Hey all. As the title says, this is the second rig i've built myself, and looking into breaking into watercooling for better temps/less Mobo clutter from the gargantuan air coolers, with noise being a tertiary concern, long as it' a straight Hum less then 50DB or so;Old rig was an antec 900 decked out with 4x30Db tri-cools and the top-mounted 200mm big boy and I didn't think it was uncomfortably loud, for reference.
Primarily i'm just looking to cool my CPU, an i5 3570k. My case is a Coolermaster HAF-XM, PSU is Corsair AX760i platinum powering an Asus 8z77-V Pro with Very low profile Crucial ballistics memory.
Possible Rad mounting configurations that i can see are(in max lengthxdepth):
Top outside: 240/280mm(360mm possible with modding?)X45mm, push fans only(unless thin rad with 15mm pull fans)
Top inside: 240/280/360mmX33.6mm, pull fans only(push/pull possible on 240mm with fans overhanging ram/VRM, or alternatively a very thick >58.6mm rad with pull fans, though in either case i would be restricted to having only 4-6 screws securing the rad to the case due to positioning)
Back inside: 140mmX(seemingly any depth, really) push/pull
Back outside: 240/280/360/420mmX(any) push/pull using a rad box or other kind of mounting bracket.
HDD tray: 240mmX~23-27mm(leaves space for GPU) pull fans only(push won't mount right)
I have two open optical bays for a bay reservoir.
While I have no intentions of water cooling my next GPU(single GTX 780) due to costs and common sense(for the cost of a 780 and a water block I could just get a 780TI with superior performance...) having the capability to add one in the future if finances improve would be nice if I go full custom.
I'm really not looking to spend more then ~$200 total on this, which to my understanding basically limits me to AIO or small custom loop kits, though with black friday on the horizon a much better kit might fall within that price range so solutions up to the $300-350 range might be feasible.
On the AIO front I was looking at the H110/H100i by Corsair, the X60 Kraken by NZXT and the Water 2.0/3.0 Extremes by Thermaltake, though i'm open to more suggestions. I can get X60's/H110's for about $118 currently, H100i for $130, 2.0's for $60 after rebate and 3.0's for $110. My main concerns with them are the tubing and the radiator material. Is dry-rotting a potential hazard with those tubes(thought i heard something about that before)? And correct me if i'm wrong, but both use copper blocks and aluminum radiators, won't corrosion gradually destroy these coolers or does the coolant they use not permit that? Haven't come across anything about it before.
From what i've seen from identical-fan benchmarks, the h110 actually pretty handily kills the x60 by 4.5Celsius, but the pump may be noisier, and is matched by the smaller Water 2.0 Extreme that is literally half the price ATM. Both the H110 and 2.0 seem to only be a few degrees hotter then a swiftech h220 for drastically less $$$, though the swiftech may be a much better performer as the clocks/volts/temps increase?
As for what folks consider Real watercooling setups, i'm mostly looking at kits for the sheer simplicity and quality assurance of having everything i'd need all at once guaranteed to work together, with the plus of being able to upgrade various components down the line if I need it(fancier tubing or a better pump or reservoir, more effective rad ect. once I learn more) at a lower cost than buying them separate(less shipping charges involved, large price cuts if it goes on sale, ect)
For these I was looking at the Swiftech H20-220 and 320 HD/Elites and the dizzying array of XSPC kits, primarily the XSPC kits due to the superior upgradability and (seemingly) price as well, though i'm open to other recommendations. The 220/320 Elites could possibly fit in the top inside spot but the HD's could definitely have to be mounted externally to the back. I have a heckuva lot more places I could put the various XSPC kits rads since they don't have the integrated reservoir.
Based on all the info i've provided, does anyone have any advice/recommendations on which way(AIO/custom) to go and what kits would be best based on what I can mount and what i'm looking to cool? I've read through a number of water cooling stickies on sites, but while they are chock full of awesome tidbits of info I havent really come away from them with a sense of what I Really need for cooling what I want, plenty of do's and don'ts on components and coolants and testing but nothing really.... specific. Any help is much appreciated.
