Budget water cooling CPU and GPU! Need help

Joe-Gamer

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Feb 25, 2014
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Hi,
I have been wondering on the idea on water cooling my pc for a while now, since I got a R9 290 my PC temps have shot up dramatically.
My PC i5 2500k, 4.8ghz
MSI gaming R9 290 oc, (not reference design!)
Corsair C70 case.
I only wish to water cool my CPU and GPU, not the RAM. Any help to reduce cost is really needed! :)
EK Water Blocks EK-Supreme LTX - Acetal CSQ
EK Water Blocks EK-FC R9-290(X) - Rev.2.0
Coolgate Double HD240 (High Density FPI) Radiator
12V Phobya DC12-260 Water Pump
Phobya Balancer 250 black nickel
Blue tubing £2-£4
Compression fittings x10 (£20?) not sure I trust barbs and I don't want zip ties on my loop :)
£240 is end cost roughly. If anyone could help reduce this cost it would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks
 
Solution
A single 240mm radiator will definitely cool the 290, heck, the 295x2 has a double thick 120mm cooler in push/pull and manages to stay under the thermal throttling.

Another 240mm radiator should fit if you add a CPU block in the future, maybe even 3 if you can use the bottom fan mounts. Not sure on the bottom, I can't find a solid answer.

The other radiator if it will fit should be an easy addition in the future, since most of the cost is in the blocks, fittings and pump/res.

Joe-Gamer

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Feb 25, 2014
22
0
4,520


How about if I just cool the R9 290? To start with at least. I have a arctic i30 cpu cooler and it keeps my i5 below 65c during gaming, but the R9 goes to 86c even 91c if the weather is hot.
A single 240 radiator should cool the R9, I think, then when money allows I could add a 120 radiator or see if another 240 radiator would fit in my corsair C70 case.
 
A single 240mm radiator will definitely cool the 290, heck, the 295x2 has a double thick 120mm cooler in push/pull and manages to stay under the thermal throttling.

Another 240mm radiator should fit if you add a CPU block in the future, maybe even 3 if you can use the bottom fan mounts. Not sure on the bottom, I can't find a solid answer.

The other radiator if it will fit should be an easy addition in the future, since most of the cost is in the blocks, fittings and pump/res.
 
Solution