New and Improved Watercooling Sticky - Post Your Systems Here

Thats with the HDD cage untouched? If so that seems to be a really good fit. Can you fit two sets of fans on that rad?

The bottom 3x5" bay drives are serving as an intake for a fan and the location of the pump. The radiator clears it.

I am using a Lian Li 5" bay storage space adapter to make use of the space to fit more storage drives. Directly above the bay areas that have an inatake fan and the pump.
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I have 3x3.5" storage drives in it with 2x2.5" SSD as well. Makes nice use of 3x5" storage drive space much better than stock on the RV02 case.



No push/pull without cutting the case and using the bottom of the case to mount more fans. It's a tight fit as it is with the fans on top in pull. Only have about 3/8" clearance between the bottom of the radiator and the case.

I think the UT 60 will work good enough in pull. I'm going for quiet as possible with good cooling and for a loop with only a CPU and a GPU I think this radiator will work great.
 
Wow some really pretty setups here. Here is mine. I'm going to get sleeved cables a bit later. Here's my stuff but i'll clean it up later.

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Looking good everyone.

Right now I'm bleeding the air bubbles from my latest loop upgrades. :)


New upgrades are the Alphacool NexXxos UT-60 420mm radiator and an Alphacool Acrylic top for my Swiftech MCP655-B pump with a custom pad for the pump to sit on.

Photos of the upgrades.

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Using B-Gears 140 1800 RPM fans. With the fans set to low RPMs this set up is super quiet. It's the quietest loop I have ever done.
 
Here's my contribution to the Corsair 500R and 3770K builders, enjoy!!

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Ivy Bridge 3770K @ 4.8GHz / 1.36V
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GPU temps during MOH: Warfighter on max settings
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Real nice.

Which reservoir are you using? How are you mounting the res in your case?
 
I have the Bitspower Multi Z 150 with an upgrade top on the Swiftech MCP655 pump. Its mounted on the upper drive cage with the included ring bracket of the reservoir. I had to drill two holes on the drive cage and it fits perfectly. I have about a 1/4" between the fans on the bottom and the GTX 670.
 
I have the Bitspower Multi Z 150 with an upgrade top on the Swiftech MCP655 pump. Its mounted on the upper drive cage with the included ring bracket of the reservoir. I had to drill two holes on the drive cage and it fits perfectly. I have about a 1/4" between the fans on the bottom and the GTX 670.

+1. :p I really, really like your setup. Simplifies your loop and saves two fittings plus some tubing.

Do you see any issues when you need to drain your loop?
 
Thanks. I normally would just disconnect the lower GPU fitting and work from there
However I watched SingularityComputers on Youtube and liked his idea of using a Bitspower F-block and drain lever on the front of the bottom rad. I'll have to incorporate that into the loop the next time I have to service it.
 
However I watched SingularityComputers on Youtube and liked his idea of using a Bitspower F-block and drain lever on the front of the bottom rad. I'll have to incorporate that into the loop the next time I have to service it.

Another +1 for your ideas The lever arrangement sounds like something to make the process easier and less messy.
 
Yup. Beats tipping your case at the edge of a table to drain. All you have to do is pop a hose at the end of the drain towards a bucket on the floor and open the lever.
 
Thanks. I normally would just disconnect the lower GPU fitting and work from there
However I watched SingularityComputers on Youtube and liked his idea of using a Bitspower F-block and drain lever on the front of the bottom rad. I'll have to incorporate that into the loop the next time I have to service it.

do u have an actual link to that youtube video please?
 
Mayor Winters I just noticed that top nasty loop between gpu and radiator.


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Would be much cleaner and probably help flow if you just had a straight short tube section in between the barbs right there.
 
Can you guys offer some assistance? How do you justify the cost of watercooling? I figure upgrades for water blocks is cheaper after the intial setup, but water blocks seem to be just as expensive or half the cost of the card. That and I can't seem to find water blocks now that Danger Den is gone for my old 6970. I gotta convince my finacial advisor with just reasons and 500$ is rough to say better temps, better fps, and quieter room.
 
Can you guys offer some assistance? How do you justify the cost of watercooling?

Fun. I enjoy water cooling. I limit my costs by building single CPU/GPU RIG.

It's not cheap. I have built my loop up little by little over the last few years.
 
Fun. I enjoy water cooling. I limit my costs by building single CPU/GPU RIG.

