Need some critique on WC parts

S

ShadowNoon

New member
Hey, so i posted a thread on here a little while back and since then i've changed quite a few things. My budget has always been around the £1,700 mark and i recently decided to take a look and see if watercooling was something that i'd be able to do (i've never done it before).

I was wondering if you guys could take a look at the rig parts and the watercooling parts and let me know if i've missed anything or possibly make suggestions.

Rig components:
[CASE]: NZXT Switch 810 Full tower

[CPU]: Intel Core i7 Quad Core Processor i7-2700K

[FANS]
X3 Corsair SP120 Quiet Edition Case Fans 120mm (for rad)
Corsair AF140 Air Flow Case Fan 140mm (for back exhaust)

[MOBO]: Sabertooth Z77

[GPU]: EVGA GTX 670 2GB Reference

[RAM]: 32GB 1600MHz DDR3

[HDD #1]: Crucial 128GB SSD

[HDD #2]: 2TB Western Digital Caviar Green

[PSU]: Corsair AX850

[Monitors]: 2X 21.5" AOC e2250SWDA Widescreen LED Monitor

Watercooling components:
[GPU BLOCK]: EK FC670 CSQ Full Cover Waterblock (Nickel Acetal)

[GPU BACKPLATE]: EK FC670 Backplate CSQ Design (Black)

[TUBING]: Primochill PrimoFlex Pro 3/8" ID - 1/2" OD (10-13mm) Tubing (Black)

[RAD]: XSPC EX Series 360mm Triple Radiator (Matte Black)

[PUMP+RES]: XSPC x2o 750 12v Pump Rev2 (with reservoir)

[CPU BLOCK]: EK Supremacy CSQ Universal CPU Waterblock (Nickel Acetal)

[FITTINGS]:
(X2) 1/4" Thread 90˚ Rotary Compression Fitting for 3/8" ID - 1/2" OD (10-13mm) (Black)

(X4) 1/4" Thread 45˚ Rotary Compression Fitting for 3/8" ID - 1/2" OD (10-13mm) (Black)

(X2) 1/4" Thread Compression Fitting for 3/8" ID - 1/2" OD (10-13mm) (Black)

I'm planning on having the rad in the top, with the loop going from Pump+Res to Rad, from Rad to CPU, then from there to GPU and back to Pump+Res. The threads on the Rad will be on the left side.

So when i put my fittings on that GPU block, are they both going to stick upwards? I can't really tell just by looking at it.

Any help is much appreciated, again, i'm a totally newbie with watercooling.
 
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Personally, I would go for 7/16" tubing for a cpu/gpu loop. Also, there have been some that have complained about excessive noise from the XSPC 750 pump/red. EK CSQ (Circle Square), a bit like Marmite imo, but if you like it etc.
 
jamesriley94 said:
Swap the EVGA 670 to the FTW version so you can put a 680 waterblock on it.

Also, what will you use the rig for?
Click to expand...

The computer is a gaming/workstation rig. I'll be working heavily in Photoshop, using video editing programs aswel as using UDK (Unreal Dev Kit). Using UDK while working is more or less like running a game on max graphics, extremely unoptimized. I'll also be modelling.

I've thought about the FTW edition, but i've yet to see any considerable benefits to having the full 680 PCB. I see that if i do have the 680's PCB, it'll be a little more restricting inside the case and i'll have trouble getting a backplate that says anything other than '680' and yeah, i do care about that. I do appreciate the suggestion though, what would you say the real benefits to the 680 PCB are?
 
DB006 said:
Personally, I would go for 7/16" tubing for a cpu/gpu loop. Also, there have been some that have complained about excessive noise from the XSPC 750 pump/red. EK CSQ (Circle Square), a bit like Marmite imo, but if you like it etc.
Click to expand...

7/16" meaning the tubing would be thicker? I'd need to really see a rig with both mine and 7/16" to make a decision on which i think is better/worse. This is a picture of someone who is doing something somewhat similar to me, what size would you say his tubing is? http://cdn.overclock.net/9/9b/525x700px-LL-9b7e5b14_IMG_20120706_174821.jpeg

I've seen lots of videos and read a ton of reviews, so i haven't seen many noise complaints on the 750 pump/res, i'll look into it some more though. I do also think it's cost effective, or am i just being a noob? Would it be better to have a cylinder res and a pump attached to the bottom like everyone else?

As for the waterblock.. I'm open to suggestions. I chose it because it's a full cover and it's low profile aswel as black, Nickel plating because i don't want to see copper coloring.
 
The benefits are you just don't have a ridiculously short 670 PCB which looks rubbish.

