Water cooling needed?

[srbraith]

I have some general questions about watercooling.

Let me start out by saying that Im planning on spending about $3,000 on a custom built system excluding monitor. Im planning on either an intel 6800K or 6850K CPU and dual video cards in SLI nvidia 1080's. I do want to do some overclocking and want to keep the noise level down.

Im planning on buying:

ASUS ROG SWIFT PG348Q 34" 3440x1440 IPS 100Hz G-SYNC Eye Care Gaming Monitor
with a smaller 24 inch monitor as well.

I want to run games on Ultra with high frame rates.

So the questions are:

1) Im planning on watercooling the CPU but do I need watercooling to the GPU's?

2) how much does it matter if I run a 120,240 or 360mm radiator for the CPU?

3) When you run dual video cards do they split up the workload so they dont run as hot compared to single gpu? so maybe watercooling not needed?

4) does it matter for the video cards that i get have 1 or 2 integrated fans?

I thank you for your comments in adavnce.

 

[rubix_1011]

Just an FYI - you'll be adding fans to your system by building a watercooling loop which doesn't necessarily mean quiet unless you make a point to use fans and rads to be low noise.

Watercooling does not automatically mean 'silent' - it has to be designed that way.

1) only you can answer this.
2) it depends on the TDP of the overclocked CPU
3) this is the same as #1?
4) not sure I understand this question. meaning for the stock cooler if you aren't watercooling?

 

[ryguybuddy]

1) Not necessarily, but I recommend it if you want silence and overclocking and dual GPUs.

2) 240mm+ rad for CPU only, for 2 way-SLI 1080s and a 6800k I recommend at least a 360, preferably a 480 or dual 240s or dual 360s.

3) No, they will both run as hot as normal. Question 1 answers the second half.

4) I would get a EVGA FTW edition for watercooling because the blocks and components are good. STRIX from Asus is also good.

I recommend getting a EK X360 or P360 kit and adding another radiator (and your GPU blocks/backplate) and probably another pump.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

First of all let me start off by saying I water cool my personal systems.

1. No.... there is no longer any real performance improvement to be gained from water cooling either the CPU or nVidia GPUs unless you are into extreme overclocking. As often as not, with modern componentry, you hit the voltage wall or manufacturer imposed limits before you hit the temperature wall. Today's 1080s start to throttle at 82C ...here's the temp experienced by the MSI 1080 Gaming at max OC,

If the card hits 82C it's going to throttle, if it doesn't, it doesn't. So.... whether your GPU is at 81C, 74C or 40C, the card will perform exactly the same. What water cooling will do for you is reduce noise.

2. Using a 120mm radiator on a CPU is a waste of effort, a $30 air cooler will do just as well. Putting a CLC with a 240mm on your CPU might seem like a good idea ... It's NOT.

Start at the 17:12 mark @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TivNOgQqW-M

The $100 Corsair H100i manages to keep the CPU at 73C at 4.4GHz ... but the $80 Noctua Air Cooler manages to keep it 2 degrees cooler ... and to lose by 2C, the H100i has to be 12 times as loud.

3. Yes, they split up the work load but they do more work .... 1 card may max out at 74C doing 60 fps but 2 cards will max out at 72C doing 90 fps. Except for "real life". Because the top card is using exhaust air from the bottom card as intake air, the top card may run as much as 10C hotter.

4. I haven't seen any top tier card with just one fan... it's usually 2 or 3. But don't focus on the minutia... size also matters ... sound also matters, so there is no universal answer.


Sizing radiators is strictly a measure of heat produced. An overclocked 6800k will produce about 125 watts.... each 1080 will produce about 200 watts outta the box, add 20% (240 watts) for the better cards after you raise the power limit to 120%

So .... 2 x 240 watts for the cards + 125 for the CPU 20 watts for the pump = 625 watts

Trough experimentation, we've learned that he rads need to handle about 60% of that load as a) there's never a condition where everything is at 100% b) it's an average not peak load that matters for cooling and c) your rad shrouds, heat sinks, backplates, and all component surfaces are radiating heat.

so 60% of 625 = 375 watts.

