First time loop help

[Worst Kinda Duy]

Hello all,
I am about to start my first water cooled loop and I am wondering what parts would be suitable for my rig. I have a 3way gtx 980 sli (ASUS STRIX) and a I7 5930k inside of a Corsair 760t. I was wondering if a single 360 degree rad would be able to cool all 3 cards and my cpu or would two 240 mm rads be fine. Also the best parts to use, brands, etc...

Also my temps get pretty high with my current set up. I know its due to the Non reference gpu coolers but I did not plan on a 3 way sli and though i might as well if im going to make a loop.

Temps Idle:

Card 1 45C
Card 2 41C
Card 3 40C

Temps load (bf4/Firestrike):

Card 1 80C
Card 2 76C
Card 3 60C

Any help and comments would be much appreciated.

 

[tinytomlogan]

IMHO you will need a 360 and a 240 in the front - youll need to research pumps and reservoirs more than anything else in that case because you wont be able to use a drive bay one.

 

[Davva2004]

As Tom says, golden rule when planning a loop is to use 120mm of radiator per hot component, plus one extra. So seeing as you have four components to cool, you need five lots of 120mm radiator space. A 240mm (2x120mm) radiator and a 360mm (3x120mm) radiator fits the bill, and more importantly fits the case.

As to best components - that's a personal thing and is hard to answer. I'm a huge XSPC fan so I'd use XSPC kit throughout (but not their fans - Corsair SP120s all the way) but a lot of people use Alphacool, Phobya, and many more brands. Go do some research, read some build logs, and you'll soon have a nice long list of goodies.

 

[Kaapstad]

As Tom says, golden rule when planning a loop is to use 120mm of radiator per hot component, plus one extra. So seeing as you have four components to cool, you need five lots of 120mm radiator space. A 240mm (2x120mm) radiator and a 360mm (3x120mm) radiator fits the bill, and more importantly fits the case.

As to best components - that's a personal thing and is hard to answer. I'm a huge XSPC fan so I'd use XSPC kit throughout (but not their fans - Corsair SP120s all the way) but a lot of people use Alphacool, Phobya, and many more brands. Go do some research, read some build logs, and you'll soon have a nice long list of goodies.

I prefer XSPC CPU blocks and Rads but for GPUs I use EKWB blocks and backplates.

 

[JR23]

I think it's important to note that you don't 'need' a set radiator size for a given component or heat load. But the less radiator area you have the higher the air speed through it will be needed to maintain the same amount of heat rejection, otherwise the delta temperature will increase.

Consequently perhaps with relatively fast fans a 360mm radiator would provide more cooling performance than the standard graphics card coolers however it would probably be quite loud. After making a significant investment in blocks, pump, res, fittings etc... (and I know it is significant!) making compromises over temperatures or noise levels seem a little foolish, adding more radiators and fans wouldn't add to the cost much. I do appreciate you have to fit them in somewhere but really the case is probably the cheapest part in a killer tri-SLI setup, I wouldn't let it hold you back. And you can fit two 360's in a 760T if you try.

If it was me personally I wouldn't want far more radiator area for a Tri-SLI setup just because after throwing £400+ at blocks, why not and once you've got accustomed to silent rigs it's hard to live with anything else. Everybody wants slow fans and low temps, going full overkill on the radiator front will deliver!

JR

 

[tinytomlogan]

I think it's important to note that you don't 'need' a set radiator size for a given component or heat load. But the less radiator area you have the higher the air speed through it will be needed to maintain the same amount of heat rejection, otherwise the delta temperature will increase.

Consequently perhaps with relatively fast fans a 360mm radiator would provide more cooling performance than the standard graphics card coolers however it would probably be quite loud. After making a significant investment in blocks, pump, res, fittings etc... (and I know it is significant!) making compromises over temperatures or noise levels seem a little foolish, adding more radiators and fans wouldn't add to the cost much. I do appreciate you have to fit them in somewhere but really the case is probably the cheapest part in a killer tri-SLI setup, I wouldn't let it hold you back. And you can fit two 360's in a 760T if you try.

