Watercooling for a Newbie

[corban]

Hello, long time lurker and watcher of Toms videos but first time posting on the forums.

I currently have an i7 920 with a Gigabyte UD5 board , 5850 radeon , and am cooling this with a h50 corsair cooler in a Silverstone ft02 case.

I have had this kit for about 18 months now but am now thinking of upgrading my gfx card to a 580 possible and am starting to become more interested in overclocking and now have the desire to try watercooling.

I am aware that the FT02 is an air cooling case (and a very good one at that i think) so thinking i might sell it and switch to a Corsair 650D.

Heres my question ive been looking at setups and videos and reading up a little, and im wondering what you guys think of putting the EK H3O Watercooling Kit - Supreme LT 240 with a Corsair 650D, second follow up question if i change my card to say a 580 im aware id need to buy the gpu block but would that suffice to cool the i7 920 / Nvidia 580 with them clocked for performance and gaming , as that is what i do most of the time on my rig.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[ruthless_villain]

i would get one of the xspc rasa kits prolly the rx240/360 in a 650d or haf 932 etc

 

[ShortAlieN]

definitely need to plan ahead. A 240mm rad will not be sufficient to cool a CPU and GPU combination. The EK kits are very nice, but they also very expensive. The XSPC kits offer great starting points for any beginner into water cooling and have much better price tags on them. If you want go go with a single radiator I would recommend going with the XSPC RX360 kit to start with. Though if you are set on going with EK, their 360 kit would also provide enough cooling power. This will give you plenty of headroom to add the GPU in.

An idea for you to work with:

Yes the FT02 is a great air cooling case, but it does not have to be restricted to air. If you wanted to stick with the Fortress case you could just do a little work and tuck all the liquid cooled bits inside. You can remove the two 180mm fans and filter assemblies from the bottom of the case. Then place a thick 360mm radiator in the bottom of the case with three fans pulling air up into the case. Then in the top of the case add a 120mm radiator with one fan pushing air out of the case.

Pick up your favorite water cooled kit with a thick 360mm radiator, add on a XSPC RX120 (I know this one fits in the top of the fortress without any modification) and fan. Get your 580 in place with the water block, plumb it all up and good to go.

That's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

 

[corban]

definitely need to plan ahead. A 240mm rad will not be sufficient to cool a CPU and GPU combination. The EK kits are very nice, but they also very expensive. The XSPC kits offer great starting points for any beginner into water cooling and have much better price tags on them. If you want go go with a single radiator I would recommend going with the XSPC RX360 kit to start with. Though if you are set on going with EK, their 360 kit would also provide enough cooling power. This will give you plenty of headroom to add the GPU in.

An idea for you to work with:

Yes the FT02 is a great air cooling case, but it does not have to be restricted to air. If you wanted to stick with the Fortress case you could just do a little work and tuck all the liquid cooled bits inside. You can remove the two 180mm fans and filter assemblies from the bottom of the case. Then place a thick 360mm radiator in the bottom of the case with three fans pulling air up into the case. Then in the top of the case add a 120mm radiator with one fan pushing air out of the case.

Pick up your favorite water cooled kit with a thick 360mm radiator, add on a XSPC RX120 (I know this one fits in the top of the fortress without any modification) and fan. Get your 580 in place with the water block, plumb it all up and good to go.

That's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

A small update , did my first play around with overclocking today and measure up inside the case at the same time. I think you are right about putting the rad in the bottom of the FT02 and it will fit 1 rad in the top also , as thats where i have the h50 rad atm. My concerns would be placing the resevior and pump and if there would be room for this.

MY overclock was a basic one following a guide from here i clocked my i7 920 to 3.2 with very steady temps i think (after i realised the voltage was set very high as default for some reason).

So a 360 in the bottom with 3x120 fans pulling in ? then a 120 in the top exhausting, this would be sufficient for a cpu and gpu cooled loop ?

Thanks for the suggeststions

 

[corban]

i would get one of the xspc rasa kits prolly the rx240/360 in a 650d or haf 932 etc

I will look at them, sadly and it might be a great case but i fond the HAF to be very ugly and not for me

 

[corban]

Ok after a weekend of posting and talking and reading, i now believe i would only need to remove 2 fans from the base of my case to fit in a 360 rad and wouldnt involve me having to mod my case from what ive learned so far.

So my play is now to try a small loop cooling just my cpu to start with, as i think this will be enough for me to see and feel if it works for me and allow me to expand if i want to.

After talking to some friends and some posts ive read i have 2 options

Option 1

Buy the XSPC 360 kit for around £150 (there is also the option of the slightly more expensive EK 360 kit, but i cant find proper reviews of this unlike the XSPC)

Plus points - Its simple it has everything i need for the loop im planning and its cheap and the components are rated well across the 2 different reviews ive read (one of them being TTLs).

Negative points - From what i understand if i want to expand the loop to include my GPU the pump may not be sufficient and the rad might not cut it even with an extra 120 in the roof (which is what id do). Another small negative point is that the fans are not supposed to be very good so id have to buy new ones anyways.

MY current shopping list and heres where im not sure about posting rules, im not sure if im allowed to link prices and where im getting them from so ill just say its from a site that seems to be trusted well and used by ppl a lot on here.

