looking for a water cooler for thermaltakeV3 black edition case

[Sandman2k2]

I have an X99 Extreme3 in a themaltakeV3 black edition case with an i7 5820k that I wish to overclock.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133094

problem is the case is only a midtower and the motherboard makes it an even tighter fit. I currently have 3 120mm fans that fit quite snug and do a good job with air flow, and the only place a radiator would fit is in the rear, but there is 5-10mm of clearance beyond the size of the 120mm fan going to the roof of the case and the sides (the length of the side panel to motherboard)

but if you look at the pictures, especially the one depicting the back outside of the case, there are two holes I assume are for tubing. so i could mount the radiator on outside on the back there and feed the tubes through? is this correct? is there a cheap and efficient water cooler that I can mount like this for this particular case?

I am new to water cooling and educated myself on overclocking, but water cooling seems to be process of elimination since there are so many little details that could stop a build that companies cant even anticipate for their product specifications.

 

[Aeacus]

Those tubing holes at the back of the case are meant for external rad in the custom made water cooling loop, like seen here,
image:

Though, you can't use the AIO water cooling since those are sold in one piece and can't be dismantled, e.g Corsair H100i.

Either build your own custom made water cooling loop, as seen from image above or buy a new PC case that has far better support for internal rad, so you can use AIO water cooler, e.g Corsair 450D,
specs: http://www.corsair.com/en-eu/obsidian-series-450d-mid-tower-pc-case

 

[Sandman2k2]

Those tubing holes at the back of the case are meant for external rad in the custom made water cooling loop, like seen here,
image:

Though, you can't use the AIO water cooling since those are sold in one piece and can't be dismantled, e.g Corsair H100i.

Either build your own custom made water cooling loop, as seen from image above or buy a new PC case that has far better support for internal rad, so you can use AIO water cooler, e.g Corsair 450D,
specs: http://www.corsair.com/en-eu/obsidian-series-450d-mid-tower-pc-case

Thank you this information was very helpful. could you recommend a mid tower case that you know will support an AIO 120mm?

 

[Aeacus]

To house a single slot, 120mm rad, you can go with Corsair 100R case,
specs: http://www.corsair.com/en-eu/carbide-series-100r-mid-tower-case

Though, do note that most air coolers will outperform single slot rads. Single slot rads are meant of small ITX builds where there's not enough CPU cooler clearance for proper air cooler. For AIO to be on par with air cooler, you'll need to look towards at least 240mm rad, preferably 280mm rad. E.g Corsair H100i V2 or NZXT x61 Kraken.

To house dual slot 240/280mm rad, Corsair 450D is a solid choice,
specs: http://www.corsair.com/en-eu/obsidian-series-450d-mid-tower-pc-case

Here's also a good article to read where king of air coolers (Noctua NH-D15) is put against 5x high-end AIOs, including king of AIOs (NZXT x61 Kraken),
link: http://www.relaxedtech.com/reviews/noctua/nh-d15-versus-closed-loop-liquid-coolers/1

 

[Sandman2k2]

To house a single slot, 120mm rad, you can go with Corsair 100R case,
specs: http://www.corsair.com/en-eu/carbide-series-100r-mid-tower-case

Though, do note that most air coolers will outperform single slot rads. Single slot rads are meant of small ITX builds where there's not enough CPU cooler clearance for proper air cooler. For AIO to be on par with air cooler, you'll need to look towards at least 240mm rad, preferably 280mm rad. E.g Corsair H100i V2 or NZXT x61 Kraken.

To house dual slot 240/280mm rad, Corsair 450D is a solid choice,
specs: http://www.corsair.com/en-eu/obsidian-series-450d-mid-tower-pc-case

Here's also a good article to read where king of air coolers (Noctua NH-D15) is put against 5x high-end AIOs, including king of AIOs (NZXT x61 Kraken),
link: http://www.relaxedtech.com/reviews/noctua/nh-d15-versus-closed-loop-liquid-coolers/1

my 5820k would be producing more heat than a 4790k as well so even while using Noctua NH-D15 overclocking is a bad idea right? so my only option is to spend more than $250 for a different case and expensive cooler to overclock?

 

[Aeacus]

As far as hot running chips go, i7-7700K is also one such chip and it can operate just fine when cooled by Noctua NH-D15 or Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3, even when OCd.

There are no cooling performance increase when you use AIO, only benefits of the AIO are:
* no RAM clearance issues
* no CPU cooler clearance issues

As far as air coolers go, there are more benefits:
* less cost
* less maintenance
* less noise
* no leakage risks
* doesn't take up case fan slots

NH-D15 is best air cooler there is and i don't see a reason why would you need to have an AIO for CPU OC.

