Radiator area question

[b1o2b3456]

Hey guys, been browsing this forum (as well as a few other sites) for a couple of days but seem to be reading a lot of contradicting info. I did do a search and couldn't find an answer but I apologise if I'm rehashing an existing thread.

Obviously I'm new to water-cooling but I have learnt the basics already, I am just struggling to work out a couple of things...

Firstly how much radiator space is needed to cool;
i7 2600k
Gainward GTX 580 (3gg) x2
Northbridge
memory (if I choose to, probably leave it air cooled)

The case is the Corsair 800D so space is no issue and 1 3x120mm radiator will be in the purpose built bay at the top no matter what.

The layout will be res/rad/pump (in whatever order they fit best in the case) -> CPU -> split ->
chan 1 top gpu -> RAM (again, if i add that) -> rejoin
chan 2 bottom gpu -> chipset -> rejoin
rejoin going back to res/rad/pump.

If i need another rad I assume it should go after the cpu and before the split? Or am I going to be better off going the split to two gpu's then rejoin -> rad -> cpu -> rad/res/pump


The second question is the pump, I cant seem to find good info on the choices. Obviously I am looking for a system that is as quiet as possible but I have read that there is such a thing as moving the coolant too fast so what sort of power is needed for the layout above (assuming no ridiculously long tubes since I can fit 3-4 rads internally if needed)

Just had another thought too... only 1 rad will be in an ideal spot (purpose built bay at the top of the 800D), any others will inside the case with a slightly higher ambient temp being blown over them, is this worth worrying about at all (as in changing the order of the rads)?

Thanks for any help, so much brain overload going on atm!

 

[86 5.0L]

Res->pump

You always have the Res before the pump, nothing else matters(in regards to loop order) for your pc I would go 360mm rad and a d5 vario pump.

I would leave the motherboard/northbridge/ram out of the loop, youll gain nothing by adding it

 

[Thor]

dont bother trying to split your loop up unless you intend on using 2 pumps, at that point you might as well as use 2 loops. if your worried about heat from one place, your money is better off spent getting a small rad to take care of that, something like res>cpu>small rad>chipset>gpu,gpu> pump>large rad>∞

that said, modern chipset and ram wont produce much heat. as long as you have some airflow you really dont need to WC them but if you must, putting them after the cpu>small rad will have the least affect on the loop as a whole.

your water pump wont give a damn about what the water temp is, to keep it from adding its heat to the loop, it should be last in line before you dump all of the heat from the components.

heat rises. fresh air in at the bottom and front, heat out the top and back, psu can be excluded from this if needed, as alot are mounted in the bottom these days, it dose help with keeping the psu from cooking its self.

no such thing as a pump that is to strong, im out of date on pumps, so i will lets others speak for their current quality. (i have a 120v eheim that is pushing 10 years old and dose not vibrate even a little... hard to argue with that) water will always be choked up at its smallest point.. having a stronger pump, to try and force the water faster wont really do much of anything. just try and keep your hose runs short, it will lessen bleed time. the biggest reason there is no such thing as a pump to strong, is because it is a closed loop, as a certain point, the water will have momentum. and the pump will more or less freewheel... well.. i suppose freewheel isnt the right word, but it takes alot less power once the water is moving.

and yes, you will want your res befor your pump as 86 said... it really helps with the air bleed out

/edit i forgot to address surface area... for just the cpu, a single 120.1 rad will keep you in the 40°c with a moredate and maybe even a heavy OC, depends on how much voltage you have to push to get where you want... the vid cards on the other hand are going to be the bigest contributers to heat, and a 120.3 should deal with them nicely. but again, i cant really speak for brands as i have only ever used a B.I.X. 120.1... (but this single 120.1 kept a 90w athlon x2 an nforce 4 chipset and a gforce 9600gso which was one hot little card, in the 37 to 39°c range even during the summer... your 2600k (at stock) is only 95w TDP... little difference for just that one chip. a single 120.1 will be more than enough for it.)

