debating on water cooling

C

Currency

New Member
Hey guys,

I've been beating around the bush recently about water cooling my CPU and perhaps overclocking it. First I'd like to water cool before anything like that though.

I've been looking at several options, H100I which may not fit in my case, or something like this. Could fit an H80I easy.

http://shop.xs-pc.com/xsp/XSPC-RayStorm-D5-EX280-WaterCooling-Kit_33618.html

Looks like a 280MM thin rad, which should be able to sit under the top cover of my Lancool PC-K62 case. I've seen it done by placing the 140MM fans on the inside of the case rather than the top as they are placed from Lian Li.

Overall which setup would be best?

I noticed the XSPC D5 kits cost more than their 750 kits, assuming they are either newer, or better?

Any other water cooling brands I should look into?

This is just the research stage at this point in time. I'm debating on a new case as well, either 900D or case labs TH10.

I think it was the water cooling 101 that stated a 280 rad isn't enough to cool both the CPU and GPU, if so then what are my options with my current case?

Case Spec's,
http://www.lancoolpc.com/en/product...=15&cl_index=1&sc_index=25&ss_index=62&g=spec

Thanks,
-Currency
 
I find it quite odd that every single topic I've started here recently, only two, receive zero replies. I figured I'd get some answers here :confused::confused::confused:
 
Currency said:
I find it quite odd that every single topic I've started here recently, only two, receive zero replies. I figured I'd get some answers here :confused::confused::confused:
Click to expand...

The problem is mate, that everything you've asked is researchable. That means you are essentially asking others to do that for you. Its simply measurements. Check the case measurements, post up the components that fit that your case, and we can let you know the rest.

You wont get a lot of help when you are simply asking others to do the research for you.
 
I was simply making the assumption that a member here would know more about water cooling than I do, other than the last question I was asking opinions from those more experienced than I am in this area of computer modification.

Cooling both CPU and GPU in my current case, Lian Li Lancool PC-K62 leaves me thinking thin 280 rad and thick 120 rad, would be custom one off design most likely not something a water cooling newbie should be leaping into. More so since this particular water cooling newbie works nearly 360 days in a year, which leaves little to no time what so ever to design and build, a fully custom one off cooling setup.

If I did mod the case, some, I could squeeze in two thin 280MM rads which would require relocating three HDD's. But by doing so I don't think twin 280MM rads would be enough to cool the CPU + GPU, even if they run on separate loops. Not sure, I know next to nothing about water cooling. Debated on a phase changer, but again, I don't feel comfortable enough doing that as I know little to nothing about it.

In the event I do purchase a kit, or piece one together on my own and I can't make it fit then I'll get a new case since I have more money than time. Even though I said that, I'd rather do it myself than have someone else do it for me. I wouldn't learn anything if I did that.
 
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This all depends on what you're trying to achieve. The current cpu cooler will be pretty hard to beat on anything thats going to fit in that case, even watercooling, so I would stick to the GPU and simply have a loop with a 240mm rad for that. That would maintain delta 20oC. But really, with your system, why watercool? Not really required.
 
I'm a price vs performance type of person and may have this system for several years to come. So overclocking the CPU in the future and upgrading the GPU would allow the system to live a longer lifespan.

My systems seem to average out to three, four, years, which may not seem like a long time. But if you consider what I use to game on before I built this rig, you'll know what I mean. Emachines ET1331G-03W, around 2009.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5722406

Toss in my Antec PSU, and old XFX 5770 and that's what I had for a few years. Before that, I had this...
Emachines W3052, around 2005.

http://www.epinions.com/specs/E_Mac...7_RW_Dual_Layer_Flash_Media_R_PC_Desktop?sb=1

I believe those links will be fine since they are not other forums. Before I had the Emachines my system was a DX two, 66Mhz with around 860MB HDD. I still have some old 25Mhz pentium systems in full working order.

