First time watercooling. Would love someone to look over my part choices.

[tsukasa]

Thank you in advance to anyone who takes the time to read this massive post.

I am using a cosmos 2 case so space is not an issue.

I am unsure if i should do a single loop or double loop so I have lists for both. I have read conflicting information on this and would like more input.

I also am unsure of the quality of the parts i picked and would love suggestions as to better alternatives if they exist.

I am unsure if this is the best combination of parts I could get.

What would be a good fan controller able to control at least 11 fans?

First off the computer I am planing to show what i am in need of cooling.

[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/WGMF) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/WGMF/by_merchant/) / [Benchmarks](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/WGMF/benchmarks/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [Intel Core i7-3970X Extreme Edition 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80619i73970x) | $1003.98 @ SuperBiiz
**Motherboard** | [Asus Rampage IV Extreme EATX LGA2011 Motherboard](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-rampageivextreme) | $414.99 @ Newegg
**Memory** | [G.Skill Ripjaws Z Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f314900cl10q32gbzl) | $239.99 @ Newegg
**Video Card** | [EVGA GeForce GTX Titan 6GB Video Card](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-video-card-06gp42790kr) | $1019.99 @ NCIX US
**Case** | [Cooler Master Cosmos II (Black) ATX Full Tower Case](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-case-rc1200kkn1) | $280.00 @ Newegg
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-15 00:49 EDT-0400 |

Now comes the cooling.

1. Single loop
a. res
i. Bitspower Water Tank Z-Multi 250 Inline Reservoir (BP-WTZM250P-BK) or
ii. EK-MultiOption RES X3 250 - Liquid Cooling Reservoir (6 Total Ports)
b. Swiftech MCP655-B 12v Water Pump w/ 3/8" Conversion Kit (317 GPH)
c. Tubing
i. Masterkleer PVC Tubing 1/2" ID / 3/4" OD - 10ft Retail Pack - UV Pink or
ii. Tygon B-44-4X 1/2" ID (3/4" OD) - "Non-Porous" Smooth Tubing with Mayhems uv pink


2. Duel loop
a. 2x XSPC Laing DDC Reservoir Pump Attachment w/ MCP-350/355 (No Fittings)
b. Tubing
i. Pink
1. Masterkleer PVC Tubing 1/2" ID / 3/4" OD - 10ft Retail Pack - UV Pink or
2. Tygon B-44-4X 1/2" ID (3/4" OD) - "Non-Porous" Smooth Tubing with Mayhems Dye - 15mL - Pink
ii. purple
1. Masterkleer PVC Tubing 1/2" ID / 3/4" OD - 10ft Retail Pack - UV Purple


3. Parts used in both options
a. Koolance CPU-380I Intel Liquid Cooling CPU Block - (No Fittings)
b. Rads
i. Black Ice GT Stealth 360 Radiator
ii. Black Ice GT Xtreme 140 Radiator - Black
iii. 2x Black Ice GTX Xtreme 240 Radiator - Black
c. Fans
i. 7 fans (4packs) Corsair Air Series SP120 High Performance Edition High Static Pressure 120mm PWM Fan - 2 Pack (CO-9050014-WW)
ii. Akasa 140mm x 25mm VIPER PWM Fan w/ Hydro Dynamic Bearings (AK-FN063)
d. Fittings
i. Bitspower G1/4 Thread 90-Degree Rotary 1/2" ID x 3/4" OD Compression Fitting (BP-90R3CPF-CC5)
ii. Bitspower G1/4" Silver Shining Dual Rotary 45-Degree Compression Fitting CC4 For ID 1/2" OD 5/8" Tube (BP-45R2CPF-CC4)
iii. Bitspower G1/4" Thread 1/2" ID x 5/8" OD Compression Fitting (BP-CPF-CC4)
iv. Bitspower G1/4" Matte Black T Adapter (BP-MBTMB) (drain lines)
e. Misc
i. IandH Silver KillCoils - Antimicrobial .999 Fine Silver Tubing / Reservoir Strip
ii. Phobya HeGrease Extreme Thermal Paste - 3.5g
iii. Koolance Threaded Rubber Funnel - G1/4" Thread (LIQ-FNL)

Single loop order:
res-pump-cpu-360-140-gpu-240-240-res

Dual loop order:
loop 1: res/pump-cpu-360-140-res/pump
loop 2: res/pump-gpu-240-240-res/pump

 

[Conumdrum]

Okay, good luck. Not sure what the post means but your watercooling, best of luck.

