Is it worth the cost?

[dctravis]

So, I have been asking a few questions on these forums over the last two months concerning my desktop pre-build, post-build and now that I am thinking about selling and buying new parts I was wondering, for what I want to do, whether or not water cooling would even be necessary. So, my new build will possibly consist of 3-4 Sapphire 7970 Toxic editions in crossfire all running at x16 speed, Asrock Extreme11 motherboard and My current 3930k (currently have the beastly phantek dual radiator tower installed). My question is whether it will be worth it to water cool the graphics cards and the CPU if I have never done anything with water cooling? I read through the majority of the beginners thread and have taken classes in Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow, so I think that I can say that I understand how this works. I am just wondering mainly if the Toxic editions will really need water cooling or if I should even push them any further than they already are? If no, would the most reasonable method then simply be a closed loop cooler just for the CPU or would you guys do a custom job just for a cpu?

 

[toolmaker_03]

water cooling is not a need, but a hobby. no hardware needs water cooling, but it does run better with it, and it allowes you to play with overclocking too. i have been doing it for 15 years, and now have 4 water cooled systems running. for me, my kids, and i built one for my dad. he does not compute much but he loves the new system i built for him. he says it is quite, and works all the time, no crashing or slowing down ever. his system is not clocked at all, but it is verry stable and with good hardware. i guess what i am trying to say is that once you go custom water cooling you will never go back to air cooling. until you experance it, you can not understand it, water and electronics do not go together, or do they? this is a question you will have to answer for yourself, your asking so you have some intrest in it, you have read up on it so you are thinking about it, now all you need to do is jump in head first and see where it takes you.

this is where it has taken me after 15 years
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/274855-29-experimental-radiator-build
my latest build log, have a look see, this is overkill, but i like it that way.

 

[dctravis]

water cooling is not a need, but a hobby. no hardware needs water cooling, but it does run better with it, and it allowes you to play with overclocking too. i have been doing it for 15 years, and now have 4 water cooled systems running. for me, my kids, and i built one for my dad. he does not compute much but he loves the new system i built for him. he says it is quite, and works all the time, no crashing or slowing down ever. his system is not clocked at all, but it is verry stable and with good hardware. i guess what i am trying to say is that once you go custom water cooling you will never go back to air cooling. until you experance it, you can not understand it, water and electronics do not go together, or do they? this is a question you will have to answer for yourself, your asking so you have some intrest in it, you have read up on it so you are thinking about it, now all you need to do is jump in head first and see where it takes you.

this is where it has taken me after 15 years
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/274855-29-experimental-radiator-build
my latest build log, have a look see, this is overkill, but i like it that way.

I am very interested in doing this, but my main concern is that I have no idea what to do... there are so many possible options to create a liquid cooled pc and I really dont know where to start. I believe that I understand how to pick the radiator(s) size with total load that needs to be dissipated.

Is there anybody on here who might be willing to walk me through my first setup, so that I could figure out the total cost and whether or not I would be able to do this project with purchasing the components I plan to as well? I think the main thing that led me to water cooling is the fact that I believe my case would be amazing for it and I will be running triple 2560x1440 and would like to do max settings with AA and believe some overclocking may be required. It is going to cost me 600 for the additional 2 monitors (already have one), 1800-2400 for the video cards, ~600 for the motherboard to get x16/x16/x16/x16 plus raid capabilities, and probably 300-400 for a quality PSU that can handle everything. Thus I hope you can see why I am a bit nervous both on price and my own ability to truly make it leak proof... I currently have the Rosewill BLACKHAWK-ULTRA Gaming Super Tower Computer Case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147157 . If you have time to throw out some suggestions please do, if not I completely understand.

 

[UserConfirmed]

4 x 7970 and 3930K is going to need some serious cooling so I suggest getting an external 9 x 120mm radiator water-box .

