• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Another noob needing advice, tia

P

pwolfe

Weaksauce
Joined
May 21, 2008
Messages
80
Well I've decided to build a new pc. My cooling goals are to provide adequate cooling to a q6600 and a 8800gt with a water cooling system. I do not plan on o/c'ing at the moment, but may decide to do so in the future. I would like the system to be as quiet as possible. I also have never built a wc rig and since I work as an IT consultant, I consider it one more skill I need to learn.

I have done some research, and based on my budget, I'm pretty set on these items. Basically I am just hoping someone can look over these proposed items and tell me if there are an glaring mistakes I've made, things I've missed, etc. I am ordering the items from performace-pc, and when you add to cart it asks for fitting sizes you want, so I assume the fittings are in order. I'm going with 3/8 ID tubing throughout, mostly because I dont like the look of 1/2 and even if I do o/c, it will not be to max levels.

Thanks in advance!

Alphacool Laing DDC-Pump 12V Pro Water Tank (comes with pump and top mounted res)
Alphacool NexXxoS HP Pro Socket 775
EK-FC88 GT/GTS (G92) High Performance Water Block
Black Ice Pro II Compact High Performance Radiator - 240
Black Ice Pro Compact High Performance Radiator - 120
Feser One F1 Cooling Fluid - Clear/UV Blue - 1 Liter
Tygon 3603 3/8" ID (1/2" OD) Clear Tubing - 10 ft for trial and error tube running
Nexus 120 mm Real Silent Case Fan (22.8 dB(A), 36.87 CFM)
 
Well, a couple of things come to mind.

First, you can save money by going with just distilled water + Pentosin and maybe a uv dye bomb if you want the uv. Distilled water has almost if not the same electrolytic properties and will be much cheaper and safer for the environment.

Second, which DDC pump is it? 350, 355? Honestly, I would recommend the Laing 655 as the DDC's have known to have a somewhat high failure rate. And you don't have to have a reservoir unless you just want one for aesthetics as you can run a T-Line and call it good.

Third, you would really be better off with one 360mm radiator rather than a 240 + a 120. Something like a MCR360 would be great, I have one, and then changed things around and couldn't use it in a new case and went exactly like you are planning on doing and my temps are averaging 5-10C difference at both idle and load.

Also, for cooling and noise purposes, I would suggest the Yate Loon fans for the radiators. You really can't get much quieter with the amount of air flow that they produce.
 
thanks for the input. the pump is:

http://www.performance-pcs.com/cata...ucts_id=4510:46cbc168f2432bdc23f747beea76980f

I'm not sure which pump that actually is. The reservoir is for aesthetics. I consider myself very good at cable management and want this to look as good as possible. I really wanted to avoid the T-line because I don't like the way it looks.

As far as radiator's go, I will be mounting all this in a new silverston tj-09. I wanted to preserve the already cut hole at the top of the machine, thats why I thought i would do 2 rads, 240, and 120. I'll have to give that some thought.

As far as fans go, aside from the fact there may be better ones available, is there anything specifically 'wrong' with the ones I chose?
 
if you dont like the T line get a bay res or a swiftech minires to fill into, you will also save a ton of money by using distilled water from the grocery store instead of an overpriced premixed liquid, using 7/16 masterkleer on 1/2 barbs would also save you money, all this together should save you more then enough to get swiftech radiators and a Dtek fusion cpu block
 
I don't know the specs on the ones that you chose, so maybe someone else can chime in about them.

As far as the reservoir, what about something like this? http://www.performance-pcs.com/cata...t_info&manufacturers_id=125&products_id=21255

Or, and I don't have the link handy, but what about the EK Multioption? Both look excellent imho and there are ton's of things you can do with both. But, yes, I would try to stay away from the DDC line of pumps.
 
I did some more research and have decided I will just do distilled water and a few additives from Petra's.

As far as the size of my fittings goes, I'm pretty set on the 3/8 as I love the way it looks. the 1/2 looks far too big, and since I'm not going to be doing a massive o/c I just dont see the justification that I need that size tubing, but thank you for the input. hey, prove me wrong!

