**Need advice on Watercooling my Lian Li V2100B* Similar to Vadim Gaming PC's!!**

[blazarcher]

CHECK BELOW FOR UPDATE! My setup has changed drastically!

Alright here is an update to the watercooling setup:

FrozenQ Liquid Fusion 250ml Reservoir Side Port Edition <-- One question for this, does it matter where the water enters from?

XSPC Dual DDC Clear Acrylic Top

Magicool Xtreme 240mm Radiator

Magicool Xtreme 480mm Radiator *Koolance QDC OUT

EK Supreme HF Gold Edition Block *90 degree adapter out

EK X58 Classified Full Board Northbridge/Southbridge Water Block

XSPC RX Series 120mm Radiator *Koolance QDC OUT

2x EK-FC480 Waterblocks *90 degree adapter OUT

XSPC RX Series 120mm Radiator *Koolance QDC IN

Bitspower HDD Acetal+Nickel Top Water Block

Back to res with that adapter thing Shoggy mentioned (thanks man!)

*NOTE - All items above are in order of how water will flow starting from the res and going back of course

That must've covered everything...
Gonna be using a mcubed to maintain low fan speeds.
Gonna order some NZXT Single Sleeved extension cables, not gonna sleeve them myself. Maybe after the build is finished...

Going to use PrimoFlex Pro LRT Black Tubing -1/2in. ID X 3/4in. OD with PrimoChill Anti-Kink Coils - Clear

Also, 20 of these Bitspower Premium G1/4" Black Sparkle High Flow 1/2" Compression Fitting (For Tygon 1/2" ID). A few extras of course xD

Planning to mount the Dual Pumps vertically right in front of the Magicool 240mm Radiator (just to the right of the inlet) on top of some AcoustiPack™ EXTRA - Foam Blocks Soundproofing Material. Should reduce noise but am worried about heat buildup. Also planning on mounting the OCZ Vertex 2 SSD on the middle 5 1/4" bay (facing outwards) with a (UN)Designs X Bracket Vertical Rev 1. Finally gonna use this Lian Li PC-343B Radiator Brackets to mount one of the XSPC 120mm radiators in the upper portion of the ODD area. This radiator won't be getting much air flow I know, but it's only there to help me manage the tubing (and have it routed nicely).

Some other stuff as well.
Gonna mount that BP HDD block in one of the lower 5 1/4" bays with this SilenX 5.25" Luxurae Hard Drive Cooler and Silencing Solution. Not sure how good it'll do but should be sufficient. Just thinking also to keep the Dual Pumps up with a (UN)Designs Infinite Pump Bracket (for DDC pumps) - Vertical Version.
A few other things... A Koolance Drain Valve (1/2") mounted somewhere at the bottom of the case, AND finally, three sets of Koolance QDC (High Flow) No-Spill Shutoff, Male + female [For ID: 13mm (1/2"); OD: 19mm (3/4")] These are the Koolance VL3N versions which feature a NO-Spill design (a bit more restrictive though).

The fans that I'll be using, 8x Blacknoise Noiseblocker Multiframe S-Series M12-S3 73 CFM. Expensive fans at 23 a pop but feature the least noise at 12V. Won't be running at those speeds but the possibility is there.

I think that covers everything...
All parts are coming from Performance-PCS. I heard that they only have a handful of employees, hope they don't get the order messed up.

**See some MSI GTX 480's available, gonna get 'em ASAP**

[Church]

I would swap NB multiframes to undervolted gentle typhoons. GT-s do better then NBs on blowing through air restrictive things like rads. Should cost less aswell. I'm gonna buy noisblockers myself for my future build, but only because there are no gentle typhoons of 140mm size

[blazarcher]

I would swap NB multiframes to undervolted gentle typhoons. GT-s do better then NBs on blowing through air restrictive things like rads. Should cost less aswell. I'm gonna buy noisblockers myself for my future build, but only because there are no gentle typhoons of 140mm size

But Gentle Typhoons are so UGLY xD I do care a bit about looks too you know. I'll definitely give it a thought, those Gt's are quiet! They have an amazing noise to CFM ratio too.