 

[Sandman2k2]

As far as hot running chips go, i7-7700K is also one such chip and it can operate just fine when cooled by Noctua NH-D15 or Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3, even when OCd.

There are no cooling performance increase when you use AIO, only benefits of the AIO are:
* no RAM clearance issues
* no CPU cooler clearance issues

As far as air coolers go, there are more benefits:
* less cost
* less maintenance
* less noise
* no leakage risks
* doesn't take up case fan slots

NH-D15 is best air cooler there is and i don't see a reason why would you need to have an AIO for CPU OC.

but aren't air coolers highly relient on ambient temperature? liquid coolers are as well but perform better in higher ambient temperatures if I remember my physics correctly. I run the 5820k in an 80F (27C) room and already fried one, I suspect because of my poor ambient temperature.

 

[Aeacus]

27°C isn't high ambient, 32+°C is high. My average ambient is about that, currently sitting at 27.8°C.

As far as my temps go, i have several software programs to monitor my temps + i also installed 6x temp sensors into my case at key locations. Here's what they currently show:
#1: 28°C - HDD cage
#2: 30°C - PSU casing
#3: 47°C - GPU heatsink
#4: 32°C - MoBo near CPU socket
#5: 27°C - case internals inside ODD bay
#6: 28°C - outside of the case, near full height expansion slots

And from software:
27°C - CPU
36°C - MoBo
59°C - GPU
34°C - HDD1
32°C - HDD2
29°C - SSD

Most that i've seen out of my CPU is 55°C during CinebenchR15 benchmark and most out of GPU was 66°C during Unigine Superposition benchmark.
My i5-6600K CPU is cooled with Arctic Freezer i32 (mid-sized) with 2x Corsair ML120 in push-pull. (Full specs with pics in my sig.)

Here's further reading for you to decide if to go with air cooler or AIO,
link: http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php/773198-Air-Cooling-vs-Water-Cooling-Things-You-May-Need-to-Know

Though, what can kill your CPU is dust if you let it to collect. Dust will considerably handicap the cooling performance of any component and it usually settles inside the heatsink.

 

[Sandman2k2]

27°C isn't high ambient, 32+°C is high. My average ambient is about that, currently sitting at 27.8°C.

As far as my temps go, i have several software programs to monitor my temps + i also installed 6x temp sensors into my case at key locations. Here's what they currently show:
#1: 28°C - HDD cage
#2: 30°C - PSU casing
#3: 47°C - GPU heatsink
#4: 32°C - MoBo near CPU socket
#5: 27°C - case internals inside ODD bay
#6: 28°C - outside of the case, near full height expansion slots

And from software:
27°C - CPU
36°C - MoBo
59°C - GPU
34°C - HDD1
32°C - HDD2
29°C - SSD

Most that i've seen out of my CPU is 55°C during CinebenchR15 benchmark and most out of GPU was 66°C during Unigine Superposition benchmark.
My i5-6600K CPU is cooled with Arctic Freezer i32 (mid-sized) with 2x Corsair ML120 in push-pull. (Full specs with pics in my sig.)

Here's further reading for you to decide if to go with air cooler or AIO,
link: http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php/773198-Air-Cooling-vs-Water-Cooling-Things-You-May-Need-to-Know

Though, what can kill your CPU is dust if you let it to collect. Dust will considerably handicap the cooling performance of any component and it usually settles inside the heatsink.

oh I am very anal about dust. I take good care of my hardware. although as I suspected my CPU was dying, I was stress testing it with furmark and it never went above 60C before my PC was forced shutdown and it never came back on

 

[Aeacus]

If you suspect that your CPU was dying then why to say it was due to the ambient temp?
There are far more prominent things that compute towards CPU failure than the ambient temp. Most CPUs fail due to the electromigration. While running CPU 100% (e.g AIDA64, Prime95, Furmark, CinebenchR15) doesn't damage it instantly, it will damage it over time, especially when your CPU runs at higher temps and/or voltage (e.g OC). Also, the older the CPU is, the more time it had to degrade.
What happened with you is similar when you take an old's car engine and run it on dyno until the engine blows, despite temps being within normal range.

Ambient temp matters only when you want to have lower CPU idle temps. With air cooling, including AIO (since it's also air cooled), you can't get your idle temps much below ambient. But what you can do is to have optimal airflow inside your PC. Air cooling works the best if you have huge amounts of air passing through your case and heatsinks.
You stated that you have 3x 120mm fans inside your case. Are those fans all you have?

