First (EPIC) water cooled build - THIN ICE

[ShaunB-91]

I can't really give any advice on watercooling, I know nothing on the subject product wise other than how to install it all.

I'm sure someone will answer, but have a look around the project logs and gallery and you'll probably find some useful info there. People comment on the parts used and you'll over time learn to understand whats good and whats bad.

 

[absolutelymods]

I can't really give any advice on watercooling, I know nothing on the subject product wise other than how to install it all.

I'm sure someone will answer, but have a look around the project logs and gallery and you'll probably find some useful info there. People comment on the parts used and you'll over time learn to understand whats good and whats bad.

Cheers for that

 

[TheOuterOne]

absolutelymods, please edit your last post instead of making a new post, this keeps threads more clear.

 

[tinytomlogan]

Hey mate,

I watch you all the time so thanks for replying. The spec list I have put down was merely a suggestive one from me a beginner with no experience. I have purchased quite a bit of the components on the list already. As for the hardware, I am on the site to learn about what will be best.

With the RAM I now see that there us no ned for the 64 gig, so thanks to you and the guys. The rads, well I am not lying when I say I am in the Case Labs TH10 and ultimately just want to build a PC that looks as great as it goes.

In terms of the amount or RADS even I know you get to a point where adding more rads is fruitless, but, having expansion in mind in the near future, I felt that 3 would be OK. I mean I am getting 2 GPUs straight up but towards the end of the year will be getting 2 more so I just thought that 3 may just do OK.



In short, I really value great quality components and also like bling. I may have chosen the wrong site to post in because if I am allowed to post my build log here. it probably will be an expensive one and one people may disagree on. Having said that. I will take on what you and the guys say because I do value the advice of you guys.

So here are some pics of some of the stuff I have purchased. I have a heap of EK 12/16mm fittings and tubing coming as well as some Bitspower LED and X Stations, another 2 RADS, the case, and more.

Just keep in mind more rads mean more mess. TAKE YOUR TIME - spending loads will just mean an expensive rig that looks a mess. Trust me we have seen them here before.

Choose your case first and then think about what youll need to make it look good. Case labs are epic but HUGE and theres no dust filtering really so you either have to live in a hospital or know youll be taking it apart to clean it a lot.

16gb of ram is plenty unless you are doing insane 3D renders or will be counting the seconds on movie transcodes - Ive got 32gb for Orca but actually only used 16gb because it meant my CPU would hold my overclock with lower mobo supporting volts

 

[Kaapstad]

OP

I think you should pick your case and to start with, go for a setup with a couple of rads, a pair of 780ti's (fastest GPUs available), 4930k, 16gb of vram, decent SSD and PSU. Watercool the CPU and GPU and see how you get on, if you want to add more later on you have the option available.

 

[absolutelymods]

OP

I think you should pick your case and to start with, go for a setup with a couple of rads, a pair of 780ti's (fastest GPUs available), 4930k, 16gb of vram, decent SSD and PSU. Watercool the CPU and GPU and see how you get on, if you want to add more later on you have the option available.

Just keep in mind more rads mean more mess. TAKE YOUR TIME - spending loads will just mean an expensive rig that looks a mess. Trust me we have seen them here before.

Choose your case first and then think about what youll need to make it look good. Case labs are epic but HUGE and theres no dust filtering really so you either have to live in a hospital or know youll be taking it apart to clean it a lot.

Well it certainly looks like that is how it is going to roll. I am expecting my case arrive by the end of the month and if I get my behind into gear and decide on the fans, I will be able to start doing what you guys have suggested.

Regarding the dust, unfortunately I do not live in a hospital but I have been told by my wife several times that I belong in one, anyhow, I was planning on using the silvertsone dust filters for mainly the air coming in but tbh everywhere.

The fact that the case does not have filters means for me I can do my own OCD filter config but I know what you mean.