 

[ThorV2]

Why a 3970? Get a 3930K.

 

[Conumdrum]

Distilled water and a biocide. And colored tubing. That's the smart liquid choice.

If that's the very old 360 Stealth rad with Xflow thats thin, restrictive water and air flow, don't get it. Post a link to it?

Single loop. 120x4 total raddage is barely enuff rad but it will work.

 

[atclaeys]

So if I'm reading the first post right, you have a total of 5 rads, 120.3, 140, and 2x120.2? That's going to be way overkill for a just a CPU+GPU.

 

[tsukasa]

Okay, good luck. Not sure what the post means but your watercooling, best of luck.

Sorry if maybe I was unclear since i am new to water cooling I was just hoping someone would look over what i picked and tell me if anything had a bad reputation.

Why a 3970? Get a 3930K.

Just personal pref I tend toward buying the latest extreme edition when i build a new computer.

Distilled water and a biocide. And colored tubing. That's the smart liquid choice.

If that's the very old 360 Stealth rad with Xflow thats thin, restrictive water and air flow, don't get it. Post a link to it?

Single loop. 120x4 total raddage is barely enuff rad but it will work.

Ok i figured that was the response I would get to dye.

The radiator is http://www.frozencpu.com/products/4...ealth_360_Radiator_-_Black.html?tl=g30c95s161 I do not think it is the Xflow one tho I could be mistaken.

Not sure what you mean by only being 120x4 in the single loop. The single loop option will have 1 3x120, 1 140x1 and 2 120x2s. In a dual loops I would just be splitting those between the 2 loops.

So if I'm reading the first post right, you have a total of 5 rads, 120.3, 140, and 2x120.2? That's going to be way overkill for a just a CPU+GPU.

4 rads however I am planing to expand up to 1 or 2 more titans at a later date and also of course over clock everything.

 

[synthetic_fenix]

Just personal pref I tend toward buying the latest extreme edition when i build a new computer.

and also of course over clock everything.

I understand it may be personal preference, but you could save the money on the processor to put towards one of the titans, if you got the 3930K, if you are planning on overclocking, the 3930K should get you as good or better clocks than the 3970x, for half the price on just the processor. I could be wrong here as I am an AMD guy, but I'm sure one of the Intel guys here will back me up.

With your radiator choices, I still think the 4 rad solution is overkill even with the processor and 2 titans, You could probably get by easily with 2 120x360 radiators.

 

[DarrenP]

A 3930K in some case out-preforms a 3970X. It also overclocks much better then the 3970X. You would be far better going with a 3930K then a 3970X. You're just throwing money away getting a 3970X.

 

[bassnut]

Having used a cosmos II for custom loop system I have to ask where you are planning to put all these rads. My guess .... 140 back, 360 top, and 2 X 240 in the bottom? This is possible I suppose but could prove tight on the bottom, not quite sure of that.

There is not allot of room at the top of the case in my build, I used a 240 rad and in order to get a push pull on the top rad I had to use a tin rad and 25mm fans which just barley fit above my CHV heat sink on top of the motherboard I even had to take my dermal tool and grind parts of the fan housing off to get it to fit, not sure if this will be the same for a 360 rad. Also take a look at my thread for my loop just to see how tight things can get.

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=715371&highlight=tamer


Some things to keep in mind with the Cosmos 2 ......

