Need peoples objective thoughts on this WC system (w/ cheesy pics)

Before I begin let me say this is nothing compared to what you guys are doing with barrels, car radiators and tubs of water lol.
But anyways I have been gnawing over the idea for a few weeks now. Been reading up a storm and all that jazz since I have (had as of now) no technical knowledge. I have been brewing up some ideas and trying to compile them into a reality. I have come up with a genuine idea that I may have stole (more like influenced upon me)

http://virtualrain.blogspot.com/2006/10/radiators-black-ice-gt-stealth-240.html

Since it is the same case I am running with. I loved his idea of placing the rads in the side where the fan placement is. So I running with his idea except leaving out flipping part. Placing the pump and reservoir in different areas.

Ok so anyways my system is mighty old. Still powers the best of games and rendering software no problem.

Asus Striker Extreme - nVIDIA nForce 680i SLI Chipset - Socket T LGA-775
Intel® Core™2 Extreme Processor QX6700
GIGABYTE GV-N570OC-13I GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
G.SKILL 4GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit
Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium

Anyways I decided water cooling because at idle load the CPU hurdles 50º even with ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler and about 9x 140mm fans blowing my ear drums out. It loads at 60º-68º which puts the system in duress. Mind you all everything is stock nothing is Overclocked with exception to the video card which is manufactured Overclocked. So down to the nitty gritty part with my poor graphic editing skills.

Loop 1

Loop 2

Loop 3

The plan


I am more inclined towards Loop 3 as it seems more plausible. I have read mixed thoughts on both and have also read a million times everywhere that it does not matter as long as the reservoir is before the pump lol. Anyways I was hoping to get some feedback on the idea as well as feedback on the items. Maybe possible experiences with any of them or heard anything bad about any of the products. I've been reading all over good reviews but there are the occasion bad reviews from people. I do not want to purchase the items and play the test and it game as this all adds up to roughly $500+ without tubes/fittings.

Innovatek Eheim HPPS Plus 12V Water Pump
EK Supreme HF Universal CPU Liquid Cooling Block
Black Ice GT Stealth 240 X-Flow Radiator
EK Dual Bay SPIN Reservoir w/ Flow Meter

After I jump in and get a feel for water cooling and feel a bit more confident I'll work towards GPU, mofset and bridge cooling. Right now this will be enough for me to get my feet wet. Hopefully I am aiming in the right direction. Just a quick note I plan on working with ½ fittings and tubing.


Really appreciate the feedback and valued information!

The rads are old, poor liquid flow rates, very high FPI so you need HS fans.

Look at other rads.

There are better smaller pumps too.

Our stickies up top will guide you more, take a read, rethink, get back to us after a bit of research.

More links too..
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6489396&postcount=3

My main problem is finding radiators that are less than 34mm thick. Limited to a few as far as I could find on the web that is. As far as pump size or noise factor. I am not to picky as I have been dealing with a lot of fans at max speed for some time. Mounting the 4 on the rads would be the point anyways. These were the idea

Scythe Kaze-Jyuni Slim Slip Stream 120mm x 12mm Fan

I will keep looking for rads that are within 34mm and check back with you guys if I can't find information I need on them.

Physics rules in PC cooling. If you must use those rads, so be it. Long term you should look at a new case that will work better.

Seen a few use those rads and quickly decide it was a bad move.

Your stuff! The two rads will be plenty for your CPU, adding the GPU to the loop and your future processor upgrades... You'll need more rad.

Conumdrum said:

Physics rules in PC cooling. If you must use those rads, so be it. Long term you should look at a new case that will work better.

Seen a few use those rads and quickly decide it was a bad move.

Your stuff! The two rads will be plenty for your CPU, adding the GPU to the loop and your future processor upgrades... You'll need more rad.

Click to expand...

I wasn't disagreeing with you at all. I just don't want to shell out to much money at once. The military doesn't pay me enough to spend my pay checks on computers all the time. heh sometimes though. I am just aiming for CPU for now. Later on if I do continue and feel confident that I can get past something probably simple to you guys but yet so challenging to together. I will definitely pick a bigger rad that has way better flow and a case to go with it. I was discussing with the wife that once we pay off a nice bill that we owe ($8600) I am rebuilding my next computer with no expense limitation. I am aiming for around $7500.00 for my next build. Thats 100% ground up and if all goes well and I do WC it will be closer to $9000 lol

You would be better off with the black ice pro2 or swiftech mcr220s with those fans, more fan friendly also less restrictive(although that is not really that big of a deal, can be plumbed to work with the restriction)!!

http://www.dangerden.com/store/black-ice_pro-ii-radiator.html#tabs
133 x 277 x 25 mm (5.9 x 10.9 x 0.98 inch) dimensions

http://www.jab-tech.com/Swiftech-MCR-220-Radiator-Black-pr-3199.html
Slim form factor 11.2 x 5 x 1.3" (284 x 128 x 34mm)

Black Ice Pro2 is older than that GT Stealth!