 

[Tsumi]

Laing D5 or MCP655 for your pump (same things).

3x120 radiator is doable if you don't mind running 6 2000 RPM fans. Or 6 1850 RPM Gentle Typhoons. I would look into adding an additional radiator to the rear of the case.

Don't bother watercooling chipset or RAM. That's for those who have a big budget to blow and they don't know what else to spend it on, or just want their motherboard and RAM to look cool.

Don't bother splitting loops. The water temperature equalizes over time, such that the maximum variation in a proper loop is ~1 C at most.

You can't really have a pump that pumps too fast, but you can have a pump that pumps too slow. In general, the argument is that if you pump really fast, the water gets to the CPU or GPU quicker and brings away the heat quicker. On the other hand, the opposite happens from the radiator standpoint, where the water moves too fast for the heat to be dissipated. These two effects balance each other out, so there's nothing to worry about with high flow rates. However, with low flow rates, the water heats up a significant amount in the block before exiting the block, giving you much higher temps.

 

[b1o2b3456]

Thanks for all the advice guys!

I was going to leave the mobo out of the loop (though I did look at blocks for my board for giggles) since the 800D has so many fan mounts (going to use all of them with quiet fans so decent airflow for the stuff that's not WC'd). Was really only considering the NB because a lot of 'starter' kits (rad, res, pump) come with a cpu and NB block. Looking more at full custom now anyway, rather than a kit + extra blocks.

As for rads, I'm probably going to go with 3x120's only, reasoning being if I'm going to add a rad, I may as well add a bigger one and keep fan noise down overall. My concern was the 2 GPU's next to each other (they have to be physically next to each other to use PCIx16 on my mobo) but I wasn't considering that temps balance out.

So now I'm looking at;
Res -> pump -> Rad -> CPU -> bottom GPU -> Rad -> NB (IF i have a block, won't buy one specifically though) -> Top GPU -> Res

Simpler and the flow goes through a Rad after each 580 BBQ. Probably overkill if both rad's are 3x120 but I can trade that off for lower rpm fans and upgrade the fan speed if I have a hotter system down the track.

And as for pumps, lean towards stronger and choose by noise level

 

[aphasia]

don't have much to add, 86 5.0L, Thor &Tsumi have covered everything pretty well.

regarding radiators, if you want good performance rather than adequate performance (relative to ambient temp), i'd suggest 5 to 6 120mm radiator area (pick which ever combo best fits your case - 2x 320 Rads OR 3x 220 Rads OR 1x420 + 1x220 Rads). if you can group your radiators in the same part of the case (case permitting of course), it'll save you routing tubing all over the place + the shorter the loop the better.

also suggest you add a dedicated fill line and a 'T' section bleed line. it'll just make your life a lot easier when it comes to maintenance.

 

[aphasia]

forgot to mention water additives.

try not to use dye or pre-made solutions, best to use PT nuke or pure silver (coil in tubing) in distilled or demineralised water.

 

[b1o2b3456]

Thanks aphasia!

I wasn't planning on any dyes, if I really want to play with aesthetics later I will probably stick to UV tubing.

Is distilled water + anti-microbial better than a full-blown coolant?

Edit - After some research it seems distilled water + anti-bacterial/microbial (such as PT nuke) + Water Wetter (since it combines surfactant with anti-corrosion) seems to be the recommended mix, am I missing anything there?

 

[ryuji]

P67 has a rated TDP of ~8w if i remember the datasheet i read correctly. intel has reduced the chipset to quite literally its namesake, an IO Controller Hub. it shouldnt need anything more then a hunk of aluminum.

water cooling your ram is ridiculous, you can argue that the heat sinks OEM's put on them is useless to a certain degree even.

