Liquid cooling parts list help

[Bolas]

I'm building a custom computer with the following parts:

Intl core i7 980x CPU
Sapphire Radeon HD 5970 GPU
Silverstone Strider ST1500 PSU
Intel X25-M 160GB G2 SSD
Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black
Panasonic Blu-Ray burner
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD7 motherboard
12GB Corsair Dominator DDR3 1600MHz
Corsair Obsidian 800D
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

I have $500-$900 left in my budget for cooling, sleeving, sound card, etc. I'm wanting to go with water cooling for the system. I'm thinking roughly the following:

Swiftech Apogee XT cpu block: $70

http://www.petrastechshop.com/swapxtcpuwa1.html

EK FC 5970 gpu block with 3/8" barb: $154

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...dfd3629f10acc1

EK FB Kit GA-X58 (UD7) chipset blocks: $140

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...b4ff524c53a3c4

Swiftech MCR-320 QP radiator: $48

http://www.petrastechshop.com/swmcqposerab1.html

Laing DDC 3.2 / Swiftech MCP355 pump: $75

http://www.petrastechshop.com/ladd1mcin12p.html

XSPC Reservoir (custom top) for Liang DDC: $40

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...d78e49a73c2a79

10 feet Primoflex Pro LRT UV Blue tubing, 3/8" ID x 5/8" OD: $20

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=23366

All of this would leave me with $241 left in my budget. Enough to get either a sound card, some MDCP-X sleeving, or another pump, reservoir top, and radiator for a second loop. Assuming I could figure out how to mount that stuff in the Corsair case.

What else would I want or need to cool this stuff? I plan to overclock the cpu and memory but probably not overclock the gpu.

I'm thinking that I like the Bitspower compression fittings and that those are tempting. What about a fill port or something like that? I'm pretty new to water cooling (this is my first) and could use all the help I could get.

Should I consider a bay mounted pump and/or reservoir instead of the ones I have listed above? Should I consider the "stackable" versions of the radiators in order that I can have one triple for my cpu and one for my gpu?

What do you guys recommend?

[Bolas]

Oh, for fans I would get some Yate Loon D12SL-12, but Petra's out of them at the moment and I'm not really sure how many fans I will need.

http://www.petrastechshop.com/12yalod1blle.html

[Lunait]

Are you sure one triple radiator is enough to keep the CPU, MB and two GPUs cool? I'm thinking another 240mm radiator would be nice. Not sure where to fit that in the 800D, though. If you're up for some modding, maybe you could fit it at the bottom of the case, in front of the PSU?

[Vinas]

That rad might be enough. I'd recommend 1/2ID, 3/4OD for tubing though. Less prone to kinks and allows more high flow. Also, save money by going with a 920 instead of the 980extreme. Your clocks won't be any higher with the extreme. You could buy a couple 920's just to find a nice clocker @ that price! TBH the extreme intel processors are a complete waste because it's pretty well known that a 920 will clock just as high. People purchase the extreme when they don't want to OC, just run at a higher stock. So as you can see they're not worth the price premium to the overclocking community.

Edit: after you save the money with the 920, go buy the feser rad.

[Bolas]

Are you sure one triple radiator is enough to keep the CPU, MB and two GPUs cool? I'm thinking another 240mm radiator would be nice. Not sure where to fit that in the 800D, though. If you're up for some modding, maybe you could fit it at the bottom of the case, in front of the PSU?

I'm not sure it's enough. I've seen 240mm rads mounted in the bottom of the corsair, I was considering doing that also. I suppose it won't hurt to try a little modding. I'm surprised that Corsair didn't have a place for the second radiator already planned into the case, maybe they'll do that different with their next case?

I've seen a few build logs where a 240mm radiator was put into the bottom of the case, so I'll reference those then.