+1 for the MCR 220s though. Decent rads.

Lamanna said:

Thats 100% ground up and if all goes well and I do WC it will be closer to $9000 lol

Click to expand...

Honestly there is no reason to spend 9000$ on a computer... you can build a top of the line computer now that will play any game or whatever for about 1500-2000$... WC will maybe cost 1000$ more for top stuff...

Back on topic I agree MCR220 are a good price/performance rad. MCP35X or 355 for pump.

For fans either get some Yate Loon low speeds or some GT AP-1450

fall said:

Honestly there is no reason to spend 9000$ on a computer... you can build a top of the line computer now that will play any game or whatever for about 1500-2000$... WC will maybe cost 1000$ more for top stuff...

Back on topic I agree MCR220 are a good price/performance rad. MCP35X or 355 for pump.

For fans either get some Yate Loon low speeds or some GT AP-1450

Click to expand...

It was more a less a remark between me and my wife because she thinks I shouldn't spend more than $800 on a computer like dell or something which is ridiculous. The day I buy a computer from dell (alienware) I will stop playing games and start playing IM services. I'm still in debate with this whole setup after listening to Conumdrum. If I go bigger I will have to think of a realm outside the box and I wasn't hoping to do so. But it makes sense I guess because eventually I will have to if I want to add GPU/MB watercooling in the loop. But I am enjoying the advice on some of the rads and pumps. I did do alot of reading on the guides and tips over the last couple of weeks. I think i really need to get my hands dirty to get the concept down. I am in the military and I can tell you first hand when you get a brand new lieutenant from OCS (west point or any other). They can read and study warfare all day long but until they get down and dirty and in the **** with Soldiers. They will still be that brand new butter bar who doesn't know jack.

That is an expensive way to learn, my friend. When you are paying the same price for a rad or block that is 2+ years old as you would for a new one, only to find out that it doesn't perform half as good as the newer one...well you are obviously making more money than I am.

This isn't battlefield strategies. It is a hobby. Learn about it before you jump into it. If you don't understand how to figure out what parts to buy, then you will be buying the wrong parts. If you are ok with that, well, more power to you.

WOOT! I'm retired AF, was a radar tech, son is a submarine fire control repair/operate tech, he gets to push the big button, LOL.

Anyhoo, yea it's a journey. Once watercooled you keep at it. A quality WC rig for one GPU and CPU can easily run over $500. But the stuff lasts forever. Rads, pumps, fittings keep on going. It's the initial cost and learning so so much that is daunting.

Once your in, your in. Even butterbars need basic knowledge. They don't know the trenches, but they have some theory stuff that helps them at their level. Your like that butterbar now, get the theory, spend money do it. Or like a butterbar, do poorly and spend gov money and do it bad, and get reprimanded. Your wife is the commander that will do YOUR reprimand if you fail. Don't rush it.

Your first list and what you know now? 4 outta 10 for a new guy.

@ Daemonkin
No no I definitely do not have that kind of money to throw away trying.

@ Conumdrum
Yea my wife already pointed her finger at me grimly saying if I spend the money on something that doesn't work I'd loose my computer privileges lol. I am not lying to you, she said that. I am the private and she is the Sergeants Major lol. Anyways to my dismay of not wanted to screw it all up and basically loose my computer lol. I just settled with air cooled. Its sad when I am forced back by my wife but shes boss what can I say lol. She told me when we get our taxes next year I can try (We'll see). Honestly though I never want to upset her so I just said the hell with it. I still want to try one but like you all are saying, don't spend that much to learn. I'm happy with with the results with this fan i got i guess. It was in the high 60's idle and low 70's load. Now Im down to 25 idle and highest i've seen was 33 load so I cant complain.

Noctua NH-D14


Sorry I ended up wasting some of your guys time but I still appreciate the information. Hopefully one day I'll get to put it to use.



btw the button job Conumdrum is not the way to go imho. I am a MP bad job too but I still get to be on the ground with my Soldiers .