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I'm out of the loop for watercooling...

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Simple searches of other folk's custom water cooling builds in said case, can go a long away.

I will leave you with a couple of tips to save you some head banging and hair pulling.

-Alphacool ST30s seem to be the sweet choice of rads for the Corsair 540. 240mm top and 360mm front. Airflow configuration usually consists of front as intake while top and rear as exhaust.

-A mini EK res/pump combo setup is usually snugged behind the MB side and just routed back and forth from there.

Any more tips will be a charge of $50. ;) (j/k)
 
What's up? For starters, no I don't think it's overkill. Your right, the cost is fairly minor. In my opinion I think the best loops setups have a rad per block. With one rad between block. For ease of installation people usually don't do it that way. If you don't, you still get increased surface area, which is good for having two blocks. As for the nickel coating, it does provide a minor boost in performance. Probably attributed to a better surface contact rather than anything else. Kind of a cosmetic thing but it does help to counteract electrolysis. Which could be a benefit depending on the solution you choose. For your current setup, I'm not sure of the amount of overclock you run. But if you feel it isn't as it should be then that can come down to the thermal compound used. The temp difference is actually quite large from bottom to top when it comes down to thermal transfer. Not even including the liquid metal types. So it's hard to say if you'll get better CPU cooling, But you will only need one pump for the whole loop.
 
Right now, I'm not overclocked at all (other than GPU factory OC). I'm preparing for that, and want to push the GPU hard.

Also... I haven't seen a real world difference between compounds tried in the past. Now, I've not done anything highly scientific to measure this like other reviewers might have. It may be in part that I've not run high powers through any, since it should show more difference as the power increases. In general, if I get a new heatsink or whatever, I'll use whatever it comes with. The only one that stood out (negatively) was a Zalman one I think, that seemed to separate in the tube and was totally inconsistent.
 
Whats the consensus for here for possible use of a Swiftech H320 X2 Prestige? Its expandable as well and ive heard people compare it to the EK predator but at a lower cost.
 
It's good stuff.

I have a H240-x with an extra 280 and an extra 140, plus an universal GPU block.

Works flawlessly!
 
InfoSponge16 said:
What's up? For starters, no I don't think it's overkill. Your right, the cost is fairly minor. In my opinion I think the best loops setups have a rad per block. With one rad between block. For ease of installation people usually don't do it that way. If you don't, you still get increased surface area, which is good for having two blocks. As for the nickel coating, it does provide a minor boost in performance. Probably attributed to a better surface contact rather than anything else. Kind of a cosmetic thing but it does help to counteract electrolysis. Which could be a benefit depending on the solution you choose. For your current setup, I'm not sure of the amount of overclock you run. But if you feel it isn't as it should be then that can come down to the thermal compound used. The temp difference is actually quite large from bottom to top when it comes down to thermal transfer. Not even including the liquid metal types. So it's hard to say if you'll get better CPU cooling, But you will only need one pump for the whole loop.
Click to expand...

Don't take this personal but I think you're looking at this the wrong way with a lack of experience but I could be wrong. The TIM is one of the last things to look at and the difference in temps is very minor.

The basics of water cooling is easily explained in our water cooling stickies as well from expert sites like Martinsliquidlab where I grew my knowledge from many years ago as well as veteran members who've been doing it since the beginning of time. If you want to get into specifics, you need to start with how much heat load your loop will generate from your components and than figure out how much heat surface is needed. Based on that knowledge is when those should do case buying to fit everything snug. Everything else inline comes after that.
 
Again, a good enough TIM that does the job and not some fancy pain in the butt to put on or take off isn't needed, especially since we're not doing LN2 here or at least in this section of the forums. Some TIMs work better on air and water than they would do on LN2 or vise versa. My point is TIM is the last thing you should worry about when building a custom water cooling loop. Grabing some GC, MX-4 or AS 5 and calling it a day since there are more important things that need figuring out.
 