[blazarcher]

Alright, just an aesthetics question, should I go with the EK Acetal Waterblock or the EK Acetel+Nickel Waterblock. They both would look good but bare copper itself doesn't look THAT good. I was thinking if I went with the Acetal, I can get the copper gold plated in the future. But if I opted for the Acetal+Nickel, it would look nice but if I wanted to get it gold plated, the Nickel would have to be removed at an extra cost.

[avddreamr]

It might be better to stick to nickel, gold plating might become a fad, and in the future it might be harder to match aesthetically.

But gold is bling! heh. Hey did you check out shaza's build on the work logs... It's a tagan case very similar to yours.... check it out.

[blazarcher]

It might be better to stick to nickel, gold plating might become a fad, and in the future it might be harder to match aesthetically.

But gold is bling! heh. Hey did you check out shaza's build on the work logs... It's a tagan case very similar to yours.... check it out.

Yeah funny you mention that, I was just checking out shaza's build. Love the red and black contrast. Matches that mobo very well.

[blazarcher]

Sorry about the relatively "boring" posts, this thread has ALL been about planning.. and LOTS of it. So far things look good... If anyone has any other advice, let me know before I go ahead and place my order.

And for pricing... We're looking at 3K for the hardware and another 3K for the watercooling setup. It's actually a lil' under 6 grand. But damn 6 grand, that's about the most I've ever spent on a computer build.

[misho]

I would go with distilled and PTNuke and/or Killcoil.

Hmm, if you use silver fittings, do you still need the coil , ptnuke??

Thanks

[blazarcher]

Hmm, if you use silver fittings, do you still need the coil , ptnuke??

Thanks

Well you don't really need ptnuke if you go with the killcoil. But having both will minimize algae buildup. --- Mind you, using silver fittings doesn't affect your WATER whatsoever. The fittings aren't even in CONTACT with the water.

[blazarcher]

I'm so confused! -- Now we've got a 50/50 tie. I want to go with 2 3.25's.... If anyone voted for 3, let me know why you think I should go with three.

On another note, I've been thinking a lot about going with two separate loops. I don't want 2 GTX 480's to ruin my CPU temperatures. But now I need to think about how the loop is gonna look.

I was thinking the huge Magicool 480mm radiator and one of the XSPC RX120's for the CPU.

Then the Magicool 240mm and the other XSPC RX120 for the 2 GTX 480's. Mind you, the GPU's will have a much higher temperature as the RX120 that I'll be using won't have much airflow.

If I was going down this path, I'd have a single 3.25 for each loop.

**Advantages of Single Loop**
- Better loop routing
- Less clutter
**Advantages of Dual Loop**
- Isolating heat = Better CPU temps

--------- Not a LOT of advantages with dual loop -------------
Anyone have other thoughts?

[avddreamr]

I'm uncertain if there will be any benefit of a single 120mm radiator over high end air cooling.
The key benefit if having more fans exposed closer to a source of air, than they wood otherwise, or at least that is how i have come to understand it.

[Waterlogged]

Well you don't really need ptnuke if you go with the killcoil. But having both will minimize algae buildup. --- Mind you, using silver fittings doesn't affect your WATER whatsoever. The fittings aren't even in CONTACT with the water.

Do you think the water magically transfers from the block/res/rad to the tubing?. . .Of course the water touches to fittings.

This really does deserve a clip from Billy Madison but I don't need another slap for using it. . .again.

[blazarcher]

Do you think the water magically transfers from the block/res/rad to the tubing?. . .Of course the water touches to fittings.

This really does deserve a clip from Billy Madison but I don't need another slap for using it. . .again.

