Advice on Pump and Entry Level Cooling

[Ragnar_Mike]

Originally, I was thinking of going aircooling for my upcoming system. I'm lucky enough that the budget has increased enough that where once stood a Hyper 212+, then a D14, now has the possibility of an entry level liquid setup. It's probably a smidge overkill for what I'll be using it as, but this will be my last big purchase system for a while and damnit, liquid is cool! I'm going to be cooling an i7 2600k and a GTX 570 (It's mainly a work system, heavy on rendering not gaming) so my current idea is to liquid cool the i7 and have plenty of airflow for the 570.

I like the XSPC kits, but I'm currently leaning towards the Arc Midi, and I don't want to take up both bays with a rez. I know they make a 120mm kit with a smaller rez, but I have seen XSPC makes some single bay combo res/pumps.

My main question is about the pump. What sort of flow should I be looking for? The XSPC kits have a 450 for the 120mm and 750 for the 240mm. Is that about right: 3-400 lpm per 120mm? If so then I'll porbably have to rethink the combo I saw because it was only 200. I'm probably going for a 240mm rez because of how nicely it fits into the Arc.

Anyway, some tips for an entry level noob looking to dip his toes into water cooling would be greatly welcomed.

 

[ruthless_villain]

if its a cpu only loop you dont need anything over kill one of the phobya pumps with a seperate resorvoir would do you fine flow rate isnt important if your only doing one block

 

[Ragnar_Mike]

That makes sense. Just didn't wanna worry if there's some minimum amount of flow needed for a 240 vs a 120, but I suppose that's rather silly. And the phobya stuff looks well priced. And I dig their reservoirs, they remind of me of vacuum tubes.

 

[Aurus_OC]

Just a quick question: What case will you be using? Because you will need to make sure that it fits your desired rad. For example not all 240mm rad will fit in a case with 2x120mm fans in the roof. Just saying

 

[Ragnar_Mike]

Just a quick question: What case will you be using? Because you will need to make sure that it fits your desired rad. For example not all 240mm rad will fit in a case with 2x120mm fans in the roof. Just saying

I'm leaning toward the Fractal Arc Midi at the moment. Tom crammed a full size 240 in there with only some clearance issues with the rear fan, so I figure I can find a decent radiator, maybe not a 60mm deep one and be golden.

 

[ruthless_villain]

cpu only you could get a 47mm radiator and it would be adequate

 

[tinytomlogan]

cpu only you could get a 47mm radiator and it would be adequate

You really are not doing very well with advise lately.

If you want to keep your fans down low youll need a 60mm rad to still get temps worthy of the extra investment over air

 

[ruthless_villain]

You really are not doing very well with advise lately.

If you want to keep your fans down low youll need a 60mm rad to still get temps worthy of the extra investment over air

but for cpu only 47mm would do wouldnt it? nobody said anything about a silent rig

 

[Aurus_OC]

but for cpu only 47mm would do wouldnt it? nobody said anything about a silent rig

Whats the point of watercooling if you are going to put some stupidly loud fans on it? Might aswell stick to a good aircooler then.

 

[ruthless_villain]

Whats the point of watercooling if you are going to put some stupidly loud fans on it? Might aswell stick to a good aircooler then.

just saying not everyone cares about noise levels and just because a fan isnt silent it doesnt mean its loud there is a halfway point

 

[Scoob]

Whats the point of watercooling if you are going to put some stupidly loud fans on it? Might aswell stick to a good aircooler then.

Some people, a friend of mine included, do just want the best cooling they can get out of a given setup. If this means high cfm / high static pressure fans running at near their maximum speed then they are content with that.

Personally my preference would be a better, over over-spec if you will, rad with decent fans which still have a respectable cfm even when running near silently. There is always the option to turn things up after all

I am still pondering my options at the moment however.

If you're the sort of gamer who puts on a set of headphones when you play, the noise would be less intrusive an likely less of an issue.

Really depends what matters to you and what, if any, compromises you make.

Cheers,

Scoob.

 

[Ragnar_Mike]

Thanks for all the replies fellas. I feel like I'm somewhere in the middle in regards to sound. I'm usually listening to music/podcasts with headphones on and a fan in the room for circulation and I live in Los Angeles (ie Helicopters and road noise is common) so a bit of rustling from fans is hardly going to ruin my experience in life. That being said, the buzz of all those fans at full power does tend to annoy me so a system that's happy at 50-60% fan power is all good as well.

Favorite rad makers?

 

[ruthless_villain]

phobya and xspc