As far as res's go, I'm not too big on that eyeball looking thing you posted, and its very expensive as I would also need to buy the mounting plate, and pump to go with it. ty though. I do like the swiftech micro-res and that EK multi-option. I have another question though. If I used the EK, would that provide me with a fairly easy way to drain the system for maintanence? because I know as posted above that config would be kinda of a b*tch to drain.

Also, would you please provide links to these pumps you guys suggest?
 
The Swiftech MCP655/Laing D5 Vario isn't an option if you go with 3/8" tubing because it has integrated, non-replaceable barbs that're 1/2" already on the housing. You could build a tubing reduction system, but it would be kinda ugly, somewhat bulky, and probably not the best idea all around.

I'm going to take another tact in suggesting you stay away from 3/8" -- first up, you can't use the better pump. Second, the pretty fittings that most people like 3/8" for so much are expensive as all hell once you start adding them up. At $8-10 /each/ for compression fittings, that's ~4x as much as 1/2" barbs. You can get a barb for ~$2.50 on average, so 4 barbs per compression fitting.

Looking at your above loop, you'd need 8 3/8" compression fittings. That's $80 in /fittings/! If you used barbs, it'd be $20.

If you want an easy way to drain, put a t-line in the loop somewhere near the bottom and just keep it hidden so you can pull it out and drain through there. That's probably the easiest way.

If you aren't going with compression fittings, just 3/8" barbs, it really won't make much difference vs 1/2" barbs. I personally recommend 7/16" ID tubing over 1/2" barbs.
 
I hear what you are saying about the barbs, While I would love the clean look of the compression fittings (the ones you screw in to place to hold the tube down?) I thought as I had this spec'd it was just 3/8 barbs that I would be zip-tieing in place, or some similar means, am I wrong?
 
Yes, you just have barbs now. My point is, if you aren't using compression fittings, I don't see the draw of 3/8" (it's not much different than 1/2" or 7/16").
 
7/16 is only 1/16 larger than 3/8, and 1/8 on the outside, so its not like you would have HUGE tubing, masterkleer will save you a ton of money aswell. My biggest point would be why gimp yourself if you arent even saving any money. by using a ddc so you can use 3/8 you are using a pump that is know to have a very bad failure rate.
 
Headpunter said:
7/16 is only 1/16 larger than 3/8, and 1/8 on the outside, so its not like you would have HUGE tubing, masterkleer will save you a ton of money aswell. My biggest point would be why gimp yourself if you arent even saving any money. by using a ddc so you can use 3/8 you are using a pump that is know to have a very bad failure rate.
Click to expand...

Okay, well one, the difference in temps from 3/8th to 7/16th is negligable. Two, the new DDC's have a very very low failure rate.

However, I do highly reccomend 7/16th tubing on 1/2" barbs because its non-leak, very tight fit, and you don't need to use any clamps or zipties. It is a very nice system (but you need to put the tubing in boiling water to soften it enough to slip over the barbs, especially if the barbs are plastic)
 
Cool, well I spec out a trial system for myself and see what the price difference is. You mention there is a low rate of failure on the new pumps, is there a specific model number or revision I should look for?
 
not really any different variations to look at

the mcp655 / d5 (both of those monikers are the same pump) (link) is a bigger pump and much more reliable then the DDC / mcp355/mcp350 (link)
 
pwolfe said:
Cool, well I spec out a trial system for myself and see what the price difference is. You mention there is a low rate of failure on the new pumps, is there a specific model number or revision I should look for?
Click to expand...

All new DDC's will be 3.2's, which is the new version. If you could find a used 2.2 you'd be set because that is the older version. Higher failure rate but it was a damn fine pump. Quiet, strong head, great flow, it was pretty nice. The 3.2's don't have that head anymore so i'd just go with a D5 Vario, its got this speed adjuster that allows you to pick from 5 different levels. Just grab that and stick it on 5, you can't hear it anyways, especially if its on a foam mat.
 
I have the MCP655.. have it on full setting and dont' hear it with my case closed up. at setting 4 I can't hear it above my yate loons at 9v. with case open
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top