First time water cooling need advice

[SL]

As you might have guessed I am new to watercooling, I read a good amount of guides on it so I think I know what I am doing. Just need a sanity check and some advice/tips.

I'm going to watercool a 7990 and a 5820k (read lower clocked 4960X since 5820k isn't out yet) I don't plan on overclocking or adding more components to the loop later on.

So here's the challange, I want to cool them with a single radiator. So I am going to do some casemodding to fit a nexxxos monsta 360 or 420 in the front of the case. For fans I am planning on getting the new industrialPPC noctua ones probably the 3k rpm ones and I'll mess around with fan curves to make them quiet at idle and bearable at load.

Is it do-able? Any advice on maybe fans that would perform better with the rad or the other way around a better 360/420 rad to go with the 3k industrialPPC fans, better rad/fan combinations in general.

Is the performance gain from 140mm rads still negligible because 120mm has better fans and smaller "dead spot" behind the motor of the fan? Or would a 420mm rad be noticably better compared to a 360 if using the right fans/the industrialPPC ones from noctua?

 

[ATMINSIDE]

You can reduce the impact of the fan hub by getting some fan shrouds.

I would stick to a 360mm Monsta, with the IndustrialPPC 3K RPM PWM fans.
Grab a Swiftech PWM Splitter to control them all at once via a motherboard header and software.

 

[RGE]

I totally agree with getting more powerful fans for when needed and then running them quiet, but if it were me, since 99% of time 1000 rpms will cool everything without issue since you are not overclocking, I would make sure those 3000 rpm fans can run at 1000 rpms (much quieter speed) without issue.

I have run overclocked cpus and 2 gpus on 360 rad before, and still ran my fans at 800 rpms 99% of time, only at 1800rpms when stress testing. Gaming they would stay at 800 rpms, games just dont stress cpu that much, and gpu temps on water will be low regardless.

Basically you get away with lower fan speed and 360 rad, because you never come close to max loading cpu and gpu at same time, especially not in any games.

However if you plan on folding with gpu or gpu/cpu, or running hour long combined cpu/gpu bench tests then you will run higher fan speed more often. Or if you are not noise sensitive like me then wont matter either.

 

[SL]

Grab a Swiftech PWM Splitter to control them all at once via a motherboard header and software.

Could also leave out the splitter and plug all three fans directly onto the mobo I suppose?
What would be the downside to plugging all three fans seperately into the mobo?

I would make sure those 3000 rpm fans can run at 1000 rpms (much quieter speed) without issue.

Good point no use in getting high rpm fans if they whine when they are running at lower rpms.

games just dont stress cpu that much, and gpu temps on water will be low regardless.

Indeed, don't plan on doing much benchmarking other then some testing in the beginning. Not going to mine coins or do folding either so gaming will probably be the most stressful thing the loop has to deal with.

Or if you are not noise sensitive like me then wont matter either.

I like a quiet pc, my home server is running whisper quiet. As long as it's quiet at idle it'll be fine for me, since I'll be gaming when it's under load I'll more then likely have my in-ear earbuds in so I won't likely hear it.

Currently one of the fan blades on the 7990 broke so it's much louder. I had to turn down the settings in games so it doesn't run as hot so the fan doesn't spin up and turn my pc into a rattling metal box. Because the 7990 will ramp the fans up no matter what when it's overheating. Luckily I can't really hear it when gaming so I imagine sound from the fans even if they were "loud" so silence freak standards will not be an issue to me

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Could also leave out the splitter and plug all three fans directly onto the mobo I suppose?
What would be the downside to plugging all three fans seperately into the mobo?

You could, but I wouldn't recommend it for high performance fans like these because of power draw.

I haven't heard of any reports of whine or bearing noise when using these at lower speeds.
Check out this review.

 

[SL]

You could, but I wouldn't recommend it for high performance fans like these because of power draw.

I haven't heard of any reports of whine or bearing noise when using these at lower speeds.
Check out this review.

Noted also thanks for linking that review.
I see that noctua only has the 140mm fan for airflow.
Makes sense to just go 360 then.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Noted also thanks for linking that review.

No problem!

 

[GTXJackBauer]

First and foremost, Welcome to OCFs.

If you can give us a list of the whole system including the case, etc would be greatly appreciated.

A 7990 has a good amount of heat being it is a dual GPU on a single PCB. If you're looking to cool your CPU + GPU(s) and say have it silent as "idle" if you will when gaming or in general on full load, you're going to need more rad space and premium low-mid speed specialized radiator fans.

I can't recommend anything more than what I've said since I am not sure if you're on a budget or willing to buy a case that can tuck it all nicely internally.

