Blow ~£125 for H100i or go WaterCooling?

W

wrenaudrey

New member
Im gonna make my new system in the coming months.
I've built a system before but never this high end.
Therefore I have NEVER even tried watercooling anything.

Wondering whether to throw money at a H100i or just go for a fully pledged watercooled system.
What are your thoughts?

Predicted system specs:
i7 4770k
Z87 motherboard
8GB/16GB 1600Mhz/1866Mhz
Asus GTX 670 (Maybe a 2nd for SLI in the future)

All put into a CM Storm Stryker Case.

As im a newb at watercooling. How much do you think it'll cost? What are the components needed?
Obviously the fans, I have some kind of idea what to use. Corsair SP120's are definitely the way to go imho.

Your thoughts please.
Thank You. :cool:
 
If you watercool in the Stryker, you're gunna need to mod it really to make it worthwhile.
At the same time, full tower cases like the Stryker look stupid with an H100i.

Do you want to watercool the GPU(s) too?

A basic CPU only loop, with the ability to upgrade to GPUs in the future, you're looking at around £250 for something like this:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-143-XS

Although tbh, if you do want to put GPUs in at any point, you need a bigger radiator, so you'd be better with something like:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-042-OE
And changing the radiator to the RX360, and obviously having to mod your case a little to fit it.

You can save a bit of money buying the parts separately, but they're probably the parts I'd be choosing in the kits anyway, so it's just easier to give a rough idea.
 
Them prices seem ridiculous. I have been looking online at W/C bits and i priced up a CPU only loop for much less using these parts...

RayStorm CPU block
Alphacool NexXxos XT45 Rad
Cheap tube res
Swiftech MCP355 pump

This came in at around £160 with some hose and fittings. I'm going to allow an extra £20-ish for extra fittings and coolant.

All of these parts were either recommended to me, or given the OK by other forum members (i too am a W/C noob).
 
Chris230291 said:
Them prices seem ridiculous. I have been looking online at W/C bits and i priced up a CPU only loop for much less using these parts...

RayStorm CPU block
Alphacool NexXxos XT45 Rad
Cheap tube res
Swiftech MCP355 pump

This came in at around £160 with some hose and fittings. I'm going to allow an extra £20-ish for extra fittings and coolant.

All of these parts were either recommended to me, or given the OK by other forum members (i too am a W/C noob).
Click to expand...

For a CPU only loop, that's fine yeah.

But...
Firstly DDC pumps can be loud, and just aren't as good as the D5s.

Secondly, the pump wouldn't be able to handle the CPU block, and 2 GPU blocks.

There's not really any cheaping out with watercooling. Maybe you can save money on fittings for example, and a smaller, cheaper res, but the main parts like the pump, especially if you're wanting to upgrade in the future, you may as well spend a little more now than get 3 months down the line, decide to upgrade and have to spend another £100 on a new pump.

I suggested the RX360 (or generally a 60mm thick 360mm rad) because if he ever does want to watercool the GPUs then he'll need a rad that size, and another in the front too. No point in spending £50 on a rad now then getting a few months down the line to find you need something bigger, and if you'd have just spent the extra £10 initially you'd be fine.

If you only want a CPU loop, and are 100% sure that you'll never want to watercool the GPUs, by all means save money on the pump and radiator. But watercooling kind of gets you, and within a couple of weeks you'll already be thinking of upgrades.
 
Hehe. I originally wanted to add in the GPU, but mines silent and i don't game, so i opted against it.

I also plan on getting a second cheap (like any) 240 rad for my build to see if i can turn down the noise whilst still getting decent temps.

I'll take a look at D5's

Sorry to semi hijack :P

Thanks.
 
Firstly, what good sites should I be visiting to buy the components or just to plainly look at them?

And yes I do want to cool my GPU too and as mentioned above, maybe even a second 670 in the future.

Isnt there a general rule of thumb? I swear I saw it somewhere in one of the project logs where it said 'for every block, you need a 120mm rad + an extra 120mm rad just got headroom'.
 
wrenaudrey said:
Firstly, what good sites should I be visiting to buy the components or just to plainly look at them?

And yes I do want to cool my GPU too and as mentioned above, maybe even a second 670 in the future.

Isnt there a general rule of thumb? I swear I saw it somewhere in one of the project logs where it said 'for every block, you need a 120mm rad + an extra 120mm rad just got headroom'.
Click to expand...

Specialtech are our favourites on here.

A second GPU you will need a D5 really. I wouldn't bother with anything else.

I think I read that too - Airdeano I think said it.
Kind of true, everyone has different ideas about things.
But generally, CPU and GPU will be fine on a 60mm thick 360mm rad.
CPU and 2 GPUs you'd be wanting the 60mm thick 360mm, and a second 60mm thick 240. Don't bother with individual 120s.

So, for you, you should be looking at something like a 360mm UT60 in the roof, and a 240mm UT60 in the floor. Or, RX360 in the roof, and RX240 in the floor.

