• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Water cooling newbie

S

Seer37

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 24, 2010
Messages
305
Ok, I did a few months worth of research off and on, and I think I am just about ready to make my purchases here shortly. The specs are basic: i7 920 with a 4.2ghz overclock, and a single GTX 480 with an overclock. I think this is the setup I want to go with, but do have a few questions, what size tubing and fittings should I be looking at? I heard fatboys were good, but what are their dimensions etc. This is where I'm getting a little lost at. This will be housed in a 800D case.

CPU Block: Heatkiller Rev 3 1366
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1...uid_Cooling_Block_-_14015.html?tl=g30c325s839

GPU Block: EK NickelAcetal Block for GTX 480
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1...TX-NickelAcetal_Hot_Item.html?tl=g30c311s1173

Radiator: Black Ice GTX 480
http://www.dangerden.com/store/black-ice-gtx480.html

Was thinking this or 2x 240's, going to be adding Scythe GentleTyphoon Fans. Should I go push pull?

Reservoir: XSPC Bay Reservoir (not to sure on this, please make suggestions)
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/2...rvoir_-_Clear_Silver_Black.html?tl=g30c97s168

Pump: MCP655
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/6...38_Conversion_Kit_317_GPH.html?tl=g30c107s155

or http://www.dangerden.com/store/dd-laing-ddc-3.25-12v-18-watt-version.html

My final questions are. Whats the best tubing diameter I should be using? And what about fittings? Please link.
 
www.sidewindercomputers.com
You can save 20-30$ each on your choice of pump and cpu block if you buy there, gpu block price is the same though. As for radiator, you can get 2 mcr420s or 320s for that price, but they don't sell Black ICE unfortunately.

edit: never mind on cpu savings, looked at wrong cpu
 
Not going to tell you what blocks to use as it seems they all do a great job and everyone has their opinions. I have heard great things about your CPU block choice so no worries about it.

Now the rad. As i own the case you do know in order to use a 480 you will have to cut the top off and get a rad guard if you internal mount it. Not hard but depending on your skill you may want to rethink to a 120.3

Push/Pull: If you go XSPC you will be cutting it really close. I tried but with my current setup i was a few mm short of being able to do it. I have an internal 250ml bitspower res and ASUS rampage iii extreme. I also use a fillport with a 90 so that added to the problem. Someone else may have done this and can answer better than me but if you really want Push/Pull you should get a thinner rad to be safe.

Tubing: Went with 1/2 ID and 3/4 OD all because my pump was that size. I heard its bad to change size in the loop and wanted to be safe. Besides having the max amount of flow the tubing was actually not too bad to route. Primochill tubing was a little stiff for my liking and i can not for the life of me remember the other brand i had. Both were UV Green but the other stuff was very flexable so i used it for the tighter bends. I do recall seeing 3/8 ID is so close to performance but without nearly the headaches of routing that 1/2 ID has so may be the smarter choice. Either way just take your time and you can't go wrong. I do say for me 1/2 ID with the case was worth it since i know i have the best performance i can get

Fittings: Bitspower. That is the name i hear all the time so i went with them. Little pricey but considering you can reuse them in future builds well worth the price. I am sure some lesser costing ones are just as good but rest in the knowledge you got one of the best.

Barb: Well barb flows a little better and done right is 99.9999999% safe. I used the metal compression clamps to hold the tubing and it holds really well. PITA to get them on depending on the location but once done you can rest easy you wont have a tube flying off. Worm drives are the best but can cut your tubing so becareful using them. Also dont look as good. Zip tie i would not suggest but i did have to use them on my pump since the clamps would not fit. I think i am going to replace them with worm drives.

Compression: Look really nice and pretty safe to use. Lose just a little flow but nothing to worry about. Issue with them is you are locked into one size of tubing per the size of the fitting. Also i want to say twice the price of a barb. I dont have enough knowledge on if they will leak or not over time but the few that i used in my last build went 3 years and no issues. Its now been 7 years since i first built the machine and turned it on a few weeks ago just for the lols. Guess what. No leaks and fired right up. The liquid has some "not so friendly" things floating around since i used UV green liquid on that build and never flushed it but hey i dont care what happens to it i just wanted to see if it would work.

So barb for safety, flow and low cost. Compression for nicer looking and easier time cabling.

Liquid. I know you did not ask but do yourself a favor. Distilled water and either PT Nuke or Killcoil. Don't waste your time with UV dye as it will only piss you off down the road. Your basically rolling the dice on when not if you will have problems.

Hope all of this helps.
 
So, i'll need the fittings and the barbs?

Also will a 360 rad be able to effectively cool both the i7 and the gtx 480 with their respective overclocks? Or would say maybe 2 240s? In the following config:

Res>Pump>CPU>240 rad>GPU>240 rad>
 
barbs are fittings. if you decide to go with barbs you really should get some type of clamp to hold them in place. I would suggest you read the stickies up top to get a better idea of what i am talking about or at least look at pictures of machines to see them.

As far as how much rad you need i am def not the guy to answer that. yeah i suppose 1 360 will be able to cool your stuff at stock but with the OC i could not even begin to know. Since you have a Corsair 800D i would highly suggest you look at the mods people do to fit in another 240 at the bottom. Pretty easy to do with a little bit of time. The mod i did in my case is a lot harder but not impossible for even the average person. Just need the patience and remember measure twice, cut once :p

you can look at my sig and go to my build log but the pictures keep going in and out. not sure why imageshack has issues with my pics but more than 50% of the time only a . appears.
 
I would really like to avoid modding the case. Would a single 360 rad be able to handle all of these components? If not, should I look into external radiator mounting? If so, who makes good mounts?

Edit: It looks like the Swiftech radbox is a favorite.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top