 

[Silverstone-Z]

Dual D5's With full Bitspower Dual mod kit plus Upgrade 250mm Res (To be included in my flow, hope that makes sense to you guys)
3 x 480 Alphacool Rads 60mm
1 x 480 Alphacool Rad 30mm

Do you plan on running the pumps for redundancy, or do you plan on running two separate loops?
As mentioned before, your radiators are extreme overkill in length and thickness. Especially to cool just 4 components (Chipset, CPU, 2x GPU).

For watercooling, you need to understand that you can't cool beyond ambient. As far as delta temperature, the diminishing returns will start quickly with those radiators. You'll also need to keep in mind, that if you're going for near-silent operation, your fans will need to play nicely with the radiators. What does this mean? For thicker, higher FPI radiators, you'll need higher static pressure. Attaining high static pressure is NOT silent. As an alternative, you could look at thinner radiators, less FPI, and utilize quieter fans.

Hell, look at my loop for example. I'm only cooling two components, an i5-2500k @ 4.6ghz and GTX780 @ an overclock I can't remember, but it's flat out maxed. I have two radiators, a 360x35 (push) and 280x35 (pull). I've folded, stressed, and gamed on this build extensively. I idle at 20c (normal room temp) and max at 42c with my fans on as low as they go with my pump running at 25%. The system is silent at this point. One of your 480x60 rads can most likely outperform both of mine.

In the end, can you do it anyway? Hell yeah...
Should you? Why the hell not?
Will it make a difference? If money isn't a problem, who cares? It looks cool, right?

 

[NeverBackDown]

So basically you will have another year now, and then we will start to see motherboard manufacturers move over to DDR4. It doesn't mean your system is old by no means but in time you'll want to upgrade and such and you'll need to be on the new platform.

It's difficult, I don't know how long DDR3 has been around, how long it took to grow into the norm standard. But either way just get 16GB, 32 at the absolute most.

Just responding to the bold.... Just saying, DDR4 can be placed in DDR3 slots iirc from an intel article i read earlier.

 

[ShaunB-91]

Just responding to the bold.... Just saying, DDR4 can be placed in DDR3 slots iirc from an intel article i read earlier.

Ooo I didn't know that, I presumed it was going to be a completely different socket altogether?

 

[Kaapstad]

Ooo I didn't know that, I presumed it was going to be a completely different socket altogether?

Completely different setup, the first we see of DDR4 is likely to be with Haswell-E.

I also don't it would be a good idea to put DDR4 in a board designed to use DDR3 even if you could. The speed DDR4 will run at is way beyond what current mobos can support.

 

[absolutelymods]

As an alternative, you could look at thinner radiators, less FPI, and utilize quieter fans.

The reason I chose the Alphacool rads are due to their being 10FPI, The EK XTX480s are 11 and then the SR1s are around that also.

I just assumed by running in push pull, having all 8 run at 6 - 800 psi, the pressure would be great as well as the cooling and silence.

 

[NeverBackDown]

Ooo I didn't know that, I presumed it was going to be a completely different socket altogether?

Completely different setup, the first we see of DDR4 is likely to be with Haswell-E.

I also don't it would be a good idea to put DDR4 in a board designed to use DDR3 even if you could. The speed DDR4 will run at is way beyond what current mobos can support.

DDR4 will have 288pins vs the DDR3 284 pins. First DDR4 chips are rumored to only run at 2133mhz at 1.2v and only be marginally faster than DDR3. This has always been the case with next gen and old gen memory at launch though.

The reason I chose the Alphacool rads are due to their being 10FPI, The EK XTX480s are 11 and then the SR1s are around that also.

I just assumed by running in push pull, having all 8 run at 6 - 800 psi, the pressure would be great as well as the cooling and silence.

PSI? You mean rpm? fans don't run at psi

 

[Kaapstad]

DDR4 will have 288pins vs the DDR3 284 pins. First DDR4 chips are rumored to only run at 2133mhz at 1.2v and only be marginally faster than DDR3. This has always been the case with next gen and old gen memory at launch though.

