Silverstone FT02 Water Cooling Build - Help!

jdogg707

jdogg707

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jan 5, 2004
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I am looking to attempt water cooling for the first time and it has become apparent that I couldn't have chosen a worst case for it! Unfortunately I love everything else about my case, so I don't want to give it up and am willing to work around it to make water cooling work. My goals for the project are to make my system as silent as possible, as well as to maintain cool temperatures during operation/gaming/video encoding.

My current system consists of:

Intel Core i7-2600K CPU @ 4.5GHz
Asus Sabertooth P67 Rev. 3 Motherboard
16GB G.Skill Ripjaws Z RAM
2xSapphire Radeon 7970 Video Cards
256GB Vertex 3 Max IOPS SSD
512GB Crucial M4 SSD
2x2TB Western Digital RE4 Hard Drives
Corsair AX1200 1200W PSU
Noctua DH-14 HSF
Silverstone FT02 Full Tower Case

My temperatures currently are very good (67C at load on Intel Burn Test) and video cards both stay under 80C during Furmark. However, the current environment is quite loud, since all of my fans have to be running at higher speeds in order to maintain the cooler temperatures (especially after adding the two 7970's). I am hoping to bring the noise level down quite a bit, while maintaining or improving upon my current temperatures.

After some research, here is my current shopping list:

XSPC RX120 Radiator
Magicool Extreme Dual 180mm Radiator
XSPC Dual 5.25" Bay Resevoir
Swiftech MCP655 w/Speed Control
EK Supreme HF CPU Block - Nickel Plated
EK Radeon 7970 VGA Block - Nickel Plated
EK Radeon 7970 Single Slot I/O Bracket
EK Radeon FC Link for Crossfire
PrimoChill PrimoFlex Pro LRT Tubing 1/2" to 3/4"
IandH Silver Kill Coil
Bitspower Black Ultimate 1/2" to 3/4" Rotary Compression Fitting
Bitspower Black Ultimate 1/2" to 3/4" 45 Degree Rotary Compression Fitting (For CPU Block)
Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm 1850RPM Fan

At this point, I plan on using the 360mm radiator with two of the existing 180mm fans in my case, then attaching the 120mm radiator to the top fan cutout on my case and attach two of the gentle typhoons in a push pull scenario. I figured my loop would look something like this:

360mm Radiator --> CPU Block --> 120mm Radiator --> Video Cards --> Reservoir/Pump --> 360mm Radiator

Finally, other than looking for general guidance on whether you think the above plan will meet my goals for the project, I have the following questions:

1. It is my understanding that the combination of the kill coil, with distilled water, will make for the most efficient cooling liquid. Is there something else I should be looking at?

2. Should I be looking at the addition of a drain line to help ease the process of draining my loop? If so, where would you recommend I put it?

3. Are the Koolance quick connect adapters helpful? Should I be looking at placing them somewhere in the loop?

4. Should I be looking at something that helps measure flow? If so, recommendations?

As this is my first water cooling project, any help is greatly appreciated!
 
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jdogg707 said:
1. It is my understanding that the combination of the kill coil, with distilled water, will make for the most efficient cooling liquid. Is there something else I should be looking at?
Click to expand...
It is great combination and my personal preference. You could use a clear coolant if you want, but that is just more expensive and you have less control of what you put in your system.
jdogg707 said:
2. Should I be looking at the addition of a drain line to help ease the process of draining my loop? If so, where would you recommend I put it?
Click to expand...
A drain line is by nature supposes to be at a low/lowest point in the system. I don't have a drainline in my FT02, and I can darin my system just fine. But if you can find a spot for it, you might as well use it and save yourself a lot of trouble.
jdogg707 said:
3. Are the Koolance quick connect adapters helpful? Should I be looking at placing them somewhere in the loop?
Click to expand...
Quick disconnects are placed on each side of component you change often, ie. your graphics cards. Otherwise they make little sense to use and will just add to the restriction.
jdogg707 said:
4. Should I be looking at something that helps measure flow? If so, recommendations?
Click to expand...
Your pump will have plenty of flow, so adding a flowmeter is just for your own laughs.

I have a watercoold FT02, so if you have any other questions concerning the case, I will gladly try to help you out.
 
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Idef1x said:
It is great combination and my personal preference. You could use a clear coolant if you want, but that is just more expensive and you have less control of what you put in your system.

A drain line is by nature supposes to be at a low/lowest point in the system. I don't have a drainline in my FT02, and I can darin my system just fine. But if you can find a spot for it, you might as well use it and save yourself a lot of trouble.

Quick disconnects are placed on each side of component you change often, ie. your graphics cards. Otherwise they make little sense to use and will just add to the restriction.