The FTW comes with a backplate.
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-...ce=google+shopping&utm_medium=google+shopping

It won't be anymore restricting. If anything - less maybe? Since you wont have to trawler your cables across the motherboard to connect to the gpu power connectors.
It may overclock a little better due to the 680 PCB, and it will just look better.

As for the 3770k vs 2700k...
The 3770k is cooler all the way up to around 4.5/4.6ghz - after which the 2700k is cooler. You shouldn't really be pushing your/ chip further than these clocks anyway for 24/7 overclock, so you're better off getting the 3770k.
 
jamesriley94 said:
The benefits are you just don't have a ridiculously short 670 PCB which looks rubbish.

The FTW comes with a backplate.
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-...ce=google+shopping&utm_medium=google+shopping

It won't be anymore restricting. If anything - less maybe? Since you wont have to trawler your cables across the motherboard to connect to the gpu power connectors.
It may overclock a little better due to the 680 PCB, and it will just look better.

As for the 3770k vs 2700k...
The 3770k is cooler all the way up to around 4.5/4.6ghz - after which the 2700k is cooler. You shouldn't really be pushing your/ chip further than these clocks anyway for 24/7 overclock, so you're better off getting the 3770k.
Click to expand...

'Ridiculously short.. Which just looks rubbish' I don't actually have a reference, so i have no idea what they look like in a rig, side by side. But on the subject of looks, the EK FC670 backplate is much more attractive to me, just because it actually covers the whole card. I'll see if the length is something that would really bother me by looking up some references.

EDIT: I've looked around as some pictures of the 670 +sabertooth z77 in the switch 810 and it looks just fine. The motherboard and the 670 are almost the same length (the gpu is maybe a little bit longer). As for being tidy, the switch 810 has a gromit right next to where i'd route power to the 670, so no issues there.

Price for performance, (i could very well be wrong) but i think 2700k comes out on top. Aswel as the fact that the jump in performance doesn't seem all that noticeable. But i'm still very open minded to it, the 3770k was my original choice, same with the 670FTW.
 
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ShadowNoon said:
7/16" meaning the tubing would be thicker? I'd need to really see a rig with both mine and 7/16" to make a decision on which i think is better/worse. This is a picture of someone who is doing something somewhat similar to me, what size would you say his tubing is? http://cdn.overclock.net/9/9b/525x700px-LL-9b7e5b14_IMG_20120706_174821.jpeg
Click to expand...

The pipe would flow better than your choice, and it would be thicker yes. That pipework in pic looks like 3/4"od 1/2"id tubing

ShadowNoon said:
I've seen lots of videos and read a ton of reviews, so i haven't seen many noise complaints on the 750 pump/res, i'll look into it some more though. I do also think it's cost effective, or am i just being a noob? Would it be better to have a cylinder res and a pump attached to the bottom like everyone else?
Click to expand...

https://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&saf...52a943ad72eb32&bpcl=35466521&biw=1920&bih=906
 
Check out the EK CSQ Res/Pump Top for D5 pump.
EK-D5 X-RES 140 CSQ - Acetal. http://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-d5-x-res-top-140-csq-black-acetal.html
This will be much better then the XSPC X2O 750. Plus it will match better with the rest of the CSQ stuff in your system. The tubing size does not matter and will make no noticeable difference in performance or aesthetics. A lot of people feel that a larger diameter tubing looks better in a large case like the Switch 810 but it all comes down to personal preference.
 
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@DB006, what alternative would you suggest? Is there any way to have a similar setup with a similar price?

EDIT: Just saw SEBAR's post.

@SEBAR @anyone, any help figuring out what bracket or mount i'll need to put the pump somewhere? Argh, it sucks having a good idea of what you're going to do then getting that taken away from you :P

I'll look around at WC setups and see if anyone else has possibly used one of these in the Switch 810. Maybe i could put the EK-D5 X-RES where i originally planned to put the X20? Also, big res, small res -any difference? I'm also going to go research this stuff right now.
 
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ShadowNoon said:
@DB006, what alternative would you suggest? Is there any way to have a similar setup with a similar price?

EDIT: Just saw SEBAR's post.

@SEBAR @anyone, any help figuring out what bracket or mount i'll need to put the pump somewhere? Argh, it sucks having a good idea of what you're going to do then getting that taken away from you :P

I'll look around at WC setups and see if anyone else has possibly used one of these in the Switch 810. Maybe i could put the EK-D5 X-RES where i originally planned to put the X20? Also, big res, small res -any difference? I'm also going to go research this stuff right now.
Click to expand...

The EK-UNI-HOLDER may be a good option or the (UN)Designs Z2 - Bracket (Fits 120mm fans) These can be mounted to a 120mm fan location to mount the pump/res.
 
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