First water cooling build : Feedback & Advice Appreciated

[ashnc]

I have recently purchased a graphics card I have decided to switch to water cooling so I can get better overclocking and lower temperatures . I have just finished most of my water cooling research and have came up with a candidate for my first possible water cooling system . I would greatly appreciate any feedback on the following plan.

My current plan is to cool one gtx680 and i7-2600k in a single loop with the following:

CPU Block : EK Supremacy
GPU Block : EVGA GTX680 Hydrocopper Block
Pump : Swiftech MCP35X & Swiftech MCP35x heatsink
Reservoir: Swiftech MCP35X Reservior
Radiator : Aquacomputer airplex Revolution 360/420
Fans: 3 x 120mm Gentle Typhoon 5400 rpm for radiator and 1 80x15mm Yate Loon fan for pump heatsink
Tubing & Fluid : Tygon tubing ( size undecided ) , appropriate fluid with biocide (exact specifications not decided)


Main concerns & Questions :

Will the components be compatible , and is this a reasonable build ?

I plan to put this in my NZXT Phantom (222 x 540 x 623) , not sure if everything will fit , even after removing the hard drive bays .

I was originally deciding to use an alphacool d5 vario pump with EK D5 X acetal pump top inside a xspc dual 5.25 bay reservior ; only reason I didn't choose it is because not sure if you can actually do such a thing , is this possible?

I might be paranoid but just to confirm the following -

Anodized aluminum from the pump heatsink will not affect my copper setup because since it never hits water and is thus actually out of the loop .

3 radiator fans at 5400 rpm while sounding horrible will give me significantly better cooling than 3 3000 rpm or lower fans , and i can hook up the radiator fans to the nzxt phantom fan controller

Would you recommend a silver kill coil and or biocide for this setup or are most coolant fluids sufficient?

 

[m0r7if3r]

I can't comment on the case and what have you, but I can hit the rest of it:

Fans are a bit extreme, have you had a look at the 38mm thick fans? There's nothing wrong with the high speed GTs, they're just not necessarily the best at what they do

Probably don't need a heatsink for the pump, letalone a fan for the heatsink. Different strokes for different folks though.

Annodized al will be fine, not touching the water so it's no concern.

You should not be using anything but distilled and a biocide of some sort. Silver or PT Nuke PHN (or both) are the goto biocides for us (assuming you're in the US).

 

[Conumdrum]

A 420 rad would be acceptable, another 360 would really be overkill, and you can run normal fans at under 1000 RPM, silent. The fans you chose are CRAZY loud and only for the brave and experimenters with no hearing. Your rad you chose isn't made for high speed fans anyway.

The I have the same pump and heatsink. You for sure don't need a fan on it. Really you don't even need the heatsink.

Distilled or Deionized water in in the UK. And a silver coil (killcoil is one) as your biocide.

Not a bad start, have you picked your fittings yet?

We's got good stickies on top if you haven't read them yet, they will help.

 

[m0r7if3r]

A 420 rad would be acceptable, another 360 would really be overkill, and you can run normal fans at under 1000 RPM, silent. The fans you chose are CRAZY loud and only for the brave and experimenters with no hearing. Your rad you chose isn't made for high speed fans anyway.

That rad supports both 120mm and 140mm configurations, it's pretty nifty actually.

 

[Conumdrum]

Ahh, so it's a 140x3 rad? And can hold 120mm fans? If so, a 140x3 rad would be perfectly sized for that setup. With 120mm fans of course.

 

[ashnc]

A 420 rad would be acceptable, another 360 would really be overkill, and you can run normal fans at under 1000 RPM, silent. The fans you chose are CRAZY loud and only for the brave and experimenters with no hearing. Your rad you chose isn't made for high speed fans anyway.

The I have the same pump and heatsink. You for sure don't need a fan on it. Really you don't even need the heatsink.

Distilled or Deionized water in in the UK. And a silver coil (killcoil is one) as your biocide.

Not a bad start, have you picked your fittings yet?

We's got good stickies on top if you haven't read them yet, they will help.

