Noob's WC assistance required

[AlexUK]

Hi

I am going to attempt my first watercooling set-up.

Thinking two loops would be most suitable for cooling GPU, CPU, NB, SB and mosfets. Using 1/2" tubing and either triple & dual rad or triple & single.

The system incorporating the loops will be:-

Coolermaster Cosmos S

Core i7-920

Rampage 2 Extreme

GTX 260

2 x WD Velociraptor 300GB

Asus Xonar HDAV1.3 Deluxe

RAM (tbc)

Corsair HX 1000W PSU

LG Blu-Ray reader

Vista Premium 64bit

I have a few questions.

1) Would purely watercooling itself (2 loops stated above) be sufficient cooling for this system?

2) Is there some form of alarm probe I can purchase which detects low-flow rate or leakage?

3) Better to have a res with built in pump or purchase seperately?

4) What quality parts can you recommend for both performance and silence? (everything from radiator to clips and coolant). Max budget of £500

Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

[PV5150]

Hello mate and welcome to the forum

1) Yes most certainly

2) Leakage no, low/no flow rate yes. MCubed T Balancer here. Alternatively you can link the RPM cable from your pump to an Fan/LCD panel and it can give off an audible alarm if your pump stops.

3) Pump with res can give better pressure (top dependent) and can make your layout a little easier.

4) * Swiftech GTZ/D-TEK Fuzion V2/OCZ Hydroflow/XSPC Delta V3 (in no particular order)

* EK or XSPC GTX 260 blocks (XSPC are usually the cheaper option, but that's not a bad thing)

* Swiftech MCR320/ Thermochill PA120.3 rads. There are others about that aren't as efficient, and others that are more efficient but cost more. The choice comes down to you and your budget. Plus, the less depth/fins per inch your rad has means that it's going to have some decent fans to cool as efficiently.

* For the fans, Yate Loons (near silent) are extremely popular as are Sanyo Denki's, Noctua NF-P12, Scythe Ultra Kazes and Xinruillian's. There are quite a few other popular fans as well, but it all comes down to noise/performance ratio.

* As far as pumps go, the Laing DDC-Ultra would handle restrictive loops (like those with your NB and VRM blocks.

 

[AlexUK]

Thanks. That gets me going in the right direction.

Have been perusing Laing pumps on watercoolinguk.co.uk... Will there be noticeable difference with performance between 12V Laing DDC-1T Ultra with Alphacool top in comparison to 12V Laing DDC-1T Ultra with XSPC Acrylic pump top

Is there a reservoir with built in Laing DDC Ultra pump or will I have to run this pump individually?

Also, I presume I will require 2x everything for two loops. However, I would like to have the potential to include a second graphics card at a later date on the 2nd loop. Do you think the following loops will be efficient enough?

1: triple rad-(splitter)->cpu -------------------------->(splitter)->res->pump...

---------------------->(splitter)->nb ------>(splitter)-^

--------------------------------->mosfets-^

2: dual rad(?)-(splitter)->gpu-(splitter)->res>pump...

----------------------->sb--^

Sorry for all the questions. I want to get this right first time.

P.S. Which clips are more reliable?

 

[D-Cyph3r]

If this is your first time I really wouldn't bother with including NB, SB and mosfets. It's hardly required for decent overclocks, you'd be hard pressed to find suitable blocks for an i7 mobo so soon and it will make the whole process incredibly difficult for a first time build.

What i'd do is put the CPU and GPU in 1 loop for now, then upgrade/change things about once you know how to properly set up and drain a waterloop. In truth the Cosmos S isn't very good for multiple loops, there isn't really anywhere else other than the roof to mount a radiator (unless your happy to go external). A Lian Li A70/71, V2k or Silverstone TJ-07 will be far better in that role.

The highest performing radiator you can fit in a Cosmos S without mods is a BlackIce GT Extreme, which will have enough cooling power for an i7 and a single GTX260. Pair that with a DDC Ultra+XSPC Reservoir top and your blocks of choice and you should have some pretty good results.

EDIT:

And dont bother ever running anything in parallel, pumps like the DDC and D5 push coolant at such a rate that the temperature is virtually identical through the whole loop. Splitting the loop only serves to reduce flow to components, which is quite detrimental to performance.

 

[Luigi]

1: triple rad-(splitter)->cpu -------------------------->(splitter)->res->pump...

---------------------->(splitter)->nb ------>(splitter)-^

--------------------------------->mosfets-^

2: dual rad(?)-(splitter)->gpu-(splitter)->res>pump...

----------------------->sb--^

Sorry for all the questions. I want to get this right first time.

P.S. Which clips are more reliable?

I dont understand what the splitters are for?

I think what would work best (in easiness and getting it working) would be to have a triple rad loop on the cpu and gpu, but leave the rest till a later date. Getting another rad in the cosmos S wouldn't be easy..

 

[AlexUK]

I pressumed using the splitters would ensure fresh coolant supply to each sector without transferring heat, but I am new to all this so still learning.

Will just the one loop for cpu and gpu suffice without the need for air cooling in the case? As I am planning on overclocking both these.

D-Cyph3r... You mentioned the DDC Ultra and XSPC top res. Is the top on pump large enough to also act as a reservoir?

 

[Luigi]

I pressumed using the splitters would ensure fresh coolant supply to each sector without transferring heat, but I am new to all this so still learning.

Will just the one loop for cpu and gpu suffice without the need for air cooling in the case? As I am planning on overclocking both these.

D-Cyph3r... You mentioned the DDC Ultra and XSPC top res. Is the top on pump large enough to also act as a reservoir?

aslong as you have the fans that come with the case installed, the rest of the system should cope...

The idea of splitting doesnt really work tbh, its must easier without

 

[AlexUK]

Thanks Tekno. Ideally I wanted to go fanless though. Any suggestions?

 

[Luigi]

Thanks Tekno. Ideally I wanted to go fanless though. Any suggestions?

Well water cooling the whole lot will need more fans/pump work than just keeping it to cpu and gpu, so get some decent noctua fans and you should be fine

 

[AlexUK]

You reckon 1 loop for cpu, gpu, nb, sb and mos will be ok using dual DDC Ultra pumps with dual tops and noctua/yate loon fans on triple BlackIce GT and XSPC dual res be ok?

Once again, sorry for all the questions. I appreciate the advice.

 

[Luigi]

You reckon 1 loop for cpu, gpu, nb, sb and mos will be ok using dual DDC Ultra pumps with dual tops and noctua/yate loon fans on triple BlackIce GT and XSPC dual res be ok?

Once again, sorry for all the questions. I appreciate the advice.

I really dont think all of that is nescasary, you will get far better results with just cpu and gpu..

 

[D-Cyph3r]

As I say I would definately skip watercooling the motherboard on a first attempt mate. Every block you add is another potential problem, motherboard blocks are quite capable of shorting the entire board unless installed absolutely perfectly (then theres always the chance of cracking a north/south bridge chip if you apply to much pressure).... It's definately an advanced user thing.

I still stand by the recommendation of putting the CPU and GPU loop in for now. As for going fanless, not a possibility. The whole idea around watercooling is using radiators with huge amount of surface area so you can get away with multiple low speed fans over single high speed ones, the more you cool, the more fans required.

When I had my Cosmos S I set up my fans like so:

Never had any issues with temps on my motherboard, RAM, HDD's or pump.

 

[AlexUK]

Thanks very much for your help guys/gals. Always figure it's better to hear personal accounts as apose to the general search engine info. You covered a few points I hadn't considered.