the loop if you want to keep the cpu cool at the overclock you're looking at.

Splitting loops is an option. The OP want high i7 950 overclocks, temps wouldn't hold him back if he had the CPU in it's own PA120.3 loop.

Seen good GTX480's in SLI running super fine on just a 120.3. No need for more unless volt mods, then a PA120.4

Still, the OP, WITH THE RIGHT HIGH FLOW GPU BLOCKS AND A GOOD FLOW CPU block would be fine with one big loop. Err yea, one good pump too...............

OP, sorry, still meaning lots, double raddage.

this info has been very helpful. thank you. Sounds like im going to get a second radiator. Prob. the 120.2 since im running out of space. You guys mentioned with me new set up i will be pushing 800 watts. Does this include evertything, meaning radiator fans and my 2 hard drives etc?? If so, will my current power supply be enough or will i have to upgrade that too? I will prob. be adding a second pump to the system, so that will prob raise the watts a little too.

Any thoughts? Id prefer to stick with my current power supply, but i guess i can step up to the 1200 watt if needed.

You might be able to get away with the 1000w you have. Try this wattage calculator, it'll help you narrow down how much your system is pushing.

PIMPDURB said:

this info has been very helpful. thank you. Sounds like im going to get a second radiator. Prob. the 120.2 since im running out of space. You guys mentioned with me new set up i will be pushing 800 watts. Does this include evertything, meaning radiator fans and my 2 hard drives etc?? If so, will my current power supply be enough or will i have to upgrade that too? I will prob. be adding a second pump to the system, so that will prob raise the watts a little too.

Any thoughts? Id prefer to stick with my current power supply, but i guess i can step up to the 1200 watt if needed.

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800 watts of nothing but heat.

I'm not sure about the PSU. 1000 watts of a very top notch PSU should be fine. Maybe. Lots of info on the net, calculators etc.

A 120.2? Physics doesn't really care that your case is too small. It's your stuff......

You should do the math yourself and consider if your overclocking too.

Twigbutt said:

You might be able to get away with the 1000w you have. Try this wattage calculator, it'll help you narrow down how much your system is pushing.

Click to expand...

antec got that from here, i think this is a more recent revision

This is a good read. A single 120.4 rad should do you good. Since you have the 120.3 already, I'd try and see what temps you will achieve with the existing equipment if you do not plan on OCing the GPUs.

I run a similar system with a single GTX 480 @ 900/1800/2160 1.138V and i7 940 @ 3.8Ghz 1.25V w/ HT on.

Running a max stress load with P95+Furmark garners CPU 65C and GPU 58C with 23C ambient. That gives me a good 10-15C of head room running a RX120+RX240 loop w/ 1800rpm GT fans.

If you plan on a completely silent cooling solution running 800-1000 rpm fans, you'll want to think more seriously about adding another 120.3 radiator. With 1600-1800rpm fans things should be good but not silent.

TaHoward said:

This is a good read. A single 120.4 rad should do you good. Since you have the 120.3 already, I'd try and see what temps you will achieve with the existing equipment if you do not plan on OCing the GPUs.

Click to expand...

I take issue with that testing, it takes more than 10 minutes for a loop to stabilize at load...if he tested more he'd see the 120.4 level off and the 120.2 just keep climbing and climbing.

It's still interesting, I'd like to see the test replicated with more constants. (radiator placement and fans used) It can not be said for sure without replication and a longer test run.

Given my configuration is similar minus the chipset cooling and a 120.3 radiator loop his temps in the crude test look within reason from my experience.

Looking at graphs generated by Furmark/OCCT and the like; 15 minutes is about the optimal run time. Temperature seems to vary very little past that point unless the environment changes; warming of the room from longer term usage etc. Not for those who are light of heart about their electricity bill. lol

I often see excess use of radiators unless total silence is taken in to consideration or the system runs in a high ambient temp environment.

Edit: The 120.2 SLI GTX470 configuration was ran for 15 minutes.

Yea, that test was full of holes, and the tester stated it. He ran the sensor test instead of the standard accepted small fft test? Not sure about that, meaning the load dropped as the test ran longer. Not sure. Different fans, different abients, rad inside/outside of case......

I'll stick with the pure numbers Skinnee's tests give.

And I agree about excess radiator, I for one am one who does, to a point. I'll always suggest on the bigger side, don't want to help build a rig the OP won't be happy with.

Your point about noise is valid. Not sure what the OP wishes for noise levels. Heck a single HWLabs GT Xtreme 360 and some 38mm thick 3000 rpm fans would just about do it.

Depends on the DT and noise the OP wants to shoot for.

Just noticed, the OP will have the Superclocked (SC) version of the GPUs. More heat.

If pockets were not a matter of question everyone should run a couple external 120.4's in Alaska and call it good.

When in doubt about the minimum, I like the 120 per component cooled rule.

In theory I should still get reasonable temps with my system on a single 240 then. Worth trying out for the hell of it.

Well, this is getting a bit ot...but I don't think 120/component is nearly enough. Look at the h50's performance on an i7, it's beaten by high end air...to assemble a wc loop with 120/component would yield temps about as good as temps on air...120.3, on the other hand, will pretty much take you to the limit of what your cpu can do on ambient (depending on how hard you're willing to lean on it, certainly enough for your best 24/7 clock)...it is a system of diminishing returns though, so less rad will yeild a greater difference in temps than more will. (which is to say, the difference from 120.1 to 120.3 is much greater than from 120.3 to 120.5)