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Water cooling on my HAF 932

3K views 13 replies 6 participants last post by  ranillo 
#1 ·
Hi guys, seriously thinking about making my HAF 932 water cooled:

CPU - Overclocked i7 2600k (LGA 1155)@4400;

Motherboard: Asus P8Z68 V-Pro;

GPU: Overclocked EVGA 780 Classified, 1241/7000, 1,212v;

I would like to cool CPU and GPU, would like the system run as silent and as cool as possible, even if it would be a bit more expensive. Im all about efficiency. Do not really care about aesthetics. In near future I probably will get another classified for sli and will water cool it too, but for now 1 will do. Planing setup something like that: http://imageshack.com/a/img824/4269/xv2s.jpg

Radiator, top, inside the case: http://imageshack.com/a/img856/3550/mxbj.png

Thinking about going with these parts:

Radiator: X-Flow Stealth GTS 360 Black Ice, http://www.dangerden.com/store/x-flow-stealth-gts-360-black-ice.html?&cat=73#tabs

Reservoir and Pump: EK 5.25" Dual Drive Bay Reservoir with One Laing D5 Vario Pump, http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spshop/customer/EK-525-Dual-Drive-Bay-Reservoir-with-One-Laing-D5-Vario-Pump-pid-24231.html

CPU Block: Ek Supremacy nickel universal, http://www.ekwb.com/shop/blocks/cpu-blocks/supremacy/ek-supremacy-nickel.html

GPU water block: EK Water Blocks EK-FC780 GTX Classified - Nickel, http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-465-EK

And, or course all the rest: Noctua 120 fans, tubing (7/16XID 5/80OD), compression fittings, distilled water. Also thinking about getting fan controller. Any advice on that?

What do you guys thinking about parts? Anything better, cheaper?

If somebody competent would answer these questions, I would be grateful:

1. Is one 120x3 rad enough for this setup, or would i need that 140 rad as well? Not sure if it would fit with the tubing. Would one 120x3 rad be enough for CPU and 2 Classys in Sli?

2. How often average setup need to be drained? Why closed loop ones like corsair H80i doesn't need to be cleaned? Well, its not really possible, but how they make it so clean so performance doesn't degrade, doesn't get clogged or whatnot?

3. Would be any real gain in using reservoir with 2 pumps?

Haven't done any water cooling before, so any help, advices will be appreciated.
 
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#3 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by PachAz View Post

I think a 360mm rad in the top as well as a 140mm would be good for your setup. A 360 + 140 is basicly two 240mm rads, which are perfect when cooling cpu and gpu. Bay res + pump is good, it saves space.
Thank you for your reply. But that second radiator would mean more tubing, more noise. And my one of the main reasons for going under water is noise. I want silence, esp. my GPU, its trying to fly away when gaming or benching. So one 120x3 good quality rad wouldn't be sufficient?
 
#4 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Neer View Post

Thank you for your reply. But that second radiator would mean more tubing, more noise. And my one of the main reasons for going under water is noise. I want silence, esp. my GPU, its trying to fly away when gaming or benching. So one 120x3 good quality rad wouldn't be sufficient?
Dont worry about the extra tubing.. that will cost a whole $5 more... which is negligible compared to the cost of everything else.... and if you're worried about fitting it, get some smaller tubing. Tubing doesn't really effect the efficiency of the water loop. Adding the second radiator really only adds $50 ish to the build and would for sure increase efficiency.

As far as noise, those Noctua fans are a good choice, and the addition of a single 140mm fan should not drastically increase any noise. especially if you get a fan controller...

Personally, I would go with a 140x2 rad on the top for aesthetic purposes. Plus from a few google searches it looks like the top plastic part of the case would block some of the 120x3 rad. 140x2 and 120x3 have very similar performance, with the 120x3 being only 10% more efficient (assuming same thickness and brand and such). Meaning if any part of the 120x3 rad is blocked, your prolly better with the 140x2.

If your first post you said its all about efficiency... and in your second you said your main priority is noise... I think you need to choose which is more important to you. By going to watercooling, you are going to get a cooling system comparable to the air cooling. So from there you need to choose if you want to increase efficiency, or reduce noise... its nearly impossible to do both, especially with SLI 780's OC'ed...

Your water blocks look good, but your rad choice needs to be discussed based on my previous comments...

