First watercooling rig, need some advice!

Kyze

Kyze

New member
Hi Guys,

so since i got my Switch 810 and a placed order for a reference GTX 680 i wanted to go for watercooling.

I got some things together, but im unsure about some others thats why im asking for your help.

So this is what i got in my cart for now (german site):

http://www.aquatuning.de/shopping_cart.php/bkey/c70845ea0bdd931b9c3220ca9a102118

Its the alphacool bayres and the little pump tom has shown in a recent video plus the waterblock (EK-FC680) for GTX 680

as well as the CPU (XSPC Raystorm; i5 2500k@4.5ghz).

I took the raystorm mainly because of the good words about it on these forums, im not into the LED stuff on it but i guess

they can be disabled.

I would take any other if theres something better.

Now up to my main concerns:

I got the possibility to get a 3x140 or 3x120 rad in the roof, a single 360/420 rad enough for a GTX 680 + 2500k?

I got 3 Gentle Typhoons in the top right now, so a 3x120rad would be sufficient.

If the 3x140 provides better cooling, id get some extra fans. Might be some more Spectre pros.

(Im not that well informed on 140mm fans for radiators so please throw me some ideas if possible.)

What model of rads are recommended ? Maybe the GChangers from Phobya ?

And the tubing... yeah literally got no idea what to get right here. As im a total newb in building WC

id like to take compression fittings, mainly for the looks.

But what kind of tubing ? Is there a great difference between the sizes ?

I want it to look good in a Switch not like some thin noodles floating around.

Lot of stuff, but i hope someone can get me somewhere closer to my first watercooled rig
smile.png
 
Kyze said:
Hi Guys,

so since i got my Switch 810 and a placed order for a reference GTX 680 i wanted to go for watercooling.

I got some things together, but im unsure about some others thats why im asking for your help.

So this is what i got in my cart for now (german site):

http://www.aquatuning.de/shopping_cart.php/bkey/c70845ea0bdd931b9c3220ca9a102118

Its the alphacool bayres and the little pump tom has shown in a recent video plus the waterblock (EK-FC680) for GTX 680

as well as the CPU (XSPC Raystorm; i5 2500k@4.5ghz).

I took the raystorm mainly because of the good words about it on these forums, im not into the LED stuff on it but i guess

they can be disabled.

I would take any other if theres something better.

Now up to my main concerns:

I got the possibility to get a 3x140 or 3x120 rad in the roof, a single 360/420 rad enough for a GTX 680 + 2500k?

I got 3 Gentle Typhoons in the top right now, so a 3x120rad would be sufficient.

If the 3x140 provides better cooling, id get some extra fans. Might be some more Spectre pros.

(Im not that well informed on 140mm fans for radiators so please throw me some ideas if possible.)

What model of rads are recommended ? Maybe the GChangers from Phobya ?

And the tubing... yeah literally got no idea what to get right here. As im a total newb in building WC

id like to take compression fittings, mainly for the looks.

But what kind of tubing ? Is there a great difference between the sizes ?

I want it to look good in a Switch not like some thin noodles floating around.

Lot of stuff, but i hope someone can get me somewhere closer to my first watercooled rig
smile.png
Click to expand...

I would think you would be pushing it on a single rad (360 or 420) it would work ok but I would consider putting another 240mm in the front or bottom, to give you better temps and also allow you to run your fans lower.

Tubing size is preference, not much difference in performance between them.

The greater the diameter of the tubing I.e. 1/2" over 7/16 the slightly better flow rates you will get, as well as more fluid in your tubes, but the temp dif is negligible.

1/2" is large tubing good for aesthetics

I use 7/16, still looks good but can do tighter bends as the smaller the tubing the more it bends without kinking.

The smallest is 3/8" best for tight angles but can reduce flow rate compared to others.

So as you have a big case and space isn't an issue forget 3/8" tubing.

Go for 7/16 best of both worlds, looks good and bends well!

Fittings is preference, I'm using barbs currently but I'm going compression soon as I like the look of them.

Ps- look at my rig I have a thick 360mm + thick 240mm + 120mm rads..... All with push pull gentle typhoons running around 40% and silent....Cooling a CPU (2600k and a gtx570) with great temps!!

