I need your help with decent water cooling for my rig. Corsair (stock) fans are so loud on H80i and my ears are bleeding also GTX 780 fan is not quiet too when speed up up to 90%. What I need also is advice to go with dual loop or stay with single loop. Budget max £450. Full specs at the moment:
i7 4770k stock but can go as high as 4.8Ghz on H80i with nice temps
GTX 780 EVGA standard one reference single fan
Zalman Z9 case
Corsair 750W PSU
Is it possible to fit everything in my case or do I need to change it?
I doubt I can fit dual radiator on top of my case because motherboard is too high to fans.
I know single loop should be enough for non OC 4770k and 780 but what about if I OC my CPU? I will never OC my graphics card so its only case with CPU.
If you are willing or able to mod, your imagination is the only limitation. For nice temps and noise reduction you'll want to liquid cool as many components as possible. I am a fan of single loops. Without extensive and exhaustive testing specific to a build, I don't see a major advantage on average of splitting a loop. I doubt you could get a clean dual loop in that case. You might have to go with a bay res with the space limitation. I am NOT a fan of bay reservoirs. On the cheap though, a great pair of headphones will kill fan noise. If you're going to be overclocking a lot, I would consider a larger case.
Personally I recommend single loops in most instances, unless there's a really compelling
reason for multiple loops. For once thing, you will be better able to distribute heat load
onto your radiator(s) than with multiple loops, each component having the full heat
dissipation capacity at its disposal when necessary. So, if you're gaming and it's primarily
your GPU that's getting stressed, your loop can primarily dissipate heat from that, if you're
doing something CPU-intensive cooling power can be used for that, and if you're stressing
both, then you can still turn up the fans a bit if required, depending on how much radiatorage
you have.
For a 780 and an overvolted CPU I recommend something like a 480 or the equivalent rad
power, but you could get away with a 60 mm thick 360, albeit with fans running a bit higher.
I ran an overvolted 2600k on a few months together with about 60 W~80 W of additional heat
from HDD's, and I had temps in the low 70 C's when I did Folding @ Home and the fans were
running at ~ 7 V. Some people would probably recommend more than a 360 for CPU + GPU
(especially if the CPU gets overvolted), and so would I, but a 360 is feasible if you're not looking
for absolute silence (it will still be quieter than what you're running now in all likelihood).
As Jaycobs has said, you can do a lot if you're willing and able to mod, but if you do think you
need to switch cases, the NZXT Switch 810 privides pretty good radiator capacity and general
features without costing an arm and a leg. Alternatively, the Fractal Design Midi R2 has offset
radiator mount points in the roof I think, which should allow you to get a 360 in there along with
a 240 or a 280 in the front (the 280 might require some modding, not sure). Or of course the
Define XL or Arc XL R2. I have an R4, build quality on Fractal is very good from what I've seen
personally. I'm sure there are more alternatives out there, but those are the ones that come
to mind at the moment.
If you're sure about how much radiator power you want/need, you could always buy the radiators
first, see if you're able to fit them into your case, and if not then get a new case.
As for the rest of W/C:
Pump: For a combined CPU/GPU loop: D5 vario with a custom pump top, for example this one or this one. I'm not a fan of bay reservoir/pump combos because the pumps can
transfer vibrations to the case in those. Also, I recommend staying away from Koolance
pump tops, they have a tendency to fail from what I've seen/read. I personally have the
Alphacool pump top and am pretty happy with it.
CPU block: pick whichever one you like, maybe read a few reviews if you really
want to. They all perform very similarly these days, it doesn't really matter which one
you pick form a performance POV.
GPU block: Have a look around at a few reviews and see which one you like,
for example this one. But again, differences are small if we're being honest,
pick what you like.
Radiators: Your appropriate choice here might depend on how fast your fans are
going to run, I highly recommend having a look at martin's liquid lab's radiator section.
Personally I have an Alphacool UT60 360, an XT45 480 and two SR-1's 560 and can
recommend all of them, especially for low fan speeds. If you end up having the space
for it, an Alphacool Monsta might also be worth looking at, however I do recommend
running that in push/pull. As this review shows (in German, the graphs depict delta
water temp -> room temp, last graph, first graph is three fans), it profits significantly
from push/pull.
Tubing: I've seen Primochill's Advanced LRT recommended quite a few times now.
Personally I run 16/10 mm and can recommend that size (not too bulky, but good kink
resistance). Alternatively, Norprene is excellent as well, but has a bit of a different look,
which you may or may not like. Or of course, you can go acrylic.
Fittings: W/e you like. Some people prefer compressions, other prefer barbs with or
without clamps (I've seen 7/16" ID tubing and 1/2" barbs being advocated a few times).
Reservoir: I recommend tube reservoirs, but of course you can pick a bay res as well.
