Water Cooling Build

ShatteredSpec

New member
Hi All, been reading and following along for awhile, but i have now decided stalking is kind of awkward, atleast when noone see you watching!

So in the next month or so (once i can afford to spend money on myself again!!), and i would like to try my first attempt of water cooling!

but obviously being my first attempt, im thinking about getting a kit, but i have seen there are quite a few options... and obviously too many choices is bad (for making a final choice always seems to leave one feeling regret of one thing or another)!!

so i guess i should tell you what im thinking of purchasing so that i can be yelled at and told not too i guess...

The Basics:

Case: Corsair 800D or 700D depending on whether or no i feel like i need the window, mos likely i will get the 800D as there isnt too much difference in the cases.

PSU: Corsair AX1200 (way overkill, but i want this to last me for the next few builds and this should)

HDD: F3 1TB (maybe even get a second drive, but i figure i already have 5TB worth of external drives that this is overkill as is)

SSD: Corsair 120GB (no reason for brand really, but rereading this i seem to have a bit of a crush..... i must go watch som pron after posting so i can feel dirty legitimately!)

OSD: Reusing current somethingorratherband DVD writer/reader

GPU: Gigabyte 580 "Windforce" or i think its also called ultra durable here... x2 (i think my wallet just had a heart attack, o no wait that was just my phone going off...)

OS: Windows 7 64 home

Build Option 1:

1155 Build

CPU: i5 2500k (maybe i7 2600k but i dont think it will be worth it as the new i5s are pretty powerful...)

MOBO: Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD7 (unless im mistaken, this is the only of the new 1155 boards to offer 16x/16x when in sli? all other boards say that they can only run 8x/8x in sli, which is weird, so correct me if im wrong and i might consider an ASUS P8P67 EVO Motherboard, since the other reason for choosing this board is it had 4x sata 3)

RAM: Corsair Vengeance CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 timing is 9-9-9-24 (i think that should suit me just fine, but i may need to find some other brand just for variety i have to say i do like mushkin redline, but meh for now)

Build Option 2:

1366 Build

Im still not sure like sandy bridge yet, and im not prepared to wait for the 1366 replacement or to potentially have to pay heaps more for the "enthusiast" boards/cpus, and while this might be an EOL product, i think its still going to survive for me until the next new chip (and if it doesnt i may have to find an oven and make many many many keyrings!)

CPU: i7 960 (price drop and slightly better clocks than the 950, so why not?)

MOBO: ASUS Rampage III Formula Motherboard (i would buy an extreme, but i cant justify it, i know shocking... but unless you could give me a reason... open invitation? anyone? no... anyway no gigabyte here i dont really like any of there blue and white boards
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)

RAM: Corsair Vengeance CMZ6GX3M3A1600C8 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 timings 8-8-8-24 or Mushkin 998805 Redline PC3-12800 timings 6-8-6-24(3x2GB)

anyway i imagine i have bored you enough with my useless rambling and havent even gotten to the cooling options im looking at....

Cooling Options

all rads with 6 fans in push pull... not sure if i will have to externally mount rad or have the pull fans mounted externally... but yeah thats what im thinking

Option 1:

EK-KIT H3O - Supreme HF 360 (obviously the most expensive -.- but ek block is one of the best, and almost everyone seems to be getting them (well the people i have talked to.....) but i think the rad is smaller than the xspc rx rad? so does that it can handle the same temps? or is it better or worse or what?)

Option 2:

XSPC Rasa 750 RS360 WaterCooling Kit (your review has almost made me paid for this and get it delivered before i even think about getting a new comp... buti have heard some bad things about the cpu block being a POS...

Option 3:

Swiftech H20-320 Edge Liquid Cooling Kit (not likely, i have only heard bad things about this all in one rad/res/pump setup)

Ultimately i would like to add the 580s into either a single loop or a seperate loop, but thats just a pipe dream, and i assume i would have to add another 360 rad to have them in... but thats for later...

The other reason, once i get this, it will likely just be a case of updating cpu blocks/adding rads/pumps/etc when it comes time to upgrade.

so please give me your words of wisdom, and some guidance... and dont hate me to the epic wall of text which may have just *headstop/crit* you!

