Help with custom liquid cooling?

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PCnooberson

PCnooberson

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Dec 2, 2013
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Unfortunately, i have realised that if i want to run 2 or 3 way sli, as well as overclocking, i will need a custom liquid cooling system to keep them cool.

I Never really wanted to do custom loops because im afraid of spills. Like TERRIBLY afraid.

Just how safe are custom loops? Keep in mind that i am a big noob when it comes to pc stuff, so im afraid i might not even install it right, or end up breaking something...

Also, i cant cheap out here, because if i do, it can cost me my entire rig. What are the best ways to go? Coolents? Tubing? kits? Etc? I honestly needs you ncie people to tell me as much as you can.

Whats the most expensive? cheapest? differences? Whats the most important part? What is the best way to prevent spills?

What about radiators? Arents custom loop radiators like super thick?

Could you point me to some high quality custom loops, raditors, or maybe even whole kits? Thanks in advance.

My case is the CM Storm Stryker by the way.
 
Solution
vmem
a kill coil is basically a piece of pure silver. the silver will slowly leech into the water in your cooling loop, killing any bacteria in there.

honestly you should read some of the threads here: especially the 'guild for noobs' it will answer a lot of your questions
http://www.overclock.net/t/226970/updated-water-cooling-essential-threads

and yes, the rest of your system: motherboard components, ram, harddrive, are all left to fend for themselves. which is generally fine. none of them run that hot anyway without the CPU and GPUs heating up the air inside your case.

With proper cooling, your load temperatures would be something like 40 C or so. in this case, it is perfectly fine to have a radiator on the bottom as an...
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Because if i run sli, with that little space in between, im sure its going to get hot. I want to keep them cool for longer life and performance. Not only that, i would like to overclock, and air cooling can only get you so far.
 
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this review says not:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4620/silverstone-fortress-ft02-true-classics-never-go-out-of-style/6

granted it's using old GPUs: a pair of 580s, but those things are horribly hot and a pair of gtx 580s ran just fine overclocked in a FT02.

you're right that air can only get so far, but it is a good enough solution in a proper set up. if you're determined to jump on the watercooling boat, I'd recommend reading the sticky first

update: NZXT came out with something called a G10 bracket for watercooling GPUs using closed-loop CPU coolers. seems like a good compromise for your situation
 
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I planned on getting the g10, but those take up 3 slots, so no 3 way sli.
 
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alright, as long as you're sure that you want to jump on the wateryride :)

first things first, have you built a custom PC before? if not (or if it was a long time ago), refreshing yourself on that helps. In addition, you want to own/buy all the parts you want, put it together (air-cooled), and test everything and make sure they're in good condition before you start adding the liquid cooling gear. this is especially important for GPUs as you're technically voiding your warranty by putting on water-cooling gear (policy varies from company to company and card to card, check if your GPU comes with 'void if removed or damaged' stickers on its screws)

now, let's tackle your biggest fear: leak. there are two things you must know: Leaks CAN happen, and proper testing SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCES the risk, but does not remove it entirely. the most common source of leak is of course at the joints and you need to decide if you want to use a barbed connector vs compression. in all honestly compression looks better but I've always felt safer with barbs as you can see whether or not you've made a full seal. that aside, it can be a good idea to assemble your full loop outside of your components, 'hot-wire' your PSU's mobo plug to start your loop, and run it upto a day to check for leaks. if nothing bad happens, you now know you can assemble the thing properly, and can proceed to mount everything. afterwards you should check for leaks again, and god forbid if a leak does occur, immediately turn off and unplug everything, dry all components, and sometimes baking it on low heat (maybe 135-150 degree F) in a oven will help get rid of all remaining moisture.
 
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as for coolants, distilled water plus a kill coil is the way to go. don't add any weird dyes or fancy additives, the majority of them only make your loop more complicated and cause clogging in the long run (not to mention ruin your water blocks).

