Dual Loop Water Cooling, help

[Jameison]

I am new to ES, and new to water cooling as well. In this project I could use advice on the water cooling setup, or anything really.

List of components:
COSMOS S case
ASUS Rampage II Extreme ROG
Intel i7 965 EE
Corsair Dominator GT 6GB 1866 7-8-7-20
BFG 295 GTX H2O in Quad SLI
X3 Ultra 1600W Modular
Koolance Water Blocks: CPU-350, MOSFETS 2ea., NB, SB and DRAM.
Koolance Pumps: PMP-400 for MB loop, PMP-450 for the Quad SLI loop.
Koolance 180 Res
BlackIce GTS 360 (placed in tray on top of case for Motherboard)
BlackIce GTX 360 (placed on cieling inside case for GPU's, separating the two Rads with three 120mm fans). There is room to add an additional three 120mm fans under the lower radiator if needed (push/pull). I'm trying to avoid using the front bays or going external.

Again, any thoughts, suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Is this a dumb approach, or am I headed in the right direction?

[ILikeCosmosS]

ultra x3 sucks

get a enermax revolution 85_ 1050 watts
y are you getting everything from koolance
get mcp355 or mcp655
the blocks are fine but for the cpu 350 make sure that loop has mcp355
get feser /thermochill/xspc rads instead black ice because they require high cfm fans


i dont think you would need a 965 unless you have unlimited supply of money a 920 or 940 should do good

[Jameison]

I will have to re-evaluate the X3 Ultra.

I wanted the clocks unlocked on the i7 core.

According to spec sheets the PMP-400 & MCP-355 have near identical head pressure and flow rates, infact I think they are identical Laing pumps. The specific reason for this pump was the cpu block which requires the head pressure. Again, I think the MCP-655 & PMP-450 are identical Laing D5's so it shouldn't make a difference.

I simply liked the design of Kollance CPU-350 block and have read some impressive cooling attributes, but we'll see.

Your right, I may need to re-evalute the radiator's. What do you think about running them inline (radiator/fans/radiator)?

Again, thanks for your input!

[John Planet]

ultra x3 sucks


Do you have a concrete reason for saying this? Ultra X3 1600w review. (http://hi-techreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9507)



i dont think you would need a 965 unless you have unlimited supply of money a 920 or 940 should do good


If Jameison wants a 965 that's all that counts, since I don't have to pay for it. :up:

[Scubar]

The Ultra X3s are actually very good PSUs. Not quite at the same level as the new Enermax Revolution range but your PC isnt going to tell the difference between the two.

[NaeKuh]

your board and GPU will peak more then 700W @ full load.

so make sure you plan your PSU department very carefully.

[ILikeCosmosS]

if you need something like the 1600watt power go for a toughpower 1500 watt if there is one

i just dont find ultra x3 reliable
i prefer corsair hx1000 or antec signature or eneramx revolution 85+ or seasonic m12D( the 850 version)

[Jameison]

Thanks for the input on the PSU.

Another concern I have regards placement of the radiators. Does it sound feasible to place two 360's inline, basically attaching them to one another with three 120mm fans between the two radiators?

[Chruschef]

Thanks for the input on the PSU.

Another concern I have regards placement of the radiators. Does it sound feasible to place two 360's inline, basically attaching them to one another with three 120mm fans between the two radiators?

unmodded, a singe GTX360+38mm fans won't fit. good luck getting 3(x3 for total of 9) fans, and 2 radiators.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703012
i haven't heard anything nice about the ultra PSU's, iirc i heard they weren't reliabe...?:confused:
galaxy enermax is nice to.

the koolance pump, mcp355, and liang DDC-3.2 are all exactly the same.

dram water block is aluminum if i recall correctly.

can you link us to each of the specific parts your refering to? there's many different mosfet block models, nb/sb models...

also, koolance isn't necessarily the "one-stop" shop for watercooling. take a look around at online shops like, petrastechshop.com, jab-tech.com.. theres more to WC than koolance.. koolance's older products were crud, the newer ones are much better though.

[DeanB]

dram water block is aluminum if i recall correctly.

There is absolutely no aluminum in the dram block :)

[Jameison]

Koolance Water Blocks: I tried to cut/copy the links, but they come up text...?

MOSFETS 2ea. -
http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/product_info.php?product_id=736

Also, two individual Heat Transfer Plates
http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/product_info.php?product_id=737

NB, SB -
http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/product_info.php?product_id=772

DRAM.-
http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/product_info.php?product_id=796

CPU-350 -
http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/product_info.php?product_id=755

I looked at a number of blocks out there, it "appears" the quality of the parts by Koolance specifically for the ASUS Rampage II Extreme are good. Performance is another issue.

Those sites are new resourses to me and appreciated.

I may in fact have to mod the top of the case for the upper radiator, but I think using the GTS 360 (Stealth) 1.16 inches thick with low profile elbows (.76 inches) I should barely have the room for it in the top of the COSMOS S tray.

What do you think of placing them in-line, one below the other with the fans between them. I think it will fit, but am uncertain of the cooling performance?

Again, thanks everyone!

[pby5cat]

I think you have the right idea with the radiators. Though I would recomend the Swiftech MCR-320 QP over the HWlabs you mentioned. I have seen pictures, but never in real life, that a MRC320 plus the fans will fit inside attached to the top. You can always measure to find out, 34mm or 1.3in.

http://www.hw-vault.com/pics/news/CM_Cosmos_S.jpg

Based on the picture in the link above, if you take off the mesh plate that is up there, the other MRC320 looks like it will fit, but it should be measured. the MRC is 128mm or 5in wide, and the fans on top are 120mm so 4mm on each side. For this rad, you might want to use 1 inch long rubber feet or spacers so that the radiator is not force fed the air from the first radiator.

Some modding is needed for the tubes and fan power, and the in/out tanks would need to be opposite of each other so the tubes could pass.

[Jameison]

Thank you for the input, very helpful, everyone. As I begin the project I will definately reference Extreme Systems. Solid Forum...

[faster3200]

The newer Koolance stuff is very good. Any anti-Koolance sentiment comes from their older stuff, which used alu. The Ultra X3 is a VERY good psu. It is a bit older is deign but the 1000w version got a 9.5 from Jonny. It will be more than enough. For the rads, Feser and XSPC RX are the best rads for low speed fans. Thermochill is also good but, they have non-standard hole spacing and use G3/8 instead of G1/4 so I would avoid them. Swiftech rads are very popular (I have 5) but they are more known for price/performance and not just performance, which is what it seems you want. Of course, if you were really extreme you could go stacked rads :up:.

[Jameison]

Thanks faster, what do you mean by stacked?

[faster3200]

Thanks faster, what do you mean by stacked?

Here (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=206829) is some tests of stacked rads. Basically, it is just having one rad on top of the other or "stacked" on top of each other. You usually have a fan in between the rads and then if you want on the outside. Swiftech just came out with a rad specifically designed for stacking. I can't say how stacked swiftech rads will differ in performance from the higher end rads, but it seems like most people agree it will do better. A normal Swiftech rad is only about 2% off the other rads in terms of performance anyway.

[Jameison]

This answers my main question, in my plan the only difference is a dual loop, so radiator one on MB, radiator two for the quad SLI.

Again, very helpful faster...