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First Ever Water Cooling Project

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Burty117

New Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2013
Hello to all that are reading this.

I am very new (literally just signed up, I'm normally on other forums but I really want to get a good opinion on my next setup)
I am now in the process of building myself a new Rig, the specs of which are below:

Corsair Obsidian 800D
Asus Maximus V Formula
Intel Core i7-3770K
Corsair Dominator Platinum (4x4GB)
Asus Xonar Essence STX
MSI GeForce N680GTX Lightning
Corsair Professional Series Gold AX 750W Modular
OCZ Technology 256GB Vector
1TB Western Digital VelociRaptor
Western Digital 2TB Caviar Black


Now I have never dabbled with water cooling before (except for the corsair H60 but that's not real water cooling) but with a rig like this I really want to get into a proper water cooling system build.

Everything is at planning stage but I wanted to have 2 loops, one that goes through the CPU and Chipset (motherboard has water cooling block already) and another for the graphics card.

The Reservoir I chose because the reviews say it is very good, quiet and overall very good:
Koolance RP-452x2 Duel 5.25in Reservoir which can hold 2 pumps Link Below:
http://koolance.com/rp-452x2-dual-5-25in-reservoir-for-1-2-pmp-450-s-pumps

I also went for Koolance Pumps as well to keep everything compatible, PMP-450:
http://koolance.com/pmp-450-pump-id-13mm-1-2in

My question is, can anyone here give me a simple list of items that I would need? I can follow guides all over the net to setup everything but I'm not so confident on what else I would need other than a ton of hosing?

Which connectors should I choose? compression? What piping thickness should I go for?
What are the best CPU blocks and GTX 680 blocks?

I've also got a few questions of my own, what would be the best radiator setup in that case?
I am also going for a red and black theme and getting hold of red LED's and coolant is fine but I was wondering if they make Black coolant?

Any help or pointers would be deeply appreciated :)
 
READ THE STICKIES; if for anything, just general knowledge. most of them are getting old, but still really good place to start. Also read around ANY OTHER post similar to yours in the water cooling section... BAM... so much knowledge it's not even funny.

Hello to all that are reading this.
I am very new (literally just signed up, I'm normally on other forums but I really want to get a good opinion on my next setup)
I am now in the process of building myself a new Rig, the specs of which are below:

Corsair Obsidian 800D
Asus Maximus V Formula
Intel Core i7-3770K
Corsair Dominator Platinum (4x4GB)
Asus Xonar Essence STX
MSI GeForce N680GTX Lightning
Corsair Professional Series Gold AX 750W Modular
OCZ Technology 256GB Vector
1TB Western Digital VelociRaptor
Western Digital 2TB Caviar Black

do you already have ALL of this gear? are you planning to add a second GPU any time soon? are you overclocking the CPU/GPU? (a lot or a littE?)

you MUST google the 800d case and simply look at what others are doing. Add water cooling to the google search for even more stuff. this is where you'll truly see your options. i think that case mounts a 360 up top, option for a 240 down front, and maybe a 140 for the fan on the back. (480 up top with light modding?)

Everything is at planning stage but I wanted to have 2 loops, one that goes through the CPU and Chipset (motherboard has water cooling block already) and another for the graphics card.

one loop is better imho; cheaper too. cooling the chipset is pointless but might as well do it since the MB block is pre-installed. WHAT IS YOUR BUDGET?

The Reservoir I chose because the reviews say it is very good, quiet and overall very good:
Koolance RP-452x2 Duel 5.25in Reservoir which can hold 2 pumps Link Below:
http://koolance.com/rp-452x2-dual-5-25in-reservoir-for-1-2-pmp-450-s-pumps

I also went for Koolance Pumps as well to keep everything compatible, PMP-450:
http://koolance.com/pmp-450-pump-id-13mm-1-2in

any particular reason? koolance is decent stuff, but many other options. the pump is a D5, simple as that.



My question is, can anyone here give me a simple list of items that I would need? I can follow guides all over the net to setup everything but I'm not so confident on what else I would need other than a ton of hosing?

Which connectors should I choose? compression? What piping thickness should I go for?
What are the best CPU blocks and GTX 680 blocks?

I've also got a few questions of my own, what would be the best radiator setup in that case?
I am also going for a red and black theme and getting hold of red LED's and coolant is fine but I was wondering if they make Black coolant?

Any help or pointers would be deeply appreciated :)

you need to check out the guides and other forum post period... you want to be well versed when you spend AT LEAST one whole day installing this system. hosing, about 7-10 feet is normal. connectors, depends on budget/preferences. thickness, doesn't matter. imho, u want to start with ~240 of radiator and add 120 radiator for every chip. you could get away with 360 of radiator total, but your tdelta would be mediocre; you should opt for at least ~480 of rad (240+cpu+gpu = 480). you want WATER, plain simple distilled WATER.

READ READ READ READ.
 
Thanks for the reply!

I currently have none of the gear and I plan on starting this in March as that's when I will have the money, I know the new Intel Platform is coming out around that time so I will probably end up changing the spec for the latest stuff. I want to finish it all by August for the i49 Gaming Festival.

Currently Money is not something i'm thinking about, in the future it may change but at the moment I'm seeing how much it will be for some of the best kit.

I chose to go 2 loops as I plan in the future to add an extra graphics card or 2 and though a single loop going through CPU > Chipset and 3 graphics card would be pushing it?

If not though, I don't mind going down to a single loop as that will save me money and complexity :)

I have been reading up and I've started to get a feel for it, i'm actually pretty confident now I know what i'm looking for.

thanks again for your help!
 
A LOT OF PLANNING will be involved. :)

start picking water blocks. :)
if you got any questions, feel free to ask!

I also got a Water Cooling FAQ for new starters in my sig, see if it helps any.

cheers!
 
A CPU/chipset and 3 GPUs is pushing it unless you are planning 3 monitors in gaming surround in 3D. Not even mentioning the 3rd GPU will only probably give you 15% if that better frame rates, and the cost of the mobo with 3 high speed PCIe slots.

Watercooling? if your gonna go that extreme, then sure, dual loops might be best but not needed. Put the CPU/chipset under a 120x3 or 140x3 and the GPUs under one 140x4. Shopuld be fine.

Might want to explore Caselabs for a case to hold it all. Nice, BIG stuff.

And keep at the stickies, and this post I wrote long ago for someone else could help somewhat to get you on the right track. Old, but you'll get the idea.

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

BTW, it is in the stickies.

Best of luck, your taking on a huge setup.

And maybeee you should of looked more and read more. We do have a WC forum, this thread really needs moved...............
 
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