You have 3 drive bays available and of them you will loose at least 1 when you use the 360 rad. In your parts you do not state how many hard drives you will be using .... there is 2 3 1/2" hot swap bays as well as 2 hard drive racks in the bottom but by using this space for your rads you will loose the drive cages. Yes there is lots of room I am sure you could find a space for something else where, just pointing this out and not everyone is like me needing lots of room for hard drives for working with and storing Large Video Files.

Avoid the dyes ..... use distilled and a kill coil and if you want some backup for the coil add some Dead Water or PHN Nuke

 

[TerranBrackiatt]

A triple rad will fit up top, but two fans in pull above, and the forwardmost fan will be push, underneath... leaving only the bottom 5.25 bay. 2 120.2s will fit in the bottom if you sandwhich fans in the middle, basically, fan>rad>fan>rad>fan for a multi-push-pull sandwhich. But, you'll have to run waterlines behind the motherboard tray to pull it off. A 140.1 will fit inside the rear fan mount, or you could get a radbox and mount a 120.3 outside on the back. Just get one with the fittings spread out to line up with the pre-cut holes on the case for waterlines. You might be able to fit a 120.3 in the bottom if you pull the PSU out of the case.

By the way, the most recent issue of CPU has a couple cosmos2 water builds from E3 or PAX as well. There's also a cosmos2 on water in the first few pages of the watercooled picture thread 2.0, and i'm building "nevermore" in a cosmos2 as my first WC build. When I have more time, I might go back and reroute the hoses to look better.

 

[TerranBrackiatt]

Oh, and good luck!

 

[Conumdrum]

Sorry if maybe I was unclear since i am new to water cooling I was just hoping someone would look over what i picked and tell me if anything had a bad reputation.



Just personal pref I tend toward buying the latest extreme edition when i build a new computer.



Ok i figured that was the response I would get to dye.

The radiator is http://www.frozencpu.com/products/4...ealth_360_Radiator_-_Black.html?tl=g30c95s161 I do not think it is the Xflow one tho I could be mistaken.

Yea it's the old one. Very high FPI and in comparison to newer rads not that good. It is still used when you need a very thin rad. But it needs big fannage to push through the restriction. There are many other pretty thin rads that are lower FPI you could use I think.

Not sure what you mean by only being 120x4 in the single loop. The single loop option will have 1 3x120, 1 140x1 and 2 120x2s. In a dual loops I would just be splitting those between the 2 loops.

Ahh okay, your right. You have the raddage, even 2-3 Titans

4 rads however I am planing to expand up to 1 or 2 more titans at a later date and also of course over clock everything.

The 355 is enough. The 35X is better and is native G1/4 threads.

Up you you.

 

[tsukasa]

The 140 is going outside the case on the back with the fan inside. The 360 is going on the top inside with fans above it outside. The 240s are going to be making a rad and fan sandwich in the bottom.

Also I will take into advisement the information about the processor.

Yea it's the old one. Very high FPI and in comparison to newer rads not that good. It is still used when you need a very thin rad. But it needs big fannage to push through the restriction. There are many other pretty thin rads that are lower FPI you could use I think.


What rad would you suggest for a thin one as an alternative? Hard to fit them inside the top of the cosmos 2 if i recall correctly I need under 50mm thickness.

Anyone have a suggestion as to with this set up I should go with the single or dual loop?

 

[Conumdrum]

Single cheaper and will work fine. Try the Swifttech original MCR series for the rad.

 

[tsukasa]

Single cheaper and will work fine. Try the Swifttech original MCR series for the rad.

Would http://www.performance-pcs.com/cata...t_info&cPath=59_457_667_674&products_id=31351 be the one you are referring to? It seams to be sold out many places.

 

[Conumdrum]

This one. 34mm thick. 12 FPI, great for quiet.