Heh, I guess giving it a bit more thought, the water would probably be in contact with just the small bit of the fitting (the barb part). But I don't think it would make a big difference using different fittings. I'm really not seeing the point of even talking about this xD BP compression fittings FTW

heh, Waterlogged, it's great to see you back!! Did you come back because you saw that I abandoned the Triple DDC idea? xD j/k

[blazarcher]

Taking some ideas from shazza , I'm gonna be ditching those magicool radiators. Rather than simply fit a 480mm and a 240mm radiator in the lower compartment, I'd like to fit 2 monstrous 154mm high radiators almost in a stacked configuration. Simply mounting the Silverstone ST1500 "up" rather than having it laying down will leave me with exactly 154mm of headroom. This will allow me to fit even a TFC Monsta Radiator! The dimensions are as stated... 476 X 148.6 X 104.2. So length-wise, minus 476 from 510 still gives me 34mm of room. And considering the 154mm that is given to me, height-wise, 148.6mm isn't too bad. But damn 104.2 for the width!!! That's almost twice the size of a RX480! And given that the case is 210mm's thick, 104.2x2 yields 208.4 So only 1.6mm of clearance!

So now I can ONLY place one Monsta radiator down there. BTW, look at this!


Well even with one Monsta, that should offer me better performance than those two magicool radiators, I mean it even beats the Mora 2 Pro! And that is equipped with 9 120mm fans!!! And that's with the Monsta ONLY being equipped with 3x140mm sharkoon fans.

So if I were to go with this setup, what sort of fans would you guys recommend for silent purposes. --- And on that note, will it even be possible to run the fans @1000-1500rpm with adequate airflow considering the radiator's immense thickness?

[blazarcher]

Heh that is one massive radiator!! I don't even think I can buy them as they seem out of stock everywhere... Are there any other radiators that people would like to recommend? Ideally, I'd like to place 2 massive 480mm/420mm/360mm variant radiators in an almost stacked configuration where I'd have fans intaking cool air from both sides and the hot air would then travel to the back of the case and would be sucked up by the Silverstone ST1500w PSU's 135mm? fan and finally, exhausted out the back.
*NOTE there will be optimal room between the radiators for air to "escape" to and also this room provides a neat place to hide the Dual DDC pump xD

The way I see it, as long as I get these side panels cut properly, I shouldn't have much of a problem with airflow. So enough about that.

All this time I was focusing on placing radiators in the case that ONLY had a height of 120mm. Because of this, I haven't really done any research on what is truly the BEST radiator where dimensions don't really matter.

So far, 2x XSPC RX480 radiators seem OK for the setup I want.

But then again, there is the TFC MONSTA radiator! -- If I can find it, I'd probably have to buy it from somewhere else other than Performance-PCS.

Or should I go hybrid? With a TFC Monsta on one side, and a RX480/SR1 on the other. Decisions, decisions, decisions. I honestly didn't think I'd be making THIS many changes. Good thing I've been very patient with this build.... And in all this time, the availability of them GTX 480's went up so now I can get the EVGA variants whenever the time is right.

Anyways, here is how the NEW setup will look like...

Note there are a few things missing like the Motherboard waterblock but nothing drastic. Also, QDC's not shown but not gonna change much.

*NOTE RX is abbreviated.. In regard to the XSPC RX120 radiators of course.

The path of the water has changed!

Res -> Pump -> Monsta Radiator (or two RX480's, or w.e is decided on) -> EK Supreme HF -> Motherboard Waterblock (actually thinking of downgrading to X58 LE, as LGA 2011 is coming next year) -> First XSPC RX120 -> EK 2x 480 GFX waterblock -> 2nd RX120 -> BP HDD waterblock -> back to res.

The TFC Monsta has lots of room down there and is actually able to move a lil' to the left and right.

[blazarcher]

Just something on the side... Do you think the PSU will be stressed by it's placement? It's only hanging up there with the aid of 4 screws in the back. And considering this PSU's weight (10-20 pounds I think?), I'm gonna need to put something to "hang" it there. I mean shazza didn't really have a problem because she used a much smaller PSU in comparison.

