Need liquid cooling advice

D

d3rrial

New member
Hi guys,

I'm looking for some advice for liquid cooling for my new components down there. So my initial thought was to just buy a set from EK and use that, but it occured to me, that those may not be designed to drive 1 4770k, 2 GPUs and 2 240mm rads. I'd like to add that I have no experience with watercooling at all and that I will not build the loop immediatly, but rather in a couple of weeks or even months.

Here's some facts that may help you, help me: The PC Parts are those in my Signature, except for the Air 540, I am still unsure about that and am deciding between that and the 750D.
Then the color-scheme of the build will be black and white, I don't plan on doing any color accents, so I'm going to use either white tubing or white coolant. I am leaning toward white tubing at the moment. If I go for the Air 540, bay res is not an option, because the bays are mounted vertically, not horizontally.
Personally I would prefer to use matte black compression fittings, but I personally don't know any company who manufactures those, so I'd appreciate some help here :)

I don't know how much room there is inside the case (as I don't have it yet) but I'd like to run the loop with Push/Pull fan config, so I am looking in the direction of thinner radiators, if only push or only pull with a thick rad gets better results, please notify me :)

What I am most interested in is a pump. I don't know how I would measure how powerful the pump would need to be to power the loop I have in mind and I hope that your experience can help me out there!

Thanks for helping!

PS: I will overclock every component as far as the silicon allows it, so the heat buildup might be quite extensive.
 
Right, forgot about that, thanks Remmy:

My budget has no limit, but I'd be glad if I didn't have to pay more than 1000€
 
As far as pumps go, just get a d5 vario, then you're covered. No need to get any other these days. There is such a massive range of tops for them you will be able to make it at least look how you want.
 
The pumps are mostly the same yes, although I'd get the pump separately, and then pick a top I like. :)

Personally I'd drop a set of fans and go with a thicker rad, push-pull really is only for aesthetics or to make crap fans better. Since you're going 120mm fans, there are plenty of high static-pressure fans to choose from.
 
When it comes to Radiators, there's a number of factors that you need to consider:
  • How many blocks are in my loop?
  • Where will the Radiator fit?
  • How many fans do I want to put on it?
  • Are there any limitations that I may not be thinking about?

How many blocks: I was told that a rule of thumb is take your number of blocks and add 120 to it for the amount of radiator banks that you want to have. I'm not sure how accurate that is, but it is something worth considering.

Where will it fit: Important, because these days, with the dearth of cases around with internal radiator support, it would be nearly criminal to go externally mounted rads. Having said that, going external may give you the option of thicker (and thus, better performing) radiators. Additionally, if you are going to smack into a vital component with the mounting of your rad/fans, then perhaps you need to think about relocating or shrinking the size of the radiator.

How many fans kind of links with the number of blocks, but also comes down to how silent you want your rig. Want it to be silent? Be prepared to get more radiator space than you would otherwise need, but then run lower speed fans on them (or do like some people I know, and get a car radiator externally mounted to thier PC and run NO fans making it totally silent ;).... but, lets get back to seriousness now)

Other limitations: well, this covers pretty much anything.... but i'm really inferring that the Radiator really is (behind the pump) the most important part of your loop, because it is where the heat is exchanged. This then means that it (due to its size) is also the part which requires the most planning and forethought.

In direct answer to your question, the Nexxos radiator family are *awesome*, but I would really question your choice with the 30mm. It might be that this is all that will fit in your case, and if this is the case, then - that's really what your constraint is. If, however, you want more performance, and have the space, i'd suggest considering the 45mm or 60mm version of it, because you will get better performance. As far as looks go (if that is a factor for you) you can (somewhat) fudge a single bank of fans to look like a double by mounting the fans underneath the rad. This again cuts into your available space though.

What am I really saying? No one here can give you a definitive answer on what Rad is best for your particular situation. It changes, depending on a number of factors, none the least of which is your own personal views on what is important to you. I hope that I have given you food for thought. I'm not trying to scare you away, but there really is no "magic bullet" when it comes to custom loops....
 