The typical design goal for a water cooled system is 10C delta T. Using the data sheets you can download here, we can see how each rad does in this respect

http://www.overclock.net/t/1457426/radiator-size-estimator

If you don't like noise, I'd suggest using 1200 rpm fans which will be dead silent below 850 rpm or so. Looking at the Alphacool XT45 (45mm thick), we see that each 140mm of rad provides about 83 watts of cooling (101 in push / pull. With a load of 375 watts, that works out to about 4.5 x 140mm.

Using say a 420mm rad on top and 280 on the bottom would give you 5 x 83 watts of cooling (415 watts) capability and I'd expect a Delta T of about 8.3C.

Other combinations...

4 x 140mm ... Delta T of 11.3
3 x 140mm ... Delta T of 15.1

Using 120mm fans will reduce your cooling by about 25% (61 watts per 120mm)

You can use higher speed fans but it defeats the purpose of water cooling... at 1800 rpm for example that XT45 will generate 117 watts of cooling per 140mm (41% increase) ... but again, you will hear the fans at anything above 850 or so rpm.

My typical water cooling design for a SLI system uses a 420mm (45mm thick) rad on top and 280mm (60mm thick) rad on bottom. If you find a custom loop a bit scary, consider using a Swiftech H20 X2 w/ twin MSI GTX 1080 Seahawk EK X .

I use:

EK Supremacy CPU Block - https://www.ekwb.com/shop/water-blocks/cpu-blocks
Swiftech Dual DDC MCP35X2 Pump - http://www.swiftech.com/MCP35x2PUMP.aspx
EK Res 3 Resrvoirs - https://www.ekwb.com/shop/reservoirs/reservoirs/ek-res-x3-series
EK Full Cover Watewrblocks - https://www.ekwb.com/shop/water-blocks/vga-blocks/full-cover-for-nvidia-geforce

The Swiftech is a pre-assembled set of custom water loop components which can be expanded to include additional blocks and rads very easily. Unlike CLCs, no cheap componentry, no aluminum rads, no mixed metals. The cards uses an EK full cover water block and the MSI cards are free from the issues that plague the EVGA SC and FTW lines tho to be fair, water cooling kinda solves those issues.

http://www.swiftech.com/h240x2.aspx
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127952

You'll need to buy some extra fittings, tubing and coolant to connect the blocks.

As for the build ...

1. I was not all that impressed with the PG348Q. G-Sync is nice and all that but with no Motion Blur Reduction (ULMB) I really can't see paying that much for a monitor. Until Display Port 1.4 monitors arrive, I have not been recommending IPS screens above 1440p. There was a bug w/ the overdrive control mentioned in the TFTcentral review... i dunno if it was fixed yet

2. With the 1080s expected to drop soon, i think I'd be waiting for them either to get them or take advantage of the price of the 1080s once the Ti hits.

3. As for which 1080 to buy, nVidia and Boost 3 have made choosing somewhat hard as they all perform relatively the same. Techpowerup gave them all a 9.8 rating so it's hard to argue for one over the other....except for the EVGA models which are having the VRM issues.

 

[srbraith]

First of all let me start off by saying I water cool my personal systems.

1. No.... there is no longer any real performance improvement to be gained from water cooling either the CPU or nVidia GPUs unless you are into extreme overclocking. As often as not, with modern componentry, you hit the voltage wall or manufacturer imposed limits before you hit the temperature wall. Today's 1080s start to throttle at 82C ...here's the temp experienced by the MSI 1080 Gaming at max OC,

If the card hits 82C it's going to throttle, if it doesn't, it doesn't. So.... whether your GPU is at 81C, 74C or 40C, the card will perform exactly the same. What water cooling will do for you is reduce noise.

2. Using a 120mm radiator on a CPU is a waste of effort, a $30 air cooler will do just as well. Putting a CLC with a 240mm on your CPU might seem like a good idea ... It's NOT.

