Do you need 4 fans on a 480mm radiator?

xDarkxIdealsx · Jan 10, 2015

i'm buying a new rig that i plan on water cooling, so far i've ordered a Rampage IV Black Edition, some Gelid GC Extreme thermal paste, and i'm going to order an I7 4820K once i can get paypal to authorize my ebay payment.

I'm on a tight budget for the next few months so i might not be able to afford all of these watercooling parts for a while, so i'm wondering if i would be able to use only 3 fans on the 480mm radiators instead of all 4 for a few months till i can pop in the extra Corsair SP120 white LED fans that will go on the rads.

I know it's only like $20 for 2 more fans but when i'm buying all this every bit i can save to put off for a little later is worth it

Rampage IV Black mobo $400
I7 4820K $320
Corsair 900D Case $350
Corsair Dominator Platinum 16gb 4x4 RAM $250
either an EVGA Supernova 1300 G2 or Corsair AX1200i PSU (since i'm planning SLI in future)
temporary cpu cooling (either corsair h100i or swiftech h220x)

Swiftech Apogee XL cpu waterblock with ROG custom logo $85
EK XTX480mm Radiators $200
8 x Corsair SP120 white LED fans $80
12 x Monsoon Free center 3/8" x 1/2" compression fittings $70 (not sure if these are really better than regular swiftech/bitspower etc.. compression fittings though)
Primochill LRT advanced tubing 10ft $25
2 x Mayhem pastel ice white coolant $40
EK FC970WF GPU waterblock $150
EK FC970WF Backplate $30

TOTAL - $2,240 + TAX & SHIPPING

Then i'd be buying a 2nd GTX970 and another waterblock for that, along with needing a couple more fittings and possibly more tubing/coolant if i lose some during the draining process.

The Ether Bunny · Jan 10, 2015

Yes, you can run three fans if you want. Obviously you won't get maximum cooling but three fans on a 480 rad is way more than enough to cool a CPU.

Also, 1200 or 1300 watts is soooooooo overkill. Your system with watercooling, HDDs, fans, pumps, and TWO 970s is running about 650-700 watts. Add some headroom for overclocking and you are at 850 MAX.

You could save some money and power by going with a QUALITY 850 watt PSU (Gold or Platinum from EVGA, Seasonic, Corsair).

1LiquidPC · Jan 10, 2015

You would be fine w/ 3 fans as mentioned, but I do have one question. Since you mentioned about the remaining WC parts, and a second 970 down the road, I'm curious as to why you weren't looking in the new X99 platform vs the X79 that your putting together. I'm guessing it's because of the higher DDR4 prices, but X99 motherboards and 5820K are similarly priced.

-Lone- · Jan 10, 2015

Yeah, you could just go up to Evga supernova 850w G2 if you're planning to use up to 2 GPUs, if up to 4 GPUs, then that 1300w is reasonable. Also, instead of spending $250 for RAM, you can get G.skill Trident X for only like $140-160.

xDarkxIdealsx · Jan 10, 2015

1LiquidPC :

Yeah it was cost mostly, i wanted a top tier gaming motherboard and the Rampage V Extreme is ~$470 everywhere while the Rampage IV Black Edition is on sale for $389 with another $50 off for a rebate putting it at $339. That's the same price as the Z97 Maximus Formula VII mobo! The Black edition also looks real sexy especially in my rig which is going to have a black and white theme, using black corsair 900D case, black compression fittings, silver/whitish RAM, clear tubing with white coolant in it etc.. the only thing that isn't either all black or white is the CPU water block (apogee xl) which i'm having custom made by performancepcs.com to have an asus ROG logo carved into it instead of the swiftech one so it will be red, although i could always swap the red LED plate out for a white one.

So if you add up the pricing,

X99 - $470 Motherboard, $400 RAM, $380 CPU (5820K)

X79 - $340 Motherboard, $250 RAM, $320 CPU (4820K) and i can buy a used 4930K on ebay for like $450 later on, and most benchmarks show the 4930K beating the 5820K by a fair margin too. I can use that extra cash i save to get a PSU, since i'm pretty limited on my budget and i only have an XFX TS 550w one right now that i don't think is enough to run the 4820K, Rampage black mobo, GTX970, and the pump, fans etc.. for the water loop. Plus i'd have to get one anyway when i get my 2nd GPU, and i'm wanting to get the custom black and white sleeved cables for it too ($90)

Also, that brings me to an extra question, do you guys think it would be better to get a new I7 4820k quad core cpu or to get a used or refurbished I7 4930K 6 core cpu on ebay?

-Lone- · Jan 10, 2015

Well, that explains why you got Corsair RAM instead, I too go for matching looks than pure performance. But if it was me, I'd never get a used CPU, you never know what it has been through, so that's quite a risk.

xDarkxIdealsx · Jan 10, 2015

-Lone- :

Hmm, yeah i know what you mean. The reason i ask is that i really can't afford the $550ish cost for a new 4930K but i hate having to go with a quad core on a board like a Rampage IV Black, it's almost insulting lol.

I'm planning on using this rig for gaming as well as college classes i'm going to be starting (graphic design, video editing etc..) so the 6 cores can be useful.

