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Watercooling upgrade

T

Tak Ne

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jan 28, 2008
Messages
1,233
I currently have a Koolance PC4-1026 case cooling an i7-920 @ 3.6Ghz and a Radeon HD5870. I'd like to upgrade to a pair of Radeon HD6990s or a HD6990 + HD6970 (using EK or Koolance full-cover waterblocks).

I'm planning to upgrade to 3 x 30" eyefinity soon (unless someone starts making 27" 16:10 monitors with DisplayPort).

Koolance claims the case can handle 1000w of heat dissipation. Its a triple 120mm fan & radiator on top with a 8.5lpm pump. Would adding an extra radiator to the 120mm rear fan help much?

The entire water setup uses 1/2" tubing.
Currently using a Koolance CPU waterblock.
All components at default voltages.
There is an extra Noctua 120mm fan behind the 5.25" drive bays blowing air over the CPU/GPU area.
All other fans are the ones that came with the case.

The watercooling is more for noise reduction than overclocking but i'll probably run the 6990 in 450w mode.

I realise I'll probably need to change the PSU which is fine but changing the case isn't really an option as my ability to mod things is severely limited and I've not found another case suitable.
Although changing the case isn't possible, I could swap the pump/rad unit for a dual bay one if it will help.
 
What is the power supply you're using that leads you to believe you require and upgrade?

Adding an additional radiator will help, although I am not exactly sure how much it will help. Maybe a 3-4 C overall reduction in temperature, depending on the fans and the radiator used.
 
The pump should be fine i'm using it in my new build to run 2x360 rads, cpu block and 2 6970 blocks. Now the rad that comes with the koolance system I would upgrade and add a 120 to the back. Good rule is one 120mm rad per gpu or cpu your cooling. So that would cover 4 items. Or your cpu , 6990 and 6970. Dont think you could cool the cpu and 2x6990's with out running the fans wide ass open.
 
I don't think you would need a power supply upgrade if you're just going with a 6990 and 6970.

I would recommend you go with an additional 3x120 radiator if noise is a priority, or 2x120 at least. Those Koolance Exos units are not that great in terms of performance.
 
@Tak Ne:
No, the cooling system is not up to it. How do I know, I have.. the 1025B. (Currently not using it).
Btw did you ever manage to get the pump to be quiet, without turning down the knob all the way. I was never able to get it to stop causing a hell of a lot of vibration.

Ok, but you can work with that case, you will need to change the radiator, the radiator is aluminum, and if you add another radiator it's going to be difficult to find another aluminum radiator (Ill sell you mine if you want *laughs*)

But seriously, there are a few things you can do.
1)Purchase a quad radiator, and the quad shroud. I would suggest buying the black ice gtx and using it in a push/pull configuration. If and only if you can fit it. I suggest this radiator, b/c you will have a very high thermal load. If your temps still aren't where you want them to be you can always add another single 120mm radiator on the exhaust. A gtx will meet or beet all other radiators at or above 1000rpm in push/pull and 1400 rpm in push or pull (push is better). As per fitting if i remember correctly you will lose the top 3 pcie slots in a push pull configuration with a thick radiator. (I used an xspc rx360).
2)Again Pick up a black ice 360gtx., use push/pull, and pick up a another 120mm radiator.
3)You don't need to upgrade your pump, the pump that comes with the koolance setup is either a laing dcc-2 (most powerful compact pump ever), or the dcc-3.2/2.5 depending on when your purchased your case. However, at full tilt the pump is on the noisy side.

4)Finally for roughly the same price as gtx360 you can purchase a pair of swiftech mcr320 radiatos, mount one in the rad shroud, and mouth the other externally.

Also note, that you may have to dremel the shroud so you can properly mount a non-koolance radiator. Make sure to pick up some electrical tape, to seal it as it came from the factory.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes :)
 
I've found somewhere in the UK with the GTX radiators in stock. If I swap the radiator around so the fittings are at the front and lower the pump/reservoir I might just be able to fit two cards otherwise I'd have to use a riser. I dont think there would be enough room for a second card even with the fitted radiator otherwise.

I cant really hear the pump as one of the fans has recently started rattling. It stops for a few hours if I tap it. Always meant to fix it but kept putting it off until the next time I upgrade. :)

I'd really rather not have external units so think I'll stick with a single 6990 for now. From what I've seen most reviews seem to say it should be enough to do 3 x 30" on almost everything I play (I dont mind no AA). I can always try to add a second card at a later date.

I think I'll fit a GTX360 with the front two fans push/pull. That will leave me enough room for a SATA3/USB3 card.

Thank you everyone for your help.
 
Finally getting around to upgrading.

Can anyone see any problems with this?

Parts list
i7-920 @ 4Ghz with a Koolance CPU-345 waterblock.
6Gig ram (not overclocked).
Corsair 1000w modular PSU.
Radeon HD6990 with an AquaComputer waterblock.
LianLi/Koolance PC4-1026 case (using the included reservoir & pump)
3 x XSPC RX240 radiators.
6 x Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm 1150rpm fans.
Phobya external radiator stand.
13mm/19mm tubing.

I know some parts weren't what people suggested but availability here in the UK isn't great.

Here is what I'm currently looking at doing...

Replacing the internal triple Koolance radiator with an XSPX RX240 giving me room for an Asus USB3/SATA3 card.
After cooling the CPU it goes out the case to the Phobya stand with dual XSPC RX240s before going to the GPU block.

I'll be using 7 pairs of Koolance VL3N QDCs in the loop so I can remove components easily. It'll also allow me to bypass the external radiators in 20 secs with a short piece of tube. That way i'll still have one RX240 for cooling.

One thing I noticed with QDCs. Everywhere seems to use the same gender on waterblocks and parts but by using male in and female out its easy to bypass components for upgrading.

Any suggestions?

If 6 fans isn't enough I can add more and do push/pull.
I'll be adding a 2nd graphics card once I decide on which monitors to get.
 
That should be fine. I personally prefer to go with high-speed fans, and turn them down with a fan controller as needed.
 
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