Most of the tubing on the market is perfectly fine. what you should do is buy something like a kit with a D5 or other good pump, and then buy a few more radiators and waterblocks for your GPUs

FYI, you'll want a MUCH bigger case such as a corsair 900D if you want to run triple SLI and have enough rads to properly cool everything. you may also need a fairly complex loop. in generally, it is best to plan ahead when water-cooling as the idea of "adding another GPU for more performance" becomes not so simple since you have to drain your entire loop, add the new card into the loop, fill the loop again and redo leak testing.
 
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first off, what is a kill coil? I have never heard of that? And what do you think is better, and what are some of the higher quality parts? Like brands and specs.

Secondly, what is there to cool? Theres the gpu, cpu, but what else? (im a noob). Are things like ram, hard drives, etc left to fend for themselves?

And if the major heat sources are liquid cooled, wouldnt it be fine to have a radiator on the bottom as an intake? I read of stories where the air would actually come up fairly cool.
 
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a kill coil is basically a piece of pure silver. the silver will slowly leech into the water in your cooling loop, killing any bacteria in there.

honestly you should read some of the threads here: especially the 'guild for noobs' it will answer a lot of your questions
http://www.overclock.net/t/226970/updated-water-cooling-essential-threads

and yes, the rest of your system: motherboard components, ram, harddrive, are all left to fend for themselves. which is generally fine. none of them run that hot anyway without the CPU and GPUs heating up the air inside your case.

With proper cooling, your load temperatures would be something like 40 C or so. in this case, it is perfectly fine to have a radiator on the bottom as an intake, since the air passing through it shouldn't exceed 40C
 
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Solution


Ok, i think i got the basics from that thread, but seeing that it was from 2 years ago, im sure alot of better parts have come out. Could you specify the higher quality tubes, koolents, fittings, coils, pumps, radiators, and reservoirs?
 
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Alright, sorry about the late reply, life interrupts 😛

anyway, as I mentioned before, I think the easiest way is for you to get a kit to kick things off (since you don't have anything so far), and then add pieces from there. I really like some of the EK kits (one of the top brands in water cooling): http://www.ekwb.com/shop/kits-cases/kits/ek-kit-h3o-360-hfx.html

I also rather like the swiftech kit featured here: http://www.xoxide.com/swiftech-h2o-320-elite-series-triple-120mm-radiator-water-cooling-kit.html?gclid=CJu-hN_qqbsCFaxr7AodmgoAqA

as for shopping, aside from the usual newegg and amazon, places like xoxide and frozencpu are some of my favorite places to buy liquid cooling components from.

at the end of the day, you'd be surprised how little liquid cooling has changed in 2 years. or maybe not. old favorites such as the cooler master hyper 212 still does very well in the air cooling world. in the end, liquid cooling depends on properties of physics which doesn't really change over time.

BTW, EK swiftech both make good waterblocks for the GPU, which ultimately leads us to:

you want to make a diagram and plan out how you may want to run your loop before you actually start shopping. I personally I believe a decent 240mm x 120mm radiator is enough to dissapate about 200W worth of heat, so if you want to go triple SLI and overclock a CPU, you'll want something like 8-10 times 120mm by 120mm worth of radiator space. which means, again, your current case will not cut it unless you run radiators external to the case
 
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Wait? Are you saying I need 8 120mm radiators to cool this? Seems a little excessive doesn't it? I looked at kits, and if your saying I need so much cooling power, none of them really provide.