If you don't want to mod the case, you may be better off looking at the NZXT Phantoms, or the Switch 810s, as they are the simplest cases to do what you want to do, and won't require any modding.
 
Chris230291 said:
I used www.specialtech.co.uk and www.aquatuning.co.uk to look at parts, then just searched the web for the best prices.
Click to expand...
Thanks ill check them out

jamesriley94 said:
Specialtech are our favourites on here.

A second GPU you will need a D5 really. I wouldn't bother with anything else.

I think I read that too - Airdeano I think said it.
Kind of true, everyone has different ideas about things.
But generally, CPU and GPU will be fine on a 60mm thick 360mm rad.
CPU and 2 GPUs you'd be wanting the 60mm thick 360mm, and a second 60mm thick 240. Don't bother with individual 120s.

So, for you, you should be looking at something like a 360mm UT60 in the roof, and a 240mm UT60 in the floor. Or, RX360 in the roof, and RX240 in the floor.
Click to expand...
Does both radiator really need to be 60mm thick?
How would the RS360 (and equivalents) which is 30m/35mm thick compare?


jamesriley94 said:
If you don't want to mod the case, you may be better off looking at the NZXT Phantoms, or the Switch 810s, as they are the simplest cases to do what you want to do, and won't require any modding.
Click to expand...
About the mod for the stryker, is that the same as what TTL did for that video?
 
wrenaudrey said:
Thanks ill check them out


Does both radiator really need to be 60mm thick?
How would the RS360 (and equivalents) which is 30m/35mm thick compare?



About the mod for the stryker, is that the same as what TTL did for that video?
Click to expand...

To do it properly they should be. The only reason to ever use a thinner rad is if you can't fit anything thicker in your case.

Yes, exactly the same as the video.
 
You've picked an awkward gpu to watercool. Have you checked there are blocks for it?

(it was the dcuii, right?)
 
im a D5 guy. tried them all and the D5 is the pump to use.
you'd really wanna re-think the case or follow Tom's ORCA build on radiator placement.
the 360/240 is good with enough headroom for hot, hot days or fan failure.
the 360 on CPU/GPU is just enough for some hot overclocking, but only one GPU.

thickness, I like the low fin per inch radiators. you can use any fan and under-volt
the dawg-snot out of them for quiet operation. the EX or high fpi rads can use
low-speed fans, but temperature performance is forsaken. the RS is, umm, well;
the RS is ok in some situation, but not this one and i'll leave it at that.

the res/pump or separates is all cosmetic. if you have the room, tube reservoirs
are the nadulars. again like Tom's memorial build the bitspower pump/res is toweringly
awesome. but if you can't use something like that, then separates is the call.
combo bay/res are also available, but cab be a pain to fill/drain, can be noisey,
and something just doesn't look fab in the ODD bays (if you haven't ripped them
out yet). again its all cosmetic.
 
Last edited:
airdeano said:
thickness, I like the low fin per inch radiators. you can use any fan and under-volt
the dawg-snot out of them for quiet operation. the EX or high fpi rads can use
low-speed fans, but temperature performance is forsaken. the RS is, umm, well;
the RS is ok in some situation, but not this one and i'll leave it at that.
Click to expand...

Thickness and Push&Pull
Thickness of rads im really relying on you guys especially Stryker owners to help me with the right thickness.
Because I don't know (a lot) but several things about thickness and this case....
--1. Does a 360x60mm (60mm thick) fit on the roof with a pull config without it touch the motherboard?
--2. Does a 360mx60mm fit on the roof with a Push and Pull config without touching the motherboard?
--3. Would it be better to go thinner like 30mm?
--4. With such a long rad (360mm) does it even matter if its put on push/pull or push and pull?

Fins per Inch
What's better, higher fpi or lower?

As airdeano said, having lower fpi means you can slow down the rpm of the fans and therefore lower noise. But isn't that incorrect?

Higher fpi=more cooled/area=lower temps and slow fans = quiet system
OR
Higher fpi=more cooled/area=lower temps + needs more fans to push/pull air = louder system?

Lastly (for this post), what company sells what exactly?
--who sells higher fpi rads?
--who sells lower fpi rads?
 
heres Tom's review on the D5 RX360 in a trooper..
XSPC D5 RX360 Review in a CM Trooper

the more the fin, the more the restriction that will take more fan speed to
penetrate the fins.
high fpi 20+: koolance, swiftech, XSPC (EX-series), Black Ice GTX, Black ICe Stealth
low fpi 15 or less: XSPC (RX), alphacool, Howard Labs SR1
 
airdeano said:
the more the fin, the more the restriction that will take more fan speed to
penetrate the fins.
high fpi 20+: koolance, swiftech, XSPC (EX-series), Black Ice GTX, Black ICe Stealth
low fpi 15 or less: XSPC (RX), alphacool, Howard Labs SR1
Click to expand...
Oh right. Thank you for clearing that up.
By the way, I was looking at the Alphacool UT60 360 and XSPC 60mm 360. I noticed the price difference of nearly £40, why is that?
 
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