It's not cheap. I have built my loop up little by little over the last few years.

When you say you built your loop up little by little do you mean piece by piece with it being inoperable until you got all the pieces? Or, do you mean the single CPU/GPU loop complete and the upgrading and multiple GPUs?

I can do the piece by piece. I could purchase the cheap things now like the tygon tubing, fittings, and maybe the radiator. I then could wait a few checks and get the water blocks.

Edit: Spelling
 
If you buy good parts most of it really is a one time expense. Its nice to have a near silent pc with a really high overclock.
 
I gotta convince my finacial advisor with just reasons and 500$ is rough to say better temps, better fps, and quieter room.

You forgot "better looking"...

My wife hated the fact that I spent a little extra on watercooling after the initial build, and the fear of it leaking onto $1,000+ worth of parts (she doesn't know). But after I did it, she realized how much more quiet the living room got. Not only that, she liked how it looked. She liked it so much, she showed it off to people who came in the house and even posted it on her Facebook page. :rolleyes:
 
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You forgot "better looking"...

My wife hated the fact that I spent a little extra on watercooling aftrer the initial build, and the fear of it leaking onto $1,000+ worth of parts (she doesn't know). But after I did it, she realized how much more quiet the living room got. Not only that, she liked how it looked. She liked it so much, she showed it off to people who came in the house and even posted it on her Facebook page. :rolleyes:

I think I will just break up the build into two purchases. That way I can keep costs low and when I upgrade my GPU soon I can just buy the waterblock with it. Thanks for the input about your wife. I will pitch her on the sound.
 
When you say you built your loop up little by little do you mean piece by piece with it being inoperable until you got all the pieces? Or, do you mean the single CPU/GPU loop complete and the upgrading and multiple GPUs?

I can do the piece by piece. I could purchase the cheap things now like the tygon tubing, fittings, and maybe the radiator. I then could wait a few checks and get the water blocks.

Edit: Spelling

I collected some decent parts over 6 months on my first loop before it was all put together and since then I have bought more parts off and on. Get the basic loop set up first then go from there.

Don't go cheap on radiator.
 
I collected some decent parts over 6 months on my first loop before it was all put together and since then I have bought more parts off and on. Get the basic loop set up first then go from there.

Don't go cheap on radiator.

Noted on the radiator. Is it acceptable to build a CPU loop only for the time being? That would put the parts into a single purchase instead of waiting for the new GPUs, when ever that is?
 
Noted on the radiator. Is it acceptable to build a CPU loop only for the time being? That would put the parts into a single purchase instead of waiting for the new GPUs, when ever that is?

Absolutely. And you can also always get one of the universal GPU blocks and some ram sinks, that way you don't have to replace the block when upgrading cards. It won't look as clean but will cool the GPU itself just the same.
 
Here's my contribution to the Corsair 500R and 3770K builders, enjoy!!

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Ugh, I am definitely going to have to cut out the bottom of my 500R to get the radiator down there. Having it sticking up out of the top is no longer doing it for me!

Nice build, pretty similar to what I'm aiming for in the end. Just have to decide on a GPU block.
 
Fun. I enjoy water cooling. I limit my costs by building single CPU/GPU RIG.

It's not cheap. I have built my loop up little by little over the last few years.

+1

I did if for fun. I always wanted to so I bought a kit on sale and just upgraded it part by part as I could afford it and boom, awesome full setup.

I started with a Tt bigwater kit and a Tt universal gpu block, now I run a full coverage gpu block and a good CPU block...piece by piece until it was a full blown custom loop.

I wont "not" water cool anymore. I build micro towers around it. I just love the feeling when that pump first pulls water to fill the tubes. Building a computer is easy, water cooling it just adds enough challenge that makes it a fun hobby again to me.
 
Ugh, I am definitely going to have to cut out the bottom of my 500R to get the radiator down there. Having it sticking up out of the top is no longer doing it for me!

Nice build, pretty similar to what I'm aiming for in the end. Just have to decide on a GPU block.

Corsair should've designed the bottom of the 500R for floor mounted radiators much like the C70. However the screws didn't match up, I used industrial double sided velcro to keep it from moving. It's doing it's job very well.

I was told by seasoned water cooling vets that my current loop would be inefficient but so far I like it's doing better than my last two loops using an XSPC X20 dual bay res. It's waaay cooler and more quiet!!:

Loop 1:
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Loop 2:
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Loop 3:
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I like XSPC's GPU block because it has lots of ports to choose for loop routing.
 
