[Tabletop35]

First off, here are my system specs:

Switch 810
Intel i5 2500k
Asus P8z68 V Pro/Gen3
4x4gb Corsair Dominator 1600mhz
2x XFX 6870 HD
WDC Caviar Black 1TB
Crucial m4 128gb
Corsair HX850

Now my question is, do I need to change out anything really? I'm debating on splurging on an Nvidia 680(SLI has too many issues to deal with, Crossfire as well :x). Will my powersupply be enough for the loop as well? Here are the parts I'm looking at:

XSPC RX240 Extreme Performance Radiator Version 2
XSPC RX360 Extreme Performance Radiator Version 2
XSPC Raystorm CPU Waterblock - Intel
EK-FC680 GTX for nVidia Reference Design GeForce GTX 680 & 670 - Acetal(should I get the one with the added nickle?)
Swiftech MCP655 Special Edition 12 VDC Pump With Speed Controller
Bitspower Water Tank Z-Multi 150 - POM
10x Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120 mm by Nidec Servo Corp. - Ultra High Speed - Sleeved
20feet should be enough right? XSPC High Flex Hose 1/2″ ID, 3/4″ OD (19/12.7mm) - Blue / UV Blue
Mayhems Dye - 10ml Deep Blue

As well as the addition of Walmart's distilled water. Is there anything I forgot? Oh and I'm set on compression fittings but not sure what brand to go for?

Thanks for the help and critique all! I really do appreciate it!

 

[Cole S]

Everything looks good to me. And 20ft of tubing shoud be plenty for a full loop including a few messups so don't worry about that. Bitspower is usually the most popular brand for compressions but is also one of the most expensive. If you have the budget I would recommend them. If not any popular company should be fine. Just remember you get what you pay for!

 

[Tabletop35]

Nice that's good to hear about the tubing. I wasn't really sure about the resevior either. Not really tooo familiar on those! Thanks though for taking the time to look at my post! Would you mind answering a few other questions?

Should I grab a larger psu? Mines only 850 watts and I intended on using it for both my board and my loop.
Should I ditch my xfire 6870s for one Nvidia 680?

 

[PeteJM]

I would go with a single 680 IMHO. And looking good so far ^_^ Where are you going to mount the 360?

 

[Tabletop35]

Hahah thanks! I have completely overlooked a fillport and now I have to figure out where to put that XD. And I was thinking I could mount the 360 on top and the 240 on the bottom and buy legs for the case, well that's the plan anyways.

Would you recommend a bigger case for doing that? If there is one?

 

[airdeano]

what kinda air temperature results have you gotten?
so that way you can compare the results of all this fan-fair.
that's a lot of expensive hardware, you'd wanna know if
you improved or not. im just saying..

airdeano

 

[itskerby]

Your PSU is fine for both 6870's and a 680, don't worry there. And a loop doesn't add much power...30w or so for the pump plus any fans you add (miniscule).

I'd definitely jump on a 680 or 670 if I were you. I dumped my CF 6950's for a single 680 and couldn't be happier

Fillports are nice but not 100% necessary, just unscrew an extra port on the top of your res for filling.
However...having a nice drain line in the loop is the best favor you could ever do yourself. Place a T line somewhere in the loop at the lowest point, and a line of tube off of that into a drain(fill)port.

 

[ArchLinuxFTW]

On the decision to go with the Mayhems dye: you have blue coloured tubing already. The dye isn't really necessary, and will simply stain your waterblocks and possibly your tubing as well. In addition, it has been proven that simply using distilled water from the grocery store performs better in terms of cooling than even the most expensive dyes. Furthermore, dyes that advertise themselves to be "non conductive" will gain conductivity over time as it picks up metal ions from the waterblocks in your loop. It is simply a better decision to go with the distilled water, and a silver killcoil/biocide.