Hope this helps
 
Love the water blocks
biggrin.png
Make sure to get some nice fittings and take some 45° and 90° fittings as well. I did the mistake of not doing that at first. You should get more then a single 360 rad to be absolutely sure.

You have made me wanna look for a backplate now you bastard
biggrin.png
 
Alright thanks for the ideas so far guys
smile.png
.

Ill put in a second pump in the res, arent that expensive anyways lol.

And ill get a secon rad for the bottom.

Im just gonna get a 420 and a 280 rad, now im only thinking about what fans and what rads exactly.

Anyone something to recommend ?

And yes i think the backplate just looks damn sexy so i just get that directly with the other stuff
smile.png
 
Alright ill get like 5m of masterkleer 11mm/8mm tubing, and bitspower compression fittings.

I just hope the 280 rad fits in the bottom, as my PSU is not as long as the one tom used in his review of the 810.

Now im just gonna do a little research for the 140mm fans for the rads.

I pinned a little thingy on to show im gonna set the stuff in and do the tubing.

the red marker is the waterdirection.

EDIT: Just noticed, maybe change the flowdirection so the big rad gets the warmer water?! Any hint on that?

watercooling.png

Shouldnt be an issue with the order of the blocks/rads/res right ?

Sorry for the doublepost and thanks for your comments!
smile.png
 
Na that flow diagram looks good to me.

Only possible other option I could think of would be to exhaust the top radiator out, rather than in. It's difficult to know which would be better for temps.
 
check the build log in my sig 420 and 280 will fit but you'll have to mod case. 360 and 240 no modding really needed. a 2500k and 680 both cool customers to begin with should be fine on a single 360. I saw absolutly no difference in temps cpu only with 420 vs 420 plus 280.
 
So you think a single 360 rad would be sufficient ?

Might be worth just getting the 360 and another 280 if it just isnt enough.

The top rad will be used as exhaust, might be a little unclear in the pic but the fans will be/are pulling out.

Do you think 5m of hose is enough or should i pack some extra meters in ?
 
5 m should be more than enough. I built my first rig a few weeks ago. What I did was cut a 6" piece of tubing and "sacrificed" it to get a feel for how it bends, how to fit it on the fittings, how to cut it, etc. I bent it until it kinked, which damaged it, so I threw it away.
 
Kyze said:
Hi Guys,

so since i got my Switch 810 and a placed order for a reference GTX 680 i wanted to go for watercooling.

I got some things together, but im unsure about some others thats why im asking for your help.

So this is what i got in my cart for now (german site):

http://www.aquatunin...c3220ca9a102118

Its the alphacool bayres and the little pump tom has shown in a recent video plus the waterblock (EK-FC680) for GTX 680

as well as the CPU (XSPC Raystorm; i5 2500k@4.5ghz).

I took the raystorm mainly because of the good words about it on these forums, im not into the LED stuff on it but i guess

they can be disabled.

I would take any other if theres something better.

Now up to my main concerns:

I got the possibility to get a 3x140 or 3x120 rad in the roof, a single 360/420 rad enough for a GTX 680 + 2500k?

I got 3 Gentle Typhoons in the top right now, so a 3x120rad would be sufficient.

If the 3x140 provides better cooling, id get some extra fans. Might be some more Spectre pros.

(Im not that well informed on 140mm fans for radiators so please throw me some ideas if possible.)

What model of rads are recommended ? Maybe the GChangers from Phobya ?

And the tubing... yeah literally got no idea what to get right here. As im a total newb in building WC

id like to take compression fittings, mainly for the looks.

But what kind of tubing ? Is there a great difference between the sizes ?

I want it to look good in a Switch not like some thin noodles floating around.

Lot of stuff, but i hope someone can get me somewhere closer to my first watercooled rig
smile.png
Click to expand...

Just go with the 120mm rad sizes. You will go crazy trying to find a high static pressure 140 mm fan. I was in the same boat you are in and well I ended up going with a 240x60mm rad and will be getting a 420 mm rad up to but will be running 120 mm fans on it.
 
