Once again, I come for your help

B

bunnytrigger

Weaksauce
Joined
Jun 2, 2003
Messages
88
I am planning on building a system but I am running into issues when it comes to choosing a water cooling solution (new to it, have read a lot, but not sure what to pick since the choices are so extensive) There are 3 components that I want to cool in a loop, mobo, CPU and GPU. I have room in the case for a 360mm top and 240 front, or 240mm front and top, with a 120mm on rear (Do i need to leave space for fans instead of so much radiators?). The case is the famous NZXT H440. GPU already has block installed.

I have a pcpartpicker link of the parts I am planning on using so far here, feel free to suggest any changes.

For the click lazy here below:

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/pxpfZL

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor
Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VII FORMULA ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Case: NZXT H440 (Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: Corsair 860W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
Monitor: Acer XB270HU bprz 144Hz 27.0" Monitor
Other: ASUS POSEIDON-GTX980-P-4GD5 GeForce GTX 980 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Total: $2907.92
 
Last edited:
Unless you're seriously planning on SLI, I would pick a lower wattage PSU. Something in the 550-650 watt range would suffice, 600-650 with overclocking headroom. 860 is major overkill.

I would suggest going with the 360 top and 240 front. No need for a radiator on the rear, and it will make things more cramped. 360 + 240 is already overkill, but you might as well do it right the first time, and there isn't a huge cost difference between a 360 and 240.

Radiator: I would suggest either Alphacool UT60 series radiators or HWLabs Black Ice Nemesis GTX radiators.
CPU block: I would recommend the Swiftech Apogee HD or the Watercool Heatkiller 3.0.
Pump: Laing D5 (aka MCP655 aka PMP-450)
Reservoir: Choose whichever looks good to you. Whether you want pump integrated or separate, bay or standalone, etc.
 
I wouldn't bother with watercooling the motherboard. They really don't need it unless you are going for crazy high overclocks. For the radiators I would advise going with only two of them instead of three, it will simply be easier. So all you are left with choosing is a pump/cpu block then right?

EDIT:

Saw Tsumi's post, to expand.

I like the Alphacool radiators as well. Choose between the ST30, XT45, or UT60 based upon the space you have available. They are 30/45/60mm thick.

For the CPU waterblocks, I agree with the choices posted and would also add in the Koolance 380, that is a nice block with a great and consistent mounting system.

Pump: Agree, the Laing D5 and variants are the best choice. Second best would be the Laing DDC and variants.
 
Last edited:
thank you for your input and suggestions. I know i can always count on good word from people in this place :D
 
Wanted to do a quick update on my build. It seems when you do water cooling, you gotta go all out or not do it LOL. check the link of what I ended making

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/pxpfZL

Here is a quick diagram of the loop and parts used. http://imgur.com/lsuzvVP

As soon as I get all parts in I will take pictures as I build and update some more. :D

I figured I would thank you all again for the help.

Also note, i went with straigh 2 gtx 980 on sli since I picked up two for around $500.00 instead of just 1 gtx 980 ti. Yes, I spend extra on the blocks, but I think ill be happy with it for a while :D
 
Last edited:
Based on your drawing, you have the GPUs set up for parallel, not serial.
 
Starting to put it together, will update more as i go. I am posting so many pictures because when I started building mine I could not find anything that showed the step by step, much less explain what took place. Your first water loop is kind of overbearing when you don't know much about it and the wide variety of parts make it much harder to grasp, but eventually you do get it. I hope my post helps others. I am also always open to questions from anyone, especially those who want to know how and what I did. In the end, we are all here to learn.

http://i.imgur.com/TTqqxkS.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/65U4C1q.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/PgPneas.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/OjxCEpk.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/gTnl22D.jpg
Placing CPU and block
http://i.imgur.com/tw9Gl3g.jpg
First line
http://i.imgur.com/33iflla.jpg
From MOBO to CPU
http://i.imgur.com/2EtA8an.jpg
CPU to GPU
http://i.imgur.com/s3eztUp.jpg
GPU to reservoir
http://i.imgur.com/4y8Cy4t.jpg
Front View

edit: tried posting pics straight on post, but holy cow were they BIG!!!. Links will have to do guys.
 
Last edited:
I failed to catch that you were using Arctic Silver 5. Arctic Silver 5 is horribly outdated by this point in time, there is others that are cheaper and better. But since you already bought it, it should be okay, given that you are extremely careful with it on the GPU.
 
AS5 is outdated? I had no idea, but then again my last build was 5 years ago. I have been playing on laptops since then but I really get tired of the thermal throttling on them, no matter how fancy of a laptop I get the heat dissipation cant keep up with them.

Thanks for the info Tsumi.
 
For anyone interested, I am loving the system performance. A caveat to have is that it performs awesome when the covers on the H440 are off, but once I slap them on this temperature becomes way hotter than you'd expect from a loop. Mine hit 73 on CPU and 60'isb on GPU... too hot for me.
 
Basically means you need more intake fans, or higher speed ones. Your radiators are being starved for air.
 
Tsumi, thanks for all the input given and helping with my learning experience.

I could be wrong but I have the front 240 rad blowing in (heat stays in), top 360 out and back fan out, wouldn't make more sense to blow all the rads to the outside so none of that hot air stays inside the case when its fully closed? I just realized that the front rad is pretty much just blowing all the hot air from the rad INTO THE CASE!! LOL. I could make an input on the side panel if necessary and have the rear fan also blow in so none of that hot rad heat blows in.

You are probably right, I am using NZXT fans that operate at 1200 max. They seem to put a lot of air though.

I also now think that this case if not a good fit for water cooling, it sure is pretty for looks, but the air vent are so tiny once its enclosed.
 
Loop order can be important here. The first radiator after your components should be the 360 since it's the exhaust, then to the 240.

You're right, that front cover might be severely restricting your airflow. As an experiment, I would take out the 240 and see how your temps are. The fans might move a lot of air on their own, but once you have it trying to push air through the radiator and pull air in through the cover, airflow drops significantly.
 
I found an easy fix for the airflow problem on this case that costed around 15 dollars. I used magnets, hollow wall anchors, motherboard standoffs and a few pieces of wood I had handy to make it work. Check the album so you can see what I did and feel free to ask questions. You will notice that my temps drastically changed once I was able to get air in and out of that case with the loop in there. I added a picture on that album that shows my temps when idle and on load indicated as MIN and MAX on HWMonitor. Also used other programs since discrepancy exists among them

http://imgur.com/gallery/xHfKi/new
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top