 

[GearingMass]

I totally agree with getting more powerful fans for when needed and then running them quiet, but if it were me, since 99% of time 1000 rpms will cool everything without issue since you are not overclocking, I would make sure those 3000 rpm fans can run at 1000 rpms (much quieter speed) without issue.

They can run down as low as 750RPM so he's golden.

 

[SL]

If you can give us a list of the whole system including the case, etc would be greatly appreciated.

Case: fractal design define XL R2
PSU: seasonic 1000W platinum
GPU: asus 7990
SSD: 256GB kingston SSDnow V200

I plan on getting a 5820k as CPU and Asus Rampage 5 Extreme as mobo with 4 or 8GB of some generic DDR4 ram because ddr4 ram will probably cost an arm and a leg. Currently running some gigabyte P55 board with an i5 and 4gb of generic ddr3 ram.

To make the 80mm thick 360 radiator fit in the Define XL R2 I'll get rid of the HDD cages and the 5.25 inch bays and get rid of a small metal bar that's in the way of radiators longer then a 280mm.

you're going to need more rad space and premium low-mid speed specialized radiator fans.

Which rad/fan would you recommend keeping in mind I'd prefer to use a single radiator which can be up to 420 and as thick as possible.

I can't recommend anything more than what I've said since I am not sure if you're on a budget or willing to buy a case that can tuck it all nicely internally.

Budget isn't a big issue for the watercooling components, not too happy about getting a new case since I am quite fond of my Define XL R2. I'd rather deal with running the fans at a higher RPM during load then getting a new case to fit more radiators.

I can in theory put some of the 480 rads in the front as well but I'll need to see if I'm going to be able to mount those because it'll be a matter of millimeters if a certain 480 rad is going to fit or not.

 

[GearingMass]

...with 4 or 8GB of some generic DDR4 ram because ddr4 ram will probably cost an arm and a leg. Currently running some gigabyte P55 board with an i5 and 4gb of generic ddr3 ram.

Personally, I would suggest going with some quality, fast DDR3 from a reputable manufacturer and jump into DDR4 down the road when it's a bit more settled in and less expensive, but that's up to you.

Which rad/fan would you recommend keeping in mind I'd prefer to use a single radiator which can be up to 420 and as thick as possible.

As far as radiators go, I'd recommend you look through these two 360mm radiator review roundups - First - Second -

You may have to scroll down a bit to get to the comparison charts. Keep in mind, since you're going for a single radiator and willing to rev up your fans, you want to pay special attention to the results at higher fan speeds - above 1000 for sure.

With that in mind, here are a few recommendations off of those results, and given that you don't particularly mind rad thickness:

XSPC RX360, XSPC AX360
Alphacool nexXxos UT60 360
EK Coolstream XTX 360

Among many other good radiators.

As far as fans go, there are many people on here who can give you better advice than I.
My one recommendation is that Noctua is always a safe bet. I'd recommend their NF-F12 industrial 2000/3000 rpm fans for radiators. They cost a pretty penny at $30 a pop, but you can't go wrong with them, especially since you're trying to cool everything on 360mm of rad.
Others here can probably recommend similar performers that cost less. Take my advice with a grain of salt and do your research

 

[SL]

Personally, I would suggest going with some quality, fast DDR3 from a reputable manufacturer and jump into DDR4 down the road when it's a bit more settled in and less expensive, but that's up to you.

Been meaning to upgrade to 2011 and watercool my pc for quite a while now and always postponed it because better tech would be out, when I heard the cool stuff X99 would bring to the table I said **** it I'll wait for it. For ddr4 prices my guess would be that prices will start off insane then go lower to a high price once broadwell/skylake hits the market since the "mainstream" 115X people will then buy ddr4 for their new rigs and once most people bought ram for their rigs prices will drop even lower to "normal" levels. But even ddr3 ram is expensive still because of that factory that got destroyed like a year ago.

So that's the long version of why I don't really care for high ddr4 prices I'd have to postpone the build another year or so. So I'd rather just get 4/8GB ddr4 now and buy more in a year from now when prices go back to normal.

As far as radiators go ... other good radiators.

Thanks for the links I'll check them out.

As far as fans go ... and do your research

I had my eye on the 3k iPPC noctua fans since they were released and others recommended them to me as well so I think I'll end up getting them. They may be expensive but so is watercooling in general so I'll gladly pay the premium to get fans that are high quality and might be overkill. At least they look sexy compared to the normal noctua fans.

 

[GearingMass]

At least they look sexy compared to the normal noctua fans.

I just ordered all noctuas for my new rig, and I'm happy to report not a single one of them is dirt brown