 

[toolmaker_03]

this is only for refrence, not to be used for the build unless you want to.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/12293/ex-rad-196/Watercool_MO-RA3_9_x_120mm_PRO_Extreme_Radiator_-_Black_Powder_Coat_22020.html?tl=g30c95s667
or
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/14193/ex-rad-141/MagiCool_Limited_Edition_Monsta_420360_Triple_120mm_140mm_Xtreme_Performance_Radiator.html?tl=g30c95s161
two of them i like shrouds for the fans
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/9131/cpa-281/Tecnofront_AirBox_360_-_Acrylic_.html?tl=g30c429s1074

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/10692/ex-tub-664/Tygon_2375_Ultra_Chemical_Resistant_Tubing_-_38_ID_58_OD_-_Clear_AJK00029.html?tl=g30c99s1615
i like this tubing but i am useing norprene right now to see how long it lasts
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/2128/ex-pmp-27/Swiftech_MCP655-B_12v_Water_Pump_w_38_Conversion_Kit_317_GPH.html?tl=g30c107s153
i like swiftech pumps but any 655 series motor is a good one
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/15199/ex-tub-1191/Alphacool_Compression_Fitting_-_G_14_Thread_38_ID_x_58_OD_1610mm_-_Copper.html?tl=g30c409s1608
you will need fittings or barbs lots of them you will also need to pick out some blocks for your hardware stay away from EK nickel blocks.

i use a fill/flush system for all of my builds.






shrouds work as well as a push/pull configuration

well i hope this gives you a good starting point.

 

[rubix_1011]

7970's show a TDP of 250w each...1000w just for all 4 cards at stock. Toss in your 3930k and you're looking at 1130w TDP just at stock speeds; more if you overclock any.

You could possibly round this down to 1000w+ and be alright, but that would still necessitate 2x 360 rads (good ones).

 

[boiler1990]

I am very interested in doing this, but my main concern is that I have no idea what to do... there are so many possible options to create a liquid cooled pc and I really dont know where to start. I believe that I understand how to pick the radiator(s) size with total load that needs to be dissipated.

This is honestly the hardest part to get across to people. If you can do this, things will get easier from here on out.

Whether or not it is worth it to you is your call, not ours. If you're not hitting your thermal ceilings on the GPUs, you technically don't need to change anything. If you're thinking about watercooling for less noise, keep in mind that some setup will be as loud or louder, so you need to plan your build properly.

My general plan of attack is roughly:
-Determine components going to be in the loop
-Determine #/type of rads/fans needed
-block selection
-pump/res selection
-tubing/fitting/etc selection

This way you know what you're going to be cooling, you have what you need to cool it, and your pump is selected in order to match the restrictiveness of the blocks.

 

[dctravis]

What do you guys think about the 9x120mm phobya or koolance radiators? After some research I
Thinking a swiftech HD CPU block with the komodo gpu coolers. Any thoughts?

 

[toolmaker_03]

I have Built a loop with a 1080 rad with all 18 fans for the CPU and two GPU’s the system never got hot it was pretty cool but it went on a cube case most cases that are large enough for this type of rad are pretty expensive but with a little forethought you could mount it externally on almost any case.

 

[dctravis]

I have Built a loop with a 1080 rad with all 18 fans for the CPU and two GPU’s the system never got hot it was pretty cool but it went on a cube case most cases that are large enough for this type of rad are pretty expensive but with a little forethought you could mount it externally on almost any case.

I was thinking about mounting the read on the outside of the mesh window on my case, withthe fans on the inside pushing out, but I don't think the side panel would be string enough. I have the rose will black hawk gaming super tower case, not quite as big as some of the cases I've seen here, but pretty roomy. I was kind of basing most of this build off of getting a newegg preferred account as I will have the cash in 3-4 months to cover everything, but got denied when I tried to order just the as rock extreme11 and the lepa 1600watt so this whole plan might be postponed a few months. Still want to figure it all out though. I can't believe I got turned down though, with a 735 credit score...