That's a lot of radiator for CPU & 1 GPU. I plan on just using my single RX240 for a 2600k and 680.
Tonight I'll drill out air holes in the bottom front for the radiator. I'm starting to regret the bay res a bit. It's great once you get it bled but boy is it a big pain to drain/bleed :(

I don't see anything wrong with your loop...
What are your temps like?
 
I wanted cooling headroom for the 3770K since it initially ran hot before the de-lidding. I went with another 240mm for the GPU because I plan to throw another one in for SLI. As far as temps go, I get an average of mid 50C's-mid 60C's @ 4.6GHz/1.25V full load with the 3770K. My GPU never goes over 46C or 47C, depending on what I'm playing. Before the 3rd loop, I had temps of 85C on the 3770K and 52C on the GPU during loads. I'd say it's pretty efficient now...
 
Here's a taste of it. My hottest core (core 3) eventually got as high as 68C just for a moment. After that, the loop reached equilibrium and averaged 64-66C max temps.
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Here's my fan speeds and discharge temps (sensor behind fans) during the 4.6GHz stress test. Ambient temps were 28.1C at the time. At a target of 900rpm all around, I get an average of 7dB over ambient (28dB) while maintaining temps with a good overclock. dB's were measured with an Android app on my phone, which gives a good guess-timation.
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Gotta convince the wife, man...lol.
 
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Well I went a slightly different route than I intended. I ended up cutting the bottom of the 3.5" disk drive rack out. Someone else on here with the 500R did this and it looked a bit easier. It was actually really easy just using some sheers. The rx240 and fans fit perfectly up against the front of the case with that out of the way. Sadly I was quickly reminded how much it sucks bleeding the stupid XSPC bay res. Last time I drained/bled it I had to practically do acrobatics with the case to get all the air out of the loop. Before I get ahead, I'm may order a res/top like you have Joejoe, along with a block for my 680.
 
I remember hating to bleed bay reservoirs as well. You actually can only tip it a certain way before air gets back in the system again. I was gonna do a front mounted rad too but I didn't find a nice, clean route for my tubing to go between both 240mm rads.
 
Exactly! I can tilt it back or put the case on its side and all is well. But as soon as I tilt it up again it sounds like a blender. Well, it's been leak testing all night and all day so hopefully it will be mostly air free when I get home.
 
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Rx 240 radiator xspc kit.

I will likely add another 280 radiator and a gpu block along with cooling the chipset/VRMS

but that will be after xmas. Along with finally getting around to cable sleveing/ painting anything that is white currently, to red.
 
Ebduncan - Nice Arc Midi. It was on my short list of cases but I couldn't find a good deal on one at the time when I needed it.

joejoe - I ended up going this route. I still am waiting on the XSPC 680 block to come in stock. I'll have the wonderful pleasure of draining and filling this things again :(

I'm also contemplating getting some single braided cable extensions to dress it up a bit in blue.

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Ebduncan - Nice Arc Midi. It was on my short list of cases but I couldn't find a good deal on one at the time when I needed it.

joejoe - I ended up going this route. I still am waiting on the XSPC 680 block to come in stock. I'll have the wonderful pleasure of draining and filling this things again :(

I'm also contemplating getting some single braided cable extensions to dress it up a bit in blue.

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Looking good!! Man, I love white 500R cases. Everytime I see one I always wish I had gone with a white one to begin with.

You'll be happy to introduce that 680 into your loop. Temps will be lower and it'll be much quieter, especially a reference design card.
 
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It's been a long time since I posted but couple months ago, I started trolling an after doing some research, I just finished my new rig:

System Specs:
Fractal Define R4 Case
Asus Sabertooth Z77
Intel 3770k CPU
Corsair 16gb 1866
Samsung 830 SSD
Nvidia 680 GTX 4gb
Corsair TX650 PSU
NXZT Fan Controller

Water Cooling Specs:
EK Geforce 680 GTX Block
Koolance CPU-380I Block
Coolgate 240 Radiator
Aquacool VP655
Bitspower 150 Upgrade kit
Bitspower Pump Top
Bitspower Red Pump Mod Kit
Dangerden Dreamflex 1/2ID - 3/4OD
Phobya Compression Fittings
Yate Loon 140mm High

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