Doesn't really matter that much, pick what you like.
Fans: The venerable Gentle Typhoons are still excellent IMO when it comes to 120's.
Alternatively, Noctua, Noiseblocker eLoops (Phobya and Alphacool also sell versions of
those), Gelid, Cougar are what I've seen recommended as well. Cougar and Noctua also
make decent 140's if you're going that route, as do Noiseblocker. But this also depends
on what rpm you're looking for, I'm a bit biased towards the lower end of the spectrum.
Coolant: I'm not an expert on that as I've been running the same one for the last few
years (Aquacomputer's clear stuff), but I have seen quite a few people having problems
with Mayhems Pastel. Aside from that it doesn't really seem to matter much which one
you pick, they all do pretty much the same things AFAIK.
Sorry for the wall of text, shoot if you have more questions.
Haha, few people have actually noticed this so far. Basically I'm a bit anal when it comes
to my text formatting and hate long lines. I'll just post the response I gave the first time
this came up:
I don't even notice doing it anymore, it's just automatic. Write post, format post, submit
post. Yes, I'm a nerd.
EDIT:
If I could write all my posts in monospace fonts such as Courier etc. and have multiple
spaces actually show up so that things look like in that screenshot I would be in heaven. :wub:
he, as a fellow coder I will allow it. Although I don't have to confirm to line size so I don't do it. I do understand and have a similar appreciation of monospace fonts *sigh*
he, as a fellow coder I will allow it. Although I don't have to confirm to line size so I don't do it. I do understand and have a similar appreciation of monospace fonts *sigh*
I've considered writing my posts in monospace, but for one thing it becomes
kind of pointless without multiple-spaces parsing, and also I didn't want to get
everyone's nuts on fire by using a non-standard font.
Plus, with not every monospace font being available on all platforms and me
using Linux, if I write in Courier it's not monospaced for me, and if I use a font
that's available for me then it won't be monospaced for other people, unless
the forum supports multiple font selections (some do, others don't), so yeah...
alpenwasser - thank You very much for massive help. This gave me a guide what to order. If You don't mind to have a look on these items I picked up and tell me if this will work together or not:
NZXT Switch 810 Ultra
EK Water Blocks EK-FC Titan **GTX 780 compatible***
EK CoolStream RAD XTX 360
XSPC D5 Vario with front cover 1/2" barbs
XSPC Dual 5.25" Bay Reservoir
EK-Supreme LTX Acetal+Nickel CSQ Intel CPU waterblock
Primochill Primoflex Advanced Tubing 13/10 - clear
Koolance Nozzle Single Barb for ID 10mm 3/8in
All together £505 with delivery for Saturday. 6 fans - quiet ones I will order on 15th because I'm above my budget already.
I didn't write on the beginning that I'm using my PC only for gaming. Some of the games are CPU hungry and most of the games are GPU. Most of the time CPU and GPU will be going on stock.
I just want to have quiet PC and even with push pull config I want them run in stock speeds too.
Two questions:
Do I need 2 meters of tubing or 1 is enough?
In specs of this case it says: can fit 480 Radiator - but I look on pics and cant find single one showing 480 mounted on top of the case. I saw people fitting this on the bottom and they keep PC upside down?
alpenwasser - thank You very much for massive help. This gave me a guide what to order. If You don't mind to have a look on these items I picked up and tell me if this will work together or not:
NZXT Switch 810 Ultra
EK Water Blocks EK-FC Titan **GTX 780 compatible***
EK CoolStream RAD XTX 360
EK-Supreme LTX Acetal+Nickel CSQ Intel CPU waterblock
XSPC D5 Vario with front cover 1/2" barbs
XSPC Dual 5.25" Bay Reservoir
Primochill Primoflex Advanced Tubing 13/10 - clear
Koolance Nozzle Single Barb for ID 10mm 3/8in
Two questions:
- Which XSPC res do you mean specifically?
- And how do you intend to interface the pump to the rest of the loop?
I'm asking because 13/10 tubing is going to be tricky with the 1/2" barbs on the
pump. Personally I'd recommend a pump top. For one thing they improve flow
rates over the stock pump, and they allow you to interface the pump to the rest
of the loop with normal G1/4" fittings.
I have the Alphacool one (you can also get a preassembled pump), but EKWB
also make a top. I don't recommend the Koolance one, people have had bad
experiences with those from what I've heard.
Having said that, you can absolutely use the pump in its stock form, it's still
a great pump, and you do of course save money compared to a pump+top
config (plus you can always add a top later on without a problem).
Regarding the tubing: I have used both 13/10 and 16/10, and 13/10 works perfectly
OK. There isn't too much difference between the two, 16/10 provides a bit better
kink resistance and it has less coolant evaporate through the tubing (it's not a huge
problem, just something to keep in mind). But as said, 13/10 works, too, just FYI.