Start at the 17:12 mark @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TivNOgQqW-M

The $100 Corsair H100i manages to keep the CPU at 73C at 4.4GHz ... but the $80 Noctua Air Cooler manages to keep it 2 degrees cooler ... and to lose by 2C, the H100i has to be 12 times as loud.

3. Yes, they split up the work load but they do more work .... 1 card may max out at 74C doing 60 fps but 2 cards will max out at 72C doing 90 fps. Except for "real life". Because the top card is using exhaust air from the bottom card as intake air, the top card may run as much as 10C hotter.

4. I haven't seen any top tier card with just one fan... it's usually 2 or 3. But don't focus on the minutia... size also matters ... sound also matters, so there is no universal answer.


Sizing radiators is strictly a measure of heat produced. An overclocked 6800k will produce about 125 watts.... each 1080 will produce about 200 watts outta the box, add 20% (240 watts) for the better cards after you raise the power limit to 120%

So .... 2 x 240 watts for the cards + 125 for the CPU 20 watts for the pump = 625 watts

Trough experimentation, we've learned that he rads need to handle about 60% of that load as a) there's never a condition where everything is at 100% b) it's an average not peak load that matters for cooling and c) your rad shrouds, heat sinks, backplates, and all component surfaces are radiating heat.

so 60% of 625 = 375 watts.

The typical design goal for a water cooled system is 10C delta T. Using the data sheets you can download here, we can see how each rad does in this respect

http://www.overclock.net/t/1457426/radiator-size-estimator

If you don't like noise, I'd suggest using 1200 rpm fans which will be dead silent below 850 rpm or so. Looking at the Alphacool XT45 (45mm thick), we see that each 140mm of rad provides about 83 watts of cooling (101 in push / pull. With a load of 375 watts, that works out to about 4.5 x 140mm.

Using say a 420mm rad on top and 280 on the bottom would give you 5 x 83 watts of cooling (415 watts) capability and I'd expect a Delta T of about 8.3C.

Other combinations...

4 x 140mm ... Delta T of 11.3
3 x 140mm ... Delta T of 15.1

Using 120mm fans will reduce your cooling by about 25% (61 watts per 120mm)

You can use higher speed fans but it defeats the purpose of water cooling... at 1800 rpm for example that XT45 will generate 117 watts of cooling per 140mm (41% increase) ... but again, you will hear the fans at anything above 850 or so rpm.

My typical water cooling design for a SLI system uses a 420mm (45mm thick) rad on top and 280mm (60mm thick) rad on bottom. If you find a custom loop a bit scary, consider using a Swiftech H20 X2 w/ twin MSI GTX 1080 Seahawk EK X .

I use:

EK Supremacy CPU Block - https://www.ekwb.com/shop/water-blocks/cpu-blocks
Swiftech Dual DDC MCP35X2 Pump - http://www.swiftech.com/MCP35x2PUMP.aspx
EK Res 3 Resrvoirs - https://www.ekwb.com/shop/reservoirs/reservoirs/ek-res-x3-series
EK Full Cover Watewrblocks - https://www.ekwb.com/shop/water-blocks/vga-blocks/full-cover-for-nvidia-geforce

The Swiftech is a pre-assembled set of custom water loop components which can be expanded to include additional blocks and rads very easily. Unlike CLCs, no cheap componentry, no aluminum rads, no mixed metals. The cards uses an EK full cover water block and the MSI cards are free from the issues that plague the EVGA SC and FTW lines tho to be fair, water cooling kinda solves those issues.

http://www.swiftech.com/h240x2.aspx
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127952

You'll need to buy some extra fittings, tubing and coolant to connect the blocks.

As for the build ...

1. I was not all that impressed with the PG348Q. G-Sync is nice and all that but with no Motion Blur Reduction (ULMB) I really can't see paying that much for a monitor. Until Display Port 1.4 monitors arrive, I have not been recommending IPS screens above 1440p. There was a bug w/ the overdrive control mentioned in the TFTcentral review... i dunno if it was fixed yet

2. With the 1080s expected to drop soon, i think I'd be waiting for them either to get them or take advantage of the price of the 1080s once the Ti hits.

