Need advice about watercooling

[Maxy90]

Hello forum! I have a couple of questions I need help with for my first water cooling system.

I want to liquid cool a cpu, and maybe dual gpu's. I haven't bought anything yet, been researching online , although I have made up my mind on most of my components which hopefully will be:

Intel i5 2500k overclocked
Radeon HD 7970 might CF it
Asus Sabertooth Z77
OCZ ZX Series 1250W Fully-Modular 80+gold

And for the case I want to go with Corsair 650D, I could change my mind about it.

As for the liquid cooling stuff:

XSPC Raystorm CPU water block block G1/4"
Full coverage 7970 water block
Swiftech MCP655-B because its 30 bucks cheaper than 655
EK-Multioption RES X2 - 150 Advanced for the reservoir
XSPC RX240 Dual 120mm High Performance Copper Radiator
PrimoFlex Pro UV tubing 3/8" ID x 1/2" OD
with compression fittings for 3/8" ID x 1/2" OD

^ That should cost around 400$ US more or less

I need help making sure all those items fit each other, and if there are anything equivalent for less, or to recommend other stuff.

Thank you in advance!

 

[scopey86]

Well first off if you're planning to cool just your CPU you should be fine. Is the pump you listed a vario (can you change the speed)? You should probably find out why it's slightly cheaper just to be safe. I wouldn't personally suggest primoflex tubing, go with durelene or masterkleer they seem to have the least issues with palsticizer, not to mention they're cheap. Also if you can fit a Alphacool Nexxxos monsta 240mm rad you might want to consider that as it'll give you a lot more heat dissipation headroom.

If going forward you plan to include you GPUs in the mix, you'll need a lot more cooling area for it. Each 7970 generates 210 watts of heat. So those two together would be 410 before any OC. You'd probably want a 360mm rad alone just to cool those two and that would be without any OC. With an OC maybe 2 240mm for em.

It definitely looks like you've done your research and that's awesome. Are you set on the case? You might want to consider going for a NZXT Switch 810, it means you could fit a 240mm in the bottom and another 360/420 up top which would be adequate to cool everything. Hope this helps

 

[Maxy90]

I do want to cool my cpu and a single gpu for now, probably another down the road. As for the pump its the basic version that's why its 30$ cheaper than the vario one.
I might consider the NZXT Switch 810 I checked it out and it looks pretty nice. Can I fit a 360mm in the top, 240mm in the bottom and another 240mm/120mm in the back/rear or is that overkill for a cpu and two graphic cards?

Thanks for the tips Scopey!

 

[scopey86]

You would have trouble fitting an additional 120 in the back if you put a 420/360 up top, and I wouldn't reccomend it. Just to give you an idea I'm using a switch 810 right now with an OCed 3570k and a GTX 690 (which in the end would basically be equivalent to the heat output of your system give or take a bit) with a 420mm rad up top and a 240 on the bottom and my temps stay nice and low with no problems whatsoever. So in a nutshell that would be a sweet spot in terms of cooling for you now and when you add a second card.

Hope that helps