[Bolas]

That rad might be enough. I'd recommend 1/2ID, 3/4OD for tubing though. Less prone to kinks and allows more high flow. Also, save money by going with a 920 instead of the 980extreme. Your clocks won't be any higher with the extreme. You could buy a couple 920's just to find a nice clocker @ that price! TBH the extreme intel processors are a complete waste because it's pretty well known that a 920 will clock just as high. People purchase the extreme when they don't want to OC, just run at a higher stock. So as you can see they're not worth the price premium to the overclocking community.

Edit: after you save the money with the 920, go buy the feser rad.

I could go with either the 1/2 ID, 3/4 OD tubing or the 3/8 ID 5/8 OD tubing. I was leaning towards the 3/8 5/8 because MDCP-X has sleeving for that size tubing and I thought that might be fun to try out.

I've already bought the 980X, but yeah now I'm having second thoughts, considering I could have gotten a 930 for $200 instead and then had more money left in my budget for other things, like bigger cases, bigger motherboards, and bigger graphics cards. On the plus side, the 980X does have 50% more cores, an unlocked multiplier, and 32nm component size. But what's done is done, meaning that Microcenter won't take it back even if it's unopened. I wouldn't have gotten the core i7 975 -- in that case, the 920 is clearly as good for 1/5 the price.

Why the Feser rad?

[nyeah]

UD7 is baby blue. Seriously? Baby blue? Who's their target market, new moms who are Kansas City Royals fans from the 1970's?

i see you go with the baby blue board,

240mm rad will help cooling the loop, if you want to go internal,
you won't get decent temps with only mcr320.
other than that parts selection are good.

[Bolas]

i see you go with the baby blue board,

240mm rad will help cooling the loop, if you want to go internal,
you won't get decent temps with only mcr320.
other than that parts selection are good.

I'd prefer to go internal, but would consider external as well.

I haven't yet placed the order for motherboard and I'm having second thoughts about the Gigabyte. I think I will wait another week or two and see if the R3E and Sapphire 4GB 5970 comes out by then or not. I really just don't like the robin's egg blue with white color scheme for the Gigabyte board. It's worth it to me to wait another two weeks to have a board with manly colors. SIGH. I'm just sick of waiting already.

Two options, I could go with just the mcr320 and water cool only the cpu, if I have the gpu cooler with the 3 large quiet fans on it, or I could add in more radiators and do a dual loop system or a single loop with a lot of cooling.

I'm getting the message loud and clear that one triple 120 rad isn't enough to cool cpu, gpu, and motherboard. So I'll plan on at least two radiators then. Maybe three if I can fit a small 140 rad by the back exhaust fan.

[millertime359]

Get an EVGA Classy instead. The Giga boards are nice for entry level builds, but with your list of parts, go EVGA.

If your planning on OC'ing at all, your going to need a second rad. If you haven't gotten your case yet, I would look at a MM pinnacle seeing you seem to be a little hesitant on modding a case.

The 800D bottom rad mod didn't seem like that much work though, just take your time and use tape so you don't damage the powdercoat.

As far as tubing goes, size doesn't matter for flow rates. You won't see a difference in your temps. 1/2 3/4 is nice as it is more kink resistant though.

[nyeah]

I'd prefer to go internal, but would consider external as well.

I haven't yet placed the order for motherboard and I'm having second thoughts about the Gigabyte. I think I will wait another week or two and see if the R3E and Sapphire 4GB 5970 comes out by then or not. I really just don't like the robin's egg blue with white color scheme for the Gigabyte board. It's worth it to me to wait another two weeks to have a board with manly colors. SIGH. I'm just sick of waiting already.

Two options, I could go with just the mcr320 and water cool only the cpu, if I have the gpu cooler with the 3 large quiet fans on it, or I could add in more radiators and do a dual loop system or a single loop with a lot of cooling.

I'm getting the message loud and clear that one triple 120 rad isn't enough to cool cpu, gpu, and motherboard. So I'll plan on at least two radiators then. Maybe three if I can fit a small 140 rad by the back exhaust fan.

evga and ASUS feel much solid than giga, it will worth waiting for the board,
if don't bother about USB3 and SATA 3, might as well go with EVGA, the choice is yours

single loop can save your money but will require extra effort when draining

[ottoyu34]

I would suggest saving money by using a 1000W and get a Classified and maybe a MM case.
But for sure get some rads.

