Frist time Water Cooling Build!!! Really Excited!!! Just looking for advice!

[beratblakaj]

Guys and Gals,

As the title says this is going to be my very first Water Cooling Build. So I need some build advice or a "hey you're going in the right direction" nudge. First I'd like to introduce myself since this is my first post here. I've been a long time lurker, and yes I did read the newbie section. My name is Berat or B. I built my first PC when I was 10-11, so I'm no stranger to this. I decided to embark on this water cooling journey just out of curiosity, and my friend worked for Intel so he got me a pretty sweet deal on a processor . So lets get to the good stuff. My budget was <1K for water cooling. For a total system build of <3K. My ultimate goal is to try and make this as silent a build as possible. I really hate noise.

Case: 750D, with sound deadening. I plan to swap the windowed panel for another side panel without the window. I went with the 750D just for aesthetic reasons, I think its a beautiful case, and fits my taste very nicely.

Radiators: Top - 360 Black Ice Nemesis GTS(Push/Pull), Bottom - 240 Black Ice Nemesis GTS X-Flow (Push/ Don't have clearance for Pull), and Front - 280 Black Ice Nemesis GTS X Flow (Push/Pull).

Blocks: EK Supremacy for i7-5930K, and EK 295X2 Block.

Reservoir/Pump: This is where a bit of confusion on my part goes into effect. Would I be better served with going with a separate pump and res or doing a combo? Like the XSPC D5 Photon 270 Reservoir/Pump Combo?

Fans: All Noctua NF fans running anywhere between 700-1000RPM. I was debating getting Silent Wings 2, but the static pressure on the 140 wasn't on par with the Noctua. I can sacrifice about 4db of noise for the additional cooling power.

Water Flow: Res/Pump > CPU > Top Rad > GPU > Buttom Rad > Front Rad > Res/Pump

The reason I have the additional rad in there is my thinking is that the 295x2 is basically two cards in one, figure you have to cool it as such.

Questions:

Am I heading in the right direction? I don't plan to do crazy overclocking, just wanted something to do that I made with my hands and I've always been interested in water cooling.
If I wanted to go silent, would it be better to use the alphacool passive radiators? If so do they need to be mounted on the exterior of the case or can the be mounted internally as long as I had decent amount of airflow to remove the heat?
Is this overkill? lol

Any advice would be awesome. Or even a hey you're on the right track.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

If you want quiet a 16FPI radiator isn't the way to go.
Look more in the 9-10FPI range. The 360/280/240 combo is the way to go though.

For ultimate silence on the pump, grab an MCP50X and control it via PWM.
Same for the fans, PWM control.

I wouldn't try to go passive, you'll need a lot more radiator.
Go for the thickest radiators you can fit, even if it means going to push instead of push/pull.
A NexXxoS UT60 would be a great option.

 

[bassnut]

I am running some Black Ice GTX rads on my AMD rig, great rads that can remove allot of heat. That being said the high fpi of the rad requires high speed fans to get the best of the performance they offer. High speed fans and quiet just don't really belong in the same sentence and I believe the new Black Ice Nemesis rad has a higher fpi count then the GTX.

Like ATMINSIDE has already stated look for some lower fpi rads that can perform with low speed fans. Yes the alfacool UT60 would be a great choice among others if silence is your goal in this build.

 

[beratblakaj]

If you want quiet a 16FPI radiator isn't the way to go.
Look more in the 9-10FPI range. The 360/280/240 combo is the way to go though.

For ultimate silence on the pump, grab an MCP50X and control it via PWM.
Same for the fans, PWM control.

I wouldn't try to go passive, you'll need a lot more radiator.
Go for the thickest radiators you can fit, even if it means going to push instead of push/pull.
A NexXxoS UT60 would be a great option.

I am running some Black Ice GTX rads on my AMD rig, great rads that can remove allot of heat. That being said the high fpi of the rad requires high speed fans to get the best of the performance they offer. High speed fans and quiet just don't really belong in the same sentence and I believe the new Black Ice Nemesis rad has a higher fpi count then the GTX.

