Water cooling question

[sushisky]

Hi guys, I'm trying to build a water cooled rig. I was looking at the XSPC water cooling kits, and I saw the Raystorm 750 RX240 and the Raystorm D5 RX240. I compared the contents, and realised that they differed only in the pump and the fittings. The fittings are not a problem, but I'm kind of confused about the pump. Is it worth spending nearly a hundred more dollars to get the D5 Vario, or should I just get the X20 750 Dual 5.25 Bay Reservoir? Is there a gigantic difference?

P.S. (I'm cooling the CPU and the GPU, if that makes a difference)

 

[jamesriley94]

You need the D5.
The X20 isn't powerful enough for multiple blocks and trying to run them will cause the pump to quickly die after a couple of months.

 

[FTR.4500MHz]

Like James said the D5 is the best way to go for a multiple block setup. The D5 is a strong and very reliable pump which will also give you headroom for extending your loop in the future if you desire.

Better of buying it now then later down the road, this will also save you a couple of bucks in a long term perspective since you'll buy only one pump.

 

[sushisky]

I see. Thanks for the replies. I have a more question though. Should I get all my parts from the same manufacturer? Cause I'm getting the XSPC kit, should I get the XSPC GPU waterblock as well? will they work better together?

I checked XSPC, but they only have gpu water blocks for the GTX 670s and above, but those cards are out of my price range. Would there be any quality GTX 650, 660 Ti waterblocks that are not too pricey? (EVGA preferably)

 

[airdeano]

the 660ti uses the GTX670 water block, so the GTX670 razor will fit your needs.

pretty much all the components are close to performance from reputable water
cooling manufacturers.

water blocks are very close in performance, it comes down to aesthetics.
radiators and fans are prolly the most difficult for most to understand.

once you have a system idea, then pursue what hardware is needed to cool it.
then a case to hold it all in. buy the parts and build. it'll keep it easier to research
than jumping back-n-forth on already made decisions.

lastly, mixing and matching component hardware is not taboo.

 

[sushisky]

what waterblock does the 650 ti boost use?

should i get a more powerful radiator?

What kind of fans are the best to cool radiators?

Thanks for answering guys! I really appreciate it

 

[airdeano]

what waterblock does the 650 ti boost use?

so far, a universal. although based on the 660 (non-ti) the heatkiller 660 kit
would be one to ask watercool about. other than that, i'd pass on cooling
this one with water.

should i get a more powerful radiator?

the RS240 is a CPU or GPU (single) device radiator, you'll need at least an RX240
for a CPU and GPU in one loop, but depending on devices and heat production.

What kind of fans are the best to cool radiators?

quiet performance fans. Noctua, Corsair SP to start with.

please list rig build specs and we can help from there..

 

[sushisky]

My rig is :
Intel Core i7-3770K LGA1155 Z77
Asus Maximus V Formula Z77
Corsair Dominator Platinum 2x4GB
EVGA GTX 650 Ti Boost
CM Storm Trooper

I'm definitely getting the RX240. That would be sufficient for a CPU and GPU in a single loop right?

 

[airdeano]

yes and using an alphacool or XSPC radiator will allow use of low-speed fans to
keep it cool and quiet. i like the XSPC for the use of 6-32 fan mounting screws as
alphacool uses M3 (too damn tiny for my tastes)

 

[sushisky]

hmmmm. I see in a lot of guides and videos that people like to use EK and Swiftech, are they any better/more reliable than XSPC?

update/
Also, is it worth cooling a 660 or 650 Ti at all? Should I spend a little more to get a 670 or 680?

i checked and found out that online, the 670 and 680 are around the same prices as the 770. should i get the 770? or should I water cool the 660 ti

 

[airdeano]

usually it is availability due to location. there isn't really a bad radiator other than
cloned imitations made from inferior parts and poor assembly. the XSPC (RX-series)
and alphacool use a loose (low fin per-inch density) on the cores allowing low fan
speed usage to keep the system performing cool and quiet. using 20+fpi above
cores means either high speed fans to do the same cooling or low fan speed and
higher temperatures.

IMO, no it is not worth-while to water-cool the 650ti or 660 (non-ti)

if using the 660ti, are you getting the best performance now in what you do with
the system?

if not, maybe look to re-coupe your investment and upgrade to a better GPU.
but i'd wait till the pricing settles down, because it'd suck to find out your purchase
could have been better, if you'd waited.

 

[sushisky]

I plan to use the cooler master storm trooper to build this. As said before, I will be getting the RX240. But I read on the forums that the radiator in a push/pull or pull config won't fit in the top.

so what case should i use? I considered the haf x, but it was kinda expensive and didn't really look appealing

 

[airdeano]

yes, Tom covered this in his water cooling review of the trooper/styker
but push/pull isn't 100% necessary and especially the RX radiators. the
Noctua NF-F12 or Corsair SP120 single set will easily keep the cooling
performance along with noise-level.

 

[sushisky]

I'm planning to get a GTX 770 when the price dips a little. But I can't seem to find a XSPC waterblock for it. Is it the GTX Titan Razor water block?

 

[airdeano]

nope, the PCB is not 780/Titan nor is it 680... have to wait to see what mannies
will produce a full-cover block. so far just EK have announced (05-06-2013) the GTX770
block, with a mid-june shipping date.

 

[sushisky]

I read in one of the more recent threads, that the rx240 wouldn't be suitable for a cpu/gpu loop. Should I get the rx 360?

 

[jamesriley94]

Yeah, you will need the RX360 or Alphacool UT60 360mm.

No idea how nobody picked up on that :/

 

[sushisky]

would it be okay to just use the rx240? what consequences are there?

 

[jamesriley94]

Temperatures will be pretty high.

You could do it and get away with it off a single 240, but overclocks may be very limited.

The radiator itself will get hot, and so you'll need your fans on high speed to get rid of the heat.