Watercooling setup questions

[dancunder]

Hi,

I have this current setup: Phenom II 1090T, ASUS Crosshair Formula IV, Corsair RAM with it's dedicated cooler, OCZ Agility 3 SSD + some HDDs, Diamond MM Radeon 6990 and all this in Corsair Obsidian 800D. I have tried many different cooling solutions, including Corsair's own H70 and H100. I have a few Noctua P12 and S12 fans laying around. The Obsidian 800 case has amazing cooling features, but main concern is top 3x 120, back 140 and bottom 140 fans.
I am in a process of designing a proper water cooling solution for this setup. I love overclocking and that generates a lot of heat. I have done a lot of reading but still need help. Basically, this is what I am looking at for now:
- Koolance CPU-370 Liquid Cooling Extreme CPU Block - (1/2-3/4 compression fittings) + AMD Bracket
- EK Ultimate Performance CoolStream 360 XTX Series Liquid Cooling Radiator (EK-CoolStream RAD XTX (360)) (1/2-3/4 compression fittings)
- 2x Black Ice GT Xtreme 140 Radiator - Black (1/2-3/4 compression fittings)
- Koolance VID-AR699 Radeon HD6990 VGA Liquid Cooling Block (1/2-3/4 compression fittings)
- FrozenQ Liquid Fusion Dual Bay Reservoir w/ Swiftech MCP655 Series Pump Installed
- PrimoChill PrimoFlex PRO LRT Tubing 1/2"ID 3/4"OD with 1/8" Wall - 10ft Retail Pack - Clear (PFLEXP10-34)
- Cannot decide if I should get a motherboard cooler full cover or just NB, or NB + mossfet - any ideas?

Here are my concerns:
- Would these components work fine together in terms of pressure, flow and cooling efficiency? Or can the same/better effect be achieved with different and/or cheaper components?
- How would I design the chain? Do I go - pump/reservoir -> CPU -> 360rad -> motherboard cooling (if any) -> backside 140rad -> VGA Radeon 6990 -> bottom 140rad -> reservoir. Or should I have a different setup like pump ->360rad and then CPU? is one 140 rad going to be enough for a ovenbrick such as the 6990?
- In terms of hot air management - if I have a bottom 140 already pushing hot air inside of the case, should I have the back 140 and the top 360 pushing already warm air from inside the case out throught the radiators or should I be pulling cold outside air into the case through the radiators and depending on the design of the case to get rid of hot air. Or have the bottom 140 and the top 360 pulling air in and the back 140 pushing the hot air out albeit through the rad? Confusing.
- last but not least, any advice on management of the water flow and temperatures, like flow indicators, temperature sensors, and some management console to monitor and adjust the flow and fan speed?

A few notes... no, I am an AMD fan boy and although I know that for this money I can have i7 2700k with more power than my AMD will ever achieve. I am basing this on components that I can get from one shop - frozencpu.com as I am in the US only for a few weeks and need to get this purchased before I am back to EU.

I know this is a crazy long post and lots of questions, but any hit and advice will be appreciated greatly!

 

[saint19]

Hi and welcome to Tom's forum.

1- Excellent block for CPU and GPU, maybe you can see the EK wb for that GPU too.
2- You NEED a much better radiator, I suggest you go with a 360 radiator Swiftech or XSPC are solid and cheap.
3- Good tubing, I use the same and is excellent for the price.
4- You don't need the full cover mobo, that won't give you any advantage except the good look of the rig.
5- The loop's order that I use is: pump>radiator>CPU>GPU>reservoir. The important thing is keep the pump always with liquid, a dry pump is a dead pump.
6- You will need some SilverKill Coils for keep the loop clean, check it here: http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/sikibyia.html
7- Maybe a fan controller, with all those fan the noise can be high.
8- Use distilled water or deionized water, not colorants or any other fluid. Add the SilverKill Coils to the revervoir.