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Thanks for the extensive answer, Surfie! :)

The blockcount+120 rule of thumb sounds reasonable, thats why I am going to buy 2x a 240mm radiator. I consider it likely, that I will even go for a 45mm rad and then just use one set of fans (Corsair SP 120 Quiet PWM).

That does open up a new question tho: Are static pressure fans best when pulling air, or pushing air, or is the difference negligable?

The system is supposed to be a "showsystem" everything for the good looks, but I want to actually use it and game on it, while it runs quiet, so would you say I should rather use the SP 120s and put them on the inside (pulling in the front rad and pushing in the top rad)
Or should I get Noctua 120mm fans and just hide them behind the rad (again pushing in the front and pulling in the top) (Airflow direction in my case is always front as intake, top as exhaust with negative airpressure, because the back-fanmount will also be a 140mm exhaust)
 
d3rrial said:
Thanks for the extensive answer, Surfie! :)

The blockcount+120 rule of thumb sounds reasonable, thats why I am going to buy 2x a 240mm radiator. I consider it likely, that I will even go for a 45mm rad and then just use one set of fans (Corsair SP 120 Quiet PWM).

That does open up a new question tho: Are static pressure fans best when pulling air, or pushing air, or is the difference negligable?
Click to expand...

My understanding (and it may be flawed) is that the difference is negligible. The main thing with them is that they can perform well at low RPM - and if you want silence, that is key.

d3rrial said:
The system is supposed to be a "showsystem" everything for the good looks, but I want to actually use it and game on it, while it runs quiet, so would you say I should rather use the SP 120s and put them on the inside (pulling in the front rad and pushing in the top rad)
Or should I get Noctua 120mm fans and just hide them behind the rad (again pushing in the front and pulling in the top) (Airflow direction in my case is always front as intake, top as exhaust with negative airpressure, because the back-fanmount will also be a 140mm exhaust)
Click to expand...

I'd consider going for positive air pressure in the case; with air cooling its a little different, but with water cooling, you'll get dust all through your system if you aim for negative (which means more maintenance, or putting up with it - depending on you really). If you really want your fans to work as you describe, you could simply achieve this by reversing your back fan, and getting a cheap filter for it.

Re: the fan brand, as I understand it, the Noctuas perform a bit better than the corsairs, but are quite a bit more expensive. They also look ugly as sin, unless you mod them (which I personally plan on doing for my build). The corsairs seem to be a mixed bag, with some saying they are loud, and some saying they are dead quiet.... being so subjective, I am going to simply sit on the fence on this one, but everyone I know says that the Noctuas are quiet.
 
Difference is negligible, personally go for fans pulling air through and then have them point out the case. Then you get less of that dust build-up behind the fans.

I.e. [RAD]->[Fan]-> (-> = air direction)
 
I recently bought a 750D with two 290X or 780/-ti in mind.
Rad setup is 280mm monsta (push/pull) and a 360mm by 60mm (pull) in the roof.
D5 Pump/res. combo (EK-D5 X-RES 140) is attached to the Monsta rad.
This Setup works extremely quiet (CPU is not a good overclocker just 4.4GHz 24/7)
All fans running about 800-900 rpm.
The rear fan is turned 180° as intake with a dustfilter.
Fans are 4 x *Noctua NF-A14FLX*, 3 x SP120 PWM high performance edition and the AF140 which was already in the case.

The 3TB Storage drive is mounted behind the Motherboard tray, because there is no room left to make it look clean.


Matt black fittings a mostly just powder coated without clear coat above.
If you want to use this kind of fittings, you have to be really carefull.
These fittings get scratches very easy.
I just bought the Alphacool ones in "deep black", because they are not as pricy as the bitspower fittings, but still good looking and build for highflow.

Hope that could help a little.

*I wouldn't paint the Noctua's, Q 1st 2014 Noctua will launch the black edition of their fans... will change them then.
 
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