3x120 will be fine for single cpu and gpu. since you are planning on water cooling two gpus you should probably design in some overhead. unless, you are into the water cooling for the performance not the silence and do not mind running high velocity fans

 

[Aus10]

There is a thread over in the case section you might have to dig around but its only for people that have 800D cases. A lot of them are on water so I would go over there and steal ideas. You could put a 3x120 on top and then in the bottom of the front of the case put a 2x120mm rad. That takes a little mod tho if your ok with that. I would say the Mcp655 pump iv read there one of the best pumps. Do you know what tubing size your going to look into? I was told 1/2" ID cuz it lets the water flow faster. Plus try not to do a bunch of 90s i think tho lower the water pressure... Could be wrong tho.

Here is that thread,

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1457749&highlight=800D

 

[ryuji]

Thanks aphasia!

I wasn't planning on any dyes, if I really want to play with aesthetics later I will probably stick to UV tubing.

Is distilled water + anti-microbial better than a full-blown coolant?

Edit - After some research it seems distilled water + anti-bacterial/microbial (such as PT nuke) + Water Wetter (since it combines surfactant with anti-corrosion) seems to be the recommended mix, am I missing anything there?

a lot of people like to use distilled water and a coil of silver to kill microbes

i myself use 'pc pure' by primochill from my local microcenter just out of laziness, pre mixed/dyed and never had anything grow or clogged water blocks even after 3 years of running without a flush

There is a thread over in the case section you might have to dig around but its only for people that have 800D cases. A lot of them are on water so I would go over there and steal ideas. You could put a 3x120 on top and then in the bottom of the front of the case put a 2x120mm rad. That takes a little mod tho if your ok with that. I would say the Mcp655 pump iv read there one of the best pumps. Do you know what tubing size your going to look into? I was told 1/2" ID cuz it lets the water flow faster. Plus try not to do a bunch of 90s i think tho lower the water pressure... Could be wrong tho.

mcp655 aka laing D5 is still as far as i know the best 12v DC pump you can buy. lack of moving parts/seals makes them extremely reliable too

i suggest 3/8ths id tubing. virtually same flowrate as 1/2 but much more easier to route tubing without kinks

 

[aphasia]

Thanks aphasia!

I wasn't planning on any dyes, if I really want to play with aesthetics later I will probably stick to UV tubing.

Is distilled water + anti-microbial better than a full-blown coolant?

Edit - After some research it seems distilled water + anti-bacterial/microbial (such as PT nuke) + Water Wetter (since it combines surfactant with anti-corrosion) seems to be the recommended mix, am I missing anything there?

seems you've done a bit of reading on this. i'd suggest one or the other (either PT nuke or silver 'kill coil') as they do the same thing.

wouldn't worry about corrosion as you will be using copper / brass components in your loop only. corrosion only becomes a problem if you're mixing metals. as you may of read either here on on the interweb, aluminium and copper are a no no.

 

[Aus10]

Some people like silver kill coil better cuz you just drop it in there and thats it you never have to add more or anything but its like $6.99 at frozencpu.

Will you make a list of the parts your thinking so far? Like blocks/pump/rad/res all of that if you have picked it out yet.

See im corrected 3/8" is better ig. I also didnt know that lassing D5 was the same thing.

 

[ryuji]

wouldn't worry about corrosion as you will be using copper / brass components in you loop only. corrosion only becomes a problem if you're mixing metals. as you may of read either here on on the interweb, aluminium and copper are a no no.

you'd be hard pressed to find an aluminum water block these days..the whole corrosion thing is a relic of times long past. maybe cheap aluminum radiators.. but doesnt sound like he's interested in that

 

[ryuji]

Some people like silver kill coil better cuz you just drop it in there and thats it you never have to add more or anything but its like $6.99 at frozencpu.

Will you make a list of the parts your thinking so far? Like blocks/pump/rad/res all of that if you have picked it out yet.