[blazarcher]

Now I'm leaning towards 2x Black Ice SR1 420's. They offer the same performance as the PA 140.3 and actually surpasses it at higher RPMs. And with a thickness of 153. It's PERFECT. Seriously, this thing will fit like a sock in the case. Leaving exactly 1mm between it and the PSU. So that means I can put in some insulating foam there to reduce vibrations from the PSU AND it would also act as support (to keep the almost 10 pound PSU in line).

Here is a picture of it, it doesn't look like much but will provide "almost" Monsta' like performance. I wish I could've gone with the SR1 560 but it's too long. Imagine that!



Oh and also thought about getting the Monsta Lite... But it isn't as good as the SR1.



Ahh, so many choices. So for almost 300 dollars, or 291 to be more exact, I can get 2 Black Ice SR1 420's. Or should I spend 300 for just one MONSTA, if I can find it that is. Oh and 300+ a Black Ice SR1 420... That's almost 500! Just for radiators.

Which ever offers better performance, I'll go with.

But now it comes down to which fan I should use... I wanna go for the Noiseblocker Black Silent Pro PK2/3.

[blazarcher]

Heh just noticed that since the SR1's are only 460mm in length, I'll have exactly 50mm to fit a small EK reservoir (which has a 50mm diameter.. Real tight fit). Hmm... More options so if I don't like the look of the BIG reservoir next to the motherboard, I can go with that instead.

That could actually solve my whole tubing route where going from the top RX120 to the HDD waterblock looks awkward.

----
So how would my cooling performance be if I limit all my fans to 1000rpm.

2x RX120 Radiators and 2x Black Ice SR1 420 Radiators
To cool an Intel 930 @4.6 Ghz, an EVGA X58 LE mobo, and 2x GTX 480's @ 940mhz (not very familar with GPU O/Cing so I left out two other things!)

Some of the overclocking is a bit aggressive, but this is just to get a feel for the cooling performance of the whole setup.

*If you haven't noticed already, I'm going with the EVGA X58 SLI LE mobo instead of the Classified. The reason being, LGA 2011 is coming out next year. This mobo will be used later in my secondary computer (in a Lian Li A05B). Since that computer won't be seeing much games, it's not worth paying an extra 200 dollars for a mobo designed for extreme overclocking and gaming.

Also, the LE's ALL BLACK internals will look really nice. But I'll be paying another 150 (same price as if I went with the classified) for the EK waterblock. DAMN expensive waterblock! -- Alright just to hint at my second build, although I'm thinking a bit too far, I'll be installing a Mora 2 Pro on the side of a Lian Li A05N. Heh but that's in another year when LGA 2011 comes out and when I'll have to trash my old Q6600+780i combo.

-----
IF anyone would like to be paid 200 dollars for single-sleeving some PSU cables, PM me. *Note shipping won't be a big deal because the PSU is 100% modular so I'll only be sending the cables + MDPC sleeving. I WOULD sleeve them myself but I don't really trust myself enough. I'm too worried that I might mess 'em up.
-----

So yeah, any advice on the whole 140mm vs 120mm fan argument?
I could go with a 480mm (4x120) radiator or a 420 (3x140).... I heard that 140mm fans do offer better CFM and in the case of radiators, better performance, but I also heard some people talk about them making more noise than the 120's. So if it's better to go with a 3x140 radiator configuration, the difference in temperature will be more PROFOUND as I'll be going with 2x the radiators.
So basically, 2x 480mm Radiator VS 2x 420mm Radiator <-- 480mm seems to win here xD

I only want my fans to be loud enough so that they'll drown the noise of the pumps. So they won't be like DEAD silent. But still pretty quiet nonetheless.

[345T4R]

Well even with one Monsta, that should offer me better performance than those two magicool radiators, I mean it even beats the Mora 2 Pro! And that is equipped with 9 120mm fans!!! And that's with the Monsta ONLY being equipped with 3x140mm sharkoon fans.

So if I were to go with this setup, what sort of fans would you guys recommend for silent purposes. --- And on that note, will it even be possible to run the fans @1000-1500rpm with adequate airflow considering the radiator's immense thickness?