In regards to your specific questions...
1) I would say get the second rad, especially if you want to SLI and OC...
2) the closed loop systems are a 100% controlled environment... you will never get that with an open loop system... that being said, if you take care of the loop from the beginning, you can reduce the frequency of cleaning it, maybe to every two years. making sure to rinse the loop and chemically treat it...
3) getting dual pumps is only beneficial for one of two reasons... 1... redundancy, so if one fails for some reason, nothing overheats... 2... extremely restrictive loops... so when you have 5+ things on your loop, ex. CPU, GPU, GPU, RAD, RAD, you may want to consider getting two pumps... not necessary, especially if you're on a budget and make sure to choose less restrictive blocks/ rads. But maybe in your case if your going for quiet, it MIGHT be better to go with two pumps with variable speed, and set them both at a 3/5 setting, rather than a single pump at 5. I can not verify if this is true, I havent seen anything claiming its validity, but it is something maybe someone else can comment on?
 
#5 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by RabidSnail View Post

Dont worry about the extra tubing.. that will cost a whole $5 more... which is negligible compared to the cost of everything else.... and if you're worried about fitting it, get some smaller tubing. Tubing doesn't really effect the efficiency of the water loop. Adding the second radiator really only adds $50 ish to the build and would for sure increase efficiency.

As far as noise, those Noctua fans are a good choice, and the addition of a single 140mm fan should not drastically increase any noise. especially if you get a fan controller...

Personally, I would go with a 140x2 rad on the top for aesthetic purposes. Plus from a few google searches it looks like the top plastic part of the case would block some of the 120x3 rad. 140x2 and 120x3 have very similar performance, with the 120x3 being only 10% more efficient (assuming same thickness and brand and such). Meaning if any part of the 120x3 rad is blocked, your prolly better with the 140x2.

If your first post you said its all about efficiency... and in your second you said your main priority is noise... I think you need to choose which is more important to you. By going to watercooling, you are going to get a cooling system comparable to the air cooling. So from there you need to choose if you want to increase efficiency, or reduce noise... its nearly impossible to do both, especially with SLI 780's OC'ed...

Your water blocks look good, but your rad choice needs to be discussed based on my previous comments...

In regards to your specific questions...
1) I would say get the second rad, especially if you want to SLI and OC...
2) the closed loop systems are a 100% controlled environment... you will never get that with an open loop system... that being said, if you take care of the loop from the beginning, you can reduce the frequency of cleaning it, maybe to every two years. making sure to rinse the loop and chemically treat it...
3) getting dual pumps is only beneficial for one of two reasons... 1... redundancy, so if one fails for some reason, nothing overheats... 2... extremely restrictive loops... so when you have 5+ things on your loop, ex. CPU, GPU, GPU, RAD, RAD, you may want to consider getting two pumps... not necessary, especially if you're on a budget and make sure to choose less restrictive blocks/ rads. But maybe in your case if your going for quiet, it MIGHT be better to go with two pumps with variable speed, and set them both at a 3/5 setting, rather than a single pump at 5. I can not verify if this is true, I havent seen anything claiming its validity, but it is something maybe someone else can comment on?
Thank you for your input, mate, I really appreciate it. What I meant about efficiency was in regard to aesthetics. I don't care for aesthetics, its all about efficiency. And yes, anyway, if water cooling is louder than air cooling, its inefficient cooling solution for me. You can make air very "efficient" as well: put n+1 big-ass 3000+ rpm fans in the case, put them on CPU, GPU and it will cool good, but will be very loud - inefficient for me.

Price of tubing is least of my worries. What I meant is: more tubing - less flow, less efficiency. It would look something like this: http://imageshack.com/a/img827/1032/nv8i.jpg

Would need quite a bit more tubing to connect those 2 rads.

Interesting thing, reading your post today, gave me an idea and I found 140mm rads, that fit 120mm holes http://skinneelabs.com/aqua-computer-airplex-radiator-review/

I wonder if there are smaller ones like this. Probably more efficient than 120 rad, but still can be mounted on 120 holes and 140mm fans can be used. Thank you for the idea. Anyone tried this rad or something like this?

What about using one big rad and doing "pull" and "push" configuration?

Well, with fan controller I could control the noise a bit. Anyway, i doubt it will be louder than GTX 780 fans on full. Or 2x780 fans on full for that matter.

2 Pumps..I don't know, seems a bit like waste of money. They cost good money and have 2 of them, when its not necessary, i don't know.. They're not loud, these pumps, are they? And if they're inside a reservoir, they should be even quieter?

Thanks again, RabidSnail, you helped me a lot.

Anyone else has suggestions, ideas? Thank you in advance.
 
