First Water-cooled system!!! Many Questions Please Help!

Okay, so... Few suggestions.

1) Your life will be made much, MUCH easier with a smaller case and an external radiator box that holds the radiators, pump, and reservoir. It lets you have all the room you need for tubing and radiators without having to fight with your case.

2) Consider why you're watercooling. That will determine what you want out of your system. I mainly do it for compact size and silence, so I have slim radiators with 140mm PWM noctua fans that are whisper quiet even at full bore.

3) Never, NEVER buy the first block made for a new card. Seriously, it's a bad idea - the first blocks are often rushed and can have some nasty issues. Also, I can't tell, but are those cards stock or custom? For overclocking you REALLY want a custom card because it'll have beefier VRMs... but that means you have to wait for both the card and a block to be made for it.

4) Don't buy that monitor yet, seriously. The 980 has HDMI 2.0 ports which can support 4K at 60Hz through one cable - just wait for a monitor that supports it and buy that, so you don't have to deal with all the issues of stitching. (Also, if I were dropping that much money, I would much rather have the 1440p, 120Hz Asus ROG Swift, but then again, I wouldn't ever consider going back to a 60Hz monitor for gaming anyways.)

5) Don't go hard tubing right now. First of all, it's WAY more expensive than regular tubing, and second, it is way way way more fussy. Your first build should be using regular tubing until you get used to dealing with watercooling and you know what you're looking for. Save hard tubing for the future - it's a LOT more involved than I think you're thinking it is. You need a heat gun and a whole set of tools to bend it properly, and hours upon hours of experience to not have it come out wonky.

6) More rad space. What you have right now is... probably... sufficient, especially with how efficient the new cards are, but I would still want more radiators for both temperature and SILENCE. You're going to have to have a pretty dang noisy pump, plus enough fans to power a wind tunnel, so unless you absolutely don't care about noise at all...

7) Routing of the tubing doesn't matter. Water will be flowing so fast that the entire system will be within a nominal margin of itself - don't worry about anything but what's easiest to route tubing to and what's going to restrict flow the least. (Remember that adding a huge loop of tubing is actually far less restrictive to the flow than trying to make it around a tight bend.)

8) Sweet sounding color scheme. Buy paint. I personally use PlastiDip and love it for the finish and feel - it's basically spray on rubber. People have dipped their motherboard, which is an incredible looking effect, but will not work well for overclocking, as it does add a little insulation to things. However, and this is a big however:

DO NOT USE DYE. Period.

Get violet colored translucent tubing and use water, a silver killcoil, and a couple drops of unscented dawn dish soap. That's it. By far the most stable solution, and the easiest on your pump and tubing.

Yeah, I'm really glad I could help you out, mate. I had some of the best on the forums helping me with all my silly questions, (Some of them are always silly when you start watercooling...) so I'm glad that I can help out.

1) Mnkay, you know that watercooling is going to add significantly to the weight of the computer, right? It's going to be a lot more mobile to have two smaller, lighter pieces that you can take apart using quick disconnects then it will be to have the one thing. It's also going to be a lot easier to build with two separate halves... That's just me though, and if you want to go for it, then by all means, make it all internal. I will happily admit that I'm biased, because my first watercooling build was inside a bitfenix prodigy... not much room to do anything inside that thing.

2) Short answer: Yes. Long answer: I have a whole bunch of those fans sitting around. I agree with you, they look _great_. However, they're seriously lacking when it comes to silence. The first reason for that is because they aren't PWM fans. So unless you want to hook them all up to a fan controller and adjust it when you start and stop gaming... The second reason is that they aren't designed to be radiator fans and make a LOT more noise when they're put next to a radiator. If you do hook them to a fan controller and throttle them quite a bit, that issue might go away.

3) Yeah, EK often does very good blocks, but I'm surprised that they're the first to market. Usually we see the no-name brands first. Anyways, just think about if you want to hold off on buying your GPUs till a model with beefy VRMs rolls around. I would personally look at EVGA, as for watercooling they have hands down the best warranty. (Don't wait for a hydrocopper or anything like that, just an aftermarket board.) You can certainly buy now, but if you do want to overclock the chips as far as they'll go, you want an aftermarket card.

4) Subjectively, I'll tell you that playing at 120Hz makes it feel like you're cheating when you're playing FPS's. It makes every game buttery smooth, and is just incredible. In addition, the Swift has G-sync (meaning in the few games you won't be able to max out [Though 2160p, 60Hz is a very similar number of pixels to 1440p, 120Hz]) will feel incredibly smooth even though they're running at lower framerates... and it's only $100 more than what you're looking at, to get 1440p, 144Hz, G-sync, and an 8-bit TN panel that will have both great color and great response time, along with looking better with the brightness turned way down.

