advice needed

[NemesisSVK]

Hello people, this looks to be a very good forum, with skilled people in so I have few questions, hope you guys have some advice for me.

I started my first water cooling almost 2 years ago, mainly for silence, not so much for overclocking, but ofc if you got water, there is no reason not to do some I ordered my beginners kit from Koolance, looked pretty good to me at the time, I had basically not much knowledge about water cooling.

this is a short list of the main components
3 x Fan, 120x38mm (FAN-12038HBK)
1 x CPU-340 (CPU)
2 x Liquid Coolant Bottle, High-Performance, 700mL (UV Red)(LIQ-702RD-B)
1 x Reservoir and Pump, RP-1000BK, Black
2 x QDC (High Flow) Shutoff Nozzle, Male Compression [10mm, 3/8"](VL3-M10S)
1 x Radiator, HX-1020 Triple 120mm
2 x QDC (High Flow) Shutoff Nozzle, Female Compression [10mm, 3/8"](VL3-F10S)

My setup is simple.
RP-1000 -> 5way splitter with sensor -> CPU+GPU -> 5way splitter with sensor -> radiator -> RP-1000
I am using 10mm tubing everywhere, except for the CPU and GPU block from the splitters. There is 6mm tubing. When I first build it, I thought using 10mm on both would reduce the speed of the coolant too much and it would decrease the cooling performance.

RP-1000 settings are: Fans=4 .. Pump=6 .. 1 is minimum, 10 maximum
I can barely hear the fans when on 4, so that is what I like. The problem with the pump is that if I try to put it lower than 6, it stops. It seems to be the RP-1000 circuit board problem, it has weird pump control, because when I tried the pump with a simple fan controller, it runs smooth all the way down without stopping. I think the RP-1000 pump controller has some erratic voltage behavior and drops below the minimum for the pump, so that is why the pump stops there for a second and tries to start, but in the end it just starts/stops the whole time. I will try to connect the pump to the mobo and control the speed from the fan menu in bios, but that later.

At the moment I have Q9550 @ 3.4Ghz with stock voltages, CPU-340 from Koolance on it using ASUS Rampage Extreme mobo, I'm not using the water block on the mobo. I just bought a Sapphire 6970, the new AMD revision 2 and got EK FC-6970 V2 block for it, because Koolance does not have one for the new AMD revision yet unfortunately. I like the micro-fin design from Koolance, but I had no other choice, but to go with EK. Anyway, the block is perfect, no micro-fins, but very good quality and I get 60C with OCCT 3.1.0 with power supply test. The water is around 47-48 degrees at the maximum. So I'm pretty happy with the EK FC-6970 V2. Just for the note, my PC takes 480W while testing with OCCT. The problem I have is the CPU, it goes up to 80C on the power supply test, I understand that it is because the water temp is so high, but the GPU gets only up to 60C. I run the fans low for a reason on these tests. So I decided to get a EK Supreme HF nickel/plexi CPU block, hoping to get better cooling performance and a block for some future CPU I might upgrade to in some time.

I did some tests today with maximum load on CPU and GPU, wanted to see the difference between the fan settings. Normally my fans are on 4. They are extremely noisy when on the maximum 10, but the amount of air they blow out is extreme too, but obviously, it is unusable in the real world.

F4: CPU=80C GPU=60C water=48C
F5: CPU=76C GPU=56C water=44C
F10: CPU=67C GPU=48C water=35C
Obviously the temps go down only as much as water temp is going down.

So I hope I covered all the necessary detail, if not, just ask.

My questions are:
1) does it make sense to replace the CPU-340 with the EK Supreme HF nickel/plexi?
2) is it better to leave the CPU/GPU blocks on 6mm tubing or change both to 10mm or change only one of them? if only one, then which one?
3) the fans are pretty big 38mm, I was thinking about replacing them with some good 25mm fans that can get some nice CFM and not being very noisy. Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[aphasia]

regarding cpu blocks, look here;
http://www.madshrimps.be/articles/a...0-Compared-to-The-Competition/0#axzz1Nbb6Oco3
and here;
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1524206

should give you an idea what to expect. the 340 is an older block so you should see better performance with a newer high end block.

i not sure about splitting your loop and running different ID tubing. personally i like to keep my loops simple. same ID for whole loop and everything in serial.

example;
Reservoir-> Pump -> Radiator -> CPU -> GPU-> Reservoir

your Radiator might be a bit light though you'd get better performance with 6 fans in a push-pull config and some shrouds on the push side.

example;
(direction of air flow->) fan->shroud->Radiator->fan

you could hang on to your 38mm fans (turned down) and slap on some 25mm on the back of radiator.