Your pump will have plenty of flow, so adding a flowmeter is just for your own laughs.

I have a watercoold FT02, so if you have any other questions concerning the case, I will gladly try to help you out.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the help!

I guess my only question at this point is whether the above list of parts and the suggested loop configuration will be optimal for my equipment. Will everything be pretty quiet?
 
I've seen a couple of examples of using a drain line out one of the secondaries on the radiator, since you're mounting it along the bottom. There's a few good ideas in the build that frozencpu has for a RV-02E, fundamentally the same workspace as your FT02 - http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1...e_w_Window_-_Liquid_Cooled_Helix_Edition.html

I'm actually in the process of putting together a new loop for a RV02 myself and am opting for a slight modification on the drive bays to fit the triple 180 in, which seems to fit beautifully. Maybe worth the consideration if you don't mind a little bit extra work, as the price difference on the triple vs the double is pretty minimal, and its a substantial cooling capacity increase. Also, you could potentially pull the minor 120 out of the build, clean it up a bit, and not have the added restriction of that additional rad.

My other thought is whether you want to go the EK nickel blocks. Yes, they've supposedly fixed them, but I'm still a little weary. While there are plenty that will tell you simply not to go with EK after that whole fiasco, I'm not so quick to write them off completely as they do make good quality stuff generally speaking. I'm just leaning toward the standard blocks at this point though if I go with EK.

Also, unless you're dead set on the EK supreme block, I don't think its one of the best performers, and it has a cost premium over some of the better cpu blocks imo. Not that the supreme block is bad (its decent, just not the best), but among others, the $60 raystorm that came out recently is being reviewed as one of the best, low restriction blocks out there.

Keep us updated with how its coming!
 
I'm actually looking to build my new pc in this case with a similar setup in terms of WC, I'd love to keep it all internal which is half the reason why this case is enticing. Choices look good overall, glad to see you're going water instead of some other kind of fluid. Give us some pics when you're done! :)
 
Thanks all. I think I'm going to take the plunge and order the parts tonight!
 
I really want to know how this turns out, how Idef1x's system looks/runs. I'm in an FT02 right now, and while water cooling was always in the back of my mind, I didn't think I had the right case for it.
 
One tweak you might want to make to your order is to put both radiator in line (one after the other, feeding into your cpu, then you video cards:

reservior -> pump -> rad 1 -> rad 2 -> cpu -> vid cards -> reservior

That way, the CPU get first cracks at the coolest water in the system. The CPU produces a lot more heat in a much more confined area than the video cards, since you have alot more flow surface typically on the video card blocks.

Also, I would recommend looking at either the XSPC Raystorm or the Swiftech Apogee HD -> both are top rated blocks with similar low restriction properties.

Good luck...
 
Morry T said:
One tweak you might want to make to your order is to put both radiator in line (one after the other, feeding into your cpu, then you video cards:

reservior -> pump -> rad 1 -> rad 2 -> cpu -> vid cards -> reservior

That way, the CPU get first cracks at the coolest water in the system. The CPU produces a lot more heat in a much more confined area than the video cards, since you have alot more flow surface typically on the video card blocks.

Also, I would recommend looking at either the XSPC Raystorm or the Swiftech Apogee HD -> both are top rated blocks with similar low restriction properties.

Good luck...
Click to expand...

Interesting...I actually placed the order last night and decided on the XSPC Raystorm after reading all of the great feedback on it.

So you're saying...

Reservoir --> 360 Rad --> 120 Rad --> CPU --> Video Cards --> Reservoir

Wouldn't that dump warmer water onto the video cards? My original thought was by going from the 360 to the CPU, then to the 120, I would cool off the water before hitting the video cards. Hmmm...maybe I try it both ways and see how it goes!
 
You dump warmer water on the video cards, but they have more surface area to cool so its an ok trade off. The key in an all-in-one loop like your doing is to get the coolest fluid to the CPU, because that's going to be the hottest part of the system with the lowest amount of cooling area...
 
PnkPwrRngr said:
I really want to know how this turns out, how Idef1x's system looks/runs. I'm in an FT02 right now, and while water cooling was always in the back of my mind, I didn't think I had the right case for it.
Click to expand...

The first image is when I had a GTX360 and the second is with the 540 Magicool. It runs absolutely great. 10 runs of IBT at maximum stress tops at 62 on the hottest core on my i7 920 at 4GHz. An hour of gaming BF3 at 2560x1440 at the recommended settings of my two overclocked (and shader unlocked) 6950s was 42c and 43c.

imag0168pi.jpg

imag0117u.jpg


(I know the second is especially bad, but bear with me)
 
Idef1x said:
The first image is when I had a GTX360 and the second is with the 540 Magicool. It runs absolutely great. 10 runs of IBT at maximum stress tops at 62 on the hottest core on my i7 920 at 4GHz. An hour of gaming BF3 at 2560x1440 at the recommended settings of my two overclocked (and shader unlocked) 6950s was 42c and 43c.



