First water cooling build, looking for advice and big budget

[adamthepolak]

Hey guys, so im putting together a list of things id like to use in my first custom water cooling system. I built this computer a year ago and put in a Corsair H60 for the time being so i could try out water cooling (was financially restricted at the time). Now that ive got some money aside i wanna do a CPU/ Mobo loop to start off, im going to add a gpu loop but that wont be for another 2 years once i decide to upgrade my graphic card, currently got an artic cooler accelero II so it's runs pretty cool and quiet. i overclock often and im a sound nazi so putting in this loop will be nice. heres my current computer build:

cpu: intel i-5 2500k oc @ 4.5 gb w/ 1.35 vcore, (will be upgrading to a 3550k)
mobo: asus maximus 4 gene z
ram: corsair vengence 1600 8 gb (2x4) (upgrading to 32 gb of gskil), 2 gb ramdisk
gpu: xfx 6950 w/ accelero II, oced
SSD1: 120 gb vertex 4
SSD2: 128 vertex 3
HHD: 2 TB WD
PSU: Corsair TX 750
Case: CoolerMaster Haf X

and heres the water cooling set up i want to get, im looking for any advice here. im a complete noob so go ahead and rip this apart if u want. i have no idea about the fittings or tubbing. if i can mod my case (which im willing to do), im going to pack in a quad 120 mm radiator at the top instead of the trple 120.

Cpu block:
XSPC raystorm

Mobo blocks:
ASUS Maximus 4/5 Gene-Z Cooler Set Nickel POM Black

Pump:
Swiftech MCP35X 12v PWM Controlled Water Pump - Black

Res:
Bitspower Water Tank Z-Multi 250 - 60mm Tube Reservoir - Clear

[strike]EK Dual Loop / Dual Bay SPIN Reservoir w/ Flow Meters - Black Acetal (EK-BAY Spin RES DUAL Loop - Black Acetal[/strike]
Radiator:

Alphacool NexXxoS Monsta Triple 120mm Radiator - 60mm Thick or Alphacool NexXxoS Monsta Quad120mm Radiator - 60mm Thick

Due to spacing:
[strike]Alphacool NexXxoS Monsta Triple 120mm Radiator - 80mm Thick[/strike]

 

[rubix_1011]

You can easily drop the motherboard blocks unless you absolutely want them.

Your links are not working, I think they are truncated URLs when being pasted. Use the tags for links.

 

[Hard Line]

Cpu block:
XSPC raystorm: Good cpu block

Mobo blocks: Honestly pointless unless you are doing it for looks

Pump:
Swiftech MCP35X 12v PWM Controlled Water Pump - Black good pump

Res:
EK Dual Loop / Dual Bay SPIN Reservoir w/ Flow Meters - Black Acetal (EK-BAY Spin RES DUAL Loop - Black Acetal)

Why are you looking at a dual loop res? are you thinking of using a dual loop? if so i would not recommend it.

Radiator:
Alphacool NexXxoS Monsta Triple 120mm Radiator - 80mm Thick

I would like to recommend the XSPC rads.. ( i am using rxpc RX480 and RX240 )

To add to this, i would recommend primochill tubing, bitspower compression fittings, either GT AP-15 fans, or cougar vortex are good as well. I don't recommend additives in a loop. plain distilled water and silver kill coil are all that is required

 

[rubix_1011]

I don't recommend additives in a loop. plain distilled water and silver kill coil are all that is required

Couldn't have said this better myself.

 

[adamthepolak]

Ya im changing it to a single dual bay res., changed my mind after someone else explained how two loops arent necessary.

What case are you using Hardline that it fits a 480? i want to get larger rad if possible, may have to mod my case a bit

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Willing to mod?
I'm looking forward to this hehe
Hardlines using a HAF922 btw
Moto

 

[adamthepolak]

I am willing to mod..heheheh. Im busy with studying for an exam right now so i cant be taking my case apart but over the weekend i plan on measuring out if i need to do any cutting to fit a 480 radiator instead of a 360.

also for the gpu loop section im looking at a large rad at the front. again i have to measure out where i have to put everything. Id have to move 2 SSDs and a bunch of driver bays. Pain in the ass but wont have to tackle this for a while so i can carefully plan it out.