Perosonally if your not planning on getting a 2nd pump I would go with the smaller diameter tubing.

the bigger the tube the better overall cooling and flow valume, but the lower the water pressure.

so just keep that in mind on your build .

and good luck .
biggrin.png
 
i think ill just get a 360 rad for the roof first, to use with my gentle typhoons. If the temps are too high (will probably post here again then) ill just add another rad in the bottom.

About the second pump: well i dont know if its really necessery or not but since they are like 14€ ill better be safe than sorry
wink.png


Will post pics and stuff as soon as i begin
smile.png
 
I have to agree with the people before me.

A single 420 radiator just won't cut it, unless you put some sick fans on it and let it become real noisy. Which just ain't the point of a watercooling. The pump is not powerful enough either. But since the system you have is pretty cool and quiet now, I don't understand why you feel the necessity of water cooling your rig anyways. But if you want to you can.

I used to have a 360 radiator for 2x GTX480s. I don't know whether the 680s are that much cooler, but I can tell you that the 360 radiator I used had problems cooling that heat down. I think you do need the 420 radiator (if it actually fits) only for the graphic cards. Then you can put some fans on it which aren't that noisy too. For the CPU I think I'd add another 240 radiator. But it all depends on the overclock. If you're not overclocking too much, you could possibly settle with a Corsair H80 at the back + some less noisy fans. This solution might just do the trick...

Personally I recommend that you remain with air cooling though since you're hardware cannot be getting to hot anyway. Neither can the noise bother you. You need a more powerful pump. Have you considered going with this: http://www.aquatuning.de/product_info.php/info/p8078_XSPC-X2O-750-Dual-5-25-Bay-Reservoir-Pump.html

It's not that expensive yet it's quite powerful..
 
The i5 2500k will be run at 4.5GHz, the gtx 680 as high as i can get it with stock voltage.

As i have a NHD14 on my cpu i dont think the h80 is any better/quieter.

Dont know about the GTX 480s but the 680 has an official tdp of ~200W and the i5 is rated at 95W.

So with a little OC id think like ~400W need to be cooled. Do Rads have any kind of performace-rating

or the like ?
 
They have a performance rating but it's usually incorrect, because that would be the ideal performance you could get out them. So with less quiet fans, with dust in the room, with a weaker pump, with a hotter room temperature etc. these "performance ratings" of radiators can be pretty much useless. If you have the D14 the water cooling makes no sense. At least in my mind. I bought a couple of them Noctua fans, and I know that they're really good and quiet. I don't think you'd gain anything by watercooling. But I suppose if you won't overclock you could get away with a 420 radiator for everything. But I think it's gonna be a real close one.

It's pretty easy to know when you need another radiator. If the water temperature under full loads hits 40°C you should add more radiators and/or improve the fans. Personally I'd not even go that far. I do think that a 360 radiator would barely cool the two 680s considering that they are pretty hot and that the point is not to make your rig more noisy than it is today. But I think that this will happen either way. If you're unlucky, the pumps may be louder than the rig is today, so be careful with those. I think you need 420 + 240 radiator to cool everything somewhat conferrable. I'm a firm believer that it's best to have too big of an radiator and low RPM fans than the other way around.

Have you looked into the WaterCool MO-RA3? You could mount that thing to your side panel and with a little mod this thing will cool pretty much any setup you ever could have in mind. But there are people who try to do this internally. I don't see the point. A nice big radiator outside, and everything in the case is clan and you have loads of room. Otherwise there's no room what so ever and it's hard to make it look somewhat clean.

You tell me what you think. What's your budget for this anyways?
 
You might have misread something there
wink.png
.

I will have only one GTX 680, not two (id get a second but im not that rich heh).

I know ill probably wont get extremely better temps on my cpu but its mainly for the gtx,

eye candy and as a little projekt for me
smile.png
 
Oh for a single GTX680 a 420 radiator definitely would do. then you don't need to bother with nothing else. I'm sorry. I must have misread something.

420 radiator + good pump and make sure the CPU gets max pressure, and you should be fine...
 
Alright, so i guess the differences betwee 420 and a 360 arent that big right ?

As i was told here that id have to mod a little for the 420 and im really bad at stuff like that.

My GTs should be decent for the rad so i dont even have to buy new fans.

Id like those little alphacool pumps, even if im getting two of them.

i hope tom does a deeper review on those.
 
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