Mysterae
New member
My pc has changed a little since I last posted it on OC3D; instead of the 570 it now sports 2x EVGA GTX670 SC 4GB cards feeding my Dell U3011. All the rest of the kit is ample power, but something is failing and another thing is bugging me.
Firstly the Coolit Vantage sealed cpu cooler is failing. It's been flawless up until 3 months ago when I first noticed temps creep up. I think it must be eventually losing coolant as these "sealed" units usually do overtime. Not a noticable leak, more like evaporation.
The 2 graphics cards are bugging me due to the heat and fan noise at such heat, despite the positive case pressure of the FT02. I can get these cards over 80C at full pelt (auto fan settings), which restricts my overclock and implements the Nvidia down-clock.
So the solution? Watercool! I've done a custom watercooling system years ago (Parallel Hex on Hardocp) where I watercooled everything. This time I'm planning on watercooling only the cpu and 2 gpu's.
My eventual aim is to have a completely autonomous system where the fan and pump speeds are dictated by the load on the system. Perhaps by an Aquacomputer Aquaero, but that's expensive and maybe a bit OTT for such a simple loop. The Silverstone FT02 case I have isn't ideal for watercooling without some modification to drive cages to fit the size of rad I want. Also I don't like the concept of radiators that draw air in from the outside and blanket the internals in their warm wake to then be extracted out the other end (or through another rad!). Many builds I've seen seem to have no major problems with it though, but for me I want the warm air out the case and out the room too - out the window!
So an external rad is a must for me, sat on the window sill next to the case. Draw cold air in during the winter, flip it over to extract the hot air out in the summer. Sound feasible?
Anyways, I'd appreciate your comments on my component shortlist; a mishmash from different manufacturers:
Radiator - Watercool MO-R3 Pro 4x180 (plus stand and grill)
Reservoir - Koolance RP-452X2 V2 (dual D5)
Pumps - 2x XSPC D5 Vario (or perhaps Aquacomputer D5 USB controlled, extra cost!)
CPU block - undecided here, shortlisted - Koolance CPU 370, XSPC Raystorm (the chrome one looks nice!) or Aquacomputer Cuplex Kryos XT
GPU blocks - 2x XSPC Raystorm GPU (I'll explain why later)
Rad fans - 4x Silverstone SST-AP181 (180mm), perhaps another 4 for push-pull, but controlling them may be a pain.
I may add water temp and flow sensors to the list - although I'd like an autonomous system I still like to monitor it all.
I've picked a universal GPU block rather than a full-face waterblock for a few reasons. It may be able to be re-used with future cards, maybe. Also, the 670 looks damn stupid with any block attached; it's so small! My idea is once the gpu is on is to refit the EVGA's fan and shroud. This will maintain the cards looks (utilising the backplate too) and fixing the cards fan speed to 30% will help cool the vrm's heatsink and still be quiet. The cover will need some modification of course, for the pipework. I'm not 100% settled on this idea though, or if it's even possible to refit the fan and shroud with a block fitted (obviously the heatsink element will be removed).
So that's my plan, any thoughts? I'll probably be starting this in March, there's no real hurry. Sorry for the long post, hopefully it's been interesting none the less!
Firstly the Coolit Vantage sealed cpu cooler is failing. It's been flawless up until 3 months ago when I first noticed temps creep up. I think it must be eventually losing coolant as these "sealed" units usually do overtime. Not a noticable leak, more like evaporation.
The 2 graphics cards are bugging me due to the heat and fan noise at such heat, despite the positive case pressure of the FT02. I can get these cards over 80C at full pelt (auto fan settings), which restricts my overclock and implements the Nvidia down-clock.
So the solution? Watercool! I've done a custom watercooling system years ago (Parallel Hex on Hardocp) where I watercooled everything. This time I'm planning on watercooling only the cpu and 2 gpu's.
My eventual aim is to have a completely autonomous system where the fan and pump speeds are dictated by the load on the system. Perhaps by an Aquacomputer Aquaero, but that's expensive and maybe a bit OTT for such a simple loop. The Silverstone FT02 case I have isn't ideal for watercooling without some modification to drive cages to fit the size of rad I want. Also I don't like the concept of radiators that draw air in from the outside and blanket the internals in their warm wake to then be extracted out the other end (or through another rad!). Many builds I've seen seem to have no major problems with it though, but for me I want the warm air out the case and out the room too - out the window!
So an external rad is a must for me, sat on the window sill next to the case. Draw cold air in during the winter, flip it over to extract the hot air out in the summer. Sound feasible?
Anyways, I'd appreciate your comments on my component shortlist; a mishmash from different manufacturers:
Radiator - Watercool MO-R3 Pro 4x180 (plus stand and grill)
Reservoir - Koolance RP-452X2 V2 (dual D5)
Pumps - 2x XSPC D5 Vario (or perhaps Aquacomputer D5 USB controlled, extra cost!)
CPU block - undecided here, shortlisted - Koolance CPU 370, XSPC Raystorm (the chrome one looks nice!) or Aquacomputer Cuplex Kryos XT
GPU blocks - 2x XSPC Raystorm GPU (I'll explain why later)
Rad fans - 4x Silverstone SST-AP181 (180mm), perhaps another 4 for push-pull, but controlling them may be a pain.
I may add water temp and flow sensors to the list - although I'd like an autonomous system I still like to monitor it all.
I've picked a universal GPU block rather than a full-face waterblock for a few reasons. It may be able to be re-used with future cards, maybe. Also, the 670 looks damn stupid with any block attached; it's so small! My idea is once the gpu is on is to refit the EVGA's fan and shroud. This will maintain the cards looks (utilising the backplate too) and fixing the cards fan speed to 30% will help cool the vrm's heatsink and still be quiet. The cover will need some modification of course, for the pipework. I'm not 100% settled on this idea though, or if it's even possible to refit the fan and shroud with a block fitted (obviously the heatsink element will be removed).
So that's my plan, any thoughts? I'll probably be starting this in March, there's no real hurry. Sorry for the long post, hopefully it's been interesting none the less!
