First time watercooler: thoughts on prospective rig

M

morkboy_wonder

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 14, 2007
Messages
377
I have decided to take the plunge and go for a watercooled rig. My current hardware is:

coolermaster cosmos 1000
asus striker II extreme
q6600
2x1GB OCZ 1333 ddr3
2 x 8800GTX
2 x 150GB raptorx
razer ac-1

I was hoping to get blocks for the cpu, gpus and possibly for the hardrives. The mobo comes with the fusion watercooling system however I may opt for third party blocks for the chipset and mosfets in the future. I was aiming to take the q6600 to 3.6GHz and run the gpus at 650 core and memory at 2000. Potential hardware I have picked includes:

D-Tek Fuzion or EK supreme for cpu
EK--FC8800 for the graphics cards
watercool silentstar HD-Dual for the drives
not sure about mobo blocks yet
1 x ThermoChill PA120.3 (is this enough?)
1 x Laing DDC-1T Ultra w/Petras Tech DDCT-01s Top
a reservoir
some yate loons

I was wondering what the consensus is? I am not sure if the PA120.3 would be enough for this especially if I go for third party mobo blocks. Also would that pump be enough for the system if 2 radiators are used. Like I say I am new to watercooling but my idea for the plumbing would be a single loop:

RESERVOIR -> PUMP -> RADIATOR -> CPU BLOCK -> CHIPSET BLOCK -> HD -> GPU -> GPU -> RESERVOIR

Any thoughts? thanks
 
The Laing D5/Swiftech 655 seem to be the most popular.

Personally, I wouldn't bother with watercooling the HDs at all, they really shouldn't get all that hot to require it IMHO, and all you really need is a decent 120mm fan in front of them to cool sufficiently. Same with cooling the PWM/NB areas, I don't really think water blocks are needed there either. Just make sure you have good overall case airflow, and maybe rig up a quiet 120mm for any problem areas.

I personally say it'd be borderline for only the PA120.3 with q6600, and 2 GTXs, especially with all overclocked. I would at least get an extra 120mm rad to help, or for the performance/price ratio ditch the PA120.3, and maybe consider a Swiftech MCR320/MCR220 combo - both together come in at $50 less than the PA120.3 alone (@ jab-tech at least).
 
Sorry to the above poster but one PA120.3 can handle a CPU and 2xGTX and then some... and on top of that you can use low profile Yates and have a quiet setup. You can do the 3 and 2 setup with the swiftechs but you will have to use higher rpm/db fans and honestly running 3 yates > 5 120fans.

He is correct about the HD's though. I'd worry more about cooling the NB than the HD's.

The RaptorX is one noisy bitch. I know because I have one, and at times I'd like to put a knife through it (j/k lol). A low profile 120 can keep the air moving around your hd as well if you're worried about the heat.

The D5 is a great pump. One will be suffice for your loop.

One last tip is to run the pump after the rad. Even though pressure is usually equal throughout a loop, you will have small pockets where pressure is inevitably higher (at the pump) and lowest (around the last part of the loop or reservoir). Pressure is at its highest in the source and that is the pump. You want the coolest water to hit the cpu first and you would benefit with having the pump directly after the res.
 
My advice, buy Swiftech stuff.

They have excellent service after the sale, no matter which retailer you buy the stuff from.

I have Swiftech blocks,pump,microRes and Rad...........the quality shows and if you have any questions, your email will be answered by the owner of the company himself generally within hours.

Its just 2 cents but I would very much recommend their stuff, I got all mine from Performance-PCs
 
Thanks for all the replies folks - they have been very useful. I will be hopefully getting the hardware in the middle of April so I will mull it over for a while. Just out of interest has anyone have experience using the Alphacool CORA fanless system? My case has outlets for watertubes and I was entertaining the idea of mounting an additional fanless radiator on the back (is pretty expensive though so I don't think I ever really will). cheers
 
Wshmaster0 said:
One last tip is to run the pump after the rad.
Click to expand...
Not true. but also of little consequence. The temp difference across the rad will only be 0.25 -0.50*c. But the water is the coolest when it exits the rad, so rad > CPU > the rest >.
 
Sorry to the above poster but one PA120.3 can handle a CPU and 2xGTX and then some
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, that's not true.

A quad@3.6, and 2-GTX's will eat a 120.3, your going to need more than that one rad for the cpu and cards.
 
I agree a 120.3 is not enough of a cooling solution for 2 cards and a CPU OC with any kind of a real overclock...
 
billb said:
Not true. but also of little consequence. The temp difference across the rad will only be 0.25 -0.50*c. But the water is the coolest when it exits the rad, so rad > CPU > the rest >.
Click to expand...