 

[NemesisSVK]

regarding cpu blocks, look here;
http://www.madshrimps.be/articles/a...0-Compared-to-The-Competition/0#axzz1Nbb6Oco3
and here;
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1524206

should give you an idea what to expect. the 340 is an older block so you should see better performance with a newer high end block.

i not sure about splitting your loop and running different ID tubing. personally i like to keep my loops simple. same ID for whole loop and everything in serial.

example;
Reservoir-> Pump -> Radiator -> CPU -> GPU-> Reservoir

your Radiator might be a bit light though you'd get better performance with 6 fans in a push-pull config and some shrouds on the push side.

example;
(direction of air flow->) fan->shroud->Radiator->fan

you could hang on to your 38mm fans (turned down) and slap on some 25mm on the back of radiator.

thx aphasia, you gave me an intresting idea.. i was never thinking about running serial, but since the gpu has absolutely no problem with temperature, getting the coldest water for the cpu first is a good idea, if the gpu gets extra 5C to 65 on extreme system load, i really wont mind. the layout seems to be pretty straight on my machine, no weird bending and i was thinking getting rid of QDCs and directly connect everything with 10mm tubing then, ordered some masterkleer ID10-OD13, hope its good.

i have a coolermaster cosmos-s rc-1100 case with the radiator->fans->out of case style.. so instead of pushing thru, they are sucking air thru the radiator, didnt wanted to get my fingers cut off accidentally I ordered 3 Xigmatek XLF-F1256, because i wanted to replace them, never thought about adding more to it, i guess too much noise, but maybe worth a try.
link to my fans: http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/product_info.php?product_id=686

please give me your opinion about the fans, is it better to push thru radiator or suck thru(my setup)? considering i would use only 3 fans for example and should i stick with my old ones or change them for xigmateks? i guess its best to test it out, but id like your opinion if you have one on this.

thanks

PS: Aphasia I posted this on few forums and got similar ideas from musicfan on Extreme Overclocking Forums http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showthread.php?t=355139 if you are registered there, have a look. I quoted you there, hope you dont mind.

 

[aphasia]

NemesisSVK...
i was never thinking about running serial, but since the gpu has absolutely no problem with temperature, getting the coldest water for the cpu first is a good idea, if the gpu gets extra 5C to 65 on extreme system load, i really wont mind. the layout seems to be pretty straight on my machine, no weird bending and i was thinking getting rid of QDCs and directly connect everything with 10mm tubing then, ordered some masterkleer ID10-OD13, hope its good.

it doesn't really matter where the 'cooled' hits which ever water block first. the temperature of the water will eventually reach is't running equilibrium. what is important is the radiator, the fans and the flow rate (pump and tubing).

quick dis-connects aren't a huge issue unless you have a weak pump. i'm not familiar with the pump you're using in regard to 'flow rate' and 'head' but a Laing/Swiftech '355' or '655' would have no problem powering your loop. if your pump has similar spec of the ones mentioned...

355;
Discharge: 120 GPH/454 LMH,
Head: 15ft/4.5M

655;
Discharge: 317 GPH/1200 LMH
Head: 10ft/3.1M

...then there shouldn't be an issue.

NemesisSVK...
i have a coolermaster cosmos-s rc-1100 case with the radiator->fans->out of case style.. so instead of pushing thru, they are sucking air thru the radiator, didnt wanted to get my fingers cut off accidentally I ordered 3 Xigmatek XLF-F1256, because i wanted to replace them, never thought about adding more to it, i guess too much noise, but maybe worth a try.
link to my fans: http://www.koolance.com/water-coolin...product_id=686

fans 'pulling' air thru the radiator generally have a better sound profile. 6 quiet fans or 6 fans turned down with a fan controller shouldn't add too much noise above ambient levels.

worried about fan safety, just slap on some fan grills like these

NemesisSVK...
please give me your opinion about the fans, is it better to push thru radiator or suck thru(my setup)? considering i would use only 3 fans for example and should i stick with my old ones or change them for xigmateks? i guess its best to test it out, but id like your opinion if you have one on this.

pull fans: generally a bit quieter but sacrifices some performance
push fans: better performance but a little louder
push & pull: best performance and will probably be a little louder than just using 'push' fans.

