Epoc

So I'm doing a build and that price tag is growing and growing.....

I thought 'Why not try Water Cooling?'

Ok. Alright. A person must be a little masochistic to do this I think....

Question time!

1. To Kit or not to Kit?

Kits seem like the simpler option, containing all the parts and such. Possibly more expensive for convenience? . I imagine that a custom build would provide better cooling as it will be tailor made to the system, but will definately require more Effort in planning/learning. Worth it?

2. Good names?

I've been looking through the guides in the sticky but most of the posts were made a few years ago. Just looking for some good quality gear. If anyone could reccomend a few names it would be appreciated and you'd save me hours of inter-hounding.

3. Do all components need to be cooled?

It seems to me if I'm going to run hose I might as well cover the GPU's (crossfire) as well. Is this reasonable? Any other components that should be covered as well? Or is bigger not better?

....


Maybe I could work out something with a few Hampster wheels and a hose to my bathtub.......

Syrillian

Hi.

Here are some suggestions:

Pump ~ Laing (aka D5, Vario)
Radiators ~ Thermochill PA120.2, HW Labs
Reservoirs ~ Swiftech Micro-Res (can be a PITA to clean), EK-150 (anti-"vortex" shield recommended)
CPU Block ~ D-Tek Fuzion (V1 or V2)

I would not kit it out, but purchase seperately. If you are patient you could save money as members here and other sites often-times have great deals for cooling hardware.

Not all components need to be cooled. You could start with the CPU only, then add graphics. The only other components that I would cool would be the MOSFETS, NB and SB; I would leave the RAM and HDD air-cooled.

If you are going to cool a CPU and CF'd GPU cards, then you may want to consider a dual-loop, or a single loop that has 2 radiators and a pump that can maintain a respectable flow-rate.



Good luck.

__________________
Silentium ~ Arcane Arts

Semper Fidelis

"Illegitimi non carborundum"

Epoc

Is an internal really resevoir the way to go? Seems to me its kind of bad keeping the res in with the rest of the hot bits. Maybe it doesn't matter as much since the rad it external?

Eddie3dfx

Resevoir does not perform any functions in the heating or cooling process. Meaning the acrylic doesn't get hot or cold enough where it effects the water temps.
The radiator on the other hand is a different story

Syrillian

As Eddie3dfx stated.

I personally like the reservoir to be inside that case as I like to keep all components internal; this however is not always possible.

For performance concentrate on:

Flow-rate (dependant upon the pumps LPH (liters per hour), the restrictiveness of the components (i.e. Double Impact block is more restrictive than the Fuxion v1)

CFM of fans as well as the static pressure that they provide. A 32mm deep fan will provide more static pressure than a 25mm fan)

Liquid block itself (as in flowrate and pin design/surface area).

__________________
Silentium ~ Arcane Arts

Semper Fidelis

"Illegitimi non carborundum"

jpete001

I currently have an external kit made by koolance www.koolance.com its the exos 2 and I upgraded the pump but the exos 2.5 has the more powerful pump. it was my first attempt at water cooling and now I wont go back. I am building a 4th gaming rig for my home and I am goona go with exos 2.5. I cool my GPU and CPU.

Dawlish7

Easy just stay away from kits, And ask Check out the The threads on good liquid cooling parts, good luck buddy!

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Eddie3dfx

The first thing you need to know is what setup/computer you have, what case you are going to fit it in, and then from there figure out how much heat you need to dissipate from the radiators.
Watercooling is based on setup and case, not vice versa

ira-k

Syrrillian set you up a decent loop there..I would add a rad-box to it, that way you can hang your rad on the back of your case..RadBox .I like to keep my rad out in the cooler room ambients...

Get at least a 240 rad for a CPU only loop, a 360 for a CPU and GPU...I'd use fans at least this size on any rad...86cfm Pana

I like this tubing on 1/2" barbs, it fits tighter and is a little more compact, still flows about as well as the full size tubing...7/16x5/8"

Or this for full size...1/2x3/4"

Coolant.Pentosin ..Biocide..PT Nuke .I have a coolant recipe in my PDF that I'll leave you..

I'll leave you my cleaning and set-up PDF and some links to read, be sure to read all the stickies here also..

..Water Cooling - In English

..Assembling your Custom Watercooling Setup

..D-Tek Fuzion install tip! (Or why you should clean new blocks)

..PC Water Coolant Chemistry - Part I

..Cooling - An In-Depth Look

Attached Files

WC Cleaning and Set-Up.pdf (929.6 KB, 4 views)

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Eddie3dfx

Those fans you suggested don't have the rpm cable, so you may have a problem with some fans controllers with adjusting voltage.
I use the older aluminum 68cfm panaflos and I really recommendy any of the 38mm panaflos as ira-k suggested.
I wish I went with the rpm cabled ones.. hmm maybe in the future when i get the aquero lt :P