 

[adamthepolak]

hard line can you post a picture of ur build. as for the mobo block i want it for bragging/ bling not going to lie, but i do think with the larger rad i wont have very good air flow over my mosfet air radiator. slapping a cooling block over this would solve my problem. I dont plan on budging from this set up for about 5 years so putting a few extra dollars into it now wont hurt.

 

[4Ryan6]

hard line can you post a picture of ur build. as for the mobo block i want it for bragging/ bling not going to lie, but i do think with the larger rad i wont have very good air flow over my mosfet air radiator. slapping a cooling block over this would solve my problem. I dont plan on budging from this set up for about 5 years so putting a few extra dollars into it now wont hurt.

The more you stir in the pot the more you limit your 2500K or definitely the planned hot 3550K CPU overclocking, because the more heat you add to the loop to be compensated for the less leeway is left to cool the overclocked CPU.

As already suggested, drop the MOBO Block from your plans, it is going to hurt your overclocking headroom, there's bragging there too you know.

 

[rubix_1011]

We've had quite a few people lately with their first loop builds that include RAM and MB blocks without any real reason. It would seem that impressing one's friends with more tubing connections and colored coolant are things neither they nor their friends understand except that 'more certainly must be better'.

If someone is going to go that route, at least impress me and explain how you plan to counter the additional restriction and the reasoning why you chose those blocks...not 'just because'.

 

[adamthepolak]

k ill stay clear of the mobo blocks for now.

If I add a single rad into the loop at back fan intake to compensate for the mobo blocks think it would be enough for the extra heat?

 

[Motopsychojdn]

You already plan on a 360 for the cpu only, thats Moto territory hehe,
a single 120 will cool a Cpu adequately at stock, a 2x120 is good for most o/c's and a 360 is well into the over-radding paddock, allowing slower quieter fanspeeds for the same cooling
You don't 'need' the 120 at the rear but I certainly won't discourage it,
added cooling, a little restriction and removing the restriction of the mobo blocks? all good to my eyes
Moto

 

[adamthepolak]

to be honest im trying to fit a quad length radiator into the top of my HAF X but its going to take some modding. i measured out today and im looking at literally 2 mm of free space. Mobo clearence is restricting me to the 60 mm thick radiators as well. Once im done some of my exams friday ill photoshop together a photo of the loop lay out im interested in the machine. This is like 3 part upgrade project for me thats going to span a few years cause of the third upgrade costing me 1500+ dollars

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Cool, me likey pics
If you want a 480, we'll find the way to make it happen,
I'm on phase three of my loop at the moment, it never ends, you always tweak and find other ways to improve it
and We'll keep you right
Moto

 

[adamthepolak]

looking forward to this as its going to be my first big mod ill be keeping pics through out this to document. ive got phase 1 and 2 over the next 2 months.

Phase 1
first upgrading my 2500k to a 3770k, and moving up to 32 gb of ram (friends getting a computer so im using this as a way to sell old parts). also getting some better thermal paste cause my Corsair H60 temps are a bit higher, guessing its the paste thats going bad. emailed indigo for there xtreme sample , waiting on them to email back. ill also be lapping my cpu and maybe my corsair block, cant find fine enough sand paper right now and dont have the free time to find it. prob going to do this in two weeks.

Phase 2 (through January as im waiting for my student loan.... cough cough. i mean work over the break to get the money)
upgrading my corsair H60 to this water cooling loop w/ Corsair SP120s in P/ P, ill be modding the case over Christmas break. Have plenty of access to tools and i don't mind getting my hands dirty.