Primarily i'm just looking to cool my CPU, an i5 3570k. My case is a Coolermaster HAF-XM, PSU is Corsair AX760i platinum powering an Asus 8z77-V Pro with Very low profile Crucial ballistics memory.
Possible Rad mounting configurations that i can see are(in max lengthxdepth):
Top outside: 240/280mm(360mm possible with modding?)X45mm, push fans only(unless thin rad with 15mm pull fans)
Top inside: 240/280/360mmX33.6mm, pull fans only(push/pull possible on 240mm with fans overhanging ram/VRM, or alternatively a very thick >58.6mm rad with pull fans, though in either case i would be restricted to having only 4-6 screws securing the rad to the case due to positioning)
Back inside: 140mmX(seemingly any depth, really) push/pull
Back outside: 240/280/360/420mmX(any) push/pull using a rad box or other kind of mounting bracket.
HDD tray: 240mmX~23-27mm(leaves space for GPU) pull fans only(push won't mount right)
I have two open optical bays for a bay reservoir.
While I have no intentions of water cooling my next GPU(single GTX 780) due to costs and common sense(for the cost of a 780 and a water block I could just get a 780TI with superior performance...) having the capability to add one in the future if finances improve would be nice if I go full custom.
I'm really not looking to spend more then ~$200 total on this, which to my understanding basically limits me to AIO or small custom loop kits, though with black friday on the horizon a much better kit might fall within that price range so solutions up to the $300-350 range might be feasible.
On the AIO front I was looking at the H110/H100i by Corsair, the X60 Kraken by NZXT and the Water 2.0/3.0 Extremes by Thermaltake, though i'm open to more suggestions. I can get X60's/H110's for about $118 currently, H100i for $130, 2.0's for $60 after rebate and 3.0's for $110. My main concerns with them are the tubing and the radiator material. Is dry-rotting a potential hazard with those tubes(thought i heard something about that before)? And correct me if i'm wrong, but both use copper blocks and aluminum radiators, won't corrosion gradually destroy these coolers or does the coolant they use not permit that? Haven't come across anything about it before.
From what i've seen from identical-fan benchmarks, the h110 actually pretty handily kills the x60 by 4.5Celsius, but the pump may be noisier, and is matched by the smaller Water 2.0 Extreme that is literally half the price ATM. Both the H110 and 2.0 seem to only be a few degrees hotter then a swiftech h220 for drastically less $$$, though the swiftech may be a much better performer as the clocks/volts/temps increase?
As for what folks consider Real watercooling setups, i'm mostly looking at kits for the sheer simplicity and quality assurance of having everything i'd need all at once guaranteed to work together, with the plus of being able to upgrade various components down the line if I need it(fancier tubing or a better pump or reservoir, more effective rad ect. once I learn more) at a lower cost than buying them separate(less shipping charges involved, large price cuts if it goes on sale, ect)
For these I was looking at the Swiftech H20-220 and 320 HD/Elites and the dizzying array of XSPC kits, primarily the XSPC kits due to the superior upgradability and (seemingly) price as well, though i'm open to other recommendations. The 220/320 Elites could possibly fit in the top inside spot but the HD's could definitely have to be mounted externally to the back. I have a heckuva lot more places I could put the various XSPC kits rads since they don't have the integrated reservoir.
Based on all the info i've provided, does anyone have any advice/recommendations on which way(AIO/custom) to go and what kits would be best based on what I can mount and what i'm looking to cool? I've read through a number of water cooling stickies on sites, but while they are chock full of awesome tidbits of info I havent really come away from them with a sense of what I Really need for cooling what I want, plenty of do's and don'ts on components and coolants and testing but nothing really.... specific. Any help is much appreciated.