Beginner at Watercooling. HELP PLEASE!

[Crysix]

Hey everyone. I've been kind of lurking around this site amazed by all these amazing water cooled rigs and I was hoping to make my own! A list of my rig set up is:

Intel i7-4770K
MSI Z87-G45 Gaming mobo
Raidmax Vampire case
G-Skill 16gb RAM (I'm not 100% sure the speed but I think it's 1866)
750W power supply
MSI GeForce GTX 770 Gaming graphics card on it's way

I was hoping you guys could help me design it. Should I have 1 loop or 2? Pros and cons? 1 or 2 radiators? Best pumps and reservoirs or should I use a pump/reservoir combo? Looking forward to all the feedback!

 

[Zoinks]

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

Start here. Study it carefully.

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Welcome to OCFs!

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

Start here. Study it carefully.

+1 Read up as mentioned and we'll assist you towards your first water cooled rig. Take your time on this whether its days to weeks or months. Digest all the info you can get.

 

[MattMan657]

Like Zoinks and Jack have said, read those threads from head to toe. I jumped into the water cooling party last year and that was my first stop.

Something else that I found really beneficial was looking through all the pages of the Water Cooling build picture thread stickyd to the top of the Water Cooling board. Helps a lot to see already built layouts and all.

 

[Crysix]

I have been looking through some of those threads and I was hoping someone would be willing to explain some of the less widely discussed aspects like the difference between 1 loop vs multiple loops.

 

[GTXJackBauer]

I have been looking through some of those threads and I was hoping someone would be willing to explain some of the less widely discussed aspects like the difference between 1 loop vs multiple loops.

Having a dual loop won't show a massive difference. All you're doing is spending more money to knock off 1c-3c in temps, literally.

Technology and innovations have widely improved across the board since back in time. Dual loops were more common back than when you had more than one component to be watercooled. Since than it is more common to have a single loop. Lots of tests have been done and proven.

Here's another great site to get more info from.

 

[Crysix]

And a kinda silly question: I've seen a lot of people who have posted pictures of their water cooling setups and the vast majority of them have their tubes glowing. How do you do that? Is it just a trick of the light coming off different parts of the case like the fans?

 

[bamato]

Do you mean fluorescing? That can be done with UV lighting and UV sensitive tubing.

 

[Crysix]

That must be what it is. Could you maybe explain it a little more? Where do you put the lights and is a special type of tubing needed?

 

[Waza]

That must be what it is. Could you maybe explain it a little more? Where do you put the lights and is a special type of tubing needed?

You need UV(Ultra Violet) aka Blacklight case light, you can find it in all kinds of forms and it is used pretty much like any other case light.

For the tubing to glow you would need special UV reactive fluid or tubing the later being the best option.

UV light itself isn't visible to the naked eye.

 

[bamato]

Id also recommend against UV dye or fluid. Better to just use UV tubing.

 

[Crysix]

Is all that relatively inexpensive or is it typically just for fanatics?

 

[m0r7if3r]

You can get UV tubing for about the same price as normal tubing, maybe a few cents more per foot. Couldn't tell you about the lights, I don't know anything about them.

 

[Waza]

UV lights cost about the same as any case lights.

 

[Taisae]

Thanks for this post.

I'm beginning my trip into the liquid cooling realm and you literally asked what I was about to with the same hardware with the exception that I'm having trouble finding info about cooling SLI cards.

If anyone has any links to how you would cool SLI cards it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[bamato]

Same way. Just more radiator and a bridge.

 

[bamato]

^^May want to start a new thread for that.

 

[Taisae]

Roger dodger!

Thanks.

 

[Thekamikazepr]

Is all that relatively inexpensive or is it typically just for fanatics?

I paid $11 usd yesterday for a UV 11 LED strip self adhesive from a custom vendor on ebay you have to order him through Pm's since he normally sells non UV. I haven't received them yet but i wil llet you know how they work, see and feel. just PM me so I don't forget.

 

[Crysix]

I'll try to remember to do that. Thank you!