you can alleviate the 'noise' aspect by using low profile (25mm) fans or with a fan controller and a radiator with lower 'FPI'


regarding fan selection, hang on to what you've got and see how they perform. if the perform well but a little noisy, buy a fan controller and tweak them that way.

if your cpu/gpu are getting overwhelmed, grab 3 additional fans and installed them on backside of radiator and adjust them with fan controller for preferred noise levels.
'Scythe Gentle Typhoon's' & 'Noise Blockers' are well regarded but can be a little pricer. 'Yate Loon's' are decent and can be bought pretty cheaply.

as for what i use, i have mixture of 'Noise Blockers' (3x 1850rpm) and 'thermaltake' (3x 1300rpm). however i will be purchasing a bunch of 'Gentle Typhoon's' in the coming months. i have used 'Scythe Kazes' 38mm fans but found they were just too loud even when throttled.

if you aren't sure what fans have the best performance/noise ratio, i suggest you google some comparisons/round-ups/reviews. fan performance is fairly easy to dig up. noise levels are a little subjective.

 

[NemesisSVK]

the RP-1000 is just a 5.25" bay with pump and tank combo with fan and pump rpm control.
basically the pump in there is PMP-400 http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/product_info.php?product_id=334
522L/h and 7m head

the radiator is this one: http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/product_info.php?product_id=599
so 18FPI, thats the lowest they have, when i bought all this stuff 2 years ago i had no idea about anything

so pulling should be a bit quieter. i read somewhere that the static pressure of the fan has an effect on the cooling efficiency of the fan+rad combo, with pushing setup that makes sense, but im not sure if that has an effect when the fan is pulling the air thru the rad. i will have to test different scenarions, will take some time, the mounting of the rad+fans is a bit more complicated in my setup

thanks aphasia for your ideas and suggestions, have to wait for the order to arrive and then i will report back with some numbers

 

[NemesisSVK]

Allright, took me some time, cuz Im very busy, but Im finally done with it and very happy with the results.

I found some old pics when I first started my watercooling:
https://picasaweb.google.com/nemesis.svk/FirstWaterCooling?authkey=Gv1sRgCPDXjsy5h5OF7QE&feat=directlink

and some pics while I was doing the new one, some things changed slightly after taking these pics:
https://picasaweb.google.com/nemesis.svk/SecondWaterCooling?authkey=Gv1sRgCIKV8YiTnMH9vwE&feat=directlink

So, I did all tubing 10mm, the Masterkleer is awesome, compared to Koolance tubing it is the heaven of tubings, I had no idea they can make it so awesome. The cycle is PUMP->CPU->GPU->RAD->RES.. I got a water temp sensor on the RAD OUT to RES splitter. I put the fans on PUSH, didnt used the 38mm. Got Lamptron FC5V2 to control all fans and the pump.

Results:

intelBurnTest + FurMark 1.9 (produces the most heat, OCCT isnt so taxing on the GPU anymore), iBT was running with 2.5GB RAM
Case fans running around the same level as before ~800RPM
Test1
Xigmateks ~1100RPM and the PMP-400 pump ~3350RPM/9V
Water-38 .. GPU-50 .. CPU-66,65,63,63
Test2
Xigmateks ~1100RPM and the PMP-400 pump @ MAX ~4500RPM/12V
Water-35 .. GPU-49 .. CPU-66,65,63,63
Test3
Xigmateks @ MAX ~1450RPM and the PMP-400 pump ~3350RPM/9V
Water-35 .. GPU-48 .. CPU-65,63,61,60
Test4
Xigmateks @ MAX ~1450RPM and the PMP-400 pump @ MAX ~4500RPM/12V
Water-35 .. GPU-46 .. CPU-64,62,60,59

As you can see, the difference is much more than I hoped for. I used Arctic MX-4 on CPU and GPU. I redo the GPU block, used MX-4 and changed the thermal tapes on VRM/RAM etc to better ones and applied OCZ Freeze on the VRM/RAM etc chips before putting thermal tapes on them (EK recommended using that on the VRM, but I choose to do it on all).
What is kinda weird is that the water temp did not really moved between the tests, but the temperatures on the CPU and GPU differ a little. Im very glad that the best cooling (all @ MAX) is not such a big difference to all silent version. I kinda got the results of my previous setup with the 38mm fans on maximum speed, which is not such a pleasant noise.

So Im very happy with the new setup and thank you all for helping me reach optimum solution. Thanks Musicfan and Aphasia. You are both great guys.

PS>posting this on both forumz