Phase 3 (2-3 years away)
as cheesy as this sounds but this will be kind of doing intels road map of "tick/tock" for development. phase 1 and 2 are minor changes and then phase 3 will a tock as its going to kill my wallet. Ill be finishing my water loop, upgrading graphics and monitors. at this point ill be getting 2 very high end cards in crossfire/sli with water cooling blocks. ill be moding my case to add another 360 long rad to the front or something. not really worried bout this yet so wont be discussing anytime soon. lastly ill be getting a 2560 x 1440 monitor (or a few based on pricing at the time).

So ya thats the big picture lol, thers still a few things that im not sure of like;
-based of my pump i may move my SSDs and HHDs to free up the space in the bottom front of the case so that the pump is cooled better (radiator fins on pump).
HHDs could go in front optical drives for now but i want to show off my SSDs a bit, mid mod the power supply cover to hold the two SSDs .
-reservoir location and type, dual bay or tube?? currently thinking to attach a tube reservoir to the case under the rear top fan beside the graphic cards/ pci slots. might have to mod a support.
- some time want to repaint my case red, not sure how or when.

any other changes past this point aside from simple HDD upgrades for storage are going to be in the next computer i buy after grad school when im old lol.

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Check the galleries for inspiration/ideas but I'll post some links in the morning when I'm back home
Moto

 

[adamthepolak]

Thanks Moto, ive done some hunting and remember only stumbling upon one thread that included a 4x120 rad but cant remember the thickness it was or his exact steps, just that it required a little bit of cutting at the top front of the case lol

 

[adamthepolak]

I fixed all the links on the initial post and updated the hardware list.

any advice on fittings/ tubbing/ red coolent? looking for red fittings and coolent with clear tubbing or UV red tubing

 

[adamthepolak]

You already plan on a 360 for the cpu only, thats Moto territory hehe,
a single 120 will cool a Cpu adequately at stock, a 2x120 is good for most o/c's and a 360 is well into the over-radding paddock, allowing slower quieter fanspeeds for the same cooling
You don't 'need' the 120 at the rear but I certainly won't discourage it,
added cooling, a little restriction and removing the restriction of the mobo blocks? all good to my eyes
Moto

was looking at maybe putting this (Alphacool NexXxoS Monsta 120)in the back top fan bay. would have to mount it on the outside of the case which isnt too much of a problem since the HAF X has 3 pre drilled tubing holes. This should definitly be enough for a mobo cooling, i could probably just use a normal or double instead of this 80 mm thickness.

 

[Motopsychojdn]

If you're happy to mount externally, look at a 240 or larger roofmount, side, don't just restrict yourself to hanging off the back
And its not the heat from the mobo block thats the problem, its the resttriction, a small block like that totally kills your flowrate
Ofc if you do the mobo on its own loop, no problems with the main loop hehe
Moto

 

[adamthepolak]

If you're happy to mount externally, look at a 240 or larger roofmount, side, don't just restrict yourself to hanging off the back
And its not the heat from the mobo block thats the problem, its the resttriction, a small block like that totally kills your flowrate
Ofc if you do the mobo on its own loop, no problems with the main loop hehe
Moto

This extra one would be strictly added for the mobo blocks. would a single thickness or even slim result in less flow rate disturbance? id like to avoid adding a big one to the outside

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Its the block that causes restriction, rads are very low on the restriction scale, if you put a mobo block on the loop you damage the flowrate quite harshly, regardless of adding another rad to allow for the blocks heat output,
Which is why I said if you ran a separate mobo loop there wouldn't be any problem for the main loop
Moto

 

[adamthepolak]

oh ok my bad, sry im not used to having to think bout these things. this loops going to be runningfor a while without adding any more blocks. would a two block loop be extremely restrictive??

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Its Motherboard and ram blocks that are the worst, Cpu and Gpu blocks although restrictive, aren't nearly as bad as a Nb or Ram block,
Your best bet is to do a Cpu only loop, then expand to the Gfx card later, and if you need or just want the mobo block, do a separate small loop for that later on
Moto

 

[adamthepolak]

i just looked at it and theres no way to put a bridge block cause my accelero II is blocking it. could just add the mosfet block.