I have made my sketch here: http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1925408/custom-loop-work.html
If you could give me feedback on that?
However, Im only using arond 700mm worth of rad, which is around 2 120mm rads short than what you said...so im not sure if it'll do. (The bottom radiator is a really thick one, not sure if that impacts anything. The top and side ones are 34mm thick)
 
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yes, I am saying you need 8 120mm radiators to achieve the kind of cooling a good loop will provide (aka around 40-45 C load temperature). if you're going to leave load temps at around 60C, it's honestly not that different from just getting a nice air-cooled build. I'm saying that you can buy a kit, then by additional rads until you have enough radiator space.

also, I would point out the same thing that others have pointed out in your other thread: you want at least your fat 280mm rad between the CPU and GPU cooling loops. I would predict your load temps to be a bit on the higher side: 50 C ish. which I guess is acceptable.

also, listen to toolmaker, that guy really knows his stuff
 
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But in my sketch, the fat rad IS between the gpu and cpu. It goes from the res to the gpus, then to the fat rad to dissipate the heat. Then to the cpu, and the 420 rad (280+140) to cool off, then starting over to the gpu. So do you mean something im not understanding by saying the fat one should be between the gpu and cpu?

As for 8 120mm rads, i honestly dont see any more space in my case for rads, but my case does have 3 holes in the back, where i guess i can have a radiator outsie the case. Possibly a thick 480 rad. This should be more than exceptional right? since its in total 1180mm worth of rad space, or almost 10 120mm rads.
 
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Ahh, my bad, I misread your diagram

it comes down to how cool do you want your components to run. there's nothing wrong with your current set up, but you'll need slightly higher fan speeds (especially on the fat rad) to get efficient cooling. at the end of the day, your don't have a bad set up in your current diagram. you can set it up and see how you like it. if you want it to run cooler/quieter, you can always add the rad in the back later
 
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That is a lot of components for one pump to push water through, in fact, one pump cannot do that by itself in a serial loop setup the flow will be to slow and cause all of the components after the first to become hotter than they should with the hardware you have, but by paralleling some of the components together, it is possible to get all of your hardware on one loop, with one pump, if you would like some help with a configuration setup for your components, let me know
 
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that's actually something I've been meaning to ask you about (since you're conveniently popped over).

I understand that in a parallel set up there are essentially more tuber space for liquid to flow through, thus resistance is lowered and making it possible for one pump to pump the liquid through. however, isn't the overall flow rate still the same and limited by the single pump? forgive me if my physics is wrong
 
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Honestly, im free to put up any changes i need.
You guys say it needs more rad space for efficient cooling, so along with 2 280mm rads, and a 140mm rad, Im completely fine with having a 480mm rad running outside the case.
Ill run parallel, because not only does it less restrict the flow, but (if i did my research right) it cools it a few degrees better.
As for the second pump, do i need a second reservoir and second set of tubing? Or can i just pop in the second pump somewhere in the middle of the loop?

Edit: actually, i now think i do need a second set, because i cant let the pump run dry, correct?

Can you perhaps write down the best order to have both loops running? This is what I atleast thought.



Now i know it looks very chaotic, but its the best i could think of. The GPUs are going to give out alot more heat that the cpu (i think) so i had the external 480mm rad connected to the gpu loop.

However, im still unsure about this whole parallel thing. Not sure if i drew it right. Which one is it like?

 
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I will try to explain what I have seen from my own experience I will put this on a RPM scale a single D5 pump can run at 8000RPM with nothing on the loop but the pump and flow meter.
Most components today are designed to restrict the flow rate through them down to about 2200RPM
So a 3-way parallel setup on components will give the highest system flow rate without dropping the flow through any of the 3 components.
That is the basics any way
I will have mine up in a week or so with 3 radiators and 8 blocks total I will show results of having one pump to handle it all, and flows, but the most important will be the temps, if they stay low than the theory will be proven by in field experience.


 
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ahh, I see. by that logic it's the component restricting the flow that is the limiting factor here, not the D5 pump's output rate (at least not until you're running four or more loops in parallel). that clears it up well.

Yes, I will look forward to the field test. but the theory seems sound (at least as long as you're not running anything viscous inside) :)
 
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@PCnooberson

I would wait for toolmaker to get back with his parallel loop test before deciding if you need to run a second loop on a second pump. also, running things is parallel will allow you to better control the temps because all your GPUs will be cooled from water of the same temperature, and not heated water from the last GPU :)
 
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