See im corrected 3/8" is better ig. I also didnt know that lassing D5 was the same thing.

you can get raw 99.9% pure silver from your local jeweler for probably less money then frozencpu asks for. you will have to go through trouble of shaping it however

There is a slight performance loss with 3/8ths over 1/2 but the difference in routing difficulty is large.. there's many writups/tests about tubing diameter differences. i leave it up to the OP to research/make a decision

Laing is the manufacturer of the D5 pump, swiftech rebrands them as mcp655's. D5's were intended for plumbing service in heater systems and RV's. there rated to maximum of 24v from laing and are offered with brass parts/ high temperature seals

 

[aphasia]

true (regarding aluminium heat exchangers), but there are still passive radiators on the market (alphacool).

 

[Aus10]

Oh ok thanks for explaining that.

 

[aphasia]

i've used 3/8ths ID in my first couple of rigs an i grew to hate the stuff. yeah easier to route but kinking was a big problem, especially when the water temp rose. had to use that anti-kink coils. that was awhile ago, probably get better quaility tubing now.

tho 1/2'' is a little harder to route, it was a damn sight tougher and certainly doesn't kink (at least not easily). doesn't hurt that it's cooling efficiency is a tad better than 3/8ths ID.

 

[ryuji]

i've used 3/8ths ID in my first couple of rigs an i grew to hate the stuff. yeah easier to route but kinking was a big problem, especially when the water temp rose. had to use that anti-kink coils. that was awhile ago, probably get better quaility tubing now.

tho 1/2'' is a little harder to route, it was a damn sight tougher and certainly doesn't kink (at least not easily). doesn't hurt that it's cooling efficiency is a tad better than 3/8ths ID.

only the cheap stuff kinks in my experience. my tygon i bought can be rolled into a tight coil and it STILL wont kink. you can do sharper bends with the 3/8ths for sure

 

[Aus10]

I have a question, what temps does your water usually get too? I read that the tubing has like a max temp thing of like 65c or something but what if your chip is hotter then that? Does that mean your tubing falls off or something lol.

 

[aphasia]

only the cheap stuff kinks in my experience. my tygon i bought can be rolled into a tight coil and it STILL wont kink. you can do sharper bends with the 3/8ths for sure

fair enough. i'll continue to use 1/2'' ID tho. it's more about the slightly better cooling it offers for me now. besides i have an old thermaltake mozart TX case which is enormous (aside from MM cases, they don't get much bigger) and skinny 3/8ths ID just wouldn't look right in there. i guess aesthetics play a bit of a role too.

 

[ryuji]

I have a question, what temps does your water usually get too? I read that the tubing has like a max temp thing of like 65c or something but what if your chip is hotter then that? Does that mean your tubing falls off or something lol.

you wont see fluid temps that warm. Thermal resistance of water block and thermal capacitance of water means that your '70C' cpu equates to maybe 2C increase of temperature of the water, just to be cooled back down by the radiator.

Water has a large specific heat capacity 4.19 kJ/kg per degree C, you wont be making it hot with pc service before the radiator dumps it all into the air

edit:
you could overload the radiator, but by the time your fluid temp hit the critical point of the tubing your cpu will have reached higher then 100C and tripped the emergency shutdown

 

[aphasia]

I have a question, what temps does your water usually get too? I read that the tubing has like a max temp thing of like 65c or something but what if your chip is hotter then that? Does that mean your tubing falls off or something lol.

wouldn't worry, water temp shouldn't get that high.

 

[aphasia]

you wont see fluid temps that warm. Thermal resistance of water block and thermal capacitance of water means that your '70C' cpu equates to maybe 2C increase of temperature of the water, just to be cooled back down by the radiator.

Water has a large specific heat capacity 4.19 kJ/kg per degree C, you wont be making it hot with pc service before the radiator dumps it all into the air

edit:
you could overload the radiator, but by the time your fluid temp hit the critical point of the tubing your cpu will have reached higher then 100C and tripped the emergency shutdown

got in there before me and with the math...

