Watercooling Crossfired 5790's?

[JoeUser]

Thinking of water cooling my i7 and dual 5970's...the blocks are a non-issue...but what kind of radiator should I use? Obviously more than one...Im thinking a dual 120mm for the 980X (how would that do with it overclocked?) and a quad 120mm for the video cards...any thoughts? Its not that they run hot per se, but cooler is better, and I wouldnt mind overclocking the cards a bit.

Also, in relation to the reservoir...would any size do (internal, single/dual 5.25" bay)?

 

[rennyf77]

here's what i have planned for my own i7 980, classified 4-way sli, dual 5970 build. xspc rx360 for the video cards. black ice gts280 for the cpu/mobo. ek 5970 blocks with back plates. ek 4-way classified edition cpu and chipset blocks. xspc dual bay res for laing ddc. dual laing ddc 18w pumps. i'm going to have to hang the rx360 on the outside of my lian li armorsuit case. the 980 should hit 4ghz easily and won't likely generate more heat that an early 920 at the same speed.

 

[JoeUser]

Will keeping the chipset on the motherboard out of the loop help cool the system any better? Really have no want to cool the motherboard as the on board cooling seems more than efficient if not a bit overdone lol!

Dual pumps are necessary for a loop like this?

 

[Balthazor]

A strong enough pump should be fine; just have the CPU in the loop first, then GPUs. I recommend the EK water blocks for the 5970s; based on a few comments here and there they seem to do the best job at cooling those cards. I'm using Koolance blocks, and I wouldn't recommend them for the 5970.

Koolance has the RP-1000, a 5.25" reservior / pump which is decently powerful, and I'm happy with it so far.

One rule of thumb I've seen used is one 120mm radiator per water block, but it really depends on so many factors that it is really up to you: how cool do you want? Are you willing to put up with fewer fans, but run them faster to cool sufficiently? How will your ambient temps and case temps factor in? How hot will your components be getting, and how much overclocking will you be doing?

You get the idea.