Here is what happens when you use dyes/premixes:

http://www.overclock.net/t/597440/a-reason-to-only-used-distlled-water

http://www.overclock.net/t/1036034/why-not-to-use-dyes

http://www.overclock.net/t/1023987/why-is-everyone-against-dyes-in-the-water

As you can see, the owners of the blocks had to take apart their loop, take apart their block(s) (possibly voiding their warranty in the process), and spend quite a bit of time cleaning the gunk out, with partial success.

It is a much more logical decision to go with only distilled water: it is cheaper, performs better (or just as good as) compared to a premix, and doesn't stain or gunk up waterblocks.

Edit: Many people claim that Mayhem's is the only premix/dye that does not gunk up a waterblock. Nonetheless, it's still more expensive than distilled water, and is therefore still a weaker option.

 

[AddictedGamer93]

NO EK NICKLE BLOCKS. THEY STILL FLAKE

 

[Tabletop35]

Quote:

Originally Posted by airdeano

what kinda air temperature results have you gotten?
so that way you can compare the results of all this fan-fair.
that's a lot of expensive hardware, you'd wanna know if
you improved or not. im just saying..
airdeano

I'll have to run Prime95 and Unique Heaven tonight and mark down my temperatures! Thanks for the heads up!
Quote:

Originally Posted by itskerby

Your PSU is fine for both 6870's and a 680, don't worry there. And a loop doesn't add much power...30w or so for the pump plus any fans you add (miniscule).
I'd definitely jump on a 680 or 670 if I were you. I dumped my CF 6950's for a single 680 and couldn't be happier

Fillports are nice but not 100% necessary, just unscrew an extra port on the top of your res for filling.
However...having a nice drain line in the loop is the best favor you could ever do yourself. Place a T line somewhere in the loop at the lowest point, and a line of tube off of that into a drain(fill)port.

How big of a difference did the 680 make? I'm debating on whether or not I should wait for the GK110(sp?) Kepler cards but I hear they are still a ways off. I'm still debating if I want a bay res. or a tube res., any recommendations? And thanks for the heads up on the drain line! I'll have to make a note of that!
Quote:

Originally Posted by ArchLinuxFTW

On the decision to go with the Mayhems dye: you have blue coloured tubing already. The dye isn't really necessary, and will simply stain your waterblocks and possibly your tubing as well. In addition, it has been proven that simply using distilled water from the grocery store performs better in terms of cooling than even the most expensive dyes. Furthermore, dyes that advertise themselves to be "non conductive" will gain conductivity over time as it picks up metal ions from the waterblocks in your loop. It is simply a better decision to go with the distilled water, and a silver killcoil/biocide.
Here is what happens when you use dyes/premixes:
http://www.overclock.net/t/597440/a-reason-to-only-used-distlled-water
http://www.overclock.net/t/1036034/why-not-to-use-dyes
http://www.overclock.net/t/1023987/why-is-everyone-against-dyes-in-the-water
As you can see, the owners of the blocks had to take apart their loop, take apart their block(s) (possibly voiding their warranty in the process), and spend quite a bit of time cleaning the gunk out, with partial success.
It is a much more logical decision to go with only distilled water: it is cheaper, performs better (or just as good as) compared to a premix, and doesn't stain or gunk up waterblocks.
Edit: Many people claim that Mayhem's is the only premix/dye that does not gunk up a waterblock. Nonetheless, it's still more expensive than distilled water, and is therefore still a weaker option.

Ah thanks for the information! I'll definitely steer clear of the dye since I have the UV blue tubing but I'm still glad that there is a dye alternative if I do choose to go that route.
Quote:

Originally Posted by AddictedGamer93

NO EK NICKLE BLOCKS. THEY STILL FLAKE

[

Hahah yeah I just read that post about how bad the nickle plating is and what it did to GPU blocks! I'll be sure to steer clear of them!

 

[itskerby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tabletop35

How big of a difference did the 680 make? I'm debating on whether or not I should wait for the GK110(sp?) Kepler cards but I hear they are still a ways off. I'm still debating if I want a bay res. or a tube res., any recommendations? And thanks for the heads up on the drain line! I'll have to make a note of that!