This CPU is a refurbished I7 4930K 6 core and it's in an auction about to close in a couple hours, and it's only at $400 which is only a little more than the price of the 4 core 4820K new.

xDarkxIdealsx · Jan 10, 2015

The listing says it's sealed and in the box but the seller doesn't offer returns of course. Although ebay would cover me if it wasn't the right cpu or something. I wonder if there's a warranty on refurbished intel cpu's, i can't seem to find anything about that

-Lone- · Jan 10, 2015

xDarkxIdealsx :

I never buy used or refurbished hardware because of warranty, so I'm not sure if you should risk it. I've never bought a single thing from ebay either

The Ether Bunny · Jan 10, 2015

I've bought lots of parts on eBay in the past and have never been burned. Maybe I am just lucky.

xDarkxIdealsx · Jan 10, 2015

The Ether Bunny :

Yeah it's a tough decision, i suppose i could always be sneaky if it fails on me right away and say it wasn't sealed like the seller claimed since ebay sides with buyer 90% of the time, to get around the no return policy which would give me some sort of insurance that the product would function correctly.

xDarkxIdealsx · Jan 10, 2015

Do you guys think a 550 watt XFX TS 80+ Bronze power supply would run a system with a gigabyte GTX970, the Rampage IV black edition, I7 4930K, and a water loop using that D5 pump and 8 fans for the radiators plus the system fans? If so i would be able to wait on the power supply till later but it seems i might not be able to afford the 4930K if i get a psu now, so i'd have to get a 4 core 4820k instead in that case

-Lone- · Jan 10, 2015

xDarkxIdealsx :

Yeah, you shouldn't even go over 400w with that build, and you'll have 8 fans on the radiator? Are you trying to super cool it down to like 10 degrees? lol

xDarkxIdealsx · Jan 10, 2015

-Lone- :

it's two 480mm radiators, one in the bottom and one on top. GAH!! the auction ends in 6 minutes, it's at $416 for the 4930K, and a 4820K is about $320. I'm not sure if i'd be able to afford everything i need if i go 4930K but 6 cores is soooo tempting lol

-Lone- · Jan 10, 2015

2? How do you put 2 on a single CPU? Unless there's something more complicated that I thought.

The Ether Bunny · Jan 10, 2015

You will be over 450 watts. And that is not including any drives. You will not be able to overclock at all without potential power delivery issues. And that little PSU is going to be running near 100% duty cycle all the time.

xDarkxIdealsx · Jan 10, 2015

-Lone- :

Huh? i mean i'm going to be using two 480mm radiators in my liquid cooling loop. i'd put the water into my EK X3 reservoir with pump attached, and the pump would push it through the tubing into the first radiator, then out of that radiator into the graphic card waterblock then into the cpu waterblock, then out to the 2nd radiator, then finally back to the reservoir again completing the loop. Each 480mm radiator will have four 120mm fans attached to it (120mm x 4 = 480mm)

It sounds like you're talking about something like a Corsair H100 closed loop cpu cooler or something, when you make your own custom loop or if you use a Swiftech H220X closed loop and customize it you can add in as many radiators as you want.

xDarkxIdealsx · Jan 10, 2015

Well i got screwed out of the auction, i was planning whether i could afford the 4930K in my budget, since i had a $1000 limit with paypal credit, and i added up the $416 of the CPU and $420 for the other expenses and found that i could only afford $160 for my temporary cpu cooling solution and i wanted to check if the swiftech h220x was under $160 so i could afford everything under the credit. My computer was lagging just enough that it took me 5 seconds too long to find out that it cost $156 with shipping and i missed the auction end time

now i'll have ot spend $70 more to get one new and i just don't think i can afford that...sigh.

lwcdnet · Feb 19, 2015

xDarkxIdealsx :

DarkOne: I was looking at the Rampage V Extreme too, and top X99 boards from others, and found a killer deal at NewEgg for the ASRock X99 OC Formula. Check out the specs on this bad boy. Got it for $261 on new egg on 2/10/15. That's over $200 less than the RVE. 5 year warranty too!
http://asrock.com/mb/Intel/X99%20OC%20Formula/index.us.asp

Based on how you intend to use your computer, you might also consider only getting 8G of RAM to reduce up-front memory costs by half (another $125 - Actually i just peeked, and you can get 8G of 2400MHz G.Skill Ripjaws 4 for only $106), allowing you to get into the X99 platform. (That's over $325 less so far)

I was also recently considering the 900D case (huge with lots of W/C options), and while looking, found another case from Thermaltake (Their Core X9 chassis) that is much less expensive that might give you the W/C growth that you want, and it's only $169! Saving another $180 (that's over $500 less so far).
http://www.thermaltake.com/products-model.aspx?id=C_00002562

You could take that $500+ in savings, and use $180 of it to get the 5930K CPU ($320 you planned for the 4820K, plus $180 from the $500 savings, getting the 5930k at Microcenter for $499.) And you'd have $320 more money.

I know, I know, everyone can find cheaper options than you listed. But I think the person (1LiquidPC) who questioned your platform choice was right. Since i have been looking lately, i thought i'd share a couple things i came across that might help you save some money and get into a better platform at the same time.

Let me know what you think.

Do you need 4 fans on a 480mm radiator?

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