To keep this system living longer, I would have to overclock it in the future, maybe a year or so from now. But overclocking is in it's future. As for water cooling the GPU, I can only find universal water blocks and not full PCB blocks for the Sapphire 7870 XT Tahiti GPU, the dual fans get loud even at idle :( Which means I'll have to upgrade to a more common card to get a full GPU block.
I really want a full off custom PC with custom sleeved wiring from a modular power supply, water cooling, and overall something I can say, "Hey, I built that!"

Everything below is somewhat off topic and can be ignored. :rolleyes:

For me, my escape from this world, and personal issues, is doing anything computer related. I'm kind of in a cross roads at this point in time to finish my AA in IT, before moving onto my BS IT ISS degree. Kind of a transitional period in my life. So to be able to get away from it, even if its only for a few hours each night, means a lot to me. Somewhere to go where I don't have any real responsibilities. Now while I believe I've been through a lot of hard times in my own life, some would disagree, just getting away from everything is worth a million bucks.

Sorry if I'm kind of, releasing my feelings on you. But technology to me is fascinating. Just thinking about the engineering that went into making the first computers and comparing that to what we have today is mind boggling. It's doesn't matter to me if I'm laying out a network, figuring out the IP's needed for that network, piecing computers together, or just playing some games. I have an overall peeking interest for computers and anything about them. I still can't believe someone, machine or otherwise, can put billions of transistors into such a tiny amount of space.
 
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Oh, forgot to mention that I do not what so ever like the way the CM hyper 212 evo is seated on my processor. I've pulled it off half a dozen times but for some reason it doesn't feel as if it's seated all the way.

I've never seen my CPU hit 60C while gaming, and the video card seems to stay under 68C. I have three 140MM fans pulling air in, one 120MM and of course all the vents to push air out. My system runs cooler using positive air flow. Before I had negative, two 140's and one 120 pushing air out, one 140 pulling air in. Things were a bit warmer this way, but only by a few degrees C.

I may be able to get the processor cooler if I removed the CM paste and used the AS5 I purchased for this build, I have two tubes in storage at the moment. The CM stuff is not as bad as some suggest though.

If I choose not to go water cooled, should this be in another thread? What would the best air cooler be at this time? Staying under the 160MM height restriction from the case.

I'm sure that question is debatable as being the best doesn't mean will always be the best.
 
There is no real case for watercooling your ssystem. I would suggest (for the last time), spending the money on an extra gpu.
 
To my knowledge the only cards I can cross fire with my Tahiti core 7870 XT are other Tahiti cored GPU's, Meaning 79xx series cards only. Would be a slight upgrade, 1GB memory more, 384bit memory interface compared to my 256bit, and 2048 stream cores vs 1536 if I choose a 7970 card series card.
7990 @ $810 to $630
7970 @ $314 to $404
7950 @ $219 to $299

The ASUS HD 7970 DC2 seems like a good choice for me, 11 inches or 279.4MM, but the sapphire card I have now is 12 1/2 inches. So according to this,

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

system power consumption would equal out to around 528 watts. Will be going modular PSU in the near future as well, will get a higher wattage psu at that time.

Still don't like the way the 212 EVO sits on my processor. It will be changed for something different in the near future. Water cooling will be held off until after the case upgrade. Mandatory twelve hour days at work now. :(

Thanks for the help, I'll leave ya alone now ;)
 
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Just messing around, will do more testing this weekend. So far I've sustained a 4Ghz overclock at 1.306-1.316 volts. After several hour long runs in Prime95 small ftt without errors, my temps stabilize around 78C, never did go over 80C. May try out Linx as someone recommended it to me, thinking the results would be similar.

I used AIDA64 to monitor voltages.
Realtemp GT and Coretemp to watch temps, the results were very similar so I could recommend either for watching temps.

Not sure how much I could under-volt before it becomes unstable, would lower temps but debatable. Of course I never mentioned a thing about thinking about overclocking, I really have no need to overclock, just testing really in the event I want to overclock or even keep this clock now or in the future. More testing needs to be done though. But I'm a newbie when it comes to this area. I'm sure a fan controller, or two since I have seven fans at the moment, would help with the temps but slightly and may not be worth doing.
 
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