This Monsta radiators looks like really good, xtreme cooling performance and monstrous price
you can buy 2x Magicool 480 radiator for this
I've seen both radiators and I think the quality from Magicool isn't worse.
Except of the elegant radiators

[blazarcher]

This Monsta radiators looks like really good, xtreme cooling performance and monstrous price
you can buy 2x Magicool 480 radiator for this
I've seen both radiators and I think the quality from Magicool isn't worse.
Except of the elegant radiators

Yeah I heard about the cracks that people are getting from the Elegant radiators. But since I can only fit one Monsta radiator... Wouldn't it be better to go with two Black Ice SR1 420's? Two of them will surely beat one Monsta considering a Monsta Lite can't even beat one Black Ice SR1 420.

[blazarcher]

Was wondering if anyone had suggestions as to how I would attach the radiators together. I want to use a whole bunch of fittings so that I can get a solid seal between the two radiators to make them seem as one unit. Not sure how much room should be between the radiators so any suggestions would be helpful.
Basically I have 210mm to play with and since the radiators are 54mm thick, that gives me 102mm of room... Wait 25x2 for the fans and that's about 52mm of room to play with. Should I keep all that real estate for the space between the two radiators? Or should the space be given for the fans, although they would get less airflow because they would be farther from the mesh side panel.

A bit confusing I know, I'm not exactly sure how I want it to look.

[avddreamr]

I was thinking that if you are determined to fit as much rad as possible...

You have a huge cavern in there, its 240 mm.... Mount the psu vertically.
Have it suck in air from the bottom of the case, drill appropriate intakes, have it exhaust out the back.

Psus are what 87mm thick? That leaves you with plenty of space. You could either place 4 360 rads, from magicool ect... 4 Rs 360 (121mm thick), if you angle them slightly, or even some other better rads... depening on how you fab up mounting... having them angled.
Rx 360 is 125mm thick, but 55 mm deep, you may not get enough space from angleing that the air flow will be efficient.

For the bottom of the case, reinforce it with 1mm steel, if you want just at the corners and down the middle, b/c you 'll need to cut a hole in the bottom for either intake or exhaust depending on how you work it.

So there you'll have *laughs* 12 120mm ... even if the rads you can fit aren't the best ones... the shreer quantity.. will out perform everything you know.


Fans... hit up martins fan review.. its hosted on madshrimps.be

So at this point you won't be copying that UK pc company, you'll make your own extreme system.

If you elect to go dual loop still, pick up a pair of ddc 3.1's per loop, and put them on a dual top from ek. You'll get better performance than a single ddc 3.25, at similar power consumption.

Just an idea...it's amazing when finals are over, your brain returns to normal

[blazarcher]

I was thinking that if you are determined to fit as much rad as possible...

You have a huge cavern in there, its 240 mm.... Mount the psu vertically.
Have it suck in air from the bottom of the case, drill appropriate intakes, have it exhaust out the back.

Yeah but keep in mind that a PSU is gonna already be taking 86mm there. So that's 154mm left. And 87x2=174! So not even two can be stacked let alone with any fans fitted on. And if you ignore the PSU by going with 240mm radiators, well guess what you've just halved your cooling capabilities! -- That's why unlike most people, I'd like airflow come from both sides of the case. 2 massive 420mm radiators will be placed in a stacked like configuration. Hot air's nature to rise will determine how effective my setup is. So cool air coming from both sides, through their corresponding radiators. Hot air comes out and travels upwards where it meets the PSU's fans which intakes that HOT air and exhausts it out the case.

This is how I want my setup to look like. I need some advice though on what fittings that I should use to "connect" the two radiators together. Naturally the fittings will act as "spacers" keeping the two apart.

Psus are what 87mm thick? That leaves you with plenty of space. You could either place 4 360 rads, from magicool ect... 4 Rs 360 (121mm thick), if you angle them slightly, or even some other better rads... depening on how you fab up mounting... having them angled.
Rx 360 is 125mm thick, but 55 mm deep, you may not get enough space from angleing that the air flow will be efficient.