That being said, whatever you decide works - I was just giving my personal opinion. However, what I do advise still stands true - wait until you can buy a 4k monitor that uses HDMI 2.0, and use only one cable and one panel instead of two cables and a monitor that has two separate halves that it's stitching together. Having supported a friend who bought a 4k monitor and had huge issues with it, I tend to warn people about them. Soon enough you'll be able to buy a monitor that can do it with a single cable and no weird tricks that can cause issues, so why not wait a little bit?

5) No, trust me, I absolutely understand. I wish I could afford to replace all my hardware (my rig has well over two dozen fitting+clamp combos) with hard tubing, but it's both a pain to deal with and very expensive. It is awfully sexy, though. Hopefully the price will come down as it catches on more.

6) I can understand why you're confused with this, especially since you've got non-PWM fans that won't automatically adjust their speed... but basically the reason it works is this:

If you've got radiator space that is just enough to cool your components, your fans are going to have to be working hard in order to keep up, which means noise, both from airflow and from the fans. By adding enough extra radiators / fans so that you have head room to play with, your fans can run much more slowly, eliminating airflow noise and mitigating a lot of the noise from the fan.

The rule of thumb for a bare minimum is to have one 120mm rad of leeway plus an extra 1.5 120mm rad for each major part cooled. In your case that would be 120+ (3)(1.5)120, or 6 120mm radspaces. You're using 140mm radiators (good choice), which are each equal to roughly 1.5 times the cooling capacity of a 120mm radiator, so you want 4 of them at bare minimum. You're planning to use 5, which is good just in case things get a little hot, but adding another 2 in the front would give you a lot more play when it comes to fan speed.


9) Haha, good to run into another modder that loves the stuff as much as I do. I've got a handmade case I'm working on right now for the next iteration of my computer, and the top of the radbox and the top plate of the case (test bench, really), are really nice pieces of mahogany, but the rest are boring, and so I'm planning on covering it in matte black plastidip, and then a few layers of clear to give it that glassy look. I don't know if it'll work quite the way I want, but hey, we'll see.

8) The matte tubing is very nice looking, I agree. The only trouble with it is that you can't just glance at your tubes and see if you have issues. (Gunk growing on the tubes, particulate matter accumulating.) I would strongly suggest making one if not both of the tubes running to and from your pump be clear plastic, just so you have that ability to look in and see how it's doing. If your pump is right below your reservoir, and the other tube runs up the front of your case to the radiator, it'll actually look surprisingly clean, rather than standing out like a sore finger.

BTW, that's pretty good stuff, but if you're willing to go with white, you can buy tubing for a LOT cheaper from the source. USP Norprene Chemical Tubing, if you want white, and the cheapest inert stuff you can get. Tygon Plasticizer Free Tubing if you want the classic stuff we've been using forever. Or USP Tygon Inert Tubing if you have the money and want the best of the best, no questions asked.

Also, just a tip, I would get your watercooling stuff from FrozenCPU. They tend to have the best prices by a significant bit, and have really incredible customer service. They've got PremoFlex for $10/roll less than what you linked.

Yes, a pair of 560s will work juuuust fine.
That's a pretty good plan, but if possible, try to get it to be a section next to your pump - that's where the most issues are going to arise if they do. Mostly the biggest issue would be plasticizer leech, but PrimoFlex is pretty good stuff. I've used it before, and beyond the first dump of plasticizer in the first month or two that almost all tubing does, it generally stays very stable.

No need for you to buy the Swift if you don't want to - I mean, it's not for everybody. I'm just saying that if you DO get a 4k monitor, don't buy it just yet... wait till one comes out with HDMI 2.0 so you don't have to deal with two cables / panels.

I can absolutely understand not wanting the noctua colors - but never throw plastidip on a fan, because it'll mess up the balance. The only safe way to color a fan is with RIT dye, which people have done to noctua fans successfully, but which requires ungluing the motor from the fan shroud.

Sorry to hear that you aren't running with purple - I love purple, but similarly to working with glass, finding purple tech is very difficult to do. The trouble with the Corsairs (aside from not being PWM) is that they really only like being mounted vertically. If they're on a top radiator, they're going to start to make a lot of noise after a month or so because of their bearing.

Go look at the Aerocool Dead Silence 140mm fans. Black and white, very affordable, snazzy looking, wonderful acoustics, great performance. They can rival Noctuas for noise. The only issue is that they aren't PWM, so would require either a fan controller or just a resistor if you don't want them to throttle down when idling. Unfortunately, the best option behind Noctuas are Cougar Vortex PWMs, which are half the price, nearly as powerful / quiet... but are black and bright orange.

As for the radiators, for a 140mm radiator, I personally would always buy Black Ice GT Stealths. They're significantly slimmer but make up for it with higher fin density and thinner fins, so they cool just as well as thick radiators, and do it while both looking far better and being affordable.