 

[Makeroflostsouls]

For your setup I would recommend at least 4x120 if you want good temps. I have a 360 in the top and a 360 in the bottom of my 700d. My 6970 is right after my 2600k@4.8ghz. If both are loaded prime95 on the cpu and Furmark on the video card temps are 58c on the 2600k and 39c on the 6970. You could do the 360 on top and a 120 or 140 on the back so you don't have to mod the case. With just a 360 your going to have just enough cooling. Just depends on how quiet you want it. Mine you can barly hear running, what I was after.

 

[ryuji]

fair enough. i'll continue to use 1/2'' ID tho. it's more about the slightly better cooling it offers for me now. besides i have an old thermaltake mozart TX case which is enormous (aside from MM cases, they don't get much bigger) and skinny 3/8ths ID just wouldn't look right in there. i guess aesthetics play a bit of a role too.

i almost purchased a mozart TX, in a way i wish i had. havent found many cases i like. im happy with my thermaltake armor atm with my two 2x120mm loops for the moment

 

[aphasia]

i almost purchased a mozart TX, in a way i wish i had. havent found many cases i like. im happy with my thermaltake armor atm with my two 2x120mm loops for the moment

yeah the mozart TX was a pretty underrated case when released.

i've searched the web and have only found a handful of owners properly use / mod the actual case. the aluminium version was ridiculously light. their construction was good but not at the same level as lian li cases (slightly thinner aluminium used in construction). the front is a bit on the ugly side and the side panel / doors are a bit retarded in design. having said all that, the internals are a joy to work with, can mount a quad 120 rad (2 by 2) @ rear and 3.120 rad in front natively. could mount a couple of extra 2.120 rads with a little modding.

i'm pretty fussy about my cases too. if i were to replace my case, the only cases i's look at are the mountain mod 'ascension' or 'u2-ufo'. only downside apart from the real estate they occupy is that they cost a fucking fortune.

 

[b1o2b3456]

wouldn't worry about corrosion as you will be using copper / brass components in your loop only. corrosion only becomes a problem if you're mixing metals. as you may of read either here on on the interweb, aluminium and copper are a no no.

Thanks aphasia, in the back of my mind I did know that but I wouldn't have remembered!

Aus10 Thanks for that thread link, some great ideas in there! I am still working on exact parts, there are so many choices! So far though;

- Pump - sticking with the recommended Laing D5 (goggled a lot of reviews after Tsumi mentioned it)
- Rad - 1 x 3.120 (thinking 6 fans in push/pull with shrouding both sides to minimize noise) and undecided between a single 140mm at the back (1 fan in pull config) or modding the case a bit to add another 3.120 at the bottom with 3 fans in pull. Whatever I go I am looking at the 30 FPI ranges atm and Koolance and EK are looking like good brand choices.
- Res - Don't know yet.
- Tube sizing - Leaning towards 1/2" due to the performance (thus helping me get away with low speed fans) but more research needed!
- CPU block - Don't know yet
- GPU block - Don' have much choice for the Gainward 3 gig as it's non-reference so the EK ones (http://www.ekwaterblocks.com/shop/ek-fc580-gtx-acetal-nickel-1.html)

Side note - not sure about the modding since it means venting the air into the case, have to think about airflow on that or the loop will be re-absorbing some of the heat one of it's rad's dissipated

Another question that more research has thrown up... a couple of people now have mentioned that temps tend to equalize throughout the loop, I can understand how that works but I'm still hesitant to cool an oven like the 3gb GTX 580 with water that just came off another GTX 580. Am I just being over cautious here? Is total rad area the bigger concern or should I try to put a rad of some sort between the two cards?

