Water Cooling HELP!

[Zeppelin420]

Hey I am building the following system.

CPU - Intel Core i7-2600K Quad-Core Socket LGA1155, 3.40Ghz, 8MB L3 Cache
MOBO - Asus Maximus IV Extreme (REV 3.0) Socket 1155 Intel P67
RAM - G.SKILL Ripjaws X + Fan Series DDR3 2133MHz 16GB (4x4GB)
Case - Thermaltake Level 10 GT Super Gaming Case
PSU - Corsair Professional Series Gold CMPSU-1200AX Full Modular 1200W
Hard Drive - OCZ IBIS HSDL 3.5" 240GB Solid State Drive, Read: 740MB/s, Write: 720MB/s
-or-
- The OCZ Vertex 3, Read: 550MB/sec, Write:525MB/sec (Haven't decided as of yet)
Video Cards - 2x Powercolor HD 6950's w/ water blocks pre installed.

I want to water cool the vid cards and cpu at the very least. I plan to do some serious overclocking. Any recommendations? I've never done any water cooling and there are SOOO many options. I don't know where to start. I know the cards do a good amount of heat. ANy help would be awsome, thanks.

 

[blackfire1]

READ:
http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showthread.php?t=282232&highlight=water+cooling
http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showthread.php?t=176597

1. Why? Why do you want to overclock. What are your goals and the reason behind them. Answering this. Thats the first step.
2. READ. Read everything. Learn to the point of confidence. Know your terms, math, and everything related.
3. Build your setup on paper two or three times before buying anything. Writting down all the info you need. From voltage and watts used by the pump to the size of the Radiator. Whether or not you'll have to mod your case at all. Where your computer is located and where your going to mound the parts.

Watercooling is expensive. Period. >DO NOT BUY A KIT.<
In life speed of anything costs money. Plan on spending.

I personally water cool only my Proc. Unless your doing 3d rendering you don't need to OC the graphics nowadays. Unless your running multiple 3+ monitors and such.

My Rendering rig I have everything water cooled.
My Radiators are on the outside of my case. I don't need MORE heat bleeding inside.

And no. putting your Radiator in a freezer or fridge DOESN'T work. lol.

 

[Zeppelin420]

READ:
http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showthread.php?t=282232&highlight=water+cooling
http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showthread.php?t=176597

1. Why? Why do you want to overclock. What are your goals and the reason behind them. Answering this. Thats the first step.
2. READ. Read everything. Learn to the point of confidence. Know your terms, math, and everything related.
3. Build your setup on paper two or three times before buying anything. Writting down all the info you need. From voltage and watts used by the pump to the size of the Radiator. Whether or not you'll have to mod your case at all. Where your computer is located and where your going to mound the parts.

Watercooling is expensive. Period. >DO NOT BUY A KIT.<
In life speed of anything costs money. Plan on spending.

I personally water cool only my Proc. Unless your doing 3d rendering you don't need to OC the graphics nowadays. Unless your running multiple 3+ monitors and such.

My Rendering rig I have everything water cooled.
My Radiators are on the outside of my case. I don't need MORE heat bleeding inside.

And no. putting your Radiator in a freezer or fridge DOESN'T work. lol.

Thanks a lot for the reply. I have done what you have said up until this point. I have have been building this computer on paper for a few months now. It is nothing like what I first conceptualized it as. I have read until my brain hurt lol, there is so much to process. I am starting a small (from home) business making custom computers, to earn a little extra cash and satisfy my curiosities as a gear whore : ) This is basically my first build from scratch. I have done lots of swapping parts and even reinstalled parts into new cases, but never a build from scratch. So I am learning just how much I really don't know lol. This computer is for my first customer and that's why I am cooling the cards (it is his wish). Though, he has shown interest in running and 1x3 Eyefinity setup and thus I recommended cooling the cards. As well it would be a great learning experience, I think, to do a extreme cooling rig (even if it is my first time and I am a little scared). My fears have lead to caution and my caution has lead me to forums like these ones to learn as much as possible. It helps that my first customer is a friend of mine and we both understand where I am coming from lol and the case I chose is very water cooling friendly. I just wondered about one comment against buying kits, I had come to same conclusion based on pricing and the fact that kits usually come with one or two parts that are less then quality, but would like to hear your thoughts? Thanks again for your answer and links I will be going over all the information you sent.

 

[d0gr0ck]

That's some oldish advice on the pages you linked.

You can find more up to date resources on the Overclock.net and XtremeSystems stickies.

Kits have changed a lot recently, XSPC produces the very popular RASA kits which are all shelf components put in one box and attractively priced. These kits are really great for people looking to cool a CPU and are afraid of buying mismatched components. Other brands are picking up on this success.

I personally would shy away from the Level 10 as a water cooling case. There's just a handful of grommets to accommodate tubes to wherever you put the radiators and pump, not much working room in there. You'll have to find a way to house almost everything externally.

A great place to understand different radiator and waterblock performance profiles is at Skinnee Labs.

 

[Zeppelin420]

That's some oldish advice on the pages you linked.

You can find more up to date resources on the Overclock.net and XtremeSystems stickies.

Kits have changed a lot recently, XSPC produces the very popular RASA kits which are all shelf components put in one box and attractively priced. These kits are really great for people looking to cool a CPU and are afraid of buying mismatched components. Other brands are picking up on this success.

I personally would shy away from the Level 10 as a water cooling case. There's just a handful of grommets to accommodate tubes to wherever you put the radiators and pump, not much working room in there. You'll have to find a way to house almost everything externally.

A great place to understand different radiator and waterblock performance profiles is at Skinnee Labs.

I have to disagree on the space issue. There is room for a 2x120mm rad in the top of the case as well as another 120mm going out the back of the case. Also options for mounting externally via grommets on the back of the case. Plus plenty of room for a pump and reservoir beside the the power supply on the bottom tray of the case. You might be thinking of the Level 10, (in which case I would agree) but I'm using the Level 10 {GT} (http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?C=1416&ID=2039) which is more than adequate. I do thank you for the added information though, cheers.

 

[d0gr0ck]

Unless you put your pump in the drive bays that will still be a bit tight once you factor in the tubing.

A setup of a 2x120mm and a 120mm radiator won't give you the cooling ability you're looking for without some high powered (loud) fans. A basic rule of thumb is 1.5-2 120mm radiator spots per major heat source.

 

[Zeppelin420]

Ok with that math, is there any cases you would recommend to cool two cards and a cpu?

 

[d0gr0ck]

Here's a quick list of some of the most popular.

If you take the time to cruise around the case galleries and work logs on those sites I linked you can get some really good ideas for what works well and looks very attractive at the same time.

 

[rubix_1011]

This is why we need a dedicated watercooling forum; I didn't even know what this 'Deepcool' forum was until I got curious and checked it out.

I really think these threads should be merged with Coolers/Heatsinks...this is such an obscure forum.