Like ATMINSIDE has already stated look for some lower fpi rads that can perform with low speed fans. Yes the alfacool UT60 would be a great choice among others if silence is your goal in this build.

Thank you both for your feedback. This has given me something to think about. Currently waiting on parts at the moment. 750D and Mobo come in tomorrow with other parts coming in the next few weeks. So it'll give me some time to research some more. Do you guys have a suggestion on PWM controller? I saw the corsair link, thought it was pretty cool to be able to control it from the desktop. But not to sure.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Use the onboard PWM headers on your motherboard and a good splitter like the one that Swiftech makes.
The H220-X and H240-X may come with one, actually.

 

[Flat-6]

If you are aiming for a very quiet setup then you do need to select some components carefully.

Radiators: choose low FPI rads. Something around 10FPI. The higher the fin count then the higher the fan speed required to achieve a certain efficiency. Also do not choose a thick rad as thinner rads work better at lower fan speeds. I would opt for a 45mm variant. XSPC and Alphacool make an excellent 45mm rad.

Fans: Select fans that will operate between 700 to 1500 rpm max. 1500 starts to get quite noisy. If you are aiming for quiet then operating at sub 1000 rpm (pref <800 rpm) is where you will want them to operate at. I run my fans at 750 rpm for the majority of time however I bump the speed up to 1500 rpm when gaming. I wear headphones while gaming so the extra fan noise while gaming is not an issue.

Pump: Ensure that you purchase a PWM controlled pump. This way you can dial it down to minimise any noises due to the pump itself or more importantly any resonance type noise that can be produced due to how you mount the pump. The ultimate pump setup for minimum noise IMO is to select a dual pump setup eg a MCP35X2 or an equivalent Dual D5 setup (EK dual pump block etc). This is because you can run a dual pump setup at very low PWM drive levels but still have an excellent flow rate due to the advantage of running two pumps in series.

Reservoir: Opt for a standalone res. This way the res is effectively isolated from the pump so that any vibes from the pump cannot be transferred to the res which can amplify noise through its mounting arrangement.

Dont bother with the Corsair link controller as their software is full of bugs....has been for some time now. If funds allow opt for an Aquaero6 controller.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Another option on the res is to get the one that mounts to the top of the MCP35X and MCP50X.

 

[GTXJackBauer]

If you are aiming for a very quiet setup then you do need to select some components carefully.

Radiators: choose low FPI rads. Something around 10FPI. The higher the fin count then the higher the fan speed required to achieve a certain efficiency. Also do not choose a thick rad as thinner rads work better at lower fan speeds. I would opt for a 45mm variant. XSPC and Alphacool make an excellent 45mm rad.

Fans: Select fans that will operate between 700 to 1500 rpm max. 1500 starts to get quite noisy. If you are aiming for quiet then operating at sub 1000 rpm (pref <800 rpm) is where you will want them to operate at. I run my fans at 750 rpm for the majority of time however I bump the speed up to 1500 rpm when gaming. I wear headphones while gaming so the extra fan noise while gaming is not an issue.

Pump: Ensure that you purchase a PWM controlled pump. This way you can dial it down to minimise any noises due to the pump itself or more importantly any resonance type noise that can be produced due to how you mount the pump. The ultimate pump setup for minimum noise IMO is to select a dual pump setup eg a MCP35X2 or an equivalent Dual D5 setup (EK dual pump block etc). This is because you can run a dual pump setup at very low PWM drive levels but still have an excellent flow rate due to the advantage of running two pumps in series.

Reservoir: Opt for a standalone res. This way the res is effectively isolated from the pump so that any vibes from the pump cannot be transferred to the res which can amplify noise through its mounting arrangement.

Dont bother with the Corsair link controller as their software is full of bugs....has been for some time now. If funds allow opt for an Aquaero6 controller.

+1

Go with some premium fans like the eLoop B12 PWMs from Noiseblockers.

As for rads, if you want to stick with Black Ice rads, I'd take a look at their new gen. SR-2 series since the SR-1s that I currently have are the old gen. Still work great. If not, Alpha cool rads are great as well.

