New (and first) water cooled build

[flk3000]

Small off-topic, how's those Akasa fans working out ? asked about them a couple months back and i got a big "avoid them"

I can't tell yet since the only thing powered up is the pump. I ran them briefly today via a PWM hub but since the system itself wasn't powered they were running at full speed - so were pretty loud. Hopefully I can run them at much lower speed.

On what grounds should they be avoided? I must admit I didn't give a whole lot of thought to alternatives since the reviews I found for these seemed reasonably good for the price.

 

[Kenrou]

On what grounds should they be avoided? I must admit I didn't give a whole lot of thought to alternatives since the reviews I found for these seemed reasonably good for the price.

Sound related if memory serves, they can move a massive amount of air but the website states their near silent peaking at 21.7db. But if you tried them and say they are loud they must go well above that

http://www.akasa.co.uk/update.php?t...=Fans&type_sub=Ultra Quiet Fan&model=AK-FN073

 

[flk3000]

Sound related if memory serves, they can move a massive amount of air but the website states their near silent peaking at 21.7db. But if you tried them and say they are loud they must go well above that

http://www.akasa.co.uk/update.php?t...=Fans&type_sub=Ultra Quiet Fan&model=AK-FN073

I'll let you know about the sound levels once I have them running with speed control. I guess the noise could be from pushing air through the radiator, rather than the fan itself?

 

[flk3000]

Everything is working nicely with the new PSU and I'll post some photos in the next few days although I'd like to tidy up the cabling first.

Regarding fan noise: something is LOUD when the fans are at full speed, but I think that might be air being pushed through the radiator fins. I've only had a couple of hours to tweak fan speeds, monitor temperatures, etc - but I can run the fans quietly at around half speed and temps were still very good under full CPU load. I do have a problem with a vibration/buzz at some fan speeds - I might need to look at silicon grommets/gaskets between fan and radiator to solve this, although I'm tight on space with the rad+fan thickness, so adding a few mm to this isn't ideal. I may also dial back the D5 pump speed - I'm not actually sure what the dial is set to at the moment but the pump is clearly audible, although not loud.

 

[flk3000]

Here's a photo of the build. Not completely finished but it's up and running - this 1070 is a beast! Despite some advice to the contrary I went for a colored coolant, although I did avoid pastel coolant which was what I had originally planned for. I also turned the pump from the factory setting of 5 down to 3, and managed to eliminate the fan buzz/vibration without using a gasket or grommets.

I'm pleased with how this has turned out so far although I do want to tidy up the cables some more. A few details still to come:

• Replace/paint PCI slot covers
• Some (subtle) lighting

 

[Evilsizer]

its does look really nice, i dont want to be the downer here. have you ran the loop for a bit to get the air out? if you ran it setup like that in your picture i hope you are aware the air will collect at the highest point in the wcing system. i would try to find a way to setup the res above the rad so all the air gets out of the rad. depending on the size of the air pockets in the rad this will hinder the cooling ability of the rad.

i would suggest laying the pc on the back side panel and get the res as high as you can above the rad that is secure, then start the purge.

 

[flk3000]

its does look really nice, i dont want to be the downer here. have you ran the loop for a bit to get the air out? if you ran it setup like that in your picture i hope you are aware the air will collect at the highest point in the wcing system. i would try to find a way to setup the res above the rad so all the air gets out of the rad. depending on the size of the air pockets in the rad this will hinder the cooling ability of the rad.

i would suggest laying the pc on the back side panel and get the res as high as you can above the rad that is secure, then start the purge.

Thanks, and don't worry about being a downer - it's all good advice, and very welcome.

Yes I ran the loop to get air out, and I did tip it at various angles but probably not enough to get air out of the top rad as you mentioned. Temps are OK at the moment but I'll do what you suggested next time I open up the case to tinker with anything!

 

[flk3000]

Hi all, another quick update...
I'm beginning to agree that the Akasa Viper fans aren't great, they do make more noise than I'd like. I'm yet to get a silicon gasket to reduce vibration between fans and radiator, but if that doesn't solve it I would say the noise levels are higher than I was expecting for a water cooled build. Not sure if I had realistic expectations or not!

It's been HOT here in the UK this week, so ambient temperatures are pretty high. I've been playing with fan speeds to strike a balance between noise and cooling performance. With my current fan settings I see peak CPU temp of 55° during a two hour Battlefield 4 session - I'm yet to do some real stress testing to fully max out the CPU. I used the MSI OC Genie tool to overclock my i5 6600k to 4.1Ghz; this is a quick n' dirty overclock, I'd like to tinker in the BIOS some more when I have the time.

I haven't had a chance to do what Evilsizer suggested yet, but will certainly do it at some point.

 

[exadeuce]

Hi all, another quick update...
I'm beginning to agree that the Akasa Viper fans aren't great, they do make more noise than I'd like. I'm yet to get a silicon gasket to reduce vibration between fans and radiator, but if that doesn't solve it I would say the noise levels are higher than I was expecting for a water cooled build. Not sure if I had realistic expectations or not!

It's been HOT here in the UK this week, so ambient temperatures are pretty high. I've been playing with fan speeds to strike a balance between noise and cooling performance. With my current fan settings I see peak CPU temp of 55° during a two hour Battlefield 4 session - I'm yet to do some real stress testing to fully max out the CPU. I used the MSI OC Genie tool to overclock my i5 6600k to 4.1Ghz; this is a quick n' dirty overclock, I'd like to tinker in the BIOS some more when I have the time.

I haven't had a chance to do what Evilsizer suggested yet, but will certainly do it at some point.

You should be able to get the 6600k past 4.1GHz. Mine has a brick wall to end all brick walls past 4.5GHz but before then is smooth sailing.

 

[InfoSponge16]

Hey op. Was checking out the thread and build. Looks nice, got some good equipment too. I have yet to build a water cooled PC but plan to in the future. I have a question, or maybe suggestion. I understand why people seem to run their loops the you have. Seems for the sake of simplicity. Water cooled systems tend to be tidy, as yours is. But gpu's tend to run hotter than the CPU, have you thought about running cold to CPU first? That would complicate things a bit but would have a cooler CPU. Heated coolant from CPU to gpu won't be as hot as heated coolant from GPU to cpu. Or is the logic coldest coolant possible to GPU?

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Heated coolant from CPU to gpu won't be as hot as heated coolant from GPU to cpu. Or is the logic coldest coolant possible to GPU?

You might save maybe a degree or two at the most but the loop reaches it's equilibrium.

Make sure to read up the water cooling stickies that will explain exactly what this all means.

 

[InfoSponge16]

Good point, equilibrium is exactly what I was referring too. Base temp of the CPU.

 

[flk3000]

You might save maybe a degree or two at the most but the loop reaches it's equilibrium.

Make sure to read up the water cooling stickies that will explain exactly what this all means.

Yes I read various articles on the loop order and concluded it doesn't make enough of a difference to justify compromising the layout.

BTW: I just removed the fans, stuck one of these gaskets onto the rad, then replaced the fans. Vibrations are completely gone and I'm much happier with the noise levels now! Adding the gasket did make what was already tight clearance between fan and motherboard a little worse, but there's just enough room. I suspect if my motherboard had some fancy IO cover it would be a different story.