I have decided on compression fittings , as I have not decided the tubing not sure which , any suggestions?

 

[Conumdrum]

Yep, 1/2" ID 3/4" OD.

Compression fittings are NOT BETTER. Looks better, costs more. I don't use any.

Your welcome to read my build logs in the STICKIES, and I mention them too.

Tubing size is talked about in the stickies. Please spend a while there first before you ask again?

 

[bluezero5]

CPU Block : EK Supremacy
GPU Block : EVGA GTX680 Hydrocopper Block
Pump : Swiftech MCP35X & Swiftech MCP35x heatsink
Reservoir: Swiftech MCP35X Reservior
Radiator : Aquacomputer airplex Revolution 360/420
Fans: 3 x 120mm Gentle Typhoon 5400 rpm for radiator and 1 80x15mm Yate Loon fan for pump heatsink
Tubing & Fluid : Tygon tubing ( size undecided ) , appropriate fluid with biocide (exact specifications not decided)

Question1:
Are you and your computer in the same room?
If no. then, sure.
If yes, then you need a quieter Fan, the 5400 RPM fan is ExTREMELY loud, yes it can blow, but you will feel like you are next to a hair dryer for the whole day, not to mention you will be deaf within a week.

how much heat are you looking to dissipate?
what PSU you using? if your PSU is any less than 1200W, then there's no reason to employ such fans.


Let me also help you on the coolant:

- DISTILL WATER + SILVER KILL COIL

and nothing else. Really. everything else kinda makes the coolant less capable and adds complications only.

For compression fittings, you can choose BT fittings, they have a variety of EVERYTHING, should be a one-stop shop for you. I employ both compression fittings and barbs, and which looks better is really very subjective. I do find compression fitting better myself as they are SO tight that you will likely damage your tube before it is removed. For Barbs, unless you get good ones, some cheap barbs might require a good clamp to hold it, or given time, they will be pushed out. (Have seen it before). Which means, please use GOOD barbs if you will, then you are fine. Compression fittings are also quite 'big', and in tight places, you might have a tough time managing it at times.


For tubing, consider MasterKleer, cheap, and recently tested to be pretty light with plasticizers. (meaning won't cloud if you have clear tubings), if you are going for color tubings.. any brand goes, just find your favorite color will do.

 

[ashnc]

I forgot to mention/ask one other thing:

I have bought an evga sc gtx 680 with backplate , and the evga hydrocopper separately , since the back plate is already installed I am wondering if I really need to open it up or would it be okay to just straight install the water block. Would doing so cause any major problems anyone can think of?

 

[ashnc]

Nvm I wasn't thinking straight , the water block completely replaces the side with the fan , so I can't do the above without doing something insane

 

[bluezero5]

u will need to open it up to undo the screws to get the heatsink off.

the last thing to install is the backplate. i have them and LOVE it.

 

[xander89]

u will need to open it up to undo the screws to get the heatsink off.

the last thing to install is the backplate. i have them and LOVE it.

backplates are a nightmare to install i found, trying to get the little plastic washers on is a ballache. I have to admit though it has helped a fair bit on getting me a higher memory clock! Well worth it.

Also With comp fittings im very much with blue on this, i use both in my loop. I use barbs on my rez ( they aint in plain view so i dont really care.) and comp fittings for all the places which are visible, but i do feel more comfortable with comp fittings i must say. Just personal preference.

In terms of tubing Tygon is a big nono for me atm. They are the worst for clouding / leeching plasticiser. Although cheap as hell Mastekleer is a good choice. I can vouch for it, and I'm sure blue will too. Tygon is expensive as hell too. Again personal opinion.

In regards to rad. I think you will be orite, but it wouldn't hurt to slap in another 120/240. Keep your delta temp nice and low. It also depends on how high you are planning on clocking your cpu / GPU. I'm running a slimline 360 rad and a 240 rad as well for my sig rig. And i top out at about 70c load on my cpu and 45c on my gpu ( 3dmark11, while gaming i rarely go about 40.)