#6 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Neer View Post

Price of tubing is least of my worries. What I meant is: more tubing - less flow, less efficiency. It would look something like this: http://imageshack.com/a/img827/1032/nv8i.jpg
Would need quite a bit more tubing to connect those 2 rads.
The additional tubing isnt what would reduce your flow, its the resistance in the radiator.

I feel like your putting yourself in a rough place here trying to cool dual GTX 780s and a CPU... I think for that cooling load, you would want 2 radiators... If you only had one GTX 780, you could get away with just the top rad.

But by adding the second GPU, you'll want a second rad... and then with the two additional components on your loop, you'll want a second pump... kind of a snow ball effect...

I THINK you could get away with one pump on a budget. and I THINK you could get away with one rad, but obviously not an ideal situation... It kind of depends on the thickness also. In your first post you have a 30mm top rad... I would suggest going up to at least a 45mm... and a push pull setup if possible.. Im not sure how much room you have in the case though. Might be something nice to include in your next post.

Also with your posted RAD, its a high FPI rad, not ideal for low noise... I would reccomend a 9FPI Alphacool rad maybe?
 
#7 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by RabidSnail View Post

The additional tubing isnt what would reduce your flow, its the resistance in the radiator.

I feel like your putting yourself in a rough place here trying to cool dual GTX 780s and a CPU... I think for that cooling load, you would want 2 radiators... If you only had one GTX 780, you could get away with just the top rad.

But by adding the second GPU, you'll want a second rad... and then with the two additional components on your loop, you'll want a second pump... kind of a snow ball effect...

I THINK you could get away with one pump on a budget. and I THINK you could get away with one rad, but obviously not an ideal situation... It kind of depends on the thickness also. In your first post you have a 30mm top rad... I would suggest going up to at least a 45mm... and a push pull setup if possible.. Im not sure how much room you have in the case though. Might be something nice to include in your next post.

Also with your posted RAD, its a high FPI rad, not ideal for low noise... I would reccomend a 9FPI Alphacool rad maybe?
Thank you for your answer, RabidSnail ;)

Yes, another radiator and more tubing - less flow ;)

I understand. To water cool CPU and 2 high end OC'ed GPU's, i'll probably need 2 rads, +3 more fans, +1-2 pumps. One single 230mm fan in HAF 932 case makes 19dB noise, has 110 CFM. One average 120mm fan makes 22dB of noise, has 54 CFM. So I'll have to remove 1 230mm fan, add 3x120mm fans (or maybe 140mm fans, what would make even more noise). That means, noise will increase by at least 47db only because of fans. +noise from the radiators, pump/s. Looks like its not going to be quieter than air at all. Although I'm not sure how much noise GPU fans make on idle. But if I would lower rpms when not needed and crank it up when playing, should justify it.. Wouldn't be lauder that GTX 780 fans on full..

My first post photo of 360 rad on the top is not mine. I borrowed it to show how I thought I should do it. I don't have any parts bought yet, so still free too chose what's best.

Its a HAF 932 case, quite big, have no 5.25 bays used now, will have fan controller, probably. http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/11304-cooler-master-haf-932-case-review-12.html

Well, we established, that its not likely to build very quiet loop for CPU and 2 high end GPUs..more FPI, more heat dissipated. I'll look in to more rads.
 
#8 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Neer View Post

Thank you for your answer, RabidSnail
wink.gif


I understand. To water cool CPU and 2 high end OC'ed GPU's, i'll probably need 2 rads, +3 more fans, +1-2 pumps. One single 230mm fan in HAF 932 case makes 19dB noise, has 110 CFM. One average 120mm fan makes 22dB of noise, has 54 CFM. So I'll have to remove 1 230mm fan, add 3x120mm fans (or maybe 140mm fans, what would make even more noise). That means, noise will increase by at least 47db only because of fans. +noise from the radiators, pump/s. Looks like its not going to be quieter than air at all. Although I'm not sure how much noise GPU fans make on idle. But if I would lower rpms when not needed and crank it up when playing, should justify it.. Wouldn't be lauder that GTX 780 fans on full..
I remember on my last build I was going for the whole silent thing, and found out that when you try to add sound volumes, it isnt strait addition, its an odd formula. A quick Google search gave me this...

https://www.noisemeters.com/apps/db-calculator.asp
 
#9 ·
I have a 360 rad in the top of my 932 and a 240 on the back, external. I use all the front bays so a front mount rad is not possible. If you want to quietly cool cpu x1 and gpu x2 your going to want 2 360 rads. My 360+240 cools cpu. gpu and vrms and it's very quiet. Even bench testing fan speed is around 1200rpm with 6 Noc F12's and 4 CM sickle's controlled with a AQ6 Pro. Idle DT is 2C and full load DT is 8C. GPU (280X) never exceeds 50C and CPU (9590@5.1) never over 55C, idle temps are in the low 30's.

