First Time Water Cooling, Please Help!

General Sherman

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Oct 14, 2011
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I am building a new pc very soon (waiting for parts). i want water cooling in my rig for a mild overclock and want to ask a few questions.

1. Is this upgradeable and would you recommend a different set instead?
2. i would prefer to get compression fittings but want to know what you think? (I have heard some bad leak stories)
3. which is the best, a dye bomb, premix or distilled water? (i would like some color)
4. in the haf x there is a fan at the top can i leave it on?
5. with the top fan not cooling the case will the rest of the components be cool enough?

Case- CoolerMaster HAF X
CPU- Intel Core i7 2600k
Graphics Card- Asus GeForce GTX 570 or Radeon 6950(if i can unlock it to 6970)
Motherboard- AsRock Fatal1ty P67
Power Supply- OCZ ModXStream Pro 700w
RAM- G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 4gb x2
HDD- Western Digital Caviar Green 2tb
SSD- OCZ Vertex 2 60gb
Optical Drive- Sony Dvd Burner
CPU Cooling- XSPC Rasa 750 rs360 -
1 x XSPC Rasa Black CPU Waterblock
1 x XSPC RS360 Radiator
1 x CPU Backplate for 1366, 1156, 1155, 775
3 x 120mm Fan
1 x XSPC X20 750 Pump & Reservoir combo
2 x 7/16" Clear Tubing
6 x 1/2" Barb Fittings
1 x 5mm Blue LED
1 x Velcro Mounting Pad for Pump
6 x Hose Clips
1 x 80 - 120mm Radiator Mounting Kit
1 x Thermal Paste
1 x CPU Mounting Kit
3 x 120mm Fan Grill

Extras: Primochill PURE Performance Coolant 32oz : Blood Red
EK PSC 1/4" Thread Compression Fitting for 7/16" ID - 5/8" OD Tubing : Silver Nickel x6
PrimoChill Anti-Kink Coil for 3/4" (19mm) OD Tubing : Black

Additional Details: Looks are important, i am going for a red/black theme.

All answers are GREATLY appreciated!
 

tjosborne

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all i know is you dont want dye running through your system. use red tubing instead. over time the dye will build up inside your waterblocks
 

king_maliken

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1) since I'm guessing you're new at WC I will say that the RASA kits are a descent start up kits and will yield adequate performance.
2)Really depends on how good of a job you do, plus people tend to exaggerate a lot
3)I've had bad experiences with dyes in the past I now stay away, plus colored tubing looks and is better (less maintenance and sometimes from what I've heard it can lower performance a very little tiny bit). I use distilled water, mainly because it's what I've always used...
4)I have no idea... Have not bought or used that case before, for clients I usually go with Antec 300 or different one upon request, for myself or again on request I build custom cases.
5)If you have PU and GPU covered usually that will do the trick, but upon major OCing (depending on the board) you will need to cool voltage controllers too. I'm assuming you still will have a side and rear fan in a push/pull config so you should be fine (hoping that the case you're looking at is a descent one).
*On a side note, I would get another PSU than the one you selected, very bad experiences I've had with that specific model. With a 2600k I would think you could afford more RAM, I would really opt for 8GB especially since it's dirt cheap. This is just if you have not bought the parts yet, just being picky is all.
**On a different side note, for mild Ocing I would really just go with air cooling, unless you want the experience of building a WC machine or the fun, but a lot of people don't see the fun... You'll see lol
 

General Sherman

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thanks for the reply! yep i want the experience (and bragging rights).
i am getting 2 sticks of 4gb ram, i was gonna get more but i heard too much can actually slow it down because they have to search the ram or something.
how much of an oc do ya think i could get with this setup?
thanks for the comment on the psu i think i will get a different one i didnt order it because i wanted to check for a better one first, any recommendations?
 

General Sherman

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thanks. if i did use dye what would i need to add to it? eg, distilled water and i heard something about germ killer or something
 

rubix_1011

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Moderator
The killcoils are pretty much the same. The biocides are just different kinds...you could even use biocides you find at pet stores...you just want to keep stuff from growing inside your loop.
 

General Sherman

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thanks. i am having 3x 120mm fans pushing air through the top of the case. the case comes with one 200mm fan on the roof that pulls air out can i leave that there and will i need another fan for balance?
 

rubix_1011

Contributing Writer
Moderator
Good luck...post pics and update when you are done in the Gallery section. If you want to put together a build log with info, pics, major steps/status, link that in the build logs as well as in the gallery section. Let us know if you have any questions.

 

General Sherman

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ok will do, two more questions... what thermal paste do you recommend (the one included looks kinda dodgy) and do you think i should get some better tubing? the generic one supplied is supposedly prone to kinks.
 
The Half-x case is huge and has a tremendous amout of room inside. There are aslo two 200mm , one 230mm and one 140mm fans that come with the case and a spot for another 200mm fan. The 230mm fan is located in the front of the case and the two 200mm fans can be mounted at the top with the 140mm at the rear and another 200mm fan for the side pannel. the top of the case has room for a 120 radiator and you can mount another beside the hdd rack a pump/reivoir combo can be mounted on the floor of the case. I prefer to mount my radiators on the outside so as to not clutter the inside and there are tubing holes in the rear of the case for this. I also use distilled water plus the silver coils and the biocide for good measure. I also use red dye from feser along with thier anti corrosion additive. there are what seems like an endless amount of parts , fittings and blocks to choose from. I have a two loop setup to cool three Evga GTX 580 Hydro Copper2 cards , the Intel 980x cpu and the 6 sticks of Corsair ram. I feel that the Cooler Master Half-X is an ideal case for water cooling. Picture of the case is on the side of this post.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7015/ex-liq-94/Feser_Aqua_Non_Conductive_Ultra_Pure_Water_-_1000_ml_FA-0054.html?tl=g30c337s887
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/11441/ex-tub-705/IandH_Silver_KillCoils_-_Antimicrobial_999_Fine_Silver_Tubing_Reservoir_Strip.html?tl=g30c103s186
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/11744/ex-liq-154/IandH_Dead-Water_Copper_Sulfate_Biocidal_PC_Coolant_Additive.html?tl=g30c103s186
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=59_381_383&products_id=23352
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=59_381_383&products_id=21724

If you have plans on using uv red tubing you may be in for a surprise as it atualy looks a bit orange , burnt orange , thats why I used the red dye to try and make it a little more red . it looks ok at night.
 

General Sherman

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thanks. i didnt know that the haf x had that much room for fans. ye i heard that the red tubing was a bit orange so i am going for the dye so i can choose how dark i make it. i want to keep the radiator in the inside of the case if possible, will the radiator and 3 fans fit inside the roof of the case?
 

General Sherman

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do you guys think that it would be better for me to get my parts individually? i am only using the cpu block, the radiator, the pump and the reservoir from the kit the rest i am buying with separately anyway so there will be a lot of waste in the kit.
if you could pick out these parts that are equal in price or cheaper that the kit and have better performance that would be great!
i would prefer a separate pump and res. thanks!