Wow dude, gettin a bit exited there. He mentioned a temp. I only said it was a possibility. By the way. I also did specify paste, and not metal. Did you actually see the difference between a quality paste and "something that gets the job done"? The OP has mentioned competitive benching, in which case an eleven degree Delta is worthwhile to think about. I provide evidence to back up a statement I made in passing and you trip. I was and am just helping out the OP. And yes he seems to have what he wants pretty much figured out. He has also informed me his CPU is not overclocked, I thought it was but not a big deal. Chill out. I bet the tires are the last thing you think about with your vehicle's too eh? What good are high performance brakes or big horsepower when the tires suck? Thanks for the constructive criticism but I have done the research to back up such a minor statement that warranted your flairup. So he says not something he normally thinks about, no problem. It's not like I'm the only one who wants to help and that's fine but really no need for that kind of reaction.
 
The difference between a quality paste and something that can get the job done, at least if you look at the bell curve in that link, is really ~2C. One can cover a full 2/3 of pastes with a 2C spread. And we had better get our mount right with that little of a difference :)! Getting a good TIM is a worthy consideration, but its a bit down my list as well, considering the data.

You can have a great, or 'the best' setup with one rad and two, or even three blocks. It just depends. Your statement isn't wrong, but its almost too vague to be right at the same time. Consider this.. 6700K and 980Ti on a single 3x120/140mm rad, or if you case holds it, or a 4x120mm. Or even 6700k with two 1080's and 4x120/140mm. Results depend on the rad and fans (all better and quieter than air), and as Jack mentioned, the heat loads, but I'm sure my point was made. Rads also don't need to be placed after each component. In a properly flowing and radded loop, differences at any point inside the loop are around 1-2C (I believe Martin/Skinee did some testing on that). You also need to consider, albeit minor - just saying don't go nuts LOL, that more components add more restriction in a loop. If you have some updated testing, Id be happy to check it out! :)



Anyway... @mack - If you are planning on taking your 980Ti under and the 6700K, I would have no less than 3x120mm worth of rad. I would go with a total of 4x120mm especially when overclocking. That should be able to handle things well assuming good rads and fans. I had an Air 540 (miss it honestly) and did just as Jack mentioned with a 3x120mm up front and a 2x120mm up top. This handled a 295x2 and a 5820K, both overclocked. The CPU never saw 60C (4.5GHz 1.27V) and the GPU, that 500W monster, never broke 65C (this is hours of gaming, yate loon fans on dead silent). Now, in my case, it would have been better to have a bit more rad, but, air wasn't going to do that and it was darn near silent.

Anyway, no flare ups... thanks, all, for continuing to help and not make it personal. :)
 
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Thanks, mounting is important whichever Tim is used. 2c doesn't sound like alot. But it was made in passing. 4 deg f is as I and you have said something to consider. But we are all here to learn and or learn and share. As far as rads, we had actually been discussing those different combinations you mention further back in the thread. Mackerel was coming down to his final decisions. I was merely helping him come up with a solution that would fit his application. I definitely would not tell him do it this way and that's that. I won't argue that more surface area isn't better. He would definitely get more headroom from something larger. However his Ti is a reference blower cooled type. So even a 240 would be better as he is throttling under gaming loads.
 
I had found the above link myself but not got around to write about it until now. Note that was tested at 160W. The 6700k, not OC, is rated at 91W. That's one serious overclock to reach that power level! At lower powers, the temperature delta will be scaled down accordingly.

I tried to do some research on the pastes bundled with coolers I've bought. Noctua only appear to make one paste and it is a pretty decent one by that table. I have plenty left over from the previous heatsinks bought from them so I can use that going forward. CoolerMaster is more difficult, since they make many types and I can't find out what they actually include with, for example, the Hyper 212. Maybe I'll save that for 2nd tier jobs, like lower power non-OC able systems. Again I have plenty from the assorted 212's and other models I've had.

Loops wise while I can fit a 360+280 in the Air 540, I'm still debating if 2x280 would be "better" in some way. With a 360 in front I'm still concerned it will conflict with the 280 up top, or at the least reduce my mounting and tube routing options.

Not going to rush this. Will need to look closer at available rad models, probably on the weekend and come up with a proposed shopping list then. I also need to think about where to put everything...