(I know the second is especially bad, but bear with me)
Click to expand...

Where do you put the HDDs in the second image? How well does the Magicool Radiator fit in the case width wise. Did you have to mod anything? And why only a pull config on the rads? or is that a dumb question...? :cool:
 
PnkPwrRngr said:
Where do you put the HDDs in the second image? How well does the Magicool Radiator fit in the case width wise. Did you have to mod anything? And why only a pull config on the rads? or is that a dumb question...? :cool:
Click to expand...

I bought a 240GB SSD for all my games and keep movies and such elsewhere. You could perhaps add a HDD if you place the reservoir in another 5.25" bay. There is another guy over at oc.net with the 540 who made a build log; he added three of the five HDD bays back into the case (and it looks awesome), but then I would have no room for my pumps.

And the reason for not using push pull is the height issue - you do see my two video cards, right? :p When using the 360 GTX I had five GT 1850rpm after that picture was taken. Three underneath and two on top of the rad. I could ofc do the same with this setup, but it doesn't look very nice, and would perhaps give me 1c.

The only mod needed to fit the 540 is to remove the HDD bay. To do so, you have to remove the outer shell of the case first, and then attach it afterwards. I guess you have about 2 cm of spare room when the rad is mounted.
 
In the second pic, is the pump in your res?

:edit:
First, Love the case, and really clean WC setup.
Second, I see the faceplate of the res in your external bay, right?
So, where is the pump?
 
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Idef1x said:
I bought a 240GB SSD for all my games and keep movies and such elsewhere. You could perhaps add a HDD if you place the reservoir in another 5.25" bay. There is another guy over at oc.net with the 540 who made a build log; he added three of the five HDD bays back into the case (and it looks awesome), but then I would have no room for my pumps.

And the reason for not using push pull is the height issue - you do see my two video cards, right? :p When using the 360 GTX I had five GT 1850rpm after that picture was taken. Three underneath and two on top of the rad. I could ofc do the same with this setup, but it doesn't look very nice, and would perhaps give me 1c.

The only mod needed to fit the 540 is to remove the HDD bay. To do so, you have to remove the outer shell of the case first, and then attach it afterwards. I guess you have about 2 cm of spare room when the rad is mounted.
Click to expand...

I know you couldn't fit push/pull in the base of the case due to graphics cards causing space constrictions. My question was why did you go pull INSTEAD of push. Sorry If my first question came out wrong...:eek:
 
DWolvin said:
In the second pic, is the pump in your res?
Click to expand...
In the second pic with the 540 Magicool, you can see the pumps in the lower left? It's two Laing DDC-1t Plus with a Dual DDC Aquacover. But if you mean the one with the GTX rad, then yes, the pump was mounted underneath the reservoir.

PnkPwrRngr said:
I know you couldn't fit push/pull in the base of the case due to graphics cards causing space constrictions. My question was why did you go pull INSTEAD of push. Sorry If my first question came out wrong...:eek:
Click to expand...

Ahh alright. Well I chose pull because it looks cleaner in my opinion. Easier to change a fan You don't accidentally bump the radiator fins when inserting video cards and such, which looks terrible once you have first bent a few fins. If I had some grill for the radiator, I might had tried push.

SonDa5 said:
What temperature difference between them?
Click to expand...

Not that much TBH. I think at best around 3-4c. On the GTX I had five GT's.
 
Not that much TBH. I think at best around 3-4c. On the GTX I had five GT's.
Click to expand...

Nice. Works great with that case. I was thinking about getting it but it will be easier for me to go push pull on my HWLabs gt stealth 360 radiator to lower my temps a little. I want to try to mount 140mm radiator on top.
 
Honestly dump the EK Blocks and go with AquaComputer for GPU. Heatkiller is also a good choice for a CPU block, and I've also read that AC Kryos is good but I've never used one. I have the nickel plated HK on my rig.
 
Just received the last of my blocks today...will be cleaning the radiators tonight and getting everything ready for install tomorrow.

Very excited to get it all together!
 
So I've installed everything, but the reservoir doesn't sit flush with the front of the case, anyone else had a similar experience?
 
If you are looking for a grill for your 540 rad check out lazerwerx.com

He (Kirk) is a great dude and master acrylic craftsman, hes made custom grills, filters, and even a custom case for me. He only dabbles in acrylic but makes great and cheap stuff. And if you want something sleek that matches the rest of your build hes your man
 
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