Need Advice On Watercooling Loop

D

dentnu

Weaksauce
Joined
Apr 4, 2010
Messages
68
Hi I am new to watercooling. I currently have 2x 780 TI Classy that I would like to put under water. I have a sliverstone FT02 case and have a phase change system running on my CPU. I would like to buy a loop with enough power to only cool both my gpu's. I am completely loss when it comes to selecting what parts I would need and most importantly if a loop to cool my gpu's will even fit in my case. Can someone please help me ?

Thanks
 
I would recommend a medium sized pump with a reservoir top, that way you don't need to struggle to mount a reservoir somewhere. For medium flow, go 3/8 tubing. A decent 3x120 (360) or 3x140 (460) radiator will do. I am running a single 360 radiator for my dual GTX Titans in a dedicated loop and I get 31C idle and about 46C load (25C ambient).

For the water blocks on your GPU... research is key. I have two GTX Titans in my computer and I'm using EK waterblocks. EK has a bad reputation regarding quality because many of their blocks contain more than one kind of metal and sometimes both of these metals come into contact with the liquid and people HAVE experienced corrosion. The blocks I chose are 100% copper and acetyl so no issue with that. I have not had any leaks. Some manufacturers (like EK) make fittings you can use for multi GPU setups but I chose to avoid that and I use adapters.

If you want to keep everything in the bottom compartment of your case, you'll want some angled fittings to help your layout - I have always used Bitspower brand angled fittings for so long now and they work awesome - and no leaks. A lot of people prefer compression fittings but I do not. A syringe will go a long way to help your fill. I recommend making your own coolant: 5-10% car antifreeze, 90-95% distilled water.

You will want a spare computer power supply to use to power your pump separately from the rest of the PC while you are filling the system. Filling involves a lot of on/off with the power so don't use your computer PSU. You can jump the ATX power connector using a paperclip, no need for fancy adapters.

If you live in the United States, frozencpu.com is a primary resource if you want to do one-shop stopping. The good folks at aquatuning.de found me a good mobo block I couldn't find anywhere else that appeared to be out of stock worldwide, so I give them a shout too.
 
 
Regarding fans, depends how fancy you want to get. Most people use a push&pull config. I have a total of 10 fans in my PC just for 3 radiators and I can only afford to do push or pull on each one. The performance gain from doing push&pull is not 100%.

You can go with higher speed fans and use a controller, or just lower speed fans. Some fans will emit an audible whine when you reduce their voltage so research may be necessary. I used to always use Scythe brand but they're harder to find these days.
 
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