Aside from the complete lack of reliability I had with my 6950's after catalyst 12.1, constant BSOD's, and eventually artifacting on text in games and Windows...(stability was a huge seller for me).

Performance has been pretty even actually, maybe ~10-20% more in certain games. That's not counting the games that actually took advantage of crossfire...Getting rid of the microstutter and Multi-GPU issues made it worth every penny.

 

[Tabletop35]

Quote:

Originally Posted by itskerby

Aside from the complete lack of reliability I had with my 6950's after catalyst 12.1, constant BSOD's, and eventually artifacting on text in games and Windows...(stability was a huge seller for me).
Performance has been pretty even actually, maybe ~10-20% more in certain games. That's not counting the games that actually took advantage of crossfire...Getting rid of the microstutter and Multi-GPU issues made it worth every penny.

**** if that's not a ringing endorsement I don't know what is! My 6870s are only using 1GB of VRAM so that could be a huge bottleneck in itself. I know I had HUGE reliability issues when playing Dota 2 with my crossfired cards, and had multiple crashes in other games. Gah can not wait to get rid of 'em.

 

[itskerby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tabletop35

**** if that's not a ringing endorsement I don't know what is! My 6870s are only using 1GB of VRAM so that could be a huge bottleneck in itself. I know I had HUGE reliability issues when playing Dota 2 with my crossfired cards, and had multiple crashes in other games. Gah can not wait to get rid of 'em.

Seriously, you won't regret it.

 

[Tabletop35]

Quote:

Originally Posted by itskerby

Seriously, you won't regret it.

Now I just have to decide if I want a tube or a bay res, if I should go an EVGA card(probably will due to the amazing warranty), and if I have the balls to pull the trigger on this extravagant purchase!

 

[itskerby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tabletop35

Now I just have to decide if I want a tube or a bay res, if I should go an EVGA card(probably will due to the amazing warranty), and if I have the balls to pull the trigger on this extravagant purchase!

I held out for an EVGA, just because of their leniency on card warranties with aftermarket coolers.

I personally prefer Tube reservoirs. I think they look better overall, and they're easier to bleed than Bay reservoirs (from what I've heard). Only issue is finding a good place to put them that won't make cabling a complete chore, and finding a stable way to mount it. And I have yet to see a Bay res that doesn't make the front bays on your case look really goofy.

 

[solar0987]

You forgot a kill koil!

 

[Tabletop35]

Quote:

Originally Posted by itskerby

I held out for an EVGA, just because of their leniency on card warranties with aftermarket coolers.
I personally prefer Tube reservoirs. I think they look better overall, and they're easier to bleed than Bay reservoirs (from what I've heard). Only issue is finding a good place to put them that won't make cabling a complete chore, and finding a stable way to mount it. And I have yet to see a Bay res that doesn't make the front bays on your case look really goofy.

True. None of the bay reservoirs I've seen have looked remotely nice. However, I'd probably need to put dye in my distilled water to make the tubing looking nice instead of sticking out like a sore thumb.

EDIT: I take back what I said about the dye. It's probably better that if I do use UV blue tubing, that I keep my distilled water clear, so I can see if any growth occurs in my clear reservoir.
Quote:

Originally Posted by solar0987

You forgot a kill koil!

Hahah don't worry I just forgot to link it! Could never forget the silver kill coil!

 

[Tabletop35]

Oh one question guys! What is overclock.net's take on NB/SB blocks?

 

[itskerby]

For the most part, they're purely aesthetics. I've heard some murmurs that it might increase your overclock headroom on X79, but cannot personally comment.

They sure do look pretty though

 

[airdeano]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tabletop35

Oh one question guys! What is overclock.net's take on NB/SB blocks?

just like RAM blocks.. looks more so than function. unless you plan on dealing with
1.4v+ vcore overclocks on 24/7 not worth the pennies in the sofa to hunt for.

airdeano