For the bottom of the case, reinforce it with 1mm steel, if you want just at the corners and down the middle, b/c you 'll need to cut a hole in the bottom for either intake or exhaust depending on how you work it.

Heh, this is my FIRST watercooling build! I'm not much of a modder either. I don't mind getting my hands dirty but is it really all that necessary (in this case)? This is why I'm not willing... YET to actually have the backplate cut out to configure the PSU vertically. On that note, the PSU here is really long and routing cables won't be easy. But nevertheless, if it provides better cooling, it will be done.

So there you'll have *laughs* 12 120mm ... even if the rads you can fit aren't the best ones... the shreer quantity.. will out perform everything you know.

If I go with my setup, I'll have 6 140mm (excluding the other 2 120mm radiators). I know... 1440 > 840 but whats the use of 1440mm when they are not getting enough airflow? Where are the fans gonna be placed if I place everything stacked one on top of each other?

It sure looks like I JUST want performance but really, it has to look the part too. I thought about having the radiators "angled" but then the radiators that can be used will be limited by their dimensions. So I might just be stuck with "slim" versions of radiators that don't perform as well.

If you elect to go dual loop still, pick up a pair of ddc 3.1's per loop, and put them on a dual top from ek. You'll get better performance than a single ddc 3.25, at similar power consumption.

About the whole DDC debate. I was thinking of replacing the pair of 3.25 with some quieter DDC's. Not sure which to get but there is one, can't remember the name right now, but it only uses up 10W.

Finally thanks a lot for the helpful advice avddreamr, I will definitely keep them in mind. I have to make some additional measurements of my case before making a decision.

[blazarcher]

Has anyone tried ever gold plating their own hardware? Just came across this site and was thinking of gold plating 2 EK GTX 480 waterblocks. So that means I'll be going with the Acrylic/Copper version. I'll apply the gold straight to the copper. I won't be doing the contact area however. So basically just the things you can see, so the sides of the block only.


Here is the site: http://www.goldplating.com/Products/...-brushgold.htm
Should I go with the pen or the gel solution?

It's pretty expensive too at 70 dollars a bottle so I want to make sure it works before buying.

[blazarcher]

Another update! Turns out I can actually fit TWO Black Ice SR1 560's! That's right, 8x140mm fans! Check out these stats.. and later some pics of the beast itself.









How about one more with measurements?



Hmm.. Almost 61cm that's about 24 inches... The case's depth inside is 590mm or 23.2 inches. Staggering the 2 radiators will make them fit perfectly! Unlike the SR1 420, I won't have annoying "gaps" to ruin the look. BTW, lets look at the thing, thickness wise.

At 59.9mm, it's pretty thick. Almost as thick as the MONSTA which is 104.2mm... OK maybe not AS thick but 60x2 is 120 > 104.2 xD Thickness shouldn't be a big deal because doesn't more thickness = fan having to spin faster?

Now talking about fans, I want to go with the Blacknoise Noiseblocker PK3's. They run at 1700rpm, fast I know. But they'll be controlled by a m-Cubed. I got a question though. Is the 1700rpm version (PK3) a PWM version? I heard that most PWM's have lots of motor noise so even at lower rpms, they are LOUD. So would it be better to go with the PK2's instead? The PK2's run at 1200rpm and I don't think they are PWM's.

I want to go with the PK3's because it will give me more cooling potential... So If I were to do a benchmark and want to max my OC, running the fans at 1700rpm will keep 'em quiet.

So basically... Is the NB PK3 a PWM? And if not, should I go PK2 > PK3?






This had better beat the MONSTA, else I don't know what will.
(Considering the 560 has the advantage of an extra 140mm fan, I'm pretty sure it beats it xD)

Now what you've all been waiting for.. some pics of the BEAST itself.






- And that one is compared to a "puny" XSPC RX360!


**Pictures accredited to bundymania**