3. As for which 1080 to buy, nVidia and Boost 3 have made choosing somewhat hard as they all perform relatively the same. Techpowerup gave them all a 9.8 rating so it's hard to argue for one over the other....except for the EVGA models which are having the VRM issues.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. Lots of info here and a little bit overhelming. Im trying to make this simple and I like the idea of using the Swifttech H240 X2 (Prestige) with the dual MSI 1080's Seahawk EK X making it little simplier.

So how would you set it up in the loop? Alphacool XT45 (420mm) on top of case. Swifttech H240 X2 on the front, than what?

For example,

Swifttech rad/res/pump combo in front > top Alphacool > cpu block > gpu1 > gpu2 (in parallel) > back to Swifttech?

Specifically what extra fittings, tubing and coolant do I need and best place to get them? and 1200mm fans too

Can you recommend a great case to acommodate this set up?

thanks in advance..

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I have an XT45-420 on top and an UT60-280 in an Enthoo Primo case... easy build but it's a monster size case. The Enthoo Luxe will fit an X45-420 on top but can only fit a 240mm rad on the front according to the manual ... so you would have to use the H220 X2 Prestige

Look at the image here on how to mount. The method would be as shown on the right at bottom of page 1. I don't have an Enthoo Luxe case available here at the moment so can't measure it up for you. Not sure f you'd have to remove both hard drive cages.

http://www.swiftech.org/Installation_guides/Quick%20Installation%20Guide%20Hxx2%20series.pdf

You still have multiple SSD / 2.5" HD mount options but if ya had to install HDs, might need one of these to install 3.5 HD in 5.25" bay.

https://www.amazon.com/ORICO-Aluminum-Internal-Converter-Adapter-Silver/dp/B007VP83BU

I haven't used a HD in 5 years.... use SSD for Programs and OS, SSHD for data / games (no failures in 5 years with dozens in use). And you can get both in 2.5 versions

500 GB SSD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147568
1 TB SSHD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822179111

I'll made a post on Swiftech forums for ya

http://forums.swiftech.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6246&sid=d32d24678ea83bb02742e043f37a5c57

Loop would be:

H220-X2 Prestige > Tee Fitting splitting and sending half the flow to each GFX card
1st T-Branch => bottom GFX Card / 2nd T-Branch => top GFX Card
From GFX cards back into another T-fitting
T-Fitting => 420mm Rad
420MM rad => H220-X2 prestige

Because of the large thermal mass of the fill cover water blocks of the GFX cards, you don't need a lot of flow. In addition, running water thru the 2 cards in series would double the flow rate which will almost double the friction loss thru the blocks.

Here's a similar routing for a custom loop in an Enthoo Primo

 

[srbraith]

I have an XT45-420 on top and an UT60-280 in an Enthoo Primo case... easy build but it's a monster size case. The Enthoo Luxe will fit an X45-420 on top but can only fit a 240mm rad on the front according to the manual ... so you would have to use the H220 X2 Prestige

Look at the image here on how to mount. The method would be as shown on the right at bottom of page 1. I don't have an Enthoo Luxe case available here at the moment so can't measure it up for you. Not sure f you'd have to remove both hard drive cages.

http://www.swiftech.org/Installation_guides/Quick%20Installation%20Guide%20Hxx2%20series.pdf

You still have multiple SSD / 2.5" HD mount options but if ya had to install HDs, might need one of these to install 3.5 HD in 5.25" bay.

https://www.amazon.com/ORICO-Aluminum-Internal-Converter-Adapter-Silver/dp/B007VP83BU

I haven't used a HD in 5 years.... use SSD for Programs and OS, SSHD for data / games (no failures in 5 years with dozens in use). And you can get both in 2.5 versions

500 GB SSD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147568
1 TB SSHD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822179111