I've also got my eye on another reference 980Ti on ebay. I'm hoping that'll be less desirable so go for a lower price than the others, which are not far off the discounted new pricing at some stores which are trying to clear stock.
 
As I said, I had a 2x120 and 3x120 in that case. It works.

If you go with 2 980ti's, you will want the most rad you can get. A rule of thumb around here is ~100W per 120/140mm of rad. This allows for better than air temps and quiet operations.
 
I'm just thinking, given the spacing of the mounts in the case, 2x2x140 would be an easier/nicer fit than say 2x120+3x120, or 2x140+3x120 which would need more care with the fitting placement to make sure it will fit and not conflict.

2x120^2+3x120^2=72000mm^2
2x140^2+2x140^2=78400mm^2
2x140^2+3x120^2=82400mm^2

Above assumes the entire area is equally effective, which I'm sure it isn't but I don't have a way to factor that out and it will probably depend on the specific fans and rads anyway. Also assumes equal thickness.

So, of these possibilities my dual 280 preference is kinda middle of the road for these dual rad options. I have a bunch of spare Corsair SP 140mm fans which also pushes or pulls me in that direction also.


Random thought: do rads usually come with screws for fan mounting? Or would I need to source those too?
 
Your build will be fairly similar to this rig. Those are Alhpacool ST30 rads.

IMG_6691.JPG


Here's another helpful image from another build of what it should look like at the PSU side.


5zb2.jpg


Hope this helps.
 
Starting to look more seriously at the build now. Quick question for the radiators, and I admit I haven't searched for it myself yet, how much impact does thickness have? I'd assume it could scale well, if the airflow could be maintained?
 
I thought I knew what I wanted, and on looking at the case again, I now have a thickness variable to deal with.

If I go with 2x280, I think I will need one to be 30mm thick, the other can be a bit thicker, 40/45mm.

If I go with the 240+360 route, because of the offset I have more room to play with and both can be 40/45mm class. I don't think thicker is really an option.

I could do 280+380 but the 360 would have to be a 30mm to not conflict with the 280.

Taking the above into account, they're all within 5% of rad volume of each other, so I think for practical purposes they can be considered the same.

I have now done a internet search on rad thickness, and again while it may vary with specific model, the generalisation seems to be for thicker rads (especially 60mm and greater) you need the airflow to make the most of it. I saw a comment one place suggesting 80mm fans had better pressure, and that's my next step for research. I might need a new set of fans regardless as I don't have spare decent 120mm fans, and it wouldn't make sense to try and cost save on them if by doing so it cripples performance.
 
wc-ek-1.png

Here's an initial basket I put into one supplier just to see how things go. As can be seen, I've gone 100% EK here, which is not a requirement but just did it to get a taste. Basis is their P360 kit, which is a "complete" parts kit for a CPU only. I say "complete" as they don't include a drain which is what some of the extra bits I've added are for. On top of that, I've added their reference 980Ti GPU block. They also do a matched backplate, but apart form looks I'm not sure it serves any purpose so didn't add it. For more cooling I added the P240 res which is in the same category as the P360 in the kit, and also 3 of the fans to match. Wait, I only need 2 for the 240 so pretend that's 2 there. The kit includes 6 fittings, two each for the CPU block, rad, and combo pump/res. I added another 7, two each for the 2nd rad, the GPU block, and Y splitter, and one more for the valve to be used for easy draining. I fear I'll regret not adding it from the start. Also there's two blocking plugs for the GPU block as I can't see anywhere that says they're included, and the block has 4 ports presumably to aid those doing SLI. And, I added 3m of tubing. The kit comes with 2m, but with all the extra stuff I'm adding I want to be sure not to run out!

Ok, take a deep breath... the total is... let's just say for not a significant amount more I could get a GTX 1080 which for practical purposes would probably be faster than even a heavy OC 980Ti. So the value proposition is a bit questionable as it stands. I would recover the existing AIO CPU cooler if I added this loop, making the incremental spend a bit less.

My next task is to see, if I were to build the P360 kit from parts, how does the cost compare against the kit?
Edit: I've done that, and the parts easily cost more than the kit. I'm at £323 for parts, compared to £288 for the kit, and I haven't added some minor parts yet.
 
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