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My first WC setup - please post your comments!!!

M

masaville

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 6, 2006
Messages
401
Well, I finally took the plunge and elected to get rid of my personal space heater of a PC to go with watercooling. Temperatures were horrific on air and come summer it would not have been pleasant to power this baby on. So here it is, a detailed review of my first time water cooling adventure on a modded CM Stacker 830 with dual 8800 Danger Den waterblocks, among many other parts. All system test were done at core clock speeds. As temps were virtually identical between tat, coretemp, and Everest, I elected to use Everest only for convenience and also so the tests would be consistent across the board. Fans were kept at the same RPMs throughout the test so the only variable that changed was ambient room temperature for the most part.

System Specs

E6700
eVGA 680i mb
eVGA 8800 GTX SLI
4 x 1GB OCZ DDR2-800 4-4-3-15
850w Strider PSU
CM Stacker 830 Case

Original Air Cooling Components- Zalman 9700 LED
- 120mm fans - front fan 1200rpm , top exhaust fan 1200rpm, rear exhaust fan 2200rpm, 4 side fans 1500rpm, 2 bottom fans 1500rpm....and so on, and so forth
- 40mm fans - 2 x memory fans 1200rpm...and even more fans

Air Idle Temps
Ambient room temperature 21.5c
cpu/40c gpu1/61c gpu2/61c mb/35c

Air Load Temps (max temps)
Orthos - ambient room temperature 21.8c
cpu0/51c cpu1/48c gpu1/61c gpu2/62c mb/36c

3dmark06 - ambient room temperature 22.1c
cpu0/50c cpu1/47c gpu1/75c gpu2/75c mb/38c

Vanguard Animated Character Selection Screen - ambient room temperature 22.6c
cpu0/47c cpu1/44c gpu1/83c gpu2/84c mb/41c


< Test #1 - Water Cooling on a Swiftech Mini Res with Distilled Water/Zalman G200 coolant 80/20 mix >

- D-tek Fuzion CPU block
- Swiftech MCP655 pump
- Danger Den 8800 GTX blocks
- Swiftech Mini Reservoir
- HW Labs GTX Xtreme 480 rad
- OCZ Ultra 5+ paste
- Zalman cooling fluid/Distilled water, 80/20 ratio

Fans Used with Water Cooling
--------------------------------------------
- 120mm front fan @ 1200rpm and 4 x 120mm Silenx 1400 RPM 14dba 72cfm fans for the radiator

Water Idle Temps
-----------------
Ambient room temperature 21.5c
cpu/32c gpu1/49c gpu2/44c mb/37c

Water Load Temps (max temps)
----------------------------------
Orthos - ambient room temperature 21.5c
cpu0/42c cpu1/42c gpu1/61c gpu2/49c mb/45c

3dmark06 - ambient room temperature 21.9c
cpu0/42c cpu1/41c gpu1/54c gpu2/49c mb/39c

Vanguard Animated Character Selection Screen - ambient room temperature 22.2c
cpu0/40c cpu1/39c gpu1/55c gpu2/50c mb/38c


< Test #2 - Water Cooling on an XSPC 250mm Reservoir with Distilled Water/Zalman G200 coolant 80/20 mix >

- Swapped the Swiftech res with the XSPC 250mm Aluminum Reservoir

Fans Used with Water Cooling
--------------------------------------------
- 120mm front fan @ 1200rpm and 4 x 120mm Silenx 1400 RPM 14dba 72cfm fans for the radiator

Water Idle Temps
-----------------
Ambient room temperature 21.5c
Everest - cpu/32c gpu1/49c gpu2/44c mb/37c

Water Load Temps (max temps)
----------------------------------
Orthos - ambient room temperature 21.5c
cpu0/42c cpu1/42c gpu1/61c gpu2/49c mb/45c

3dmark06 - ambient room temperature 21.9c
cpu0/42c cpu1/41c gpu1/54c gpu2/49c mb/39c

Vanguard Animated Character Selection Screen - ambient room temperature 22.2c
cpu0/40c cpu1/39c gpu1/55c gpu2/50c mb/38c


