Need Help on Deciding how to Watercool!

[RadeonHDx]

Hi, my name’s Joe and I’m 13 and from the UK. I have recently built my first rig and I have been running it in my room for the last few months on air cooling. It gets the job done, but only just, it is very loud and as I am typing now I can hear the fans over my over ear headset! I am looking to water cooling to help me with my problem of just getting by with load temps of over 80C while playing some of latest games and the massive issue of my fans sounding like jets taking off under load. So without further ado, I’ll show you the spec of my rig.

InWin Dragon Rider Full Tower Case
AMD FX-4170 Processor
AMD Radeon HD 7870 Graphics card
Kingston Hyper-X Genesis 1600mHz RAM
ASUS M5A97 R2.0 Motherboard
FSP 450w Power Supply
And the 4 stock fans that came with the case (I removed the large 200mm fan a few days ago)
Here is a pic of my rig (I know the cable management is hard to overlook):

I am hoping to have enough money left after purchasing the water cooling to but a new PSU, I’ve had my eye on the XFX XXX Edition 650w for a while now due to me loving the aesthetic, it being 80+ Bronze and the fact that it is semi-modular for improved cable management.

So now down to the matter itself, I don’t know whether I should buy an AIO water cooling unit and just buy an aftermarket GPU air cooler for £65 (The Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme III) or make a custom loop for another £100 and include the graphics card water block which is only £60 (The price of the Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme III) and use less fans and have a quieter and cooler loop (also the aesthetics could be made infinitely better)

This is a list of components for a custom loop including the PSU and fans required:
EK Supreme LTX CSQ AMD CPU Water block: Nickel Plexi Specialtech = £33.32
EK FC7870 CSQ Full Cover Water block: Nickel Acetal = £54.96
EK CoolStream XT 240mm Dual Radiator Specialtech = £33.33
OR Alphacool NexXxos XT45 240mm Dual Radiator: Full Copper = £33.50
2m Masterkleer 3/8” ID – 1/2 “ OD Clear = £4.82
EK PSC 1/4" Thread Compression Fitting for 3/8" ID - 1/2" OD x6 = £14.94
XSPC X20 200 Single Bay Res and Pump = £29.50
OR XSPC X20 750 Dual Bay Res and Pump v2 = £49.96
Mayhems X1 Premix Fluid 1 Litre: Blue / UV Blue = £6.66
XSPC 120mm Quiet Case Fan 1200rpm x6 = £20.80
XFX XXX Edition Semi-Modular 650w = £62.36
+ 20% VAT = £55.00
TOTAL (APROX): MAX£350/MIN£250 (Minus GPU Water block and PSU and lower pump)

All in One Watercooling + Air cooled GPU
Corsair H100i = £92.95
XSPC 120mm Quiet Case Fan 1200rpm x6 = £29.70
Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme III PWM Quiet Graphics Card Cooler = £64.01
XFX XXX Edition Semi-Modular 650w = £62.36
TOTAL: £249.02
Please comment and tell me any ways I could improve my custom loop or how I should decide on what I order.
P.S. I am buying the majority of my products from Specialtech. If you have any other recommendations for somewhere else to buy my products in the UK please just say in the comments!
Thanks in advance!

 

[B NEGATIVE]

Spend the money on a new PSU and a h100,get your rig to the highest spec you can get to before watercooling,you will gain actual performance rather than bling.

 

[tinytomlogan]

Im with Neg here tbh. Any decent air cooler would be better for you than what you have.

Plus a 240 rad wont cool what you want either, so you would have to buy a new case too.

So as neg said, buy a H100 or NH-D14 etc and a new psu. Youll be wasting your money if you buy it before

 

[RadeonHDx]

God has spoken!
Thanks for the recommendations. I think I'm going to go with H100i just to see how much performance I can squeeze out of my 4170, and the decent air cooler for my 7870. When I was building my rig originally I wasn't expecting to be doing anything fancy, so I didn't see the point in getting all the best hardware I could. But now that I want to do water cooling etc. I have realized that my case is very poorly suited to it and that I could have saved money in the long run by getting a higher end GPU.
Again thanks guys for the help!

 

[Kyze]

I wouldnt even get a H100, get some decent aircooler youll be off just as good.
Your hardware says more of "get me all the power i can get for little money" and so should the cooler.

Maybe the d14 (also expensive but pretty damn good) maybe even the havik120 to save you some money.

