Seeking Help For My First Water Cooling System?

RabidSnail

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May 4, 2013
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I have spent most of the day searching the internet, including your forums, for information on water cooling, and its still like a foreign language to me. Instead of making a dozen posts in the forums, would someone mind helping me one one one to figure everything out?
 
I understand all the concepts, and basically fully understand the sticky forum here, but as far as technical sizing so things. for example, I started by looking at radiators, and I understand that you choose one based on things such as the amount of room you have available for the overall size. So lets say i have room in my case for a radiator that has two 120mm fans. then I choose one that has a specific FPI. I want quiet, so i go with lets say a 10FPI. I know my TDP is about 590. are those the main things I Pick my Radiator based on?
 
http://koolance.com/
Have to rewrite this post. If you look at their radiators you will see they have radiators based on how many watts of heat they will dissipate. The FPI is only fins per inch, which really doesn't matter, just stick to how many watts it can dissipate.
 

Like navysealbrian said, FPI doesn't really matter, only the heat dissipation. FrozenCPU.com is a great place to start looking at water cooling parts. Knowing what case you'll be using will be VERY helpful for us.
 

As far as the case goes, you may want to get something with more radiator support. The NZXT Phantom really only has support for a single 240mm (Dual 120mm) radiator, which will definitely not be enough to dissipate the amount of heat you want it to. If you're going for a water-cooling case and still want the phantom look, you may want to bump up to a phantom 630 or a phantom 820.
 

Quite right. It looks like it might be another entry to the Switch line, which could mean it is something like a switch 630 which would be fine for water cooling, considering the water cooling support differences between the phantom 820 and the phantom 630
 
the sticky did a great job of making me understand what goes into a water cooled system, but lacks details (maybe for the better) on what to choose and why. For example I have no clue what flow rates and flow drops mean in terms of pumps.
 

You probably won't have to worry too much about about things like that. That being said, what's your opinion on the new H630 case by NZXT? It seems like it would be great for watercooling.
 
It is a beautiful design. I think they hit the nail on the head for a specific target market there with the classy design. I am most likely going to go with that case, especially for the price that it is!

In regards to the example i gave of flow rates and such, From what I have been reading, or i guess in this case haven't been reading, it does seam like more of an enthusiast thing as opposed to a necessity for designing a loop. But I would like to have a complete understanding of all the components I purchase for my loop. I just like to be completely informed before I purchase something. Admittingly with it seeming slightly complex and to most people irrelevant, Its probably a good thing its not in the sticky. But another thread with a more detailed breakdown might also be nice.
 
TBH most people who run a water loop (including I) dont really know the finer details about flow rates and what causes them. From my understanding, the head pressure (how hard the water is being pushed) interacts with the restriction (resistance against movement of water) of the loop to give you a flow rate (how much water is moving).

Typically if you make good part choices and figure out the right way to hook everything up (multiple graphics cards in Parallel versus Series) then you dont have too much to worry about when it comes to flow rates with a typical D5/DDC pump. On larger loops that incorporate 3 or more blocks, it might be worth looking into getting an auxiliary pump.
 



What this guy said. The pump flow rate isn't very necessary in most cases if you get a decent pump. That being said, I also have a question about the NZXT H630 and you getting it. What loop do you plan on doing? You can fit two 360mm rads in there quite easily, but there's other options too.
 
The idea is that the necessary data to learn more about each of the topics in the sticky is made available if you wish you read more in-depth into it. The sticky contains a massive amount of data and continues to live and grow based on the needs of the TH Forum community.

The sticky will not offer quick answers on 'just tell me what to buy'- this is not the intent and generally is the stance by most of us that frequent this forum. The purpose of the sticky is to offer a place for the first-timer, novices and even experts to seek knowledge on topics. My intent is to help people learn as much as possible when considering different aspects of watercooling. Hopefully it has at least offered a place to begin as well as given you some ideas on where to start planning.

Can you start with budget?

What components will be cooled by the loop? Total TDP?

Watercooling gear being currently considered...and why?
 
Im unsure what I want to do with it. I was originally planning on a one loop, emcompasing the CPU and 2 GPUs with the radiator mounted on the top. But with the avalible room in this im kinda of thinking about giving the 2 GPUs their own loop, and putting the CPU and RAM on a Loop. Id mount the CPU Rad on the top and the GPU on the bottom. THen use the front fans to push air through and the rear fan to push air out.

My CPU TDP is 130, I have 2 GPUs at 230 each, and if I include the RAM, I plan on having 8 Dimms. My budget is Kind of open just because I dont know what i want to limit myself to. Preferably less than $300.
 

Less than $300 is RIDICULOUSLY underestimating the cost, especially if you want to do two loops. A more realistic budget would be around $600 for two loops, $400-500 for a single loop.
 

Alright sounds good. Any ideas for the rad setup? Like rad sizes. The H630 has quite a few different options. I believe if you're using a mechanical HDD, you could probably mount a top 360, a bottom 120, and a front 280 and still have room for 3.5" drives.
 
I took a closer look at the case this morning and I think the setup I would try to do is a 280mm on the Top and 280mm on the bottom, leaving the from the pull air in. When I was looking through pictures of it, the drive bays can be hung from the top, so I would probably mount my ssd on the back of the mobo, and put a 3 bay hdd cage that was hanging inside with 1 HDD and the other 2 bays for a reservoir.