Water cooling recommended? help!

ImCharming

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Hi, so I just built a new computer a week ago..



specs..

AMD Phenom II x4 970 BE

ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 4GB

XFX HD-687A Radeon HD 6870x2

Thermaltake TR2 RX 750W

CoolerMaster Elite 310



I know, not the best case to have, but I didn't want to pay $120+ for a full tower and a lot of them I find ugly. I have 2 intake 120mm, front and side and the one exhaust out the back. I haven't been playing much games in the past week and when I did I didn't even think about temps. Before playing BC2 I went into ati's control panel and saw that the idle temps for the first gpu was at about 65c, and my second was at 45c. I upped the fan speeds some and they went down a bit. I played some battlefield and watched them rise and rise, reaching 88c for my first gpu and 80c for my second. While playing I was looking up some stuff and I saw people recommending the msi afterburner, I got that, set the automatic fan controller up and it helped some but also made my computer really loud.



So I am highly considering liquid cooling, but I've never done it before. I want to cool my gpus, I'm not sure about my cpu though, I just downloaded speedfan and my cpu is at 50c idle, not sure what it is at when I'm playing a game, I have a coolermaster v8 on it.



I looked at neweggs the Thermaltake CL-W0038 Liquid cooling system 208 - copper vga waterblock, but the reviews for it aren't very good and that's the only vga waterblock on newegg. Where can I find what I need, and what will I be looking at for the price? I need the blocks, 2 of them, maybe 3 for the cpu, the tubing, radiator and pump, and liquid. Correct? I'm completely new at this. Any type of guidance would be great.

I plan to OC my gpus and cpu once I find time, but now that I'm aware of the temps I don't know if I should.



Also, my budget is around $150, but I want quality, I don't want my case to become a fish tank.



Thanks in advance!
 

ImCharming

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With the radiator, don't you stick it on the back of the case where a fan would be? If so, I only have 1 120mm on the back, so how would a triple work out? Could I stick it on the bottom of the case on the inside? or on the outside top?
 
depends. usually you can stick the fan insde between the case and and the 120mm radiator. But since you are not liquid cooling the cpu your cooler may get in the way. you will prolly have to mod you case a bit. I would do as ortoklaz says and mount it outside on the top. In which case you should consider a triple 120mm rad and mybe even include the cpu in the water loop.
 

ImCharming

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Thanks for your responses guys. So, would the pump/resovoir work? I like it because you can stick it in a drive bay, and that would really help with my space issue. I was thinking, Radiator on top, drill 2 holes in the front of the case, well the front of the top of the case. leading to pump, pump to 2nd gpu, then to 1st, then to cpu, then through the hole to radiator. That would work right?

How's the gpu blocks, or am I going to have to spare $80+ for a full covered block? :(

I'm crossing my fingers that the pump/resovoir will work.

How's this..

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=25445

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=28056

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=22697:055d62bff41cda99ac6d1fbaeae1b4bd

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=59_971_240_746&products_id=26243
 

ImCharming

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Okay, so I'm going to buy that kit, and those gpu blocks tonight. I'll get distilled water, purchasing the kit from frozenpc includes FREE IandH KillCoils - Antimicrobial Silver. How would I go upon getting a dye for it, can I use any dye or does it need to be a special kind?

For the ramsinks would these work..

http://cgi.ebay.com/Copper-DDR-SD-Ram-Cooler-Heat-Sink-heatsink-Ram-VGA-/190537080757?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c5ce51fb5

On other sites like xoxide and frozen pc their sinks are around $17. Would the cheap ebay ones work the same?

Thanks so much for all your help!

Also, it comes with 2 Meters of Clear 7/16" Hose. Do you think I will need more?
 

ImCharming

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I'm going to buy it off of sidewinder, so I can get the gpu blocks and the kit at the same time. I read in reviews that the hoses cloud up. What would be a recommended brand? Would a hose from the hardware store be good enough? Going to purchase this once I get an ok, saying that it's good to go. Thanks again everyone.
 

rubix_1011

Contributing Writer
Moderator
Hardware store tubing is vinyl and will cloud faster than any other kind of tubing. It also isn't nearly as flexible for tighter bends like the better quality tubing. If you don't need tight bends, it is cheap and will work...I've used it in the past. I usually stick to Feser and Tygon these days because I like the flexibility and thick-walled tubing.

Clouding of tubing is inevitable...it will happen less quickly with simple distilled and killcoil or biocide than with a premix, but it has to do with the chemicals used in curing the tubing that cause the clouding. (Can't remember what it is called...)
 

ImCharming

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Okay, so I got my kit last week, and realized I didn't have enough tubing so I got some Friday and just put it together today. I did the 24 hour leak test, had no problems so I put it all together. But of course, with everything I end up doing there has to be a problem. I have it all hooked up, I turned it on, it all turns on but no post. It's running, but nothing. I googled my problem and I read that sometimes you have to plug a cpu fan in and change that setting in bios, I tried that but nothing changed. I replaced the cpu, nothing. I unplugged the power and held the power for about a minute, nothing.

As you can see in the pictures, It's tight and I had to mod the case some so if there is a way to troubleshoot fixing it without having to take it apart, it would be better. Thanks :D

http://oi54.tinypic.com/2uj08c9.jpg
 

ImCharming

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just did all that, checked the connections again, resat the gpu and ram, nothing. I think this is going to be the last time I ever build my own computer, seems like I just run into problem after problem.

I went to school for computers, and I think now after all these problems I'm constantly getting, having a career in the computer industry is the last thing I want to do.
 

ImCharming

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The xspc rasa waterblock didn't come with an am3 backplate, so I read on a forum that someone drilled out the threads on the stock backplate to make it fit, so I did that. So I have metal on the back, I couldn't remember which way it came, with the plastic side facing the mobo or the metal. I have the metal side on the mobo. I'll fix that tomorrow.