First time watercooling

[Pierre Olivier Vidal]

I have recently bougth a Maximus VII Formula and I am considering watercooling ( this is not a thread about if I should or not use watercooling or even why I will ). I have some questions regarding watercooling since it is my first time ( please don't focus on just 1 question ).

1 - Considering my case ( HAF 912 ), is there any kits already made for cooling the board and cpu or will I have to go custom?

2 - Before using watercooling, is there anything I should know?

3 - I would like to have the block with the fans outside of my case, but I already have a 200mm cooler master fan up there ( inside the case ), would I be able to fit both?

 

[faalin]

1) your kinda in a grey area with this, is a yes and no. Since the board already has a waterblock on it your ahead of the game. For the board and cpu I would look a the RayStorm D5 RX240 V3 WaterCooling Kit which will handle the cpu and then add a 120mm radiator to the loop for the motherboard. So you will have a hybrid custom loop.

2) having a custom loop there is maintenance that you have to do, about every 6-12 month you need to drain and clean the loop. Watch for leaks to develop, which is rare once you get to loop set up unless you move your case around a lot. maintain water levers, there will be evaporation that does occur, it will be very slow but after time you will notice that you are a little low on water. Side note if you do move your case around the water loop does add some weight to the system

3) you can do it you will just have to run more tubing to get the radiator up there. Depending on how much room there is at the top of the case I like to run a push/pull fan setup on the radiator. most people go for the cleaner look an mount the radiators inside the case.


If you have any more question or if I didn't full explain something fully feel free to ask.

 

[Pierre Olivier Vidal]

Are you sugesting a radiator for the cpu and another for the board? I did not think about that, it is interesting. I tough about tubing going from the radiator to cpu, cpu to board, board to radiator. at that point I would have to go custom rigth?

edit : just realised the kit you mentionned is for custom builds... silly me. What I ment with question 3 is that since I have a 200mm fan hooked on the inside top of my HAF 912, will i be able to bolt the radiator to the outside top of my case?

 

[faalin]

the raystorm is a custom loop starter kit, it will give you everything you need in one box to set up a loop for the cpu. you will still need to buy extra fitting to go from the cpu to the MB waterblock.

I always like to go with the rule 240mm (2x120) radiator for the cpu and then for ever extra part added to the loop another 120mm radiator.

the way I would set it up is pump->240 rad-> cpu water block-> 120 rad-> MB water block-> res-> pump that way your cooling the water before it get to the cpu and MB water blocks.

 

[Pierre Olivier Vidal]

that sounds great, but that kit is kind of expensive ( altough I'm not on a budget ) and there's extras if I want red coolant trough clear tubing ( my comp is all red fans ) and it sounds complicated to build, in the end, this is my first pc build...

 

[faalin]

Like you on my first water loop I wanted to use red coolant. They do sell different colors but don't use these, I learned the hard way as it stained the inside of all the parts. I would recommend getting red tubing if your wanting to stay with the red theme.


Yes water cooling is not cheap for custom builds. Even just trying to watercool the MB will not be cheap, all the parts buying separate start to add up. Had they had these kits when I started out I would have started with these. My first loop was on a P4 12 years ago and nothing like this was around.


If your sticking to air cooling make sure there are plugs in the waterblock holes so you don't get dust in there.

 

[Pierre Olivier Vidal]

here are my bigest concerns :

1 - since I don't plan on OCing but I want to go watercooled to take advantage of the expensive board I bougth, should I need those 3 x 120mm radiators?

2 - what would be the space required, I still want my computer to be ''sexy''.

3 - how much weigth would it add aprox. ?

4 - If I do move my computer around, is there any leaking possibilities?

5 - what is the power required for that

6 - would it be best to put the radiator/pump inside the case and put the 200mm fan on the outside with a protective grill?

this is how I'd like my rig to look like, altough I believe my case is too small. ( minus the gpu water cooling )
http://www.overclock.net/t/1496679/lightbox/post/22436446/id/2067412

 

[faalin]

For just your MB you will need a pump, res, 120mm radiator, fittings, and tubing.

weight will not be that much, just remember the bigger res you get the more water it holds, but you also don't want a tiny little thing ether.

Ive moved many of water cooled builds around, one build moved every other weekend for about 6 months to lan parties 45-60 min drives in the back seat of my car with no issues. But I always use barb fittings with clamps. Not a real big fan of compression fittings.

power is one molex connector for the pump and whatever for the fans on the radiator.

I would get a bay res with a pump on the back of it and mount the radiator in the front 120mm opening if it fits, that way you can pull cool air through the radiator.

Yeah that guy is amazing with his water loop but is all hard piped, not even mine look that good. I use tygon tubing, while a little price it is very flexible and does nice bends without pinching the tube.

 

[MrMc]

I Have This http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1188008&SRCCODE=WEBGOOKWL&gclid=CODb48H68MMCFYNAaQodN6IAXg

Its a Descent System For Most CPU's Hold MY 6300 overclocked at 4.1 At About 26 Celsius or 75 Fahrenheit
Espicaly If You Want A Open Loop To add Motherboard Blocks Or Ram Blocks You Name It the pump has a life span of 9 years. But You Do Need To Keep an eye open for coolant levels and or leaks when you first set it up i like to use an old psu when filling mine so as not to use my 750w for the whole rig plus you wont need to power on the whole sys in case it does leak
But IF you Want A Closed Loop For Just The CPU Then i Would Recommend Any OF The Corsair Hydro series
most are Fair priced an have minimal Maintenance just cleaning dust out of the rad stuff like that

 

[Pierre Olivier Vidal]

that product is not compatible with LGA-1150

 

[Pierre Olivier Vidal]

I will most likely stay with air cooling for now.

My plan for when I have the budget : If you look at a picture of the isnide of a HAF 912, I will remove the optional drive bays to the rigth ( already removed due to a too long graphic card ) and put the res there, put the radiator on the top of the case on the inside and put my 200mm on the outisde or mount them both together ( my friend did that, he does alot of custom ) and get all hard tubing like the picture I showed earlier.