[Bolas]

I would suggest saving money by using a 1000W and get a Classified and maybe a MM case.
But for sure get some rads.

I already ordered the power supply or I would cut back to a 1000W one. I thought the MM case would be a bit ambitious for a first build, so I figured I would do that one next time I built a computer and that I wouldn't have much trouble reselling or reusing the corsair case, so I saved some money by going with a less expensive case for this build.

Classified is pretty tempting, it's available now, it works, there are good cooling solutions available for it, and it looks damn good.

[millertime359]

I already ordered the power supply or I would cut back to a 1000W one. I thought the MM case would be a bit ambitious for a first build, so I figured I would do that one next time I built a computer and that I wouldn't have much trouble reselling or reusing the corsair case, so I saved some money by going with a less expensive case for this build.

Classified is pretty tempting, it's available now, it works, there are good cooling solutions available for it, and it looks damn good.

A 980x, 5970, 1500W PSU, Intel SSD, and 12 gigs DDR3 isn't that ambitious though hey.

If you want to stay all internal and OC, you will have to mod that Corsair. That may hurt the resell value of it.

I just moved out of my Cosmos 1000 into an MM Pinnacle 24. With the higher end WC'ing, you need the room and most full towers start to get cramped pretty quick after a while.

[Bolas]

Yeah I hadn't thought about that. Looks like I picked the wrong case after all, sigh.

Maybe I'll just water cool the cpu and chipset and leave the gpu with stock cooling for now. I'm just worried that'll be too noisy.

[millertime359]

Yeah I hadn't thought about that. Looks like I picked the wrong case after all, sigh.

Maybe I'll just water cool the cpu and chipset and leave the gpu with stock cooling for now. I'm just worried that'll be too noisy.

I would still try. I did the modding to my Cosmos 1000 and it was really fun. I had to do alot of cutting to get my MCR220-QP in the bottom, and MCR320-QP in the top.

You just have to mod the bottom and it didn't look that hard from the logs I saw.

If you find it is too small for you, then get a MM later on when you have the funds for one.

Also, if you really don't want to take the chance on modding that case, just get another 320-QP or 420-QP and hang it off the back of the case. It will give you plenty of cooling and you can just move everything into the MM case if you decide to get one.

I didn't mean to bust your balls on that, just had to bring it to light for you.

[Bolas]

Hmm... I need to pick some thermal paste now. I don't particularly want to use stock thermal paste for any longer than necessary. And I'll probably need something to clean off the stock thermal paste.

I guess I should check out some more build logs and see some options for bay mount pump / reservoir combos. I didn't like the side by side reservoir, I'm looking for something that doesn't break the vertical line of my case, stacked horizontal reservoirs. I have limited needs for bays -- one optical, one SSD, and one HDD only so far, so I might be able to cram a lot into the various bays.

Any recommendations on fan controllers, temperature sensors, lighting, card readers, etc? Keep in mind I'm completely new to water cooling and limited experience upgrading computers, so I'm not really even sure how to wire the fans or if 3 pin or 4 pin fans is what I need to get.

[millertime359]

Just stick with 3 pin fans then. Most all fans are 3 pin fans anyways.

So, you decided you want a bay res? This holds your pump and only takes up 2 bay spots.

For TIM, just get some MX-2 and use a pea sized dot in the center of the CPU. You can get some of this cleaner to take off the old TIM.

I don't think many of us use card readers anymore as you can just hook it in via USB. Just get some cold cathode lights for your lighting. I don't use fan controllers or temp sensors as my fans aren't too loud for me, and bios will tell me if something is going wrong with my temps.

If you want a fan controller, a Rheobus is great, could also check out some if the lamptrons.

There are other options, but if you are new to this, I would look into these options as it is fairly hard to get yourself into any trouble. You can also find these things at other stores like PPC, it just easier for me to dig them up on smaller stores.