 

[RadeonHDx]

The only reason I am really wanting to go with the H100 now is because any furthur builds I do I will be using watercooling, e.g. H100. Plus I dont really care too much about this chip, so if I kill it from overclocking, I dont mind too much, this build was originally just a test to see how well I could put together a PC. I would jump over to Intel and see how I like the 2500k (same price range) but that would mean buying a new board as well :/
I hope I dont sound stubborn saying all this.

 

[Ironhand]

My first concern is the PSU.

My setup pulls 447 watts at idle. Now Im not sure what a 4100 pulls at idle but you keep adding stuff, pump, fans, etc then you will tax the PSU even further.

XFX added the P1-750B PSU.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207029

I have the very same PSU here to put in the wife's computer when I redo it very soon, it is also fully modular and 80 plus Gold. I also have the 1050W in mine and I have no complaints.

I would start there and use either a H100i or do the full waterloop.

 

[tinytomlogan]

Just dont buy XFX PSU's they are gash.........

 

[Ironhand]

Just dont buy XFX PSU's they are gash.........

That is the first time I have heard that.

Their OEM is Seasonic, same company that makes the Corsair 750s etc, and well, Im stuck with two of them now. lol

If they have issues I will switch them out. But they are pretty. haha

 

[dragoonk]

I think you should go for a H100/H100i, a Corsair power supply like... http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Comp...2+80PLUS+Bronze+Power+Supply+?productId=43907

It has loads of headroom. You might also consider getting a better case for better airflow . No wonder your rig sounds like it wants to take off.

 

[RadeonHDx]

well the main thing that is loud is the cpu fan. Its spinning about 2100rpm constant and if I put my finger in the way of the fan, that is just about how i would want my rig to sound. And about the power supply, I know that it is very low voltage and I have no head room. It was just an old psu from one of my friends old pc's. I have about £300 to spend and the PSU has been factored into my costs. I still have about £100 max. that I can spend after I buy the H100i and if what IronHand has said is correct, I assume that the PSU's are almost the same in performance as the XFX line, just that XFX have a nicer aesthetic and is semi-modular design.
Again i hope I dont sound arrogant or stubborn

 

[dragoonk]

A H100i would suit you just fine, you just need to consider getting a good PSU because you need it especially if you decide to go with a more powerful AMD chip ( ex: FX-8320 ) and a SLI/Crossfire config.

 

[Ironhand]

well the main thing that is loud is the cpu fan. Its spinning about 2100rpm constant and if I put my finger in the way of the fan, that is just about how i would want my rig to sound. And about the power supply, I know that it is very low voltage and I have no head room. It was just an old psu from one of my friends old pc's. I have about £300 to spend and the PSU has been factored into my costs. I still have about £100 max. that I can spend after I buy the H100i and if what IronHand has said is correct, I assume that the PSU's are almost the same in performance as the XFX line, just that XFX have a nicer aesthetic and is semi-modular design.
Again i hope I dont sound arrogant or stubborn

Took me a second to find it.

http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page625.htm

I'm talking about the BEFX PSU that is fully modular.

 

[RadeonHDx]

well in the future I am definitely going to be going with some higher end hardware where I can. The PSU I am going to finalize on is going to be the TX750 V2 from Corsair.

 

[dragoonk]

Very very good choice. I'd definitely get one myself but... mmmneah.. can't really afford anything ATM. BTW, how far have you managed to OC that 4170?

 

[RadeonHDx]

I had it stable at 4.5 on 1.4v in BIOS but temps got high, idle about 40C and load in the mid 70's. If I tried to keep it on load it would just shutdown due to high temps!

 

[dragoonk]

Damn that thing gets hot. It's a 125 Watts CPU so no suprise . I think a H100i will cover that and then some. Will work well with Ivy Bridge too.

 

[ArthurDnB]

go for a closed water cooler system like the h100, or the new kraken from nzxt and with the money that you would spend buy a nice PSU

 

[RadeonHDx]

Yep, thanks Arthur, thats what I'm going to do. I've been saving up a while and I've got about £300 to spend and I didnt want to make the wrong choice. By next year I'm looking to try and jump over to Intel. Have you got any recommendations for cpu and board for anything under £400. I'm not trying to scimp out on products for price but under £400 is about where I want to be.
I'm probs going to end up selling my CPU and MB and that should get me about £150 if I'm really lucky.

 

[RadeonHDx]

Just bought the watercooling, just need to get the PSU now!
I bought:
Corsair H100i Hydro High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler

XSPC 120mm Quiet Case Fan 1650 RPM

Silverstone Air Penetrator 120mm Blue LED Fan

Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme III PWM Quiet Graphics Card Cooler

Arctic Cooling MX-4 Thermal Compound 4g