I'll made a post on Swiftech forums for ya

http://forums.swiftech.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6246&sid=d32d24678ea83bb02742e043f37a5c57

Loop would be:

H220-X2 Prestige > Tee Fitting splitting and sending half the flow to each GFX card
1st T-Branch => bottom GFX Card / 2nd T-Branch => top GFX Card
From GFX cards back into another T-fitting
T-Fitting => 420mm Rad
420MM rad => H220-X2 prestige

Because of the large thermal mass of the fill cover water blocks of the GFX cards, you don't need a lot of flow. In addition, running water thru the 2 cards in series would double the flow rate which will almost double the friction loss thru the blocks.

Here's a similar routing for a custom loop in an Enthoo Primo

Thanks for the response. What if I did something similiar to what you did?

You used:

EK Supremacy CPU Block - https://www.ekwb.com/shop/water-blocks/cpu-blocks
Swiftech Dual DDC MCP35X2 Pump - http://www.swiftech.com/MCP35x2PUMP.aspx
EK Res 3 Resrvoirs - https://www.ekwb.com/shop/reservoirs/reservoirs/ek-res-...
EK Full Cover Watewrblocks - https://www.ekwb.com/shop/water-blocks/vga-blocks/full-...

plus the 2 radiators that you mentioned with your Enthoo Primo case.

read somewhere that its cheaper and get better performance buying waterblock for GPU seperatly and installing...

What do you think? Do you have pictures of your setup? looking to go X99 motherboard

do you use 1 reservoir? What is your loop circuit? 1 or 2 loops?

 

[delta5]

If you can't tell how many loops he has from his photo then you should really re-think doing a custom loop...

 

[srbraith]

If you can't tell how many loops he has from his photo then you should really re-think doing a custom loop...

I know i am a noob to watercooling but im pretty sure the above picture is 1 loop. I dont think that is a photo of his computer though. I was asking what how many loops his rig has.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Thanks for the response. What if I did something similiar to what you did?

You used:

[bunch of links]

plus the 2 radiators that you mentioned with your Enthoo Primo case.

read somewhere that its cheaper and get better performance buying waterblock for GPU seperatly and installing...

What do you think? Do you have pictures of your setup? looking to go X99 motherboard

do you use 1 reservoir? What is your loop circuit? 1 or 2 loops?

1. When you quote a post... please edit the quoted portion to cut the size down eliminating pics , links and the "wall of text".

2. I'm a bit lost... you said you wanted to do something similar but as far as i can tell proposed nothing different from what i did.

3. It is certainly not cheaper to buy the block separately and install it yourself.

EK 1080 Saehawk EK X is $755 on newegg

Buying one preinstalled on a FE card is $775
http://www.performance-pcs.com/msi-geforcer-gtx-1080-founders-edition-with-professionally-installed-water-block-of-choice.html

Cheapest MSI 1080 is $620 ... the block is $141, backplate is $35 ... that's $796 and you gotta install everything (and when pre-assembled you have full warranty)

4. Again, do not expect ANY performance difference between an air cooled AIB card, the Seahawk with an EK full cover block preinstalled and installing the same EK block by yourself. Air cooled MSI AIB cards do not throttle ... so the only time that water cooling will help you performance wise is if you use an air cooled FE or reference model.

When the card throttles at 82C, performance is curtailed to protect the card ... whether it's 81C, 74C (MSI air cooled) or 45C (water cooled).

The water cooled cards ...and the whole system will be much quieter when using a well designed custom loop with 150-ish rpm fans.

5. That was a picture of "my setup" before i installed the 2nd set of fans in pull. When I spoke about "what I use" and gave the links, it's what I use, or at least recommend on **all** water cooled SLI builds, not just my own.