13/10 is definitely cheaper though, plus you can always upgrade later with the
barbs, you just wouldn't be able to use the same clamps (as a side note on that
one: If you don't put too much stress on your tubing you don't need clamps when
using barbs, but you can figure that out for yourself when you're assembling things).
I didn't write on the beginning that I'm using my PC only for gaming. Some of the games are CPU hungry and most of the games are GPU. Most of the time CPU and GPU will be going on stock.
I just want to have quiet PC and even with push pull config I want them run in stock speeds too.
I think a 360 in push/pull can handle that. If you go with the Switch 810 and you find
that the system is still too loud and/or your temps too high you can easily add
another radiator in there when you get more money, you'd already have all the
remaining parts you'd need.
I'd order two. If you make a mistake or change your mind about loop layout or
anything else, 1 m is kind of pushing it. You will need to replace the tubing after
a while anyway (a year or so, depending on its state, but that's what many people
seem to do), so you'll use up the rest sooner or later.
In specs of this case it says: can fit 480 Radiator - but I look on pics and cant find single one showing 480 mounted on top of the case. I saw people fitting this on the bottom and they keep PC upside down?
I think that might have been a typo, the official NZXT site lists 420 as maximum
size from what I can see.
In theory the case might be big enough to hold a 480, but that would require
modding AFAIK. See the latter part of this video for more info:
So it's possible, but you'd need to do a bit of work on the case (not that I would
ever discourage you from that, and there is a 480 version of the XTX... ).
Something to consider: Depending on prices, you could go with a 420 radiator;
the cooling surface is pretty much equal to a 480. Or you could stay with the
XTX and then later add another 240 in the bottom of the 810 if you needed or
wanted to. Just food for thought.
But yes, overall this seems to be a pretty decent setup, the only real question
left at the moment is the tubing/pump interface.
I was thinking about this one because of lots of water can be hold inside:
And how do you intend to interface the pump to the rest of the loop?
I have no idea I will plan it when I have all parts together and I will add some foam under pump and I will place it somewhere in the case or I will screw it in good position.
What fans are you intending on getting?
I was thinking about the ones You gave me quiet ones but they are like £14 or more per piece and I need 6 of them so price goes up by £80+
What tubing You suggest to me? If the one I gave You is not good for this pump?
I watched YT video and I will stay with 360, 480 fits there but screws for fans are in wrong position. Maybe later I will add small radiator 240 on the bottom of the case without fans or max 2 of them running on stock speed if I need to. Last thing I cant afford pump what You gave me, I know its £20 more but I'm already above my budget .
And how do you intend to interface the pump to the rest of the loop?
I have no idea I will plan it when I have all parts together and I will add some foam under pump and I will place it somewhere in the case or I will screw it in good position.
No, I mean how do you intend to connect the tubing to the pump, seeing as the pump has
barbs designed for 7/16" or 1/2" ID tubing. It's entirely possible to just mount the tubing
directly to the pump, but in that case you're going to need different sized tubing than 13/10 mm,
namely either 7/16" ID tubing (harder to get on, bit better grip) or 1/2" ID tubing.
If that's the way you'd want to go, I recommend one of these two: 7/16" ID 1/2" ID
Note that you might need to warm up the 7/16" tubing with hot water and then stretch it a bit
with pliers to get it over the pump's barbs, since those are 1/2". However, once it's on, it will
stay on very securely. If you still don't trust it, you can always use a few zip ties or clamps
to tighten it down further.
For fittings, there are several options in this case:
1/2" barbs and 7/16" ID tubing is a config I've seen recommended on several occasions,
but never personally used. Since the tubing is a tad too small, you need to work a bit to get
it over the barbs, but same as with the pump, once it's on, it stays on. This allows for a very
sleek look since you don't need to use zip ties or clamps from what I've heard/seen.
compression fittings: Need to match both ID and OD of the tubing you're going to order,
of course. More expensive than barbs, but an option if you want to. Easy to use, some
people love the look, some hate it, but they all work pretty well from what I've seen.
1/2" ID tubing & 1/2" ID barbs, 7/16" ID tubing and 7/16" barbs: If it's between these two
combos, I'd go for 1/2" & 1/2", there are far fewer fittings in 7/16" than in 1/2", the offerings
for 1/2" have much more variety.
Either of these options will allow you to get around the need to buy a pump top, so you can
save cost on that.
Yeah, fans are tricky like that (same as fittings). Not expensive on their own, but once you
actually buy enough for an entire build, costs start adding up quickly.
One note on the Gentle Typhoons: They can be voltage-regulated very well, so you can get
the 1850 rpm version and then tune that down if you want to, while still having the option
for higher rpm's if the need arises. I'd actually recommend that since rad space is kinda
tight in your suggested config.