If it was me personally I wouldn't want far more radiator area for a Tri-SLI setup just because after throwing £400+ at blocks, why not and once you've got accustomed to silent rigs it's hard to live with anything else. Everybody wants slow fans and low temps, going full overkill on the radiator front will deliver!

JR

A 360 and a 240 is all he can do in that case though - its not really suited to a HUGE mofo watercooling loop. The GPU's will be fine anyways I doubt they will see 50 and no matter what you do as soon as he overclocks that CPU its going to be seeing 70C

2 360's would probably be best but I think with a 80mm thick rad in the front with push-pull he should be fine

 

[Tolemac]

I bought an XSPC kit from Overclockers as i'm only cooling my cpu atm I like the cpu block but the bay res pump I will be taking out and using a laing D5 pump just be weary of those kits you are better off choosing your parts seperately imo. Also I did not use the fans that came with the kit I also used SP120's

Just my 2 pence worth as its my first loop but good luck with it

EDIT I forgot to add its worth investing in pipe cutters so you get a clean flush cut on the tubing here in the UK they are about £7 to £12

 

[shambles1980]

I think it's important to note that you don't 'need' a set radiator size for a given component or heat load. But the less radiator area you have the higher the air speed through it will be needed to maintain the same amount of heat rejection, otherwise the delta temperature will increase.

Whilst this is true. It is not recommended to use less than 120mm rad space per component. I have used that general rule of thumb as a go too since pentium 4 chips.
granted the cpu's can now do more work at less voltages with less heat but it is still a nice rule of thumb to stick too if you want decent cooling from your water cooling loop.
I understand some people do it for pure aesthetics. But my aim with water cooling is to achive the closest possible ambient ambient temps that i can. "that is the 1st priority for me"
the second priority is to do it as quietly as possible
then i add a second matched pump for redundancy "constant running 'if 1 fails i have a second'" so i guess that my 3rd priority is constant running.
and a very distant 4th is asthetics.

given my priority list 120mm rad space per component really is not enough and i would prefer 360 per component. (i have a cpu, gpu, and would like to cool the board down too if possible) I cant do that though, i just do not have the case space, i try and help by having a 2 bay res. which at least gives the water some where to try and cool down whilst not being in a rad.

currently for just my cpu i have 1x120 1x240 and 1x80mm rad 2 dcc pumps and a 2 bay res.
these are cooled down with sythes low profile low speed fans. they arent even sp fans. but it keeps the system very quiet and very cool.
it also has Just about "bareley" enough rad space for me to get a water block for the gpu. but i hit a voltage wall on that before i hit a temp wall. so i dont need to do that although i could end up getting a hot gpu next time)

i always test my cooling system with IBT at max settings. And that is what i aim to cool down to acceptable levels (below tj max as a constant)

having said that...
Nothing will stress a cpu like IBT does. so i dont need that much rad space for the cpu at these clock speeds. but the way i see it if something can make my cpu that hot "ibt can" then i have to cool for the worst possible scenario.

1x120 mm 1 dcc pump. and a single bay res could keep the cpu cool enough at these clocks under normal load. There is no way it could keep it cool enough with IBT maxed out though. And i dont know whats coming next week or month that i may want to use that can push the cpu to IBT temps. so better safe than sorry.

 

[Worst Kinda Duy]

Thanks for all the advice, alot op people have been telling me that I would need something along the lines of a 900D case to properly cool my cards/cpu. Still alot of confusion on my end people on the rog forums tell me that ill need a 360mm rad for my cpu and a 240mm rad for each of my cards. I understand they all pull form the same water but my h100I keeps my cpu at 35 C idel and it never goes above 60C under load.

Also thanks for all the replys!!

 

[guskline]

Worst Kinda Duy, I'm new to this forum but have been posting to others for awhile. Also, I have done custom water cooling for @ 2yrs and have learned much from it.