Cheers
 
Only cooling the CPU? Meh I hate kits and preassembled stuff, got to do it on your own. There isn’t actually any difference between a kit and a self assembled loop(ok for the kit you know is compatible, but hey that why we are here to help you
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). Is it going to be for the future, you mention a gpu cooling, If so I would go with a better pump(360 would be able to decently cool your cpu and gpu, so no worry)
 
hey mateey

go with the kingston v+100 or corsair ssd's

if your going x58 DO NOT go with the formula its crap I was tempted at one stage but went for the extreme if you can justify look at gigabytes NEW range of stuff, Im also pretty sure the 960 is a co not sure of that,

also go with mushkin redline ridgeback as much as I hate saying it

that rasa will be enough for cpu and thats it,

Im liking ur sandybridge build all those parts are good
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If i am not mistaken Sandy Bridge controller does not support x16/x16 in SLI/Xfire so if that's the main reason you wanna go for UD7 u might reconsider your hcoice.
 
Why not look at lian-li fulltower cases pc-a70-a71,and do some modding yourself.Cut the roof to fit a thick (60mm) 480 rad,if you go the with i7

-960 .Two gtx580 will produce heat enough to fit another rad in front of the case.

If i get tax-refund i will buy the lian-li pc-a71 myself.
 
But the nf200 does, it’s on the board, on most of the high end.

Ok, unless I am reading it wrong, I checked out the best boards coming back out for the 1155, only 2 boards could I find that did x16 x16 in sli, that was the ud7 and the msi big bang-marshall. The next closes one was the asus maximus IV extreme, which did x16 x8, but at 3 sli, it was x8 x16 x16. So where are all these boards that do support the x16 speed for both cards? Like I said I might have misread, but from what I gathered on their sites that is their best.

Asus Maximus IV Extreme

AsRock Fatal1ty P67 Professional

EVGA P67 SLI

MSI Big Bang-Marshal (B3)

Biostar TP67E Ver. 5.0

ECS Elitegroup P67H2-A (V1.1) (using Hydra)so Might be?

Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD7-B3

I wish more of them provided x16 for both pcie lanes. If I have misread any of them please let me know, but as of right now I will have to go with the ud7 board. The msi big bang is to BIG for me, I am not going to buy another case just to fit it
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Wonder if I can talk Gigabyte into giving me the blue heatsinks off the ud5 to put on a ud7 so it will match my blue theme I am going to go for?
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I do think more of the motherboard companies need to put the chip on there to give x16 x16. I prefer ASUS or Gigabyte for my motherboards, but msi, evga and asrock seem to have to good stuff going on, but only 2 boards out of all of them have it, that sux imho.
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I do think more of the motherboard companies need to put the chip on there to give x16 x16. I prefer ASUS or Gigabyte for my motherboards, but msi, evga and asrock seem to have to good stuff going on, but only 2 boards out of all of them have it, that sux imho.
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Remember that 1155 is the more mainstream platform, so if you want to have more "extreme" graphics card configurations, 1366 is still the way to go. I mean all of those motherboards feature triple channel ram and dual x16 pcie lanes. The replacement for 1366 is still about a year off. Just my 2 cents...
 
Hey All,

Sorry for the mad thread revival, i have finally found time to update my computer for the upcoming gaming season.

There have been a few changes since i posted this... going for a full custom loop and a TJ07 case... and im not going to be buying GPUs for the time being, but this could change after i get paid again
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anyway just for people to have a look at and comment on,

CASE - TJ07 (i know over used case, but i kind of like it and i dont want to mod much)

CPU - 2600k

MOBO - Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD5

RAM - Corsair CML8GX3M2A1600C9 8GB

OPTICAL - random reuse drive (cant remember what i currently have)

SSD - Crucial M4 128gig

HDD - F3 1TB

HDD2 - F4 2TB

GPU1 - GTX285 (not upgrading for now going to wait it out for 600 gen cards and waterblocks)

GPU2 - GTX285 (as above)

PSU - Corsair AX1200

Water Cooling bits

CPU - Koolance 370 (i like the look)

PUMP - D5 (koolance branded as)

RAD 1 - 480 SR1

RAD 2 - 240 SR1

TUBE - 1/2 White (primochill)

FITTINGS - Bitspower 1/2 - 4x 45 degree - 2x 90 degree - 10x Compression - 1x koolance drain.

RES - EK 250 Advanced (thanks Copie for reminding me)

RAD STAND - Radiator Mounting Bracket Set - 120mm x3

anyway comments appreciated, hopefully will have everything and build this next week.

Cheers for reading
 
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