Liquid Cooling Friends 300R (Radiator Questions)

[LiquidCesium]

Ok so my friend is considering putting in a liquid cooling system, he wants me to design it since he doesn't know a single thing about these things, i will make him a parts list and he will buy them. I also will help him build it, and ill have him run the leak test. This will also be cooling the GPU and CPU, it MUST have a Blue/Black color scheme, also he wants it as cheap as possible. (In other words don't go insane). He also wants LED lighting if i can find it.

Here is what i have to work with:
-300R Corsair case
-i7 - 4770K
-GigaByte 7970
-Blue/Black Colors
-LED's


Due to the nature of this situation i plan on using XSPC Cooling blocks (since they come free with blue LED's and look REALLY nice. Im considering using BitsPower barbs, not sure if i should. Im considering doing 2 single fan radiators, blue EC6 XSPC liquid, and a Dual Drivebay w/ pump Res. I am want to put one on the front and the other fan in the back (by the CPU) but i wonder, should i put them both in the front like this:

It seems to be a fine config, and one i would consider... but i dont know if those are Exhaust or intake.

I need your help guys,
~LC

 

[HugoStiglitz]

I would not bother with coloured liquids or dye's. they tend to stain and fade. some also cause blockages when they degrade.

instead go with blue UV tubes and black anti-kink coils.
I really liked the look of silver tubes with blue anti-kink but I can't find a picture of it to show.

2x single fan radiators (120) are going to be minimum for your cooling requirements. I don't know if you can fit it or not but 240+120 (double plus single rad) would be what I recommend to get good cooling.

because for me at least water cooling is A. to keep low temperatures B. keep a PC silent and C. to look cool

 

[Buzz247]

Why would you work against normal case cooling and airflow design? front/side/bottom fans intake, rear/top exhaust - using that proven setup (and the way thermal convection currents work, the way cases are actually designed for) you would put a rad up top exhausting, a rad in back exhausting, or rad up top exahust, with front intake and maintain all other fans as listed above. Key here is use laws of thermodynamics and physics rather than work against them

 

[HugoStiglitz]

also in that picture there is 2x 120 rads in the front, why not use a single 240? less connectors = less cost & less points of failure. there is absolutely NO advantage to having a radiator between the CPU and graphics card to "cool" the water after the CPU and between the GPU.

the temperature difference between any 2 points in a water cooling loop will be AT MAX 0.1 degrees.

 

[LiquidCesium]

Huh... there is NO advantage to cooling the Cpu, Dumping the heat, THEN cooling the GPU's?

 

[HugoStiglitz]

no, water being such a good conductor of heat and moving quickly through the loop means there is almost 0 effect on the temperature by having a radiator between the CPU and GPU.

it does not DUMP the heat. the radiator is not an instant heat dispersant it uses the constant movement of air across moving water to cool the water.

take your car for example, the water temperature on the inlet side of the radiator is almost exactly the same as the outlet side.

the only thing that really matters is make sure you have the res higher than the pump (not applicable for res/pump combo)

I have 2 temp sensors in my loop, CPU in and CPU out there is NEVER more than 0.1 degrees C diff between them, and that's with a 4.5ghz overclock.

The reason water cooling is so effective is because temperature change happens very gradually. its not like the CPU water in temp is 25 and its out is 39.

 

[HugoStiglitz]

It takes 264W to heat water flowing at 1GPM by 1°C

Assuming you get at least 1GPM that means that,

Your 4770k produces 84W of heat
so even so lest assume a HUGE overclock producing 100w of heat.

100 / 264 = 0.37°C

ok so then its your 7970 with a MAX TDP of 250W

250 / 264 = 0.95°C

so there you have it. an ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM temperature variation of 1.32°C

 

[HugoStiglitz]

Extracted from Watercooling sticky here on toms hardware
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/277130-29-read-first-watercooling-sticky#t1992120

Does the order of components in your watercooling loop matter concerning temps and performance?

Not really. A watercooling loop is exactly what it says it is; a closed loop, so the water is being pushed just as much as it is being pulled. Most advice is to have the reservoir outlet feeding the pump inlet, but this is primarily for simplicity in filling and priming the loop. It also is very effective when purging air from the loop as the air collects in the reservoir (with the understanding that it is at least equal to or higher than the pump inlet) which prevents air from being re-circulated.

 

[HugoStiglitz]

check here for an advanced look at loop order

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums...t-Report-Loop-Order-does-it-make-a-difference

"Conclusion
There's no change in flowrate and basically no change in CPU temps. The rad-before-block config performs slightly better, but the difference is insignificant (even with a lot of heatdump from the pumps). I think this myth is busted. Thanks for reading"

 

[LiquidCesium]

well... i say the winner is hugo... Thanks dude, Seriously!