34mm thick.

http://www.performance-pcs.com/cata...t_info&cPath=59_457_667_674&products_id=31085

This one is 34mm thick and 20 FPI. Swiftech rads are a great price point over many other brands. Prices have changed somewhat, I'm a bit biased on older stuff since I been at this since 2008. So it gets confusing. The 20 FPI with the same good fan will remove more heat than the 12 FPI. You ned to look at the charecteristics of these rads like all rads. They are designed for fannage RPM bands you could say.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1..._Slim_Radiator_-_MCR320-XP.html?tl=g30c95s161

For under 1200 RPM and a SILENT rig, the 12 FPI one is what you want. The 20 FPI one will resond well up to 3000 RPM and still perfome reasonably well at 1000 RPM, but happier at 1300 RPM or so for a balance of noise and performance.

Most of us get a fan controller that is 30 watts per channel and put these 3 pin fans in series, 3-4 fans per knob, crank it up when cooling, is needed, easy turn for silence like a movie or just webbing.

These rads and MANY others are reviewed (and trusted by us) by Skinneelabs.com and Martinsliquidlab.org. If you haven't spent hours there doing research then you should. There is too much to absorb quickly. That's why WCing is best treated as a hobby and take the time to read tons of posts over a few weeks and read our stickies (all of them) and use the resources we can guide you to.

Your doing great, just got a few of the last issues to figure out. Your doing much better than many to attempt watercooling with no idea what they are getting into.

Ohh edit:

You know how much room you have to play with for the top 360 rad? Swiftech is fine and good, but if you can fit thicker then read around. Maybe you can get a thicker rad which can help. Figure that out. No matter what, the Swifty will do perfectly fine.

 

[tsukasa]

This one. 34mm thick. 12 FPI, great for quiet.

34mm thick.

http://www.performance-pcs.com/cata...t_info&cPath=59_457_667_674&products_id=31085

This one is 34mm thick and 20 FPI. Swiftech rads are a great price point over many other brands. Prices have changed somewhat, I'm a bit biased on older stuff since I been at this since 2008. So it gets confusing. The 20 FPI with the same good fan will remove more heat than the 12 FPI. You ned to look at the charecteristics of these rads like all rads. They are designed for fannage RPM bands you could say.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1..._Slim_Radiator_-_MCR320-XP.html?tl=g30c95s161

For under 1200 RPM and a SILENT rig, the 12 FPI one is what you want. The 20 FPI one will resond well up to 3000 RPM and still perfome reasonably well at 1000 RPM, but happier at 1300 RPM or so for a balance of noise and performance.

Most of us get a fan controller that is 30 watts per channel and put these 3 pin fans in series, 3-4 fans per knob, crank it up when cooling, is needed, easy turn for silence like a movie or just webbing.

These rads and MANY others are reviewed (and trusted by us) by Skinneelabs.com and Martinsliquidlab.org. If you haven't spent hours there doing research then you should. There is too much to absorb quickly. That's why WCing is best treated as a hobby and take the time to read tons of posts over a few weeks and read our stickies (all of them) and use the resources we can guide you to.

Your doing great, just got a few of the last issues to figure out. Your doing much better than many to attempt watercooling with no idea what they are getting into.

Ohh edit:

You know how much room you have to play with for the top 360 rad? Swiftech is fine and good, but if you can fit thicker then read around. Maybe you can get a thicker rad which can help. Figure that out. No matter what, the Swifty will do perfectly fine.

Good to know about the fans from what I had read I was under the impression the static pressure was more important than the rpm at higher fpi. Swapped the fans for Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm x 25mm Fan - 5400 RPM which should be more then enough and with a controller I should be able to quiet them down some.

Also I should mention I will be using a headphones most of the time so noise really is not an issue mostly just looking for performance.

Thanks for the info on the fan controller I was wondering why I could not find anything more then 5 or 6.

Before making this first post I had spent about a month reading the stickies and Skinneelabs.com it really is a lot to figure out. Do any sites review non 360 rads? Neither of the ones you mentioned seem to do so.

I don't have the motherboard yet but do have the case from what I have seen i should be able to go up to 50mm with a single fan config before I start hitting things tho 40mm would be safer.

