Hi Everyone,
I'm about to build my first water-cooled rig, and am hoping you guys could give me some advice. I've read the watercooling sticky (2.0), but I'm having trouble estimating the amount of radiators to use for my setup.
I was hoping to use the following components:
Case: NZXT H440 (3 120m fans in the front, and 1 140mm in the back)
Graphics cards: 2x EVGA GTX 780 Ti running in SLI. I think this model holds true to NVIDIA's reference spec, so my water blocks should work. Am I correct in this assumption?
CPU: Core i7-4960X
To water cool the rig, I was hoping to use these parts:
In the front of the case: RX360 Triple Radiator by XSPC. This would use the three existing intake fans that come with the case. (It would sit behind the intake fans)
In the top of the case: RX240 Double Radiator by XSPC. I would also need to add two fans to the top for cooling. I was thinking two 120mm Scythe Gently Typhoons.
Reservoir: Swiftech Micro Rev2 Reservoir. Is there any reason that I should not use this reservoir?
Pump: Swiftech MCP655 w/ speed control. This has a 1/2 inch barb, which is bigger than my 3/8 tubing. However, I've read that you can dip the tubing in hot water to stretch it over the barb, as long as you cinch it with a zip tie once it's on. Is there any reason I should not do this? Would the MCP355 be a better choice?
CPU Block: RayStorm CPU WaterBlock (Intel) Copper
GPU Blocks: 2x Swiftech Komodo full cover blocks. Any thoughts on these?
Tubing: PrimoChill clear tubing.
Fittings: XSPC Compression Fittings, Swiftech SLI connectors.
For coolant, I was going to use distilled water with either a silver kill coil or a biocide. I was planning on running the loop from res (above pump) > pump > top 240 rad > cpu > both gpu's > front 340 rad > back to res.
My three main questions are:
1. Are these two rads going to provide enough cooling for my rig? I'd like to overclock a bit (especially the CPU), but nothing too crazy. At the very least, will these two radiators provide enough cooling to run the cpu/gpu's reliably at their stock clock speeds?
2. Is there anything I'm missing from the parts list above, or any parts that you would swap out or do differently? How about the loop order?
3. What about air cooling for the rest of the PC? Since I'm using nearly all of the available fan bays to cool the radiators, will they also function as intake and exhaust to cool things like the motherboard and ram which aren't being water cooled? If fans can pull double duty of air cooling the interior of the case and the radiators, should I also add a 140mm rad to the back exhaust fan that comes with the case? I want to keep my cpu and gpu's cool, but not at the expense of the rest of my system!
Thanks in advance for any input you guys can give. Apologies if some of the questions are redundant or ill-informed. I just want to dot my i's and cross my t's before I get started.
I'm about to build my first water-cooled rig, and am hoping you guys could give me some advice. I've read the watercooling sticky (2.0), but I'm having trouble estimating the amount of radiators to use for my setup.
I was hoping to use the following components:
Case: NZXT H440 (3 120m fans in the front, and 1 140mm in the back)
Graphics cards: 2x EVGA GTX 780 Ti running in SLI. I think this model holds true to NVIDIA's reference spec, so my water blocks should work. Am I correct in this assumption?
CPU: Core i7-4960X
To water cool the rig, I was hoping to use these parts:
In the front of the case: RX360 Triple Radiator by XSPC. This would use the three existing intake fans that come with the case. (It would sit behind the intake fans)
In the top of the case: RX240 Double Radiator by XSPC. I would also need to add two fans to the top for cooling. I was thinking two 120mm Scythe Gently Typhoons.
Reservoir: Swiftech Micro Rev2 Reservoir. Is there any reason that I should not use this reservoir?
Pump: Swiftech MCP655 w/ speed control. This has a 1/2 inch barb, which is bigger than my 3/8 tubing. However, I've read that you can dip the tubing in hot water to stretch it over the barb, as long as you cinch it with a zip tie once it's on. Is there any reason I should not do this? Would the MCP355 be a better choice?
CPU Block: RayStorm CPU WaterBlock (Intel) Copper
GPU Blocks: 2x Swiftech Komodo full cover blocks. Any thoughts on these?
Tubing: PrimoChill clear tubing.
Fittings: XSPC Compression Fittings, Swiftech SLI connectors.
For coolant, I was going to use distilled water with either a silver kill coil or a biocide. I was planning on running the loop from res (above pump) > pump > top 240 rad > cpu > both gpu's > front 340 rad > back to res.
My three main questions are:
1. Are these two rads going to provide enough cooling for my rig? I'd like to overclock a bit (especially the CPU), but nothing too crazy. At the very least, will these two radiators provide enough cooling to run the cpu/gpu's reliably at their stock clock speeds?
2. Is there anything I'm missing from the parts list above, or any parts that you would swap out or do differently? How about the loop order?
3. What about air cooling for the rest of the PC? Since I'm using nearly all of the available fan bays to cool the radiators, will they also function as intake and exhaust to cool things like the motherboard and ram which aren't being water cooled? If fans can pull double duty of air cooling the interior of the case and the radiators, should I also add a 140mm rad to the back exhaust fan that comes with the case? I want to keep my cpu and gpu's cool, but not at the expense of the rest of my system!
Thanks in advance for any input you guys can give. Apologies if some of the questions are redundant or ill-informed. I just want to dot my i's and cross my t's before I get started.
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