The new chips will use a 1.2 V supply[35]:16[36][37] with a 2.5 V auxiliary supply for wordline boost called VPP,[35]:16, versus the standard 1.5 V of DDR3 chips, with lower voltage variants at 1.05 V appearing in 2013. DDR4 is expected to be introduced at transfer rates of 2133 MT/s,[35]:18 estimated to rise to a potential 4266 MT/s[6] by 2013. The minimum transfer rate of 2133 MT/s was said to be due to progress made in DDR3 speeds which, being likely to reach 2133 MT/s, left little commercial benefit to specifying DDR4 below this speed.[6][7] Techgage interpreted Samsung's January 2011 engineering sample as having CAS latency of 13 clock cycles, described as being comparable to the move from DDR2 to DDR3.[26]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR4_SDRAM

By the time we see DDR4 on Haswell-E it will be hitting far higher speeds than 2133mhz

 

[Silverstone-Z]

I was unaware of the specs of the radiators you're looking at. I didn't see any model numbers or anything anywhere. My bad.

It appears you're dead set on going all-out with this, so I'll refrain from talking you down from anything. Just be sure to post progress pictures and ask any questions when in doubt of something.

 

[NeverBackDown]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR4_SDRAM

By the time we see DDR4 on Haswell-E it will be hitting far higher speeds than 2133mhz

Wiki is not a reliable source.

 

[Kaapstad]

Wiki is not a reliable source.

It is not the only source

If you look at Haswell-E there is no way intel are going to launch it onto the market with memory speeds limited to 2133mhz when IB-E and SB-E can go much higher. Don't be surprised to see the Haswell-E mobos with support up to at least 3000mhz and possibly higher.

 

[NeverBackDown]

They can launch it with 2133mhz out of the box supported. You can overclock it you know... just like how people get SB/IB-e to go a lot higher... they overclock.

 

[Kaapstad]

They can launch it with 2133mhz out of the box supported. You can overclock it you know... just like how people get SB/IB-e to go a lot higher... they overclock.

You are mixing up CPU support and motherboard support, motherboards support memory clock speeds far higher than the CPU does.

For example the 3930k CPU has support for DDR3-1066/1333/1600 speeds but no one in their right mind are going to use those speeds unless they are building a workstation with 64gb of vram. No I am going to use my 2400mhz 9-11-11-25 Corsair Dominator Platinums which the mobo does support and fortunately my CPU can handle.

The same will apply to Haswell-E and DDR4, I think to start with we are going to see support up to 3000mhz or more on the mobos and I am also pretty sure there will be DDR4 memory modules available for the Haswell-E launch that run at that speed.

 

[PacificNic]

Okay, chaps, while I love the DDR4 talk, I am gonna try to end it.

You might buy DDR4 on your DDR3-socketed board because you could be waiting on a preferred motherboard with a new PC build and there was a good deal on the DDR4. Not calling this situation likely, just plausible.

Now back to the build, I would honestly just get a 750D, Switch 810, or Arc Midi R2 and chuck a 360mm and a 240mm rad in the top and bottom/front. You can throw in a fanless 120mm if you really want to get stupid. It will cool your stuff well and it won't cost you your family jewels.

[/EDIT] If you already have the case, don't go overboard with watercooling. As TTL said, do what's clean and efficient, not just one or the other.

 

[NeverBackDown]

Okay, chaps, while I love the DDR4 talk, I am gonna try to end it.

You might buy DDR4 on your DDR3-socketed board because you could be waiting on a preferred motherboard with a new PC build and there was a good deal on the DDR4. Not calling this situation likely, just plausible.

Now back to the build, I would honestly just get a 750D, Switch 810, or Arc Midi R2 and chuck a 360mm and a 240mm rad in the top and bottom/front. You can throw in a fanless 120mm if you really want to get stupid. It will cool your stuff well and it won't cost you your family jewels.

[/EDIT] If you already have the case, don't go overboard with watercooling. As TTL said, do what's clean and efficient, not just one or the other.

It ended over a month ago... you just revived an older thread...
/thread