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D

Dlaw

Member
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Joined
Apr 26, 2012
Location
New York, USA
When I built this computer earlier this year, I really wanted to cool it under water from the start. As I sat down and really considered what I wanted out of this system, I decided that I would rather go with better (and more) hardware at first, and then put it under water next year. Well, I just got the definite OK from the woman that I can indeed spend up to $1000 (or more, if I can justify it to her) to purchase the required parts. So, I got onto performance-pcs.com, and started a wishlist. Then, I thought: "you know, I should really ask for some advise", so here I am. I've had the loop pretty well envisioned since I assembled this system, but I'd like a second opinion. Here's the general idea:

Waterplans.jpg

My apologies for the terrible quality of the picture, I lost the cord to my camera, and haven't found a card reader I care to spend money on.

Anyway, as you can see, I intend to replace my current 3.5" 1TB storage drive with a 2.5" of at least 1TB, so I can use one of the 2.5" drive caddies next to the motherboard tray, and free up all of that space the drive cage is taking up. There are mounts for 2 120/140mm fans on the bottom of the case that I intend to populate with low noise (as close to silent as possible), high airflow fans, though I will need to buy a magnetic dust filter for those intakes. I had an afterthought after I edited this picture, and decided that instead of using a 120.2 rad, I may use a 140.2 rad in the front, and replace the front 140s with low noise, high static pressure fans. Either way, the fans will need to be replaced. I'll also be replacing the rear fan with a fan matching the bottom two.

So here's the first series of questions: Which rad would be better? Can I mount the fans in the stock location, with a radiator gasket between the fans and fan mount/case frame and between the fan mount/case frame and the radiator and get adequate pressure?

Anywho, I have the GPU and CPU blocks picked out (EK blocks for the GPUs and a custom Apogee for the CPU), but I'm also unsure whether I should go with 120.3 or 140.3 for the top rad. I believe the 750D supports a 120.4 on top as well, but would that be better? I also need a pump/reservoir combo. I was thinking a bay style reservoir, but I'd prefer it be a single bay if possible, and obviously the pump has to be powerful enough to push through everything.

The plan is to run from the res/pump -> front rad -> GPUs -> CPU -> top rad -> res. I want the runs to be as strait as possible, and I want to use compression fittings (preferably ones with blue accents), so I also need to figure out the count on those too. Is it better to run the GPUs in parallel or series, or does it make a difference? I'd rather use tube than an SLI bridge thing, I think it looks better.

So, the final series of questions: What rads and fans should I go with? I don't want it to look cramped, but I do want the best cooling possible. What res/pump should I get? What/how many fittings will I need? And finally, is there anything I'm missing?

I've chosen Primochill UV-blue tubing, and I'll be running distilled water with a silver kill coil.

I've read the stickies, planned the loop as best as I can, and I think I'm ready for the plunge. Thanks in advance for your help!
 
We recommend sticking to 120mm rad for the simple reason that finding proper fans for them is so much easier, that doesn't mean there are no good 140mm fans but are harder to find and more expensive. I'm on my phone now so checking what will fit in your case is tough right now but if you are trying to keep noise down maybe consider some alfa cool UT60 rads and match them with some good ELoop fans for quiet. Dazmode does have new 2150rpm GT AP 45 fans but not noisy doesn't quite fit quiet either.

How much rad..... well as much as you can stuff in that case I would think 120.5 min. I am sure someone can give you a better more accurate idea, off the top if my head not exactly sure of your heat load.
 
750d only fits a 140.3, or 120.3 up top, and can only fit one set of fans on the radiator when its up there, so either push, or pull, push&pull does not fit!
i went for a 120.2 rad in the front of my case , and i know its somewhat frowned upon, but i just used the stock 140mm fans in the stock location on the front side of the rad, with two 120mm rads on the back side of the rad. it looks like there is mounting holes for 120mm fans in the front if that is the route that you wish to run
it does not matter if the gpu are in parallel, or series.
heres a look at how i have my 750d plumbed in. GPU is not included in the loop, but you get the idea.
im not sure about a single bay pump/res combo, most seem to be dual bay, but maybe there is one that can be found somewhere.
IMG_20150620_164423.jpg
 
OP, are you using the drive bays? If not, grab a dual bay reservoir with a pump built-in like the Monsoon Series Two with a choice of either a DDC or D5 pump for example. If you are, than take the necessary steps for a cylinder res and pump like the XSPC Photon + D5 pump combo.

Also, make sure if you go with the UT60 rads (60mm) that you have enough room otherwise you'll want to go with a thinner rad like a 45mm or a 30mm.