 

[Aus10]

First off, have you ever heard of frank? Ill go find a link but he has three 580s back to back. So I wouldnt worry to much about it lol, I think he then his northbridge southbridge. Im not sure of his order.
Here is frank. Same case as yours but he has a 360 on the top and a externial unit. So theres frank from what i can see. It comes in through the back hits his cpu then the top 360 unit then the other pump then the gpus then northbridge southbridge then the outside unit back in.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1588626&page=8

Pump- Great choice
Rad- I would recommend the 2.120 in the bottom let me see if i can find a pic. or link... Here is a link http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=81698
Res- What type do you like? Danger den makes some good ones. I like the cylinder types me self like these- http://www.frozencpu.com/products/9...e_Reservoir_BP-WTZM150P-BK.html?tl=g30c97s165

Tubing size- Im going 1/2" ID 3/4 OD wiith 1/8" wall. Good choice.
Cpu block- XSPC Rasa cpu block or a koolence block i would say.
GPU block- Iv read that EK makes great stuff but never looked into them so im not sure.

 

[Cruiza]

Peronally, I love the aesthetics of AquaComputers' blocks: http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/aqforgtx580a.html

 

[aphasia]

Thanks aphasia, in the back of my mind I did know that but I wouldn't have remembered!

Aus10 Thanks for that thread link, some great ideas in there! I am still working on exact parts, there are so many choices! So far though;

- Pump - sticking with the recommended Laing D5 (goggled a lot of reviews after Tsumi mentioned it)
- Rad - 1 x 3.120 (thinking 6 fans in push/pull with shrouding both sides to minimize noise) and undecided between a single 140mm at the back (1 fan in pull config) or modding the case a bit to add another 3.120 at the bottom with 3 fans in pull. Whatever I go I am looking at the 30 FPI ranges atm and Koolance and EK are looking like good brand choices.
- Res - Don't know yet.
- Tube sizing - Leaning towards 1/2" due to the performance (thus helping me get away with low speed fans) but more research needed!
- CPU block - Don't know yet
- GPU block - Don' have much choice for the Gainward 3 gig as it's non-reference so the EK ones (http://www.ekwaterblocks.com/shop/ek-fc580-gtx-acetal-nickel-1.html)

Side note - not sure about the modding since it means venting the air into the case, have to think about airflow on that or the loop will be re-absorbing some of the heat one of it's rad's dissipated

Another question that more research has thrown up... a couple of people now have mentioned that temps tend to equalize throughout the loop, I can understand how that works but I'm still hesitant to cool an oven like the 3gb GTX 580 with water that just came off another GTX 580. Am I just being over cautious here? Is total rad area the bigger concern or should I try to put a rad of some sort between the two cards?

your loop is starting to take shape. a couple of comments tho.

you mentioned you're looking for quiet system (low rpm fans = 2000rpm or less), if this is the case, stay away from radiators with high FPI like the one you mentioned "...looking at the 30 FPI ranges atm...", rads with 30 FPI require high speed fans (38mm depth fans like Kazes and Deltas) to function properly. for quiet operation with low speed fans i recommend looking at rads with 15FPI or less (Swiftech Rads for example).

regarding temps in loops, there is very little variation in the water from one side of the loop to the other (+/- a couple of degrees C). it's not like the water sits in any one location for very long. worry about getting the best combo of quality rads and fans, the pump will do the rest.

 

[Tsumi]

Actually, 30 FPI radiators perform better than lower FPI radiators starting around the 1500-1700 RPM range. You don't need to get to the 2500 RPM/38mm fan range in order to start seeing benefits of high FPI radiators. And the differences become even more apparent when you start having a push/pull setup.

If you want a high FPI radiator on a budget, I highly recommend the Black Ice GTS X-flow radiators. They are not as restrictive (water flow-wise) as the regular GTS radiators, and have a FPI of 32, probably the highest of any radiator on the market. And they are very cheap, ~$5 more expensive than equivalent Swiftech radiators, which are considered one of the best value radiators in the US. And since they are very thin, you wouldn't have as much issues clearance-wise, especially when you're planning on mounting shrouds.

 

[ryuji]

I love my black ice gts radiators. +1 for that suggestion

 

[b1o2b3456]

I didn't think the FPI through properly tbh, was too early in the morning and I needed sleep! The top 3.120 rad I want as high as possibly since it will be push/pull but almost any other option has to push or pull not both so I will probably go lower FPI there. Have yet to see a good comparison of FPI to fan speed ratios, will keep looking though!