[Bolas]

I'll stick with 3 pin fans if those are easier then. I probably don't need a card reader because my wife does most of the camera stuff, but I did want to make it easier for her if possible. Guess she's out of luck hah.

I really like that reservoir. That holds the pump I like, so two of those and I'm set for a dual loop system then. It'll take up four bays for two loops.... which is exactly how many bays I have that aren't being used by my lone optical drive, if I remember right. Sounds like a winner. That will leave me with no bays for a fan controller, but I plan to buy reasonably low speed fans and just leave them running at normal speed, so I probably don't need a fan controller all that much anyways. Maybe I can mod a hard drive bay to hold a fan controller someday, who knows. I'll have to look at the case again and see how much space it has.

I'm assuming that the bay mount reservoir would function as a custom pump top and I wouldn't need to buy another one? Or would I still get some kind of aftermarket pump top?

Cold cathode lighting sounds nice, I can put one across the bottom of the case perhaps. And maybe some LED fans, not sure on that yet. Guess I'll play around with fan options after I get the basics done first.

I ordered some thermal paste and thermal paste remover / cleaner from Newegg today, just the basic arctic silver. I figure I can switch later if I don't like that paste. Well that and I ordered it earlier this morning before I saw your post, in hopes to get it by Friday when I want to start putting things together.

[Church]

..I really like that reservoir. That holds the pump I like, so two of those and I'm set for a dual loop system then. It'll take up four bays for two loops.... ..

Why not this then? Same two bays but for two pumps/dual loops?

[Bolas]

Why not this then? Same two bays but for two pumps/dual loops?

Because I didn't like the looks of the side to side split.

I suppose I could do that one though and then have more bays open for other things.

[millertime359]

Why not this then? Same two bays but for two pumps/dual loops?

I didn't see that he was doing dual loops, but yea use the one churchy linked you.

Those are a pump top and res combo. All you need is your pump and that res. You remove 4 screws, take the stock top off and mount the pump into that res.

AS5 is prett outdated, but it will work fine. Just use it and next tear down you do, you can switch out for better.

I personally don't like LED fans as you can't turn them off. They can get pretty bright.

Cold Cathodes put out a nice amount of light and you can turn them off when your not showing off your bling.

[Bolas]

I could see that.... good advice on the fans. Hmm... UV cold cathodes and either UV blue & UV black fluid and/or UV tubing... might be nice.

Maybe one loop with clear tubing and UV blue fluid going to the gpu, another loop with black tubing, uv black fluid, and black sleeving over the tubing, going to the cpu and mobo. Feser One fluid, probably. Or maybe clear tubing for everything, and then just sleeve the one with the black fluid in it.

Now I still need to figure out exactly which radiators for sure (triple up top, probably double in the bottom with some mods, and maybe a single on the rear 140mm fan).

I would like to go with compression fittings, just need to figure out which ones and how many. Probably Bitspower, and either a shiny nickel type finish to match the EK blocks or a matte black finish to match the case.

I think a dual loop probably makes more sense with all the stuff I want to cool, but I'm tempted to run just a single loop and only do the cpu and mobo, just to have less of a learning curve. However I know that wouldn't last and I'd want to do a second loop, so guess I better plan for that now.

[millertime359]

Don't do pre-mixed fluid. Just use distilled water and .999% silver or PT Nuke.

Then used colored tubing and some leds in the res if you want color in the res.

[Bolas]

Awww... the voice of reason... what if I really like the look of the colored fluid? *sigh*

Hmm... blue tubing and black tubing.. or two different shades of blue tubing... dang it I'm still dreaming of colored fluid, it's not working.

[Haltech]

Awww... the voice of reason... what if I really like the look of the colored fluid? *sigh*

Hmm... blue tubing and black tubing.. or two different shades of blue tubing... dang it I'm still dreaming of colored fluid, it's not working.

Well if you enjoy tearing down each block and cleaning it because of the dye breakdown, more power to ya. Used colored tubing instead of colored water, it will save you a ton of headache in the end.