< Test #3 - Water Cooling on an XSPC 250mm Reservoir with Fluid XP+ High Performance coolant >

- Using the XSPC 250mm Reservoir and Fluid XP+ coolant instead of distilled water and Zalman G200

Fans Used with Water Cooling
--------------------------------------------
- 120mm front fan @ 1200rpm and 4 x 120mm Silenx 1400 RPM 14dba 72cfm fans for the radiator

Water Idle Temps
-----------------
Ambient room temperature 23.4c
Everest - cpu/32c gpu1/46c gpu2/42c mb/36c

Water Load Temps (max temps)
----------------------------------
Orthos - ambient room temperature 23.4c
cpu0/42c cpu1/41c gpu1/48c gpu2/45c mb/38c

3dmark06 - ambient room temperature 23.5c
cpu0/42c cpu1/39c gpu1/54c gpu2/48c mb/39c

Vanguard Animated Character Selection Screen - ambient room temperature 22.5c
cpu0/39c cpu1/36c gpu1/55c gpu2/50c mb/39c


And the conclusion...........

As you can see from the above, the ambient room temps were almost the same in both the air and water tests, with the exception of the third water test where the ambient room temperature was over 23c. The water cooling really kicked in not only in idle mode, but especially when the GPUs were put to the test, cooling them almost 30c over air under load. With Fluid XP+ in the third test, GPU temperatures were 3c and 2c cooler respectively in idle versus the distilled water and Zalman G200 fluid. All in all, I'm very pleased with the results.

General comments........

- The swiftech rad is quite small and a pain to fill. If you want to fill and bleed with ease get yourself a bigger reservoir. Obviously if your case is small and you don't want to use an external reservoir then you don't have much choice, but the XSPC reservoir made filling and bleeding quick and easy.
- The barbs that came with the Black Ice 480 were the most problematic part of the system. The main problem was that they leaked even after I tried changing the tubing and doing various other things with the rad. I ended up having to replace the o-ring washer on them and moved them to the XSPC reservoir, swapping them with the longer XSPC barb. All other components were easy to mount and exhibited no problems whatsoever.
- The D-tek Fuzion block did not allow me to use clamps as the 1/2 tubing didn't provide any spacing. I ended up using zip ties, which worked just as well.

And now for some pics......

The only remaining item on my to do list is to cut out a grill for the top of the rad and fasten it on to protect the radiator. Look forward to your comments and suggestions!!!

Original box
Cimg1321.jpg


Testing the loop
CIMG1337.jpg


More loop testing....can't afford a leak...heh
Cimg1420.jpg


Fully installed and cables cleaned up
Cimg1436.jpg


Here's the custom mounted rad....what a monster
Cimg1440.jpg

CIMG1545.jpg

CIMG1455.jpg


Rear view of the rad
CIMG1448.jpg


Reservoir....brrr
CIMG1446.jpg


Inside the case
CIMG1450.jpg


D-tek Fuzion...great block, but no room for clips with 1/2 tubing
CIMG1451.jpg


Danger Den 8800s
CIMG1497.jpg


Front view
CIMG1457.jpg

CIMG1458.jpg


The Swiftech MCP655 pump...hidden away
CIMG1453.jpg


A little darker
CIMG1525.jpg


Lights out!
CIMG1519.jpg

CIMG1538.jpg

CIMG1542.jpg

CIMG1500.jpg

CIMG1551.jpg
 
Whew finally got all the way through your post...

Amazing for a first setup. Quad rad and dual 8800's :eek: Nice effort on the cabling, lot of first timers don't bother in their haste to get going which really detracts from appearance. Mostly I dont like external rad setups but this one is definitely an exception, looks great.

As far as comments:

Yes put a grill on that rad, for protection and appearance!
Res - wow thats huge, keeping in theme I see :D
Tube run from gpu1 to gpu2 - :confused:

Love the shot of the leak test in the big plastic tub.
 
very nice


If you think about it, your computer creates X amount of heat, it wont matter if using air or water (unless you vent it out of the room) X amount of heat is still going to go into your room.
 