You said you're not using the front bays so a second 360 in the front would be a option. Depending on how large your psu is you can mount on the bottom also. There's enough room in the front for a 360, dual bay res and controller. You could use a xspc dual bay res with dual d5's, plenty of flow for that loop. Even at low pump speeds you are looking at 1 Gpm. Bay mounted pumps can cause some noise at high pump speeds.

360X45 low fin count rads for the low speed Noc's work very well for me. YMMV.
 
#10 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by madcratebuilder View Post

You said you're not using the front bays so a second 360 in the front would be a option. Depending on how large your psu is you can mount on the bottom also. There's enough room in the front for a 360, dual bay res and controller. You could use a xspc dual bay res with dual d5's, plenty of flow for that loop. Even at low pump speeds you are looking at 1 Gpm. Bay mounted pumps can cause some noise at high pump speeds.

360X45 low fin count rads for the low speed Noc's work very well for me. YMMV.
Are the front bays removable to put a second RAD there? In pictures when I googled the case it didn't look like they were. But admittedly I never looked into it more than a glance :p

If you are able to pit a second 360 rad in the front, that would be my opinion as well, assuming money isnt too much of an issue...

2x 360 rad
2x gpu blocks
1x cpu block
2x pumps

throw some Noctura fans on there with a fan controller to keep them at low speeds when you dont need the cooling, and youll have a quiet, yet cool machine.

But I guess your looking at $700+ cooling system there... damn that money!

EDIT:

Maybe since you only have 1 GPU now, you just get the res, 2x pumps, cpu, and gpu. then down the road buy the 2nd gpu block, 2nd res, and just do an overhaul of the system when you get your second graphics card... split up the cost since you dont need all of the cooling right away... adding a rad is easy down the road. Its things like pumps, you should get first
 
#11 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by RabidSnail View Post

Are the front bays removable to put a second RAD there? In pictures when I googled the case it didn't look like they were. But admittedly I never looked into it more than a glance :p

If you are able to pit a second 360 rad in the front, that would be my opinion as well, assuming money isnt too much of an issue...

2x 360 rad
2x gpu blocks
1x cpu block
2x pumps

throw some Noctura fans on there with a fan controller to keep them at low speeds when you dont need the cooling, and youll have a quiet, yet cool machine.

But I guess your looking at $700+ cooling system there... damn that money!

EDIT:

Maybe since you only have 1 GPU now, you just get the res, 2x pumps, cpu, and gpu. then down the road buy the 2nd gpu block, 2nd res, and just do an overhaul of the system when you get your second graphics card... split up the cost since you dont need all of the cooling right away... adding a rad is easy down the road. Its things like pumps, you should get first

2x pumps

throw some Noctura fans on there with a fan controller to keep them at low speeds when you dont need the cooling, and youll have a quiet, yet cool machine.

But I guess your looking at $700+ cooling system there... damn that money!
Adding a 360 to the front takes some modding, you need to cut the internal bay case and drill out a few rivets. That's why I went with a external mount, I didn't want to hack this case in the event I want to sell it later on. I used a MCB120 revision 2 "Radbox" . The 932 already has the tube pass thru holes in that top plate.

I agree with your edit.
 
#13 ·
I'm currently starting to mod my HAF 932 case in order to start putting my watercooling loop together.

It IS a PITA. I removed the bottom drive bay and am really considering removing the top one as well as I have an AquaComputer Aqualis PRO 450ml res that is most likely going to have to get mounted on the upper rear of the case if I don't remove the upper drive bays (5.25")

I've had this case for years and THOUGHT that it would be big enough for the loop that I am starting to build...boy was I wrong LOL.

I'm about to start my own build log as some of the situations that I am running into are just too hilarious not to share :)

Good luck with yours, but don't be surprised if you'll have to make some mods to your case. I really didn't want to (though I already have), but at least it'll give me a reason to upgrade later on and since this is my very first build, I need the experience.
 
#14 ·
It's a long time i'm modifing the case cause the ring of water, finally i've found this solution that looks clear and short as possible, with a bay reservoir, a 360 + a 120 radiators, 1 controller for 4 fans. I need the drive bay cause there are 6 HD to install:D. Last thing to do it's about some lights and i'm waiting for a strip blue led that i''ve ordered.
Sorry for my english
 
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