New Water Build equipment ordered

robble

robble

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Jun 6, 2004
Messages
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Since o/c'ing my 7970 on water I've had to turn down the OC on my cpu to keep temps in check. My swiftech 240 radiator just can't keep up with that much heat.

I had been racking my brain trying to figure out how to tastefully add more cooling power to my loop for the last week or two. I just couldn't figure out how to add a 320 or 420 radiator using my current case without a Frankenstein look.

Then I saw the NZXT 810 case and fell in love. It has room internally for both radiators and looks great to boot!

After lots more research this is what I pulled the trigger on last night at Jab-Tech:



Amazon just listed the NZXT 810 case on the website but they aren't in stock yet. I went ahead and placed an order anyway since I get dirt cheap 2nd day air shipping using prime. Hopefully they receive them soon.

I plan on using the six ap-14's in push pull on the gtx360. I have an ap-15 and noctua fan on the 240.

Now I am racking my brain on how to route the hoses. I suspect the pump will be on the power supply, the reservoir mounted on the rear of the case covering the 4 rubber gromits for hoses.


This represents the general placement for the stuffs. What hose routing would you recommend?

 
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I think, it would be something like this

coolantflow1.jpg


Still, I'm just a newbie here :eek: Maybe there is a better way
 
I actually like your idea. I was thinking sort of a reverse flow of what you by having the output of the pump go to the 360 have but your way may be less cluttered.

i can put both barbs on top of the vid card and i think i can even put a barb on the top of the reservoir - although that will make filling the reservoir a bit trickier. Maybe I can put the reservoir upside down...


edit: don't think I can have the water enter the top of the reservoir as that could put air bubbles in the radiator.

edit edit:

Shoots, i just realized the reservoir only has barbs sticking down - not one out the side.
 
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If it was upside down with water entering from the top each time I turn off the system air could go straight up into the radiator - while the reservoir filled up with water.

At least that makes sense to me.

I was looking at one with three holes on one end with one of them sticking out sideways. It would seem that it was not the one I ordered. One on the side would have been better. I can always get an angle barb to point towards the side but right now my hose would have to make a 180 bend from the top radiator to the bottom barb on the reservoir.


Anyone know where to get a cheap 180 degree plastic fitting so I could have a much tighter radius than I can bending the hose?


edit: I updated the original diagram.
 
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robble said:
If it was upside down with water entering from the top each time I turn off the system air could go straight up into the radiator - while the reservoir filled up with water.
Click to expand...

you mean like setup #1 or #2 ?

coolantflow2.jpg
 
setup 1. If I had water coming down from the radiator feeding the TOP of the reservoir, when i turned off the system any air in the reservoir would rise up the tubing into the radiator. Now that i think of it water coming out of the radiator would also be splashing inside the reservoir creating bubbles if the reservoir wasn't completely full.

I'm gonna scrap the idea of having an input hose feeding the top.
 
Look at my setup.......http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1659671&page=2 it's at the bottom of the page.:D

You have essentially the same idea as I have implemented, except my 120.2 radiator is outside mounted currently.

I am waiting on Heatkiller blocks for my 7970s.

My flow goes like this.....pump>CPU block>(GPU blocks when available)>120.2>120.3>reservoir>pump.

No air will travel from the reservoir back to the radiator once the system is bled.
I have no air problems in my system and the radiator goes directly into the reservoir.
I use a Swiftech micro-res.
 
Yeah, that's not an option with the reservoir you have.

I would go reservoir -> pump -> video card -> gtx 360 -> cpu -> swiftech 240 -> reservoir
 
magoo said:
I use a Swiftech micro-res.
Click to expand...

Your radiator does not feed into the top of your res. You can have air in the top half of the res and both hoses are still under water. I actually have the ST micro-res in my current setup. I could reuse it but I haven't seen a great place to mount it and I kinda like the looks of the tube res. I think I'll be ok if I get a 90 degree barb.
 
If I had water coming down from the radiator feeding the TOP of the reservoir, when i turned off the system any air in the reservoir would rise up the tubing into the radiator. Now that i think of it water coming out of the radiator would also be splashing inside the reservoir creating bubbles if the reservoir wasn't completely full.
Click to expand...

Firstly, the physics of that doesn't make sense. As long as the input and output of the reservoir are covered with water, there will be no air going back into the loop.

Secondly, there should be 0 air in your loop already.. when you power off the system, there is no chance that water will rush back into the reservoir, becuase theres no displacement for the water to leave the loop, a pump literally has to push water through it. It is the same principle as covering the top of a straw with water in it, water wont leave the straw, unless theres air to replace it. So unless your loop has some sort of hole at the top of the reservoir, there shouldn't be any air entering your loop... from no where.

You will be fine.






leSLIe said:
I think, it would be something like this

coolantflow1.jpg


Still, I'm just a newbie here :eek: Maybe there is a better way
Click to expand...