You don't necessarily need to buy a fan controller to voltage-regulate your fans, there are
ways to run them on either 7 V or 5 V directly from the PSU, so no additional money needs
to be spent to turn down the fans (well, almost none, you need to do a slight bit of cable
work).
I watched YT video and I will stay with 360, 480 fits there but screws for fans are in wrong position. Maybe later I will add small radiator 240 on the bottom of the case without fans or max 2 of them running on stock speed if I need to.
So I was kind of busy with BF4 on the weekend but this is what I build all together. If You don't mind to check all components I will proceed to order on Monday
I have changed tubing and fittings.
Yup, I think that should work. I've noticed the following note on specialtech's website
regarding the tubing:
Please Note : Primochill Advanced Tubing is Exceptionally tight on Fittings. We recommend dipping the end of the tubing in warm / hot water for a few seconds to make installation easier.
Not to worry, this isn't a problem, I just thought I'd point it out so that you don't get any
nasty surprises.
One final note I've just come across when going over TTL's 810 review: Push/pull in the
roof with a thick radiator runs into issues with M/B clearance, so if you really want
to run push/pull, you'll need a thinner radiator (I do not have an 810 though, so
I'm not 100% sure how thick the radiator would need to be to make p/p possible,
he states it's about 3 mm).
The section about the top radiator starts at ~42 minutes into the review if you
want to have a look at it yourself.
Apologies for not noticing this sooner. However, if you get some decent fans (such
as 1850 rpm GT's), you should still have enough cooling power with the XTX since it
really is a pretty good radiator. Plus, as said, you can always add another radiator
later on when you have more money.
One final note I've just come across when going over TTL's 810 review: Push/pull in the roof with a thick radiator runs into issues with M/B clearance, so if you really want to run push/pull, you'll need a thinner radiator (I do not have an 810 though, so I'm not 100% sure how thick the radiator would need to be to make p/p possible, he states it's about 3 mm).
Maybe I'm lucky with my motherboard (ASUS P8P67 PRO), but I have no issues whatsoever with clearance using the Switch 810, with a 60mm radiator in push/pull in the top. I have around 10-15mm between the bottom of my fans, and the top of my MOSFET heatsink and RAM DIMMs.
Maybe I'm lucky with my motherboard (ASUS P8P67 PRO), but I have no issues whatsoever with clearance using the Switch 810, with a 60mm radiator in push/pull in the top. I have around 10-15mm between the bottom of my fans, and the top of my MOSFET heatsink and RAM DIMMs.
Well, unless somebody with the same M/B has already done this and reports results,
you'll either have to take a leap of faith or take the cautious route, I can't help you
on that one. But from Remmy's statement it might be possible.
You mean the 5.25" cage? That would be pretty easy I think, you'd just need to
drill out a few rivets probably. However, you would need to choose a different
reservoir since the one you've chosen needs those bays. I have however heard
that the newer revisions of the 810 now have a gap in that sheet of metal which
blocks the fans in TTL's review so that their air flow is no longer blocked. Even if
not, you wouldn't necessarily need to take out the hole cage, you could probably
just remove that sheet of metal?
Tricky to tell, see above statement. I can't make any guarantees on that one I'm
afraid.
But as said in my previous post: While push/pull would be neat, as long as you
only have one CPU and one GPU in there you should probably be fine with the
XTX radiator even with just one side of fans. You could always buy three fans
plus the radiator, then measure it out and if another set of fans fits and you're
not happy with noise/temps you can go ahead and buy three more.
Someone removed top tray but he mounted one below it so this is something what I want to do and if I can fit push pull like 3 on 3 fans I can always do 1-1 0-1 1-1 so where heatsink is too high I can leave it empty and still this should be ok because my CPU and GPU are not OC and I'm not planning to OC in the future.
Ah hell, I didn't even notice that that's possible, sorry mate, I'm just too tired. :lol:
Anyway, disregard earlier statement, you can keep the res for this.
Cooling performance wouldn't be greatly affected by leaving out one fan for 1-1 0-1 1-1
IMO. It would look a bit ridiculous, but form follows function and all that, and in the end
it's your build. If you get adventurous you could take off the heatsink and remove a bit
of metal from it as well (that's probably what I would do, but I realize that this might not
be for everybody).
Looks OK. Hardware Labs make some mighty fine radiators (I have some SR-1's). The
GT Xtreme does love some fan power to really flex its muscles, so you should have plenty
of headroom for cooling.
with delivery for Saturday. 6 fans - quiet ones I will order on 15th because I'm above my budget already.
).
I will plan it when I have all parts together and I will add some foam under pump and I will place it somewhere in the case or I will screw it in good position.
