First Watercooling Project

[DigitalMan]

Hello everyone!

I stumbled across these forums the other day looking for a good liquid cooling community that could give some advice and pointers on a new project I'm starting. I've never done watercooling before, but I'm no stranger to building PCs. I've finally got the time and budget to tackle something like this, but before I go buying everything I figured I'd shoot this by you all to get your take and opinions

I'm looking to cool a Core i7-920 on an ASUS P6T Deluxe V2. Video will be a pair of ASUS 4890s. So far I'm looking only to cool the CPU and GPUs. I am hoping to do some moderate overclocking on the 920, but the GPUs I plan on keeping at stock speeds.

As Intel has moved the memory controller to the processor, it was my understanding that the northbridge does not get as hot as it used to, and therefor I did not plan on including it in the WC loop at this time.

The enclosure is a Silverstone TJ10.

I've enclosed a general diagram of my planned loop below:




Going to http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine, I came up with 340w of heat I'll need to dissipate. This seems rather low to me, and I calculated possibly 606w worse case, using [H]ardOCPs 4890 review and Intel's processor specifications. I've read conflicting things here and there on what's recommended, so currently I'm planning on 3x120mm worth of radiator surface, 120.2 at the top and 120.1 on the rear. Swiftech's Quiet Power radiators seem to be highly recommended.


For the CPU, it seems that the Swiftech Apogee GTZ is the preferred waterblock.

For the GPUs, I'm most likely going with EK's 4890 blocks with the acrylic plate.

For the pump it seems that the Swiftech MCP655 is most recommended.

I haven't seen many guidelines on reservoir size, so I'll probably go with a tube design from EK or Koolance, with 3-4 ports so I can have an intake and draw, plus a fillport. I've seen some nice aluminium finned cooling reservoirs, but it's my understanding that these will cause corosion as they are not lined.

Tubing was going to be standard Tygon clear, 3/8ID-1/2OD. I admit I've been kinda spoiled by the pictures of WC setups in the gallery so I was hoping to fill this with Feser One UV fluid, but some have said that it's better to go with straight distilled to avoid the possibility of any clogs in the waterblocks. IF this is the case, I'll see about colored tubing instead.

My major concern at this point is whether or not I'll have enough cooling surface to keep these components under control. The TJ10 will naturally accept a 120.2 radiator with bracket (though I understand there might be some clearance issues with the larger radiators) but I've heard that some recommend a 120.3 in the top instead. I'm not against making case modifications, but with the TJ10's larger than standard top vent area, it could make replacing the grill tricky. Furthermore, I'm hoping to take this system to the occasional LAN party, and in the interest of preventing damage in general, I'm hoping to keep as much of the setup internal as possible.

So if any of you have pointers, advice, or general comments, feel free to dump anything and everything you think on me. I've noticed there aren't many TJ10 setups in your gallery, hopefully I'll be able to start a worklog soon and we can add one more to it. Thanks in advance!

[Kibbler]

Res below pump is an immediate no no. Haven't read the rest yet.

Almost certainly not enough cooling capacity unless your ambient is like 10deg C.

[DigitalMan]

Res below pump is an immediate no no. Haven't read the rest yet.

Almost certainly not enough cooling capacity unless your ambient is like 10deg C.

Thanks for the reply. No worries, the Res will be going above the pump. I only placed it below in the diagram for readability.

On the amount of cooling though, what do you recommend would be adequate?

[veedubfreak]

As to radiator, lets just say that my 320qp is barely keeping up with my i7 clocked at 4.2 now that ambients are coming up. And i know for a fact that my 320qp on the gpu loop is definately at its limits cooling 3 gtx285s. What you might look into is going with some of the new xspc radiators. They're about twice the depth of the swiftech, but still reasonably priced. I'm debating on switching out my swiftechs to them myself, as the cost of the rad minus selling my old rads would end up cheaper than buying a stackable qp.

[PiLsY]

A DDC Ultra with an XSPC reservoir top will sort the res/pump/fillport problem. Reverse the flow of water and youll find your tubing layout is easier with this pump/res combo.
The Swiftech stuff is good but by no means the best. Tends to be easy to use, reliable and well made. For best performance you need to mix and match brands. Think about a low restriction cpu block, especially considering youve got 2 GPU blocks in the same loop. Delta v3 (by experience) or Fuzion v2 (by reputation) are low restriction and perform well with i7.
In my opinion you've got enough cooling there using swiftech rads for a mild overclock with low temps or heavy overclock with high (70+ cpu) temps. Change the radiators for TFC Xchangers and youll have no problems at all. Wrap it up with zalman fans on 9v or 7v reducers and youll have a nice quiet system too. If you do stick with swiftech radiators think about using 4 fans (push/pull) on the top 240mm radiator for a nice temp drop.

[DigitalMan]

Thanks for the great feedback. I'll definitally look into those other CPU water blocks. As for the radiators, I'll have to check my case as clearance could be an issue between the top of the case and the top edge of the motherboard tray. I'm fairly certain a TFC or XSPC radiator will not fit once fans are included, let alone a push/pull setup. In that case I'll look into how I can best mod the top of the case. If it ends up that I'll have to cut anyways, I'll probably just make room up there for a 120.3.

Here's a question. On your radiators, do you blow air across the radiator and out of the case, or bring fresh air in? I figure exhausting would push hot air out of the case for the benefit of the non-WC components, but cooler air could be obtained drawing in. What do you recommend?

[veedubfreak]

Thanks for the great feedback. I'll definitally look into those other CPU water blocks. As for the radiators, I'll have to check my case as clearance could be an issue between the top of the case and the top edge of the motherboard tray. I'm fairly certain a TFC or XSPC radiator will not fit once fans are included, let alone a push/pull setup. In that case I'll look into how I can best mod the top of the case. If it ends up that I'll have to cut anyways, I'll probably just make room up there for a 120.3.

Here's a question. On your radiators, do you blow air across the radiator and out of the case, or bring fresh air in? I figure exhausting would push hot air out of the case for the benefit of the non-WC components, but cooler air could be obtained drawing in. What do you recommend?

On my setup, using a MM UFO, the front radiator draws cold air in, over the rad, then into the case to cool the CPU loop. The rear radiator pulls air in from the case, over the rad, and exhausts it. In theory, you want your rads pulling cool air in, but in practice this isnt always possible.

[shazza]

While I agree, this may not be enough cooling for major OC'ing, I think it's worth a shot. I am cooling 3 GTX 285s on a triple (so, one 285 per 120 rad/fan), and 1 i7 920 on another triple. I've got headroom on the temp side with my triple on the 920 (generally run at 3.6GHz), so I think a 240 will do a decent job. Yes ... I'm using Thermochills, but only running fans about 800 RPM.

Also, the data that compares the performance of the Swiftech's and the other rads shows they do quite well. It never hurts to have more radiator, but given the lower cost and easier placement/fit of the Swiftechs, I'd give it a go and see if it meets your expectations.