XSPC Dual Bay Reservoir with DDC Ultra 18W Pump (Bundle Deal)

Hardware Labs Black Ice® GT Xtreme 360mm Triple Radiator : GTX360

EK Supreme HF Easy Mount CPU Waterblock Intel 1366, 1156, 1155, 775, AMD AM3, AM2+, AM2 : Copper Acetal

EK PSC 1/4" Thread Compression Fitting for 3/8" ID - 1/2" OD Tubing : Black x 6

Primochill PrimoFlex Pro LRT 3/8" ID - 1/2" OD (10-13mm) Tubing : Clear 2m

Feser One Non Conductive UV Cooling Fluid for Water Cooling 1 Litre : Blue / Blue

Without fans this comes in at £275 give or take so add on another 20 or so for fans i think.

I belive this to be all very good components that will allow me to add a GPU cooling block to the loop if i add a 120 rad in the roof.

I would love some feedback on whether this is correct as im really going on what ive read and heard from friends and not from experience.

Thanks again.

 

[tinytomlogan]

its not worth watercooling a Fortress matey.

Get yourself a decent case OR youll ruin the FT02 by having to have the fans on the rad up to keep the rest of the system cool.

 

[Scoob]

its not worth watercooling a Fortress matey.

Get yourself a decent case OR youll ruin the FT02 by having to have the fans on the rad up to keep the rest of the system cool.

Hi,

I'm beginning to learn myself that having the "wrong" case for your water cooling aspirations is almost one compromise too far. I love my current gaming PC, but want to water cool it more for the fun of the experience than anything (if I'm honest with myself!) yet this case isn't the best if I want to add a 2nd GPU while maintaining a neat, all internal rads, build.

With Tom's advice I will likely look at external rad options to see if I can do a build that meets my visual criteria as much as possible.

Cheers & best of luck with the build, fun isn't it?

Scoob.

 

[corban]

its not worth watercooling a Fortress matey.

Get yourself a decent case OR youll ruin the FT02 by having to have the fans on the rad up to keep the rest of the system cool.

Hmmm ok well thats totally throw a spanner in the works as i originally thought that myself but was advised otherwise elsewhere

, ill be cheeky and ask something ive posted in another part of this forum.

"Hello, well ive been thinking about buying the 650D for my first attempt at watercooling and have watched Toms video for it and found it useful, BUT Tom said it was only the first part and he would be putting a full watercooling loop in it and doing another video, this i cant seem to find. Is this because its not being done now or just not had enough time or did i miss it somehow ?.

Would be great to get an answer if possible.

Thanks in advance. "

That was my post asking about a different case , my problem is that i really dont like the look at all of the HAF case which i was told is good for watercooling , i understand it isnt all about looks but i want an understated case like the FT02 or the 650D if that makes sense.

Also is my shopping list still good if i was to get another case ?

 

[tinytomlogan]

I never got round to doing it. been too busy and I only had XSPC rads. The RS240 is a bit thin on its own and the RX240 doesnt fit the 650D as its too thick.

Long and short of it was it was too much hassle and I couldnt be bothered to get a 50mm rad just for one video. Just wasnt worth the time and hassle.

 

[corban]

I never got round to doing it. been too busy and I only had XSPC rads. The RS240 is a bit thin on its own and the RX240 doesnt fit the 650D as its too thick.

Long and short of it was it was too much hassle and I couldnt be bothered to get a 50mm rad just for one video. Just wasnt worth the time and hassle.

Fair enough dude thanks for the quick reply, ill look into the 650D and some other cases then.

 

[corban]

Hi,

I'm beginning to learn myself that having the "wrong" case for your water cooling aspirations is almost one compromise too far. I love my current gaming PC, but want to water cool it more for the fun of the experience than anything (if I'm honest with myself!) yet this case isn't the best if I want to add a 2nd GPU while maintaining a neat, all internal rads, build.

With Tom's advice I will likely look at external rad options to see if I can do a build that meets my visual criteria as much as possible.

Cheers & best of luck with the build, fun isn't it?

Scoob.

Yeah its enjoyable planning it all out and being new to it makes it extremely interesting to read and try and find out all about it, been building pcs for years but up until recently i always thought watercooling to be very risky and very expensive and for not too much reward. However now im really begining to see the possibilites thru TTLs videos and reading reviews and posts here and elsewhere id like to take my time and get it right , assess all my options as i dont mind putting the money into it if im making the right choices that are expandable and

serve my needs.

Finding the right case is the first problem tho and i feel a little stuck at it right now , i cant seem to find the balance with the right case that i like and one that is very good for watercooling, guess thatll team me to be fussy tho!.

Thank you to all the ppl posting to help me tho, have found this forum to be the most helpful.

 

[corban]

Short update , as im returning to study this year (im old but oh well!)im going to postpone this for the moment, i think mostly because i just dont seem to be able to find the right case/balance. As ive said previously my current case is i think a great case maybe even better than that, and my components solid for now , im running a steady overclock which is cooled well (idling at 42 degrees and 65 under full load on an i7 920 at 3.2) so im in no great need to, its a fun project i want to work on and im gonna be patient and try and get it right rather than push on with a compromise im unsure on.

If i can find the right case then i want to continue this but i dont want to rush into something and make a hash of it, ill keep reading the threads and checking everyones builds and build logs out tho.

Thanks for the ppl who posted to help me , it wasnt a waste of time for me at all hope you dont think i wasted yours.