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First time watercooling cosmos 2 help.

Tags:
  • Overclocking
  • Water Cooling
  • cosmos 2
  • custom loop
  • help
Last response: in Overclocking
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September 28, 2013 9:56:55 AM

Hi guys!

I recently sent an email to overclockers asking about what I'd need for watercooling, if I had chose the right things, along with a few questions about upgrading and so on only to receive a pretty lackluster reply:

"Dear Alex,

Thank you for your webnote

I have looked thought your list and i believe you have everything you need but i can not guaranty this. I would suggest looking online for guides and advice.

Regards,"

As you can see, this really didn't help in the slightest, so after flicking through your forums over the past year or so, I decided to put my questions on here and hope for some amazing help I see so often on this forum.

What I originally asked was:

"Hi,

I've been looking to upgrade from my GTX 690 but really don't know where to go.
Originally I was just going to watercool it, try for a better OC and leave it at that until the 800 series were released.

I was thinking of going SLI 780's but is the difference in performance even worth the extra £ over the 690?
I'm gaming at 1440p, so from what I've been told (and have read) the extra VRAM, MEM Bandwidth, texel and pixel rate's would be worth the change.

Either way, I'm also looking to get a full custom loop, so I was hoping you would be able to guide me in the right direction of what to buy for it.
I have everything picked out from you that I think would complete the build, but want to be sure that I have everything I need before I buy them and if I've picked the right things for my build.

-At the moment, my build is:

-ASUS GTX 690

-Maximus V Gene (looking to upgrade to a full size mobo)

-8gb Corsair Vengeance (looking to upgrade to dominator if the price is worth it)

-Intel 3570K

-Corsair AX850 (not sure if I'd need to upgrade)

-2x 1TB HDD's in Raid0

-1x 3TB HDD

-1x 64gb SSD

-Cooler Master Cosmos 2 (which I'll be watercooling)

-ASUS PB278Q monitor (Will there be a noticeable increase in performance with 2x 780's or other GPU's over the 690 on this monitor?)

Taking into consideration what's inside of my rig, I'd like to know what Radiators to get that would fit without a problem.
Also, I'm looking to buy the quietest fans with the best airflow.

The other items I chose from you for the watercooling are:

- EK-RES X3 400 Reservoir (Is this a good size for my case?)

-Aqua Computer Aquastream XT USB 12V Pump - Ultra Version (Will this be enough to move the coolant efficiently?)

-XSPC HighFlex Hose 1/2" ID, 3/4" OD, 19/12.7mm, 2m, Clear/UV (Is this a good size tubing, as I've been told the wider the tube, the better flow.)

-Aqua Computer Cuplex Kryos .925 Silver Edition - Intel/or the XSPC RayStorm CPU WaterBlock (Intel) Copper (can't decide on this, is the Kryos worth the extra £135? especially for a 3570k?)

-Mayhems Ice Dragon Nano Fluid 1L (I was originally going for a clean white theme, is this the best fluid and would I need Mayhems Ultra Pure H20 Watercooling Fluid 1L to mix with it?)

-Watercool Heatkiller GPU-X³ GTX 690 "Hole Edition" Ni-Bl (Or same brand and model for 780's)

-Watercool HEATKILLER® GPU Backplate GTX 690 (Or same brand and model for 780's)

Is this everything I need to fully watercool my system, and have I chose the right things?

Thank you for your help
Alex"


I'd really appreciate some help with this as it's my first custom loop and I'm really excited to get it started, but want to make sure I'm 100% ready.