*edit*
Did some more reading and my rad sandwich might not be such a great idea.

*edit2*
Some changes to the part list.

a. Res : EK-MultiOption RES X3 250 - Liquid Cooling Reservoir (6 Total Ports)
b. Pump : Swiftech MCP655-B 12v Water Pump w/ 3/8" Conversion Kit (317 GPH)
c. Cpu block: Koolance CPU-380I Intel Liquid Cooling CPU Block - (No Fittings)
d. Rads:
i. Swiftech MCR320-XP eXtreme Performance Triple 120mm Slim Radiator - (MCR320-XP)
ii. Alphacool NexXxoS Monsta Single 140mm Radiator - 80mm Thick!! (Going on back outside case)
iv. Alphacool NexXxoS Monsta Dual 120mm Radiator - 80mm Thick!!
e. Fans:
i. 9 fans Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm x 25mm Fan - 5400 RPM (D1225C12BBAP-31)
ii. Akasa 140mm x 25mm VIPER PWM Fan w/ Hydro Dynamic Bearings (AK-FN063)
f. Fittings:
i. Bitspower G1/4 Thread 90-Degree Rotary 1/2" ID x 3/4" OD Compression Fitting (BP-90R3CPF-CC5)
ii. Bitspower G1/4" Silver Shining Dual Rotary 45-Degree Compression Fitting CC5 For ID 1/2" OD 3/4" Tube (BP-45R2CPF-CC5)
iii. Bitspower Ultimate G 1/4 Thread 1/2" ID x 3/4" OD Compression Fitting - Silver Shining (BP-CPF-CC5)
iv. Bitspower G1/4" Matte Black T Adapter (BP-MBTMB) (drain line)
g. Misc:
i. IandH Silver KillCoils - Antimicrobial .999 Fine Silver Tubing / Reservoir Strip
ii. Phobya HeGrease Extreme Thermal Paste - 3.5g
iii. Koolance Threaded Rubber Funnel - G1/4" Thread (LIQ-FNL)
h. Tubing:
i. Masterkleer PVC Tubing 1/2" ID / 3/4" OD - 10ft Retail Pack - UV Pink
ii. Masterkleer PVC Tubing 1/2" ID / 3/4" OD - 10ft Retail Pack - UV Purple

Wish it would keep the formatting from the document when i copy paste it.

 

[bassnut]

5400RPM fans are way over kill for those rads not to mention loud enough you might even hear them over your headphones....... instead really consider the AP 15's - 1850 rpm if you want a bit bore the AP 45's @ 2150 rpm or the most AP 29's @ 3000 RPM

 

[Conumdrum]

360 rads vs a 240 rad? Increase your Dt by 1/3rd. Or decrease the heatload by 1/3rd. Otherwise the rads are exactly the same.

And yea, that is silly fast RPM fans. For sure don't need that. The 1850 ones are plenty. RPM does matter, but static pressure is important also on a rad. You read BlueZeros sticky called 'Fans 101"? Martin also does fan reviews.

 

[tsukasa]

5400RPM fans are way over kill for those rads not to mention loud enough you might even hear them over your headphones....... instead really consider the AP 15's - 1850 rpm if you want a bit bore the AP 45's @ 2150 rpm or the most AP 29's @ 3000 RPM

360 rads vs a 240 rad? Increase your Dt by 1/3rd. Or decrease the heatload by 1/3rd. Otherwise the rads are exactly the same.

And yea, that is silly fast RPM fans. For sure don't need that. The 1850 ones are plenty. RPM does matter, but static pressure is important also on a rad. You read BlueZeros sticky called 'Fans 101"? Martin also does fan reviews.

If I am understanding the information on http://martinsliquidlab.org/ it looks like the higher the rpm fan i use the better any rad performs. I figured i could just turn them up and down using a fan controller but have them if I want them or am I over estimating the usefulness of a fan controller?