As for fittings, basic ones are fine. If you're going with 1/2" ID, 3/4" OD tubing, just grab these ones, which are the cheapest you can get that still have multiple barbs rather than just the one on top. Don't worry about outer fittings for now - zip ties will work fine and look cleaner than cheap worm clamps. I personally don't use compression fittings - I think they look bulky and awkward, and they perform no better as barbs, while costing over twice as much.

You can save money with clear tubing, especially if you buy direct from US Plastics, but if you want the red, then go for it.

As for the CPU block, I wouldn't get that one. Either go with the EK supremacy or the EK Supreme LTX which comes within a few degrees and is only $45.

Those will be great radiators for the price, yes. I probably wouldn't go with them just because of thickness and the ability to get better performance elsewhere, but neither of those is a big deal for you at all - your performance will be great.

Just make sure to wash them out well with vinegar and hot water, as larger radiators tend to have more crud in them from manufacturing than smaller ones do.

Of course, friend - I'm happy to help out.

Like I said, I went into watercooling not knowing a quarter of what you do with experience, and was helped through the entire process by two or three pretty awesome forum members, so I try to do what I can to give back in kind.

About two years now. I started obsessing right after I upgraded when I started college, and decided I wanted something quieter since it would be right next to where I sleep. I did a whole bunch of research, came here and was told why what I thought was wrong, and kept at it until I bought my first setup.

Two years later, my graphics card is also cooled, my system pretty much can't be heard at all even when gaming, and is on its way to being a completely custom two-part pair of towers; a test bench for the parts and a radiator tower for all the watercooling.

I personally don't like pump / rez combos. They tend to be mounted in 5.25" drive bays, which means the vibration of the pump simply can't be decoupled from the case. Similar issue with freestanding ones - just that it's hard to do.

I personally like the 80mm wide reservoir from koolance, but that's just because it has nice mounting options. That thing is even larger, which is a definite plus... but it appears that it's made out of glass? Seems like it will get watermarks easily and will be difficult to clean.

If that's not a concern for you, there are a lot of pictures of that thing in a 900D, and it certainly fits right in with that thing's size and aesthetic statement. Probably a good option for you, but it seems expensive. Is there an option for it to come without the pump? Again, if the pump is attached to it, and it's attached to metal, vibration is going to cause noise.

I personally don't like pump / rez combos. They tend to be mounted in 5.25" drive bays, which means the vibration of the pump simply can't be decoupled from the case. Similar issue with freestanding ones - just that it's hard to do.

I personally like the 80mm wide reservoir from koolance, but that's just because it has nice mounting options. That thing is even larger, which is a definite plus... but it appears that it's made out of glass? Seems like it will get watermarks easily and will be difficult to clean.

If that's not a concern for you, there are a lot of pictures of that thing in a 900D, and it certainly fits right in with that thing's size and aesthetic statement. Probably a good option for you, but it seems expensive. Is there an option for it to come without the pump? Again, if the pump is attached to it, and it's attached to metal, vibration is going to cause noise.

16x Barbs, 2.99 each, 47.84 total.
10ft pack of PrimoChill Tubing, 25.99 total.
1 pack of zip ties, black. (Why would you order these online?)
2 GTX 980 waterblocks, all out of stock, but 115.99 each, 231.98 total.
1 Heatkiller Rev 3.0 LGA 115x Waterblock, 84.95 total
2x Alphacool NexXxoS radiators (full copper for $120, great deal), 119.99 each, 239.98 total
1x Swiftech MCP35X with red heatsink and Bitspower pump top. 147.97 total
2x Bitspower Water Tank Z, 45.99 each, 91.98 total

All told, $870.69.

You're going to get better performance with spending more on this setup and not buying the third GTX 980, since you'll be able to overclock your cards and get monstrous performance out of them. You could save money by going with a cheaper pump that gives less head, but doesn't need a heatsink and pump top, by "only" going with one reservoir, and by buying those cheaper radiators you pointed out - they aren't on FrozenCPU.

Yeah, your teacher is absolutely correct, especially when you consider that the third graphics card does basically nothing for you - it adds perhaps 10-15% over two cards.

Yeah, having two reservoirs next to each other is a very attractive look to me - and it's a lot easier than you might think. Just put the inlet on the top (or going up the bottom tube) of one of them, have a curve at the bottom that goes from one res to the bottom inlet of the other, and have your exit. It works like a charm.

I'm glad that I could help you out, and uhm, I'll just leave you this picture:



That pump gets 14.7 feet of head straight up, with a flow rate of more than enough. It also allows you to expand in the future to a double-pump - there are pump tops made specifically for using two of those pumps in conjunction with each other. You'd only need to if you ended up with a much more complicated loop, but... they're very good pumps, and they're very reliable.

Yes, those barbs will work just fine. Ideally you'd get Cougar fans, but they're black and orange, not red, so I'd look at some of the other suggestions I left for you.