I have an Asus Rampage Extreme MB with a 5960X OC'd to 4.4Ghz with an EK Supremacy EVO and 2 Sapphire Tri-X 290s with EK 290x full waterblocks. Look , I LOVE custom WCing and tons or rads. I'm using a Thermaltake Core X9 (huge sucker) and I have 3- 480 rads. I can run all 12 fans (AP15GTs) at low speed and my temps are low.

I learned the best way to calculate rad need is to estimate (or guesstimate) thermal output of the cpu/gpu at max and then determine the rad need based upon 120mm rad space with fans running at @600-800rpms. This gives the most rad space need but gives a good cushion.

The formula given to me is 120mm rad spaces needed for less than 10 degree delta = Total Thermal output at load/130. This assumes normal rad thickness and fans running at 600-800 rpm - Thank you BrightCandle for the formula)

As posters above said, if you run fans at higher speed you can, from the same rad size, dissipate more heat, but that has a limit.

Your cpu at stock speed max load is @120 watts (my 8 core is 140W) Ramps your cpu to 4.5Ghz and it jumps to @210W (mine would be @275-290W).

Your GPUs are the devices producing the thermal output, especially 3!
At load each GTX980 can dump 290-295Watts of heat.

OK, at stock cpu (no OC) we have @120W plus (3x295) 885W from the gpus.

That's slightly over 1,000W of thermal output at 100% load (yes I know the average is lower but it helps to make the point). You can add all the fans you wat to a single 360 rad but I dare say you will swamp a single 360 rad with 100 W of heat. Take the cpu out of the loop and the answer is still the same too much heat for a single 360 rad ( even the Monsta!)

If we take 1000W/ 130 = 7.6 rad spaces. Eliminate the cpu 885/130=6.8 rad spaces. A 360 +240 combo is 5 rad spaces so fan speed needs to run faster than 800 rpm. Not a big deal if you are gaming hard and wear headphones like I do. I bet your 3 GTX980 fans crank up on air if you're running max.

I agree that a 360 + 240 rad combo would be nice for a single loop and is likely to keep your temps lower. BUT don't expect miracles.

If you want a BIG difference, your options if you stay with the 760T case is an external rad such as the MO RA3 ( I own a MO RA3-420) or high speed fans on a 360+240 rad combo.

 

[The_Governour]

I'm using a Thermaltake Core X9 (huge sucker) and I have 3- 480 rads.

Might I ask what you cpu and gpu delta temps are with that much rad space?

 

[guskline]

Might I ask what you cpu and gpu delta temps are with that much rad space?

I'll try to answer your question. First some info. I have the cpu OC'd via the Asus Suite III software teaks to 4.4Ghz. I used the BIOS OC for gamers but it set the vcore too high and did nothing to OC the memory. The latest Asus Suite III software really tweaks thje cpu AND memory of the X99 systems. My gpus are running in CF stock at 1000 core/1300memory.

I'm measuring water temp with a XSPC in loop sensor attached to the XSPC LCD readout. I'm measuring the ambient temperature of the downstairs computer room with a Farenheit LCD read out which I convert to Celcius (the XSPC reads out in Celcius)

As I type in idle, the room temp is 73F or 22.78 C while the water loop readout is 25.3 C. I had just been playing COD AW for over an hour. I have the fans running at the slowest speed controlled by NZXT 6 channel controller (estimated at 40% of max 1820rpm so @750 to 800 rpm.

CPU is 31C (I have it run 100% performance option in power saving) and both GPU diodes read 31C.

I'll run an Aida 64 Stress test of both cpu and gpus for @10 minutes later today, both with fans at their slowest and at max and report back the details.

Ran just the cpu at stress with cache mem etc.

Both starts were air 21.6C; loop 24.9C
Min Fan speed after 10 minutes air 21.6C loop 27.5C
cpu mins were low of 28 and high of 33 while max temps at 100% were as high as 71c down to 64C only 2 cores were 70,71
Max fan speed air 21.6C loop 26.7C

cpu cores low varied from 28C to 33 C and highs were 70C down to 58C.

Hope this helps.