 

[ashnc]

I have done an air cooled OC and found out I can get to ~ 4.43 GHz without my comp saying to hot reconfigure ( happened when I tried 1.3500 V @ Turbo Ratio 45) temp monitor on CPU during BIOS reconfiguring only read ~55 C . Not sure if this is due to some saftey feature that I need to disable or

Bottom line , with the cooling setup proposed above would it be a good idea to try for the 59 option technically is available whether it works or not , I don't wanna find out without water cooling , or do you thing I have a jacked up proccessor toping out at 43x even though 1.35V is no where near the max voltage I can apply?

 

[ashnc]

I cut of the end of the fist section , should continue to say disable or need to something else , and if so can anyone help me identify the root of this

 

[m0r7if3r]

This is better suited to the intel forum. We don't handle overclocking here, we handle cooling.

 

[LoneWolf121188]

Hey, check out my build log (link in my sig). I'm running a similar setup, 3770K and GTX680 4GB. I only have a 120x1 and a 180x1, each with a single fan, and all comfortably fit inside an mATX case and I've never seen temperatures on the CPU or GPU above 45C. The 680 runs WAY cooler than previous generations. Don't let people fool you into thinking you need tons and tons of rad surface area. Just grab a couple Black Ice GTX's and AP-15 fans and you'll be set.

Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions about my build...it was my first one too! It's time consuming, but straightforward and totally worth it.

 

[xander89]

Hey, check out my build log (link in my sig). I'm running a similar setup, 3770K and GTX680 4GB. I only have a 120x1 and a 180x1, each with a single fan, and all comfortably fit inside an mATX case and I've never seen temperatures on the CPU or GPU above 45C. The 680 runs WAY cooler than previous generations. Don't let people fool you into thinking you need tons and tons of rad surface area. Just grab a couple Black Ice GTX's and AP-15 fans and you'll be set.

Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions about my build...it was my first one too! It's time consuming, but straightforward and totally worth it.

what clock are you running your 3770k @ lonewolf? Hell the more rad the better if he can afford it/ he is really pushing his clocks ( especially with 2.2.3 possibly giving voltage control . Also aint black ice rads kind of junk nowdays? ( at least i think i keep hearing conundrum slate them) I think AP-15 fans are just enough to push through them/you will need a push pull config to get the performance that a lot of rads can offer with 1 set of fans.

 

[Conumdrum]

There are many iterations of Black Ice rads. The Stealth ones are out of date, unless you need a very thin rad and have the tolerance for HS fan noise. Still, not nearly as efficient due to it's old flow design.

 

[xander89]

There are many iterations of Black Ice rads. The Stealth ones are out of date, unless you need a very thin rad and have the tolerance for HS fan noise. Still, not nearly as efficient due to it's old flow design.

this

 

[ashnc]

It's been roughly 7 months since I first wrote this , now that finals are over and both the hydrocopper gtx 680 ( finally in stock and purchased this bundle) and airplex revolution ( ordered in August didn't receive till roughly early November) are in I can resume this build. Realizing there is no possible way to fit this large radiator into the nzxt phantom I have decided to buy a white nzxt switch 810 ( i have seen my radiator in this case in another build log , it should work this time). I have also deciding on 1/2 ID , 3/4 OD Masterkleer Clear UV blue tubing with compression fittings for the water block . After further review I have decided to go with 3 gentle typhoon 2150rpm instead of the 3 3000's.

I am now here to ask the following questions :

On fan to radiator mounting how long should the screws be if my rad is 63mm thick and fans are 25mm? Since this is a copper rad and I am worried about galvanic corrosion would it be ok to go with stainless steel screws or do I need brass or copper ones.?


Also on the topic of galvanic corrosion as I will have to remove my xigmatek loki heatsink and replace with EK Supremacy Copper Plexi heat block I will need thermal paste , however I have read the artic silver that I currently have contains trace amounts of aluminum , what is a good copper safe thermal paste I can use in its place?

Does anyone know if the hot swap bay is removable in the case I decide to switch reserviors to the ek bay spin reservoir to replace it with the optical drive , ( I will likely have to remove the top drive bay to fit this radiator in )?