My tip was a bit premature, but as you said its not really about the temperature. However it does depend on the loop itself. The more circular a loop is and with as little restriction as possible then a rad -> pump -> cpu could still very well be viable. It's all dependent on where he places the rad and how that affects the amount of tubing / bends he has in his loop.

Sphere said:
Unfortunately, that's not true.

A quad@3.6, and 2-GTX's will eat a 120.3, your going to need more than that one rad for the cpu and cards.
Click to expand...

As I said with billb, my answer was a bit premature.. however I am sticking to the fact that I believe a 120.3 can handle a 3.6 oc with two GTX's and a NB installed... Note that this is under the assumption that he is running the GTX's stock, on non-full cover waterblocks and the ambient temperature of the room is fairly cold. I'm not debating the fact whether its more practical to run a two rad setup or not, im simply stating that a 120.3 can still do it (even if the circimstances are pretty specific).
 
1 Q6600 at stock = 120w
2 8800GTX at stock = 400w.

Now, you're looking at about 420w of maximum heat dump, probably 375w in real life heat output.

In that case, yes a PA120.3 would be able to handle all of that with 60cfm yate loon medium fans, and achieve a 10c coolant to room temperature delta.

But, that's rather impractical... And definitely not quiet.

Oh, and to anyone with a raptor X that's really, really, loud (aka me) this probably reduced the seek noise of my drive by about 20dba
http://www.xoxide.com/nexus-disktwin-dampener-black.html
 
Wshmaster I don't think youi are correct about the 120.3 rad cooling 2 cards and a quad.. Why would you cool 2 GTXs without full cover blocks that doesn't make sense dude.. Anyway, I have been wartercooling a long time and I have 1 120.3 just for my CPU and another for the Video then you add a NB no thanks that just overloads that rad and a couple hours in you might as well be on air bench that system with prime and rthdribl for a while and the heat will kill that computer stock cards or not. I completely disagree I think that is rad overload and there is no reason to cool the NB at 3.6 that is just unnecessary...
 
Jimmmy said:
Wshmaster I don't think youi are correct about the 120.3 rad cooling 2 cards and a quad.. Why would you cool 2 GTXs without full cover blocks that doesn't make sense dude..
Click to expand...

MCW60, the ram can be cooled with a low profile fan to just move air through the fins of the copper sink kit. This block can outlast any full cover block, is cheaper and can perform just as well if not better.

Jimmmy said:
Anyway, I have been wartercooling a long time and I have 1 120.3 just for my CPU and another for the Video then you add a NB no thanks that just overloads that rad and a couple hours in you might as well be on air bench that system with prime and rthdribl for a while and the heat will kill that computer stock cards or not.
.
Click to expand...

Read what I said, I never said it was practical, but it is doable in a controlled environment.

Jimmmy said:
I completely disagree I think that is rad overload and there is no reason to cool the NB at 3.6 that is just unnecessary.
Click to expand...

OC a quad with 4 gigs of ram and we'll see what's cookin lol.
 
While on the subject of the pa 120.3. I am setting up a system - QX9770 and one 3870-X2 with full cover EK block. Will be OCing both. Will the pa120.3 handle this ok? This is my first watercooling project so I didn't want to get into duel loops. I have the 655 vari for the pump. All going in a TJ-07.

Thank-You,
Ted
 
I am not familiar with blocks that are not full cover it has never been appealing to me when EK makes such a great full cover I don't really know much about the block you are talking about so I am not trying to compare but my Q6600 runs at 3.9 all day with a Maximus Formula and 4 gigs of Crucial 1066 and my NB never gets more than 48 or so and I used to run an Abit IP35-Pro with just 1 8800GTX and EK block and the Fuzion CPU block and I couldn't do too much with a 120.2 my temps got out of control anything past 3.6.. I guess I would say from my experience that the above poster being new to watercooling would want to consider some different options or maybe minimize the heat dump and all those things on that 1 rad might keep the Ocing potential to a minimum... That's all and hey we didn't get all dressed up for nothing...

Concerning the above poster tstewart you will be more than fine running the 120.3 with 1 3870X2 and that processor. The Penryn tech 45nm is a much cooler chip than the Q6600 and that GPU block runs that card at like 30 underload maybe less so you will be in great shape no matter what your OC... Also I have an extra 3870X2 EK waterblock if you want to rock 2 so PM me if you interested I will let it go for cheap I went with a 9800 GX2... Anyway cheers...
 
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