Dont you think, its a little silly for water to go up the loop into the cpu, DOWN to the gpu, then back up to the 360 rad?? Also on that note; don't you think its a little silly for water to go from rad->res->pump->rad -> *.... 2 rad passes? thats wasted heat displacement, the water wont get any cooler going through a second rad.. What i would suggest is that you go from your 260 -> cpu -> 360 -> gpu -> res -> pump -> rad -> ***
This way, at least your making use of your 2nd rad, which in my opinion, is unnecessary.

It just makes sense for in a loop, if there is going to be 2 radiators, to definately not have them, essentially beside eachother. You would never go pump -> rad -> rad -> loop. Its what that drawing represents.
 
Dolph said:
Dont you think, its a little silly for water to go up the loop into the cpu, DOWN to the gpu, then back up to the 360 rad?? Also on that note; don't you think its a little silly for water to go from rad->res->pump->rad -> *.... 2 rad passes? thats wasted heat displacement, the water wont get any cooler going through a second rad.. What i would suggest is that you go from your 260 -> cpu -> 360 -> gpu -> res -> pump -> rad -> ***
This way, at least your making use of your 2nd rad, which in my opinion, is unnecessary.
Click to expand...

I find the use of two radiators really unnecessary, you just have to use only one, but the in the correct size for heat displacement. :eek: :cool:

I though about using the smaller rad after the pump because the pump heats the water a little bit, yeah very little indeed in these sizes :p

Correct me if i'm wrong, the GPU produces more heat than the CPU?
so what would be better, to cool the CPU first and then the GPU? to get "cooler" water than the other way around
 
Generally its better to always cool the cpu first, but it doesn't really matter, the rate at which water flows through these systems its almost negligible, the difference in temps might be, at most... 1-2 degrees on which one you cool first.. Cpu water blocks need more flow pressure than GPU blocks, thats basically the main reason to put a CPU block in the begining of the loop. From my understanding.
 
Other than the reservoir feeding the pump, loop order makes no difference at all as far as cooling is concerned. As long as flow rate is good the water anywhere in the loop is going to be within 1-2c once the temps stabilize. yes - the water coming out of the gpu won't be much hotter than the water coming out of the radiator after an hour of the same load.

I am more concerned about using least tubing as possible, reducing tight bends and aesthetics.

5x120 worth of radiators is just about right for a low noise system cooling over 500watts. If I put some screaming loud fans on the gtx it could handle the load but I watercool more for silence than absolute lowest temps.


I've seen a lot of misinformation posted in here. This is an excellent write up anyone who watercools should read : http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7085743&postcount=11

Dolph said:
Generally its better to always cool the cpu first, but it doesn't really matter, the rate at which water flows through these systems its almost negligible, the difference in temps might be, at most... 1-2 degrees on which one you cool first..
Click to expand...

you get it.
 
Dolph said:
Firstly, the physics of that doesn't make sense. As long as the input and output of the reservoir are covered with water, there will be no air going back into the loop.
Click to expand...

That is the issue of having the tube come into the top of the reservoir - the input tube wouldn't be covered with water.
 
It has arrived!



Now I am waiting for my case. It looks like it's going to be 10+ days before Amazon gets them so I canceled that order and ordered it direct from NZXT who has them in stock right now.

I figure I'll be putting it all together next Tuesday.
 
Sick bro! Looks good, do you plan on just using distilled water?
 
Distilled water and a silver coil. The Thin brown cardboard leaning against the wall next to the radiator has a 12" strip of silver.
 
For the GTS vs GTX, the GTS has less cooling capacity than the GTX for the same fan speeds. But since it is a lot thinner, it fits in my case easier, and I can do push/pull whereas with the GTX I'll be limited to pull only.
 
robble said:
Distilled water and a silver coil. The Thin brown cardboard leaning against the wall next to the radiator has a 12" strip of silver.
Click to expand...

12" of silver!!! :eek:

men and their fixation with length... :p
 
So while I continue waiting for the case (it may take longer than I hoped) I switched out the 240 rad that had two fans with the gtx360 using 6 fans.

My gpu load temp dropped from 59 to 38 :eek:. Both of these are after running heaven for over 30 minutes.
 
6 fan rad for the gpu and the cpu loop and a 21C drop under load that's amazing
 
gigatexal said:
6 fan rad for the gpu and the cpu loop and a 21C drop under load that's amazing
Click to expand...

yea! hence the :eek:

I guess the combo of new radiator being better designed and 320 vs 240 (with some dust) and more airflow than the old radiator really paid off.


I'm going nuts waiting for the new case where I can have both radiators installed.

My computer is still quiet enough to be wife approved for 24/7 operation in the bedroom.
 
Damn, that case needs to get here so I can put it together and stop buying stuff!

I just spent another $300 :eek:

~$1200 total in cooling gear now =(
 
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