Thanks for the help guys
Alex

More about : time watercooling cosmos

a b K Overclocking
September 28, 2013 2:49:38 PM

Ok so here is what I see you have a nice system if i where looking to upgrade it i would replace the monitor to a 30" 2560 X 1600, and if one 690 is not enough, get two. Then SLI the pair, as far as water cooling goes for a nice rig, yea it is going to cost, but we can help you build one.
start with the sticky and have look at the gallery
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September 28, 2013 3:09:35 PM

toolmaker_03 said:
Ok so here is what I see you have a nice system if i where looking to upgrade it i would replace the monitor to a 30" 2560 X 1600, and if one 690 is not enough, get two. Then SLI the pair, as far as water cooling goes for a nice rig, yea it is going to cost, but we can help you build one.
start with the sticky and have look at the gallery


I'm really happy with the monitor, so I don't see me wanting to upgrade that for a while.
Also, from what I've heard quad SLI support is pretty terrible, and only really good for benchmarking (something I'm not interested in).
I think at the moment, I'm going to stick with the single 690, watercool it then try for a higher overclock while waiting for the 800 series to be released. (:

As for the watercooling, since it's my first build I really want to get it right, and I've been told the cosmos 2 case takes quite a lot of modification to apply a decent custom loop, so I was hoping somebody could explain where I want to be starting, what I'll need and the best way to go about building it.

Thanks for the reply. (:
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Related resources
a b K Overclocking
September 28, 2013 4:49:37 PM

well if modding is what you need help in there are a few here that can help at that.



here are a few that i have done
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a c 178 K Overclocking
September 28, 2013 10:48:04 PM

Go for dual 780's, they perform too close to a Titan and the 690 to justify the extra cost. With dual 780's, you will easily outperform a 690, especially at 1440p as that extra VRAM and memory bandwidth will make a difference there.
Also get an SSD bigger than 64GB, formatting and Windows will fill that space fast. Get at least a 128GB.

Your right about the Cosmos II, its massive and expensive but you cant really do that much with that space. If your looking for a case that can hold equivalent rad space for much cheaper, a Switch 810 is a good option. At the Cosmos' pricepoint is the 900D, a far superior case IMO, especially for water-cooling.

The loop looks fine to me, though some changes I would recommend.
- Drop the coolant and use plain Distilled with a Biocide/Killcoil, and for the colour simply just get white tubing. Dyes in the loop will eventually cause you problems.
- On the tubing, as long as the ID is above 1/4" it really doesnt matter to performance.
- For the CPU block, if those are your two choices I would go with the Raystorm. The other might perform better, but water-blocks are all roughly the same performance so I doubt it would be worth the extra.
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September 29, 2013 6:21:40 AM

manofchalk said:
Go for dual 780's, they perform too close to a Titan and the 690 to justify the extra cost. With dual 780's, you will easily outperform a 690, especially at 1440p as that extra VRAM and memory bandwidth will make a difference there.
Also get an SSD bigger than 64GB, formatting and Windows will fill that space fast. Get at least a 128GB.

Your right about the Cosmos II, its massive and expensive but you cant really do that much with that space. If your looking for a case that can hold equivalent rad space for much cheaper, a Switch 810 is a good option. At the Cosmos' pricepoint is the 900D, a far superior case IMO, especially for water-cooling.

The loop looks fine to me, though some changes I would recommend.
- Drop the coolant and use plain Distilled with a Biocide/Killcoil, and for the colour simply just get white tubing. Dyes in the loop will eventually cause you problems.
- On the tubing, as long as the ID is above 1/4" it really doesnt matter to performance.
- For the CPU block, if those are your two choices I would go with the Raystorm. The other might perform better, but water-blocks are all roughly the same performance so I doubt it would be worth the extra.


So are you saying I should sell my 690, and go for the 780's?
As for the SSD, I mainly keep my OS on there with just a few important programs, and it's been sitting at 25.6gb free of 59.5gb, so I thought that would be ok since I'm never really adding anything to it.
Plus I have the 2x1TB's in raid0 (for 2tb) for my games, and a 3TB for everything else (Mainly used as a gaming rig, so not many programs, videos, etc.) so space is fine at the moment.

I was considering swapping to the 900D, but the only thing that stopped me was I absolutely love the build quality of the cosmos 2.
Would you say the Cosmos 2 is really that bad for watercooling? If so, I'll look into getting rid of this case and swapping to the 900D.

-And distilled you would recommend?
-Does bends in the tubing affect the flow of the liquid, and would I be best going for all straight rigid tubes?
-I'm going for a black and candy yellow color scheme, so is there any CPU blocks you would recommend?