EDIT - Did some more reading, seems the FPI - fan speed ratio goes all over the place, 30 is a bit high for a pull only though unless I want a noisy fan doing the work so I will probably aim at more like 15 for the pull or push only rad(s) (keeping 30'ish for the 3.120 at the top sine I will get the CU's through with push/pull). Actually now that I think about it more... With push/pull I will get volume no problem but will the pressure be high enough on the push side (looking ~1250 or 1500 rpm if I can maintain reasonable cooling with overclocking at that range)?

Edit 2 - Loving the Black Ice recommendations. Probably looking at the U flow rather than the X flow simply because the hose connection will get really friendly with the optical bays (especially if I double shroud, since that means the hose starting 1 shroud down and passing down the other shroud and 1 fan worth of distance). Will make a final decision as I get more of the loop worked out!

Peronally, I love the aesthetics of AquaComputers' blocks: http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/aqforgtx580a.html

I really like that look too, it's reference though and I can't find a 3gb version

Still haven't had a good look at res's, love the cylinder look but bay mounted could be a cleaner option for me since I only have 3 bay mounts at the moment (fan controller, temp monitor (may combine those two and dump the one I have now), combo drive.

Have to head out now, will try and get a complete loop planned later today so that I can chop and change where needed!

 

[Tsumi]

http://www.overclock.net/water-cooling/518786-huge-radiators-roundup.html

I found this when researching my GTS 420 radiator. As you can see, the low FPI Feser radiator is surpassed by the high FPI GTS radiator at around 1300-1400 RPM. And that is in a pull setup only, and I don't believe they are using shrouds. In push/pull, it surpasses it at 900 RPM. And considering how most 140 fans have lower static pressure than 120 fans, the difference would become more apparent as you approach 2000 RPM.

It doesn't really matter about the fans putting enough pressure. Just get the same fans for each side of your radiator.

EVGA's GTX 580 3gb design is based on the reference design, with just each of the RAM chips having double the capacity vs reference. So layout-wise, it's exactly the same. Therefore, a reference waterblock should fit EVGA's GTX 580 3gb cards.

 

[b1o2b3456]

EVGA's GTX 580 3gb design is based on the reference design, with just each of the RAM chips having double the capacity vs reference. So layout-wise, it's exactly the same. Therefore, a reference waterblock should fit EVGA's GTX 580 3gb cards.

That's handy to know, thanks!! I know the EK specifically fits the GW version since it's stated in the compatibility list for that block. I will check the prices, haven't seen what the EK is worth here in Aus yet, if it's not much different I will go with the EK for the look as well as the assured compatibility.

 

[ryuji]

i use my black ice gts non x-flow as pull only with yate loons at 12v(there silent to me at 12v... dont know how ppl can claim there noisy, perhaps i got a lucky batch), cooling performance is fine with them

perhaps i should slap on my two spare fans and see if it does a large difference in temps, i dont expect it tho

 

[b1o2b3456]

Did a bit more looking around, loop so far seems to be be;

- Pump - Laing D5

- Rads - 1 x Black Ice GTS 360 6 fans in push/pull with shrouding both sides; 1 x BI GTX 140 single fan in pull (mounted on the rear exhaust mount); 1 x BI GTX 120 with 1 fan in pull (mounted at the bottom).

- Res - Haven't picked a brand but will go with a cylinder to use up the massive space the 800D has and keep the optical bay free!

- Tubeing - Tygon 3400 Tubing 1/2 ID - Black

- CPU block - EK-Supreme HF - Acetal+Nickel

- GPU block - 2x EK-FC5X0 GTX GW Acetal + Nickel

Reasoning on the rads - this avoids case modding, plus modding in a 3.120 at the bottom would be big enough to draw heat off the PSU through the rad. Might still consider making the bottom rad a 2.120 since that would be a very quick mod, still worried about clearance from that bottom plate to the lowest PCI card though.