proposed watercooling setup. Question on radiator.

[z28camaro11]

Hello, I recently built a new system, and right now it is all on stock cooling. I was looking at new heat sinks and fans, and realized I could get water cooling for not a huge amount more money than good air cooling.

My setup is:
Enermax chakra case http://www.bigbruin.com/2006/chakra_1
Asus P5Q Pro
E8400 @ 3.4ghz (hoping to bump this up around 4ghz with better cooling)
Asus 4850 (I plan to add another in a couple months)
I also have a DVD drive, one hard-drive (I plan to add two more in the next couple weeks), and a fan controller


My planned watercooling setup would be:
Swiftech apogee
Swiftech MCW30 chipset block
Dangerden Maze 5 low profile gpu block(s)
Swiftech MCR220 Radiator/Res combo
And possibly a Black Ice Pro or Swiftech Mcr120 if required
MCP650/655

I have been reading up on radiators and found out that the only double length radiator that will fit in my case is the swiftech above. I plan to mount it in the top of my case with two highflow fans connected to my fan controller. I've heard some say that this is not enough radiator, so I measured and it appears I can just fit a single 120mm radiator on the back fan in my case. Would this radiator be necessary?

I was looking at a test of thermochill radiators (http://www.thermochill.com/PATesting/), and saw that the mcr220 is not that far behind the PA120.2. The second graph from the bottom is what I'm basing this off of.

It appears from looking at that graph that the mcr220 and a single 120mm radiator would put my system somewhere between a thermochil PA120.2 and a 120.3. Is this correct?

Also, I need to keep all of this inside of my case, otherwise I would mount a mcr320 externally, but I need to keep it all inside the case.

 

[saxile]

for all you are cooling you will need at least dual TC or Feser rads (a 120 and 220), mainly when you drop in that second video card in the loop, those two rads just won't handle that much load.

 

[atomic ferret]

An MCR220 will keep your cpu and gpu at a decent temperature. Don't expect any great overclocking however. Are you sure you can't fit a MCR320 on the top or bottom of your case (depending you where your PSU is)? It might be worth it even if it means removing a hard drive cage and doing a little cutting.

 

[z28camaro11]

The mcr320 won't fit. That's why I was wondering if it would be worth it to install the second additional radiator. Which would give me roughly the same cooling power as one mcr320, the only downside is a slight increase in system restriction.

 

[saxile]

An MCR220 will keep your cpu and gpu at a decent temperature. Don't expect any great overclocking however. Are you sure you can't fit a MCR320 on the top or bottom of your case (depending you where your PSU is)? It might be worth it even if it means removing a hard drive cage and doing a little cutting.

He's cooling the cpu, the gpu, the nb, and possibly another gpu later. That little poor little 220 and 120 won't handle the load of all of that and heavy overclocking, gonna have to step up to a beefer rad I'm afraid.

 

[atomic ferret]

The mcr320 won't fit. That's why I was wondering if it would be worth it to install the second additional radiator. Which would give me roughly the same cooling power as one mcr320, the only downside is a slight increase in system restriction.

According to the measurements, you can transplant your hard drives to the floppy bays and remove it. Then you can fit a triple rad with fans. Mount the pump right on top of one of the fans and you have got a powerful loop inside a small case. I still think that's your best bet.

 

[z28camaro11]

Fit the triple rad where?

 

[Moto7451]

He has a mid tower case. He's have to remove all his drive bays to fit it in the front and thats not really a great option. Check out the link he provided. On the second page it shows the inside of the case. He may just barely have enough room to mount a 120.3 at the top of the case while sacrificing a drive bay or two.

The mcr320 won't fit. That's why I was wondering if it would be worth it to install the second additional radiator. Which would give me roughly the same cooling power as one mcr320, the only downside is a slight increase in system restriction.

With an MCP650 or 655 (the D4s at petras - the old 650s - are on sale for $35 and are stronger pumps than the current fixed speed D5/MCP655) you should have no problem with that setup and two rads.

He's cooling the cpu, the gpu, the nb, and possibly another gpu later. That little poor little 220 and 120 won't handle the load of all of that and heavy overclocking, gonna have to step up to a beefer rad I'm afraid.

I disagree. I think he'll be just fine, especially if he has higher speed fans on a fan controller. The main advantage a 120.3 would give would be the possibility of running Yate-Loons with acceptable performance. In either case, he doesn't really have much of an option since his case won't fit it.

 

[saxile]

even with a 120.3 the temps will suffer a bit, to much on a single loop imo, now if they were split into two loops, video and nb on the 120.2 and cpu on the 120, temps should be fine (as gpu and nb can take slightly higher temps and be ok).

 

[z28camaro11]

How about this:

For now:
cpu and gpu on one loop with both radiators, no NB block.

Later:
Add second gpu, and run the dual loops?

That should work better then?

 

[saxile]

sounds like a good plan to me, could also consider a different case in the future and pick up a better rad then as well.

I suggest running the 120.2 to cpu to 120 to gpu, but that's my opinion. Even if temps on gpu are a little higher it won't hurt anything as they will be much lower than stock.

 

[atomic ferret]

Fit the triple rad where?

I'm saying that if you remove the hard drive cage and put the hard drives in your floppy bays, you can fit an MCR320 on the bottom. The top isn't really a good option since the PSU is up there.