Also, I'm really struggling to find black and yellow MoBo's, is there a way to color the PCI slots and other things on it, and if so what would I need to use?

Thank you for all the helpful information! (:
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a c 178 K Overclocking
September 29, 2013 6:31:10 AM

Fairly late where I am, so feedback will be brief.

I was under the impression that you hadn't bought anything yet and was asking about water-cooling a theoretical rig. If you already have it might as well keep it.
What have you already got?

Its not bad, there is just better out there.

- Distilled water is distilled water, get whatever you can find in the cleaning aisle of your local supermarket. You really dont need to buy "premium" distilled water as its all the same after 10s in the loop.
- Bending to the point of kinking affects flow, but gradual curves are fine.
- None come to mind, though that Raystorm comes with a cosmetic metal plate that I imagine would be easy to paint gold.

Black and Gold/Yellow mobo, AsRock boards.
I have seen motherboard painting before and it can be done, but obviously its somewhat risky. I would assume masking tape to make sure it doesnt get inside connectors and such, non-conductive spray paint and a steady hand to get an even coat. AsRock make a water-proof motherboard, could be a good option, at the very least you will be able to clean it if you stuff up.
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September 29, 2013 7:14:01 AM

manofchalk said:
Fairly late where I am, so feedback will be brief.

I was under the impression that you hadn't bought anything yet and was asking about water-cooling a theoretical rig. If you already have it might as well keep it.
What have you already got?

Its not bad, there is just better out there.

- Distilled water is distilled water, get whatever you can find in the cleaning aisle of your local supermarket. You really dont need to buy "premium" distilled water as its all the same after 10s in the loop.
- Bending to the point of kinking affects flow, but gradual curves are fine.
- None come to mind, though that Raystorm comes with a cosmetic metal plate that I imagine would be easy to paint gold.

Black and Gold/Yellow mobo, AsRock boards.
I have seen motherboard painting before and it can be done, but obviously its somewhat risky. I would assume masking tape to make sure it doesnt get inside connectors and such, non-conductive spray paint and a steady hand to get an even coat. AsRock make a water-proof motherboard, could be a good option, at the very least you will be able to clean it if you stuff up.


Everything I've listed in my build is what I have at the moment, the water cooling build is what I was looking to buy tomorrow.

I think I'm pretty much sure of where to go with this custom loop now though thanks to your information:

-Will stick with the 690 and WC it until the 800 series.
-Will stick to the Cosmos 2 as I feel as though the extra effort with it will pay off.
-Switch my MoBo for an AsRock.
-Choose a CPU block that will suit my theme, as there's not much difference in performance among them.
-Having trouble finding yellow tubing, especially the kind of yellow I was looking for so may have to stick to using the coolant.
-Rads I'll measure out and see what I can put int there, but I'm assuming the more the better?

Also could you recommend the best fans for radiators?

I'm feeling pretty confident with this custom loop now, thank you for the extremely helpful replies, really appreciated. (:
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a c 178 K Overclocking
September 29, 2013 11:45:22 PM

Rad space, once you have enough getting more wont benefit you in terms of temperature. However going overkill with rad-space does allow you to turn your fans down to reduce noise.
Look up the TDP section in the sticky to learn about how to figure out how much is enough.

Best fans
- Noctua NF-F12 (best)
- Silverstone Air Penetrators (great)
- Scythe Gentle Typhoon 1850's (great)
- Corsair SP120's (good)
- XSPC Xinrullian's (good if you have slim radiators)
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September 30, 2013 12:51:02 AM

Quote:
- Drop the coolant and use plain Distilled with a Biocide/Killcoil, and for the colour simply just get white tubing. Dyes in the loop will eventually cause you problems.


Have to agree with this. Dye's and other fluids are a big waste of time and end up messing up your blocks. Go with plain medical distilled water and silver kill coils. I switched to silver coils two years ago and my water is still clean with zero buildup or performance issues. Drop a single coil into your reservoir or inside a tube leading out of the pump and your set.
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