Oh noticed another thing, you want to think about getting some active cooling (fan) on your VR heatsinks (next to cpu socket), they were being cooled by blowby from the cpu HS/fan, with a waterblock that airflow is gone. At least run the machine full load and give them the finger test for temp. Hopefully the C2D is not pulling enough for them to get super hot.
 
I think this is the first 8800GTX setup I've seen under water. Nice work, though I'm not a fan of an external mount, but I can understand it with the type of watercooling components you chose. Its also nice to see someone else using SilenX fans besides me ( I use them on my own watercooling setup), people usually bash them mercilessly on these forums.

Remember, heat tansfers. The ability to absorb heat and dissipate it is the strength of a watercooling system, regardless of the finite or consistent amount of heat. Heat can be absorbed or expelled.



 
calvin_q said:
Whew finally got all the way through your post...

Amazing for a first setup. Quad rad and dual 8800's :eek: Nice effort on the cabling, lot of first timers don't bother in their haste to get going which really detracts from appearance. Mostly I dont like external rad setups but this one is definitely an exception, looks great.

As far as comments:

Yes put a grill on that rad, for protection and appearance!
Res - wow thats huge, keeping in theme I see :D
Tube run from gpu1 to gpu2 - :confused:

Love the shot of the leak test in the big plastic tub.
Click to expand...

LOL....ya, the tub. That was does look a bit funny. That tube from gp1 to 2 is a bit long. I was thinking that myself, but it's difficult to bend it without a kind so I played it safe.

Can you reverse the barb on the 8800 waterblock and have a 3" tube or something like that going from one card to the other?
 
BillParrish said:
Oh noticed another thing, you want to think about getting some active cooling (fan) on your VR heatsinks (next to cpu socket), they were being cooled by blowby from the cpu HS/fan, with a waterblock that airflow is gone. At least run the machine full load and give them the finger test for temp. Hopefully the C2D is not pulling enough for them to get super hot.
Click to expand...

I'll check that out Bill. Thanks for the tip!
 
Dark Prodigy said:
I think this is the first 8800GTX setup I've seen under water. Nice work, though I'm not a fan of an external mount, but I can understand it with the type of watercooling components you chose. Its also nice to see someone else using SilenX fans besides me ( I use them on my own watercooling setup), people usually bash them mercilessly on these forums.

Remember, heat tansfers. The ability to absorb heat and dissipate it is the strength of a watercooling system, regardless of the finite or consistent amount of heat. Heat can be absorbed or expelled.



Click to expand...

I find that the Silenx Pro fans push out a ton of air in comparison to my Antec Tricools. They are also fairly quiet so I can't complain. Definitely one of the best fans I've had so far, but a bit pricey.
 
WOW!!!!


GREAT JOB MASA!!!! holy WOW.... 0_0



Beautiful work, you definetly showed us how it should (and COULD) be done! =)
 
masaville said:
Can you reverse the barb on the 8800 waterblock and have a 3" tube or something like that going from one card to the other?
Click to expand...


yes you can, the blocks can be ordered that way from DD so I am sure you can get the parts to do that. Does the block have a plug on the bottom of the output? if not you may need to get the new top of that block that is SLI preped...



8800gtx_blocktop_1_600w.jpg


see how their are plugs just remove on that is on the bottom and run you tubing from one card right to the other..

for $1.50 you may need to get the optional SLI fitting on the bottom of this page

http://www.dangerden.com/store/product.php?productid=257&cat=48&page=1
 
Adidas4275 said:
yes you can, the blocks can be ordered that way from DD so I am sure you can get the parts to do that. Does the block have a plug on the bottom of the output? if not you may need to get the new top of that block that is SLI preped...


see how their are plugs just remove on that is on the bottom and run you tubing from one card right to the other..

for $1.50 you may need to get the optional SLI fitting on the bottom of this page

http://www.dangerden.com/store/product.php?productid=257&cat=48&page=1
Click to expand...


Thanks for the info. Looks like I'll be able to flip that around and do away with that tubing.
 