6. Z170 is faster, on average, than X99 in Gaming ... better to save money on the platform and invest that cost elsewhere if gaming is the central purpose. X99 would serve you better only in workstation type apps. What you save there could pay for an SSD / SSHD ... by the way, we haven't used a HD in 5 years / only SSDs (OS and Programs) and SSHDs (data and games)

7. Yes, I used a single 250 ml reservoir, you can see it in the pics on right. I swapped out the single port top tho and used a multi-port top (same as bottom) to allow for the installation of a down tube and a bleed port.... very important... down tube eliminates splashing 9noise) and being able to bleed the reservoir saves lotta headaches.

8. I guess it's best described as a hybrid loop... not exactly 1 and not exactly 2.. at least that's the way some folks see it.

a) It uses 2 pumps... but they're in series so as far as the pumps are concerned it's one loop. This allows me to run the pumps at a lower rpm while maintaining plenty of oomph (pressure) to push a decent flow rate through all the components without much head loss which would otherwise reduce flow.

https://martinsliquidlab.wordpress.com/2012/01/29/swiftech-mcp35x2-pump/

I use it with the heatsink and fan so that 1) pump heat isn't transferred to coolant 2) it looks totally badass

b) The other advantage of the dual pumps is that if one should fail, the other will adequately cool the system, pump speed will ramp up a bit to maintain flow / temps. With a WC system, if ya pump fails, the RMA turnaround time might be 3+ weeks. can't afford to have system down that long.

c) OTOH, the GFX card cooling might also be described as two loops ... or better said perhaps, "two subloops" .... as each GFX card is fed separately. Starting at the pump it's a single feed (approx. 1.25 gpm) out of the pump, but it splits into two parallel streams downstream of the bottom rad, feeds each GFX card separately with half the flow (0.625 gpm) and then recombines the flow before entering the 2nd radiator. Comes out of the 2nd radiator and feeds the MoBo Block, then CPU and then finally onto the reservoir before feeding the pump.

Here's the major parts

Pump(s) - Swiftech Dual Extreme Duty Small Form Factor 12 VDC Industrial PWM Pump - Black (MCP35X2-BK) http://www.frozencpu.com/products/14961/ex-pmp-173/Swiftech_Dual_Extreme_Duty_Small_Form_Factor_12_VDC_Industrial_PWM_Pump_-_Black_MCP35X2-BK.html
Pump Heat Sink - Swiftech MCP35x2 Dual Pump Heatsink (MCP35X2-HS) http://www.frozencpu.com/products/16233/ex-pmp-195/Swiftech_MCP35x2_Dual_Pump_Heatsink_MCP35X2-HS.html
Heat Sink Fan - Noiseblocker NB-BlackSilentPro PC-P 80mm x 15mm Ultra Silent PWM Fan - 2500 RPM http://www.frozencpu.com/products/image/16392/fan-1017_4.jpg/fan-1017/Noiseblocker_NB-BlackSilentPro_PC-P_80mm_x_15mm_Ultra_Silent_PWM_Fan_-_2500_RPM.html

Reservoir - EK-MultiOption RES X3 250 - Liquid Cooling Reservoir - White Acetal (6 Total Ports) w/ (2) EK Extender Fittings http://www.frozencpu.com/products/21672/ex-res-677/EK-MultiOption_RES_X3_250_-_Liquid_Cooling_Reservoir_-_White_Acetal_6_Total_Ports.html?tl=g57c615s1940#blank
Reservoir Top - EK X3 Reservoir Multiport Replacement Top - White (EK-RES X3 - Multiport TOP WHITE) http://www.frozencpu.com/products/18485/ex-res-481/EK_X3_Reservoir_Multiport_Replacement_Top_-_White_EK-RES_X3_-_Multiport_TOP_WHITE.html?id=4NiLmkLB&mv_pc=1254
Reservoir Fill Tube Internal Tube 12/16 - 140mm (EK-RES-X3-TUBE-140 http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=59_1165_1162&products_id=36312
EK - Extender Fitting - EK G1/4 Thread Fitting Extender - Nickel - 8mm (Fitting Extender G1/4 (Ni)) http://www.frozencpu.com/products/18760/scr-701/EK_G14_Thread_Fitting_Extender_-_Nickel_-_8mm_Fitting_