Water Cooling, HAF-X, Virgin

[kjriot]

As the topic states i'm A) a water cooling virgin (H100 dont count). B) using the Cooler Master HAF-X pc case.

I've tried randomly searching boards and vids for what I need to do and such but i always run into the problem of, it's over-detailed, or not detailed enough. I'm an idiot. An idiot who just spent around 4000$ on a PC, and wanting to spend a little more. My set up
Cooler Master HAF-X
i7-2600k @ 4.6 Ghz
SLI (2) GTX 580 3GB
Asus Maximus IV Extreme-Z
Samsung 820 series 256gb SSD
Seagate 750 GB SSHD (HDD)

So, my biggest problem at the moment is figuring out, piece by piece, what i'm going to need to water cool this machine. I meen fittings, Radiator(s), Pump(s) e.t.c. I was hoping at first to not get rid of the H100 and just cool the gpu's but it looks like it would be easier to just replace the H100 and do the CPU and GPU with the same loop or w/e. If i'm wrong feel free to correct me. Not really caring about HDD cooling. Even mounting options seem horrible, especially if i dont remove the h100. So if anyone would be kind enough to help yet another board cluttering noob with these specific details, it would be much appriciated, thanks.

 

[kjriot]

hmm how does that work with me using a pump inside the resovoir? shud i not do that?

 

[gbkinum1]

Wasn't on a site was on a game, but think we came to the 1 loop going
res>pump>cpu>rad>gpu>rad>res
Edit) or res/pump > rad > cpu > rad > gpu > gpu > res/pump, so it goes thru a rad b4 a new component

I hope you don't think you need a rad in between each component.. the water temperature will reach an equilibrium and be at MOST 2-3C different between the warmest/coolest parts of the loop (almost always within 1C difference). The only thing you want to make sure you have is res -> pump, but other than that.. you find the shortest/cleanest path to route the water between components.

edit: rubix you are a post ninja. Every time I try to post something you beat me to the punch

Pump inside a res is just fine, the idea between res -> pump is just to make sure the pump is never sucking air.. being inside the res accomplishes the same thing.

 

[rubix_1011]

Haha @ post ninja. But, sorry about that...just keeping a close eye on the forum while watching some college basketball. I don't mean to do it on purpose or to counter you...but I agree with a lot of what you are posting, so we are at least on the same page.

For the reservoirs that you can mount a pump, the pump is sealed and isolated from the water, so you aren't going to get damage...those reservoirs are designed for pumps being mounted, depending on the pump type- typically Laing DDC or D5 pumps. Also, you might see reservoir pump top combos, which means you disassemble the pump top and install an aftermarket top (sometimes with a built-in reservoir, sometimes not) on the pump and re-secure the pump. There are a lot of reservoirs, tops, res tops, bay res combos, etc...so this is something to consider during your planning phase.

 

[kjriot]

hmm the bay resovoir i chose is designed so you can use a pump inside it, although sold seperately. your saying this will damage the pump?

 

[gbkinum1]

Haha @ post ninja. But, sorry about that...just keeping a close eye on the forum while watching some college basketball. I don't mean to do it on purpose or to counter you...but I agree with a lot of what you are posting, so we are at least on the same page.

haha, don't be sorry.. was just a joke I just feel like a tard when I hit the submit button and find that I basically just repeated what someone else already said (namely you). But please keep posting, I love reading your posts. Reading your guide + posts has really helped me with the understanding how to build an effective water cooling loop.. I just wish I'd found you as a resource before I started getting into water cooling, there are a number of things I could/should have done differently the first time around .

 

[rubix_1011]

hmm the bay resovoir i chose is designed so you can use a pump inside it, although sold seperately. your saying this will damage the pump?

No, I said exactly opposite this:

For the reservoirs that you can mount a pump, the pump is sealed and isolated from the water, so you aren't going to get damage...those reservoirs are designed for pumps being mounted, depending on the pump type- typically Laing DDC or D5 pumps.

haha, don't be sorry.. was just a joke I just feel like a tard when I hit the submit button and find that I basically just repeated what someone else already said (namely you). But please keep posting, I love reading your posts. Reading your guide + posts has really helped me with the understanding how to build an effective water cooling loop.. I just wish I'd found you as a resource before I started getting into water cooling, there are a number of things I could/should have done differently the first time around .

No problem- I'm not the expert that some guys are on other forums, but I also have a life and very busy career, so I feel it's a fair trade-off. I just do my best to read up on a few different forums, stay current on hardware (as much as possible) and find new reviews, benchmarks and just keep tabs on the community as I can to stay up on everything. I've been watercooling for 9+ years or so, which has allowed me to make mistakes and learn from them as well as try to keep myself entrenched with reading on as much content as I can.

 

[kjriot]

yeah i re-read it and saw just didnt get around to removing my post. think everything is set for me to order, just trying to decide if i wanna switch to a dif resovoir type, see alot of ppl use the long cylinder ones. and then throw coolant and such in the cart.

 

[kjriot]

Best answer selected by kjriot.