This is the GTX480 rad right? I was thinking of getting that RAD, or the thermochill PA120.3 rad.to replace my MCR320. Looks good, only think I would have done different is use LESS tubing! Looks like you have a foot+ being used just to go from 1 8800 to the other 8800. Flip the fittings around and you can use a 3 inch piece:)
 
[2dP]MightyMatt;1030686672 said:
What's the difference between this block, the D-TEK FuZion:

http://www.petrastechshop.com/dfuuncpubl1.html
yhst-65556269779593_1934_43829289


And the Fluid XP+ Vortex XP:

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/5491/ex-blc-341/Fluid_XP_Vortex_XP_Liquid_Cooling_Universal_CPU_Block_FXPVOR2.html?tl=g30c85s141
ex-blc-341.jpg


...besides one is from Petra ;)

Did you run into this question Masa, anyone??

Btw, I LOVE your system, looks amazing and I bet it was a lot of work!?
Click to expand...

Ya it was a bit of work, but if I had to do it again it would be much quicker. Not too sure what the difference is between the blocks.
 
newls1 said:
This is the GTX480 rad right? I was thinking of getting that RAD, or the thermochill PA120.3 rad.to replace my MCR320. Looks good, only think I would have done different is use LESS tubing! Looks like you have a foot+ being used just to go from 1 8800 to the other 8800. Flip the fittings around and you can use a 3 inch piece:)
Click to expand...

Ya, I figured that out afterwards heh. I'll have to fix that later.

The Thermochill from what I've read is probably the rad to go with. The 480 is a bit better if you use active cooling from the reviews I've seen, but my guess is the 120.3 is a better solution in overall.
 
WOW Bro!!! Very nice!!! Its always good to see a fellow 680i board owner running an SLi 8800 series setup on water!!! We just might be twinkies.. LMAO!!!


DSCN7995.jpg
 
officermartinez said:
WOW Bro!!! Very nice!!! Its always good to see a fellow 680i board owner running an SLi 8800 series setup on water!!! We just might be twinkies.. LMAO!!!


Water&
Click to expand...

Yours looks cleaner though. I still have some work to do....love those fans you got on top. Are those Aerocool? Btw, are you pulling or pushing with the fans? Someone told me to pull is better....is that true?

I'll probably cut through the back like you did to run the tubes inside instead of up and underneath, but that's a few weeks a way. Unfortunately that 480 gives me no chance to run the tubing through the top, so it has to drop down the back. She's a monster.

Ya....twinkies. Heh...good one.
 
LMAO @ twinkies.. haha. But yes, those are the Aerocool 120's ..I have mine "pushing" ranther than "pulling".. I honestly didn't know if it would make a difference or not.

Your case IS a monster.. And WOW! A QUAD RAD! Dangggggggggggggg! I love the XSPC reservior. It took a LOT of the pain out of filling the system up with fluid!
 
officermartinez said:
LMAO @ twinkies.. haha. But yes, those are the Aerocool 120's ..I have mine "pushing" ranther than "pulling".. I honestly didn't know if it would make a difference or not.

Your case IS a monster.. And WOW! A QUAD RAD! Dangggggggggggggg! I love the XSPC reservior. It took a LOT of the pain out of filling the system up with fluid!
Click to expand...

LOL...ya, filling tooks a matter of a few minutes if that with the XSPC. Took a lot longer with that little Swiftech rad. On top of that I didn't have a funnel and poured coolant all over the place. Heh.

I might grab some of those Aerocools....they look hot. Got my acrylpanel in today so I can finally cut some to protect the top of the rad.
 
officermartinez said:
Where did you order that panel from? Do you have a link? How is your system looking?
Click to expand...

You can grab that from frozencpu.com - $19.95 or something like that for a 500x500mm piece. Got a bit of work to do to redo my tubing and get rid of the excess. Also going to replace the fans with same as yours, Aerocool turbines with blue LEDs. Those look pretty sweet. I'll post some new pics in the next few days. :)

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/3831/too-01/Nibbler_Metal_Cutter.html
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/4...shxPanel_Modders_Mesh_-_Black_ACR-XP0748.html
 
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