For example: in my Skylake build, i have 7 case fans in it:
front intake - 2x Corsair ML140
bottom intake - 1x Corsair ML120
top exhaust - 3x NZXT AER140 RGB
rear exhaust - 1x Corsair ML140

With 7 case fans and most of them being 140mm, my fans can move huge amounts of air through my system. While i could achieve the same amount of airflow with lesser fans (e.g 3), those fans must run at much faster speeds which in turn increases the noise fans make. Since i like my PC to be quiet, my case fans are running at about 700 - 1100 RPM (depending on a fan location), while still maintaining ample cooling performance.
And due to the orientation of my fans, i have negative pressure inside my PC which helps to cool PC internals better than positive pressure. Downside of negative pressure is that more dust enters the system. But i've countered it with having filtered intakes with filters being also over every case opening (e.g grille).

 

[Sandman2k2]

If you suspect that your CPU was dying then why to say it was due to the ambient temp?
There are far more prominent things that compute towards CPU failure than the ambient temp. Most CPUs fail due to the electromigration. While running CPU 100% (e.g AIDA64, Prime95, Furmark, CinebenchR15) doesn't damage it instantly, it will damage it over time, especially when your CPU runs at higher temps and/or voltage (e.g OC). Also, the older the CPU is, the more time it had to degrade.
What happened with you is similar when you take an old's car engine and run it on dyno until the engine blows, despite temps being within normal range.

Ambient temp matters only when you want to have lower CPU idle temps. With air cooling, including AIO (since it's also air cooled), you can't get your idle temps much below ambient. But what you can do is to have optimal airflow inside your PC. Air cooling works the best if you have huge amounts of air passing through your case and heatsinks.
You stated that you have 3x 120mm fans inside your case. Are those fans all you have?

For example: in my Skylake build, i have 7 case fans in it:
front intake - 2x Corsair ML140
bottom intake - 1x Corsair ML120
top exhaust - 3x NZXT AER140 RGB
rear exhaust - 1x Corsair ML140

With 7 case fans and most of them being 140mm, my fans can move huge amounts of air through my system. While i could achieve the same amount of airflow with lesser fans (e.g 3), those fans must run at much faster speeds which in turn increases the noise fans make. Since i like my PC to be quiet, my case fans are running at about 700 - 1100 RPM (depending on a fan location), while still maintaining ample cooling performance.
And due to the orientation of my fans, i have negative pressure inside my PC which helps to cool PC internals better than positive pressure. Downside of negative pressure is that more dust enters the system. But i've countered it with having filtered intakes with filters being also over every case opening (e.g grille).

well I suspected thats what was making it die since I keep the computer clean, and when under full load it doesnt go above 75C. I do game quite a lot but I dont know how much load the cpu is under with CPU intensive games like WoW, 7 days to die, fortnite

 

[Aeacus]

To know your CPU usage during gaming, download HWinfo64 and start it's logging before starting to game. Afterwards when you're done, you can go over the logged data and look how your system performed (temps, voltage, usage etc),
link: https://www.hwinfo.com/download.php

There are also such programs that display small in-game overlay at the corner with plenty of system information at real time (FPS, CPU usage, GPU usage, RAM usage, temps etc). NZXT CAM is one such program.
While i have it since i need it to control my HUE+, you can also use it's features. Besides controlling NZXT products, it also offers a nice system summary with in-game overlay feature. While gaming, i sometimes toggle the overlay if i want to know what my current FPS is, among other info.
link: https://camwebapp.com/

 

[Sandman2k2]

To know your CPU usage during gaming, download HWinfo64 and start it's logging before starting to game. Afterwards when you're done, you can go over the logged data and look how your system performed (temps, voltage, usage etc),
link: https://www.hwinfo.com/download.php

There are also such programs that display small in-game overlay at the corner with plenty of system information at real time (FPS, CPU usage, GPU usage, RAM usage, temps etc). NZXT CAM is one such program.
While i have it since i need it to control my HUE+, you can also use it's features. Besides controlling NZXT products, it also offers a nice system summary with in-game overlay feature. While gaming, i sometimes toggle the overlay if i want to know what my current FPS is, among other info.
link: https://camwebapp.com/

yup I use HWinfo and cpu-Z. HWinfo shows my idle temps between 33-40C, but in hardware info in UFEI it says my CPU is 50C. does that sound right?