The nemesis line is 16 FPI and still designed for low to mid fans but I would think to really make them work you'll need at least 1k RPM premium fans. The GTX rads, if my memory serves me correctly are 20 FPI rads.

Corsair Link, don't even think about it and save yourself the headache. Either go with a budgeted Swiftech 8-Way PWM self powered splitter or a premium priced Aquaero 6. Not sure if premium fans and this controller will be within budget. Premium fans and the AQ6 could literally run you $500+ alone and not include everything else.

D5s are quieter pumps when run on 1-3 settings out of 5, on their dial but the DDCs have higher head pressure. I use the MCP-35X2 and have it set at 30% PWM. My flow is at 1.1-1.2 GPM within flow efficiency. You'll want to be in the range of 1.0-1.5 GPM. You also get pump redundancy in but not mandatory or really needed.

 

[beratblakaj]

Everyone,

Thanks for the help. I've actually learned a lot in the last few days from posting this. So I might have to change the setup a tiny bit. I think I'm going to go for the noiseblocker eloop fans. Seeing as they don't have 140 variant I plan on changing the 280 rad out front for a 240. Also read that the 280 might have potential clearance issues on 750D if I use a bottom rad. I still have to research this but just for the sake of using a better fan I may do this. I think after all this I maybe ok with sacrificing noise, since I plan on sound deadening the side panels I may not be able to hear much anyway. I just ordered the swifttech PWM controller, and about to pull the trigger on the eloop fans. The rads and blocks will have to wait until my next pay check, gives me some more time to research(next friday can't get here close enough).

Heres a question I've been rattling in my head, correct me if I'm wrong in terms of my terminology. How many of you have T-Lines/Y-Splitter to empty your loop for maintenance reasons or to upgrade parts etc. I know most res have fill ports, but do they also have drain ports.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

QDCs are better for upgrading parts.

 

[beratblakaj]

QDCs are better for upgrading parts.

Yes!!! Thank you sir! I was just going to go with the compression fittings from bitspower. But I'd rather spring for these bad boys. Thanks for pointing this out.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Yes!!! Thank you sir! I was just going to go with the compression fittings from bitspower. But I'd rather spring for these bad boys. Thanks for pointing this out.

You really only need three btw. One for the inlet to the GPU, one between the GPU and CPU, and one leaving the CPU.

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Just have a drain setup at the lowest point of the rig.

QDCs, you don't really need unless you change parts every 3-6 months or even less. Plus they have a hefty price while will shrink your budget a bit. I bought 4 sets and after 3-4 loop changes, I don't use them anymore.

 

[Flat-6]

How many of you have T-Lines/Y-Splitter to empty your loop for maintenance reasons or to upgrade parts etc. I know most res have fill ports, but do they also have drain ports.

As far as QDC's are concerned do note that many designs are quite restrictive to flow, so I would not recommend them unless you absolutely have the need to alter your components frequently eg: if you are regularly testing lots of different hardware etc.

Drain ports are very handy. Basically they provide you with a no mess/fuss way of emptying your loop - I would highly recommend fitting a drain port to your loop if you can.

It doesn't have to be anything overly complex - Below is a pic of mine. I have simply utilised a spare port on my rad and fitted a Bitspower valve/tap to it. When I need to drain my loop I attach a bit of spare tubing via a screw on 1/4' connector fitted to the tubing and simply open the tap - Gravity does the rest. If you do opt for one, ensure that your drain port is fitted somewhere at the lowest point in your loop.

 

[kierwest]

Dang, after reading this, I wish I had the money to assemble a build of this quality....

 

[habbajabba]

I just built my sig. Couldn't be happier. I originally wanted small and powerful but ended up with a mid sized case and a nepton 120xl. I wasn't even aware the cpu is the video card until after it was installed. I almost bought a card until I read all the comments. Anyways, the coolermaster watercool setup is dead simple and keeps my cpu at ~90 deg f. I only have two fans. One pulling into the case through the rad and one exiting, plus the psu fan. Both fans are set in bios at %100 and the ssd is configured for longevity incl a 4gb xfast ram config. Good luck with that build.