Obviously the more heat surface you have and low FPI rads, the lower the RPM settings can be run on premium run rad fans while maintaining good delta-T. eLoops are great and so are the AP-53s (Rebadged AP-15s) or the EK Vardars.
 
dyckah said:
750d only fits a 140.3, or 120.3 up top, and can only fit one set of fans on the radiator when its up there, so either push, or pull, push&pull does not fit!
i went for a 120.2 rad in the front of my case , and i know its somewhat frowned upon, but i just used the stock 140mm fans in the stock location on the front side of the rad, with two 120mm rads on the back side of the rad. it looks like there is mounting holes for 120mm fans in the front if that is the route that you wish to run
it does not matter if the gpu are in parallel, or series.
heres a look at how i have my 750d plumbed in. GPU is not included in the loop, but you get the idea.
im not sure about a single bay pump/res combo, most seem to be dual bay, but maybe there is one that can be found somewhere.
View attachment 167675
Click to expand...

For some reason, I thought a 120.4 was supported. Maybe that was the 900D (was looking at that case originally, but decided ~$300 was too much for a case). Thanks!

ATMINSIDE said:
I'd do:
http://www.swiftech.com/ApogeeXL.aspx
http://www.swiftech.com/KOMODO-NV-GTX980-ECO.aspx
http://www.swiftech.com/MCP50X.aspx (Swiftech makes a small tube res for this, check it out. Also, you can get a single bay res w/o a pump in it.)
Alphacool NexXxoS Radiators - UT60 if you can, but all of them are very good. Almost full copper build.
Click to expand...

The ApogeeXL is what I was looking at. I haven't decided on the faceplate yet, but when the time comes, I'll figure it out. I don't care much for the GPU block though. I really like the look of the black acetal EK block, and have a blue backplate picked out as well.

GTXJackBauer said:
OP, are you using the drive bays? If not, grab a dual bay reservoir with a pump built-in like the Monsoon Series Two with a choice of either a DDC or D5 pump for example. If you are, than take the necessary steps for a cylinder res and pump like the XSPC Photon + D5 pump combo.

Also, make sure if you go with the UT60 rads (60mm) that you have enough room otherwise you'll want to go with a thinner rad like a 45mm or a 30mm.

Obviously the more heat surface you have and low FPI rads, the lower the RPM settings can be run on premium run rad fans while maintaining good delta-T. eLoops are great and so are the AP-53s (Rebadged AP-15s) or the EK Vardars.
Click to expand...

I'm not using the drive bays, but I figured that since the rad will run into the drive bay area, and thus so will the fans, the more space I leave in there, the better, no?

Also, I'm not sure if a 60mm rad will fit at the top or not, but I'm positive that it will fit in the front.

I can run a separate pump, but I'll need a direct link, as I don't want to end up getting, say, just the motor and end up needing parts. I want to order all of this stuff at once and have it come in all at once, that way I don't have to wait for anything but the free time to get it put together. I was thinking that I could either mount a pump to the almost 2" of space between the wire grommets and the 2.5" drive caddies or mount it right to some of the caddies. Unless it won't really matter if I get a dual bay res with included pump(s), that is.
 
I'd get PWM fans and control them based on CPU temp, personally.
 
I was thinking about a fan controller that I can control with the CPU_FAN header, just haven't bothered to research it yet.
 
Dlaw said:
I was thinking about a fan controller that I can control with the CPU_FAN header, just haven't bothered to research it yet.
Click to expand...

Swiftech makes an 8-way PWM splitter that works wonderfully.
 
dyckah said:
750d only fits a 140.3, or 120.3 up top, and can only fit one set of fans on the radiator when its up there, so either push, or pull, push&pull does not fit!

Cut a hole in the top panel and put the rad and fans on top of the case. That way you can have push pull.
Click to expand...
 

Attachments

  • TopRad.PNG
    TopRad.PNG
    331.3 KB · Views: 205
Last edited:

Would only need to put fans on the top of the case, rad+fans fit inside the case. So just need holes for wires to poke through. Not my cup of tea though, I want everything internal.
 
ATMINSIDE said:
Swiftech makes an 8-way PWM splitter that works wonderfully.
Click to expand...

What fans would you recommend if I went that route?

dyckah said:
oh, and since you are going with the blue theme, maybe give some fittings like these, or these a look.
Click to expand...

I saw the carbon fiber ones, and seriously considered them, but I can't find any angled fittings that match. I figured it'd look better if the fittings all matched than if some of them were blue. I don't assume that there're matching angled fittings for the Monsoons?
 
Dlaw said:
What fans would you recommend if I went that route?
Click to expand...

Noctua industrialPPC 2000RPM PWM
They come in both 120mm and 140mm so you can use the 120mm fans on your rads and 140mm for your other case fans.
 
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