Hi guys. Well, this may be the wrong place for post number one, but here it is. I have lots of posts on other hardware sites, but after a lot of lurking, it seems like the most active and helpful WC community is right here.
A little bit of background on myself:
I built my first computer 13 years ago and have built hundreds of systems since, for myself, family, friends, random people, etc. I'm based in the U.S., North Carolina for now. I find at least the hardware side of computers a lot of fun. I haven't personally used anything super high end since I was 19. I've only built, configured and OCed high end PCs for others. I just have better things to spend my money on. Well, with the new consoles coming out, I feel like gaming is going to change a lot for the better. I've decided to update my system and spend the most I have in quite a while. This means getting rid of those lousy, giant, overweight air cooled heatsinks!
I have put together a custom loop together for my best friend Amanda in the past. I did do months of research for her loop, but to be honest, I think her situation was a little easier than mine. Her approach is spend as much money as possible. Mine isn't.
Here's what I used:
The fan controller, tubing, reservoir and fittings are all dead links now, but I used metal barbs with worm drive clamps and a cylindrical reservoir with a swirly inside. The tubing was made by Tygon and was plasticizer free. This was to cool a 5ghz i5 2500 and a GPU. The original plan was to use an hd7950. We found out about the necessary shim for AMD cards too late and toasted a GPU before switching to a gtx 670. It was a moment of shame for me, probably the only mistake I've ever made building a PC.
Well anyway, this all went into a Phantom full tower case, which I modded to fit the 360mm radiator and cut out a custom window with all rounded edges.
I know how to put together a loop, and I've done research in the past on parts and how watercooling all works.
That being said, my goals are completely different for my personal system I have mostly assembled. Relevant components are:
Goals:
Now looking at my goals, I've begun to wonder if it may be more cost efficient for my system to run 2 loops, a custom loop for the CPU only and THE MOD for the GPU, or a single loop.
For a dual loop system, obviously since the GPU loop would matter a lot less, I would use much cheaper parts. I have no idea how good budget stuff is. Logically, I would think that the CPU loop would also need less money invested, as it would no longer have to cope with the GPU's added load. The question is if the extra parts required for two loops offsets the cost savings of cheaper components. Using THE MOD would also be a dual loop setup, in a way. The Antec Kuhler 620 is enough for a 7970 according to overclock.net: 57.99 USD on newegg.
That's one of my first questions:
Single loop, dual loop, or half custom, half closed-loop cooling?
Next, I've begun browsing stickies and guides again, and just like I remember, most all of them are sorely out of date. Links are down, (www.skinneelabs.com), or irrelevant to my system goals, (www.martinsliquidlab.org), like only testing 360mm radiators.
So, question two:
What is a price effective lower FPI but efficient radiator? Will a high quality 120.2+120.1 compare to 120.2+120.1+120.1?
Now since I have a medium ATX case which I have no plans of selling, I'm going to have to be more creative with my setup. I do have a picture of clearance issues in my case up above, if you missed it. I have to be open minded to things I'd normally never do, like pump/reservoir combos or radiator/pump or whatever other awful combinations are out there. I would definitely prefer all separate components, but hey, I dug this hole myself.
Question 3:
What compromises should I make first to meet my high heat dissipation goal and fit everything inside the case?
This question also applies to fan mounting as well as block selection. I know that most universal GPU blocks perform about the same, well, as of a year and a half ago. Does that knowledge still apply today? I know the updated Koolance 380 is a beast, but is there anything that has similar flow and temperature characteristics that looks different? I'd like my system to have different blocks than my best friend's.
I'm thinking Yate Loons for fans, but this is going off of knowledge I already have. Is there another higher quality or better performing budget fan out there now with high static pressure? Maybe I should just get GTs since I'm going for longevity.
For tubing, I saw the new Primochill Acrylic and had a small seizure from excitement. I can definitely bend, cut and measure this myself and deal with any complications that may come up. My only two concerns are extra vibration due to rigidity and how well the special fittings will work with basically just an O ring between two pieces of metal preventing a leak.. I know that's how plumbing works in general, but this is my PC we're talking about.
Question 4:
Does anyone think sticking with Tygon tubing would be better than the new Primochill Acrylic?
And finally, question 5:
Can you think of any better places to put radiators than a 120.2 up top and a 120.1 by the front and rear fans?
I'd like to thank anyone in advance who takes the time to read this long *** post and also
I know I'm new here, please go easy on me!
I really tried to cover just about every aspect of my build, if I forgot something I'm sorry, I'll reply as soon as I can and add the requested info in.
A little bit of background on myself:
I built my first computer 13 years ago and have built hundreds of systems since, for myself, family, friends, random people, etc. I'm based in the U.S., North Carolina for now. I find at least the hardware side of computers a lot of fun. I haven't personally used anything super high end since I was 19. I've only built, configured and OCed high end PCs for others. I just have better things to spend my money on. Well, with the new consoles coming out, I feel like gaming is going to change a lot for the better. I've decided to update my system and spend the most I have in quite a while. This means getting rid of those lousy, giant, overweight air cooled heatsinks!
I have put together a custom loop together for my best friend Amanda in the past. I did do months of research for her loop, but to be honest, I think her situation was a little easier than mine. Her approach is spend as much money as possible. Mine isn't.
Here's what I used:
- Alphacool Plexiac mounting screws M6
- Alphacool 120.3 ST30 radiator
- Koolance 370 (cpu)
- Koolance 320 (gpu)
- Swiftech MP350
- Scythe GT x 3 120mm (I can't remember which RPM we picked)
- PT nuke
- Silver coil
- Distilled water
The fan controller, tubing, reservoir and fittings are all dead links now, but I used metal barbs with worm drive clamps and a cylindrical reservoir with a swirly inside. The tubing was made by Tygon and was plasticizer free. This was to cool a 5ghz i5 2500 and a GPU. The original plan was to use an hd7950. We found out about the necessary shim for AMD cards too late and toasted a GPU before switching to a gtx 670. It was a moment of shame for me, probably the only mistake I've ever made building a PC.
Well anyway, this all went into a Phantom full tower case, which I modded to fit the 360mm radiator and cut out a custom window with all rounded edges.
I know how to put together a loop, and I've done research in the past on parts and how watercooling all works.
That being said, my goals are completely different for my personal system I have mostly assembled. Relevant components are:
- Xigmatek Midgard II case (pic link)
*only included fans, 120mm front and back
*here is a pic of the top of my case, note the low clearance under the lip for fan mounting near the CPU PWM socket and the RAM clips
*Clearance is specified as 50mm for the radiator, it's very close to 1.25" estimating with my tape measure - AMD FX 8350, goal is 5ghz OC, around 220w heat
- Gigabyte 990FX-UD3
- PWM fan controller hiding somewhere, forget brand.. it had good reviews, uses 3.5" bay
- Future AMD GPU that will be announced this month, estimated heat = 275w
- No optical drives, only one hard drive mounted
- Lower HD rack removed for better airflow
- Already decided on a Swiftech MCP35x pump
Goals:
- Silence: I want this loop quiet as possible and able to reach the CPU's OC goal and keep the GPU from throttling or artifacting, most likely stock speed on the GPU.
- Performance: Ramping up a tiny bit is OK for gaming as I have headphones I use most often.
- Price: I know that watercooling is pay to play. I would like to not spend more than I have to. However, meeting both my performance and silence goals is a must. I want to keep this watercooling system for decades. Yep, decades. I want larger brand name manufacturers so that I can order a new mounting brackets and keep using my blocks.
- Flow: I'd like to keep all components relatively low restriction so that I can expand the loop if I want to at a later date. I know that cooling things like capacitors and motherboard chips is frowned upon as useless, but the temps on these things can really influence an overclock, and their form factor has remained very standard over the years.
- Aesthetics: Do not matter to me. I am after performance/dollar. That being said, I always build clean, do things right the first time, cable manage, etc. My case and components are all black, I'll make sure the GPU is a black PCB as well. If the blocks can fit nicely in with the existing colors, that will be a plus, but again, not required. If something looks overly cheap and chintzy or has low build quality, I will pass.
Now looking at my goals, I've begun to wonder if it may be more cost efficient for my system to run 2 loops, a custom loop for the CPU only and THE MOD for the GPU, or a single loop.
For a dual loop system, obviously since the GPU loop would matter a lot less, I would use much cheaper parts. I have no idea how good budget stuff is. Logically, I would think that the CPU loop would also need less money invested, as it would no longer have to cope with the GPU's added load. The question is if the extra parts required for two loops offsets the cost savings of cheaper components. Using THE MOD would also be a dual loop setup, in a way. The Antec Kuhler 620 is enough for a 7970 according to overclock.net: 57.99 USD on newegg.
That's one of my first questions:
Single loop, dual loop, or half custom, half closed-loop cooling?
Next, I've begun browsing stickies and guides again, and just like I remember, most all of them are sorely out of date. Links are down, (www.skinneelabs.com), or irrelevant to my system goals, (www.martinsliquidlab.org), like only testing 360mm radiators.
So, question two:
What is a price effective lower FPI but efficient radiator? Will a high quality 120.2+120.1 compare to 120.2+120.1+120.1?
Now since I have a medium ATX case which I have no plans of selling, I'm going to have to be more creative with my setup. I do have a picture of clearance issues in my case up above, if you missed it. I have to be open minded to things I'd normally never do, like pump/reservoir combos or radiator/pump or whatever other awful combinations are out there. I would definitely prefer all separate components, but hey, I dug this hole myself.
Question 3:
What compromises should I make first to meet my high heat dissipation goal and fit everything inside the case?
This question also applies to fan mounting as well as block selection. I know that most universal GPU blocks perform about the same, well, as of a year and a half ago. Does that knowledge still apply today? I know the updated Koolance 380 is a beast, but is there anything that has similar flow and temperature characteristics that looks different? I'd like my system to have different blocks than my best friend's.
I'm thinking Yate Loons for fans, but this is going off of knowledge I already have. Is there another higher quality or better performing budget fan out there now with high static pressure? Maybe I should just get GTs since I'm going for longevity.
For tubing, I saw the new Primochill Acrylic and had a small seizure from excitement. I can definitely bend, cut and measure this myself and deal with any complications that may come up. My only two concerns are extra vibration due to rigidity and how well the special fittings will work with basically just an O ring between two pieces of metal preventing a leak.. I know that's how plumbing works in general, but this is my PC we're talking about.
Question 4:
Does anyone think sticking with Tygon tubing would be better than the new Primochill Acrylic?
And finally, question 5:
Can you think of any better places to put radiators than a 120.2 up top and a 120.1 by the front and rear fans?
I'd like to thank anyone in advance who takes the time to read this long *** post and also
I know I'm new here, please go easy on me!
I really tried to cover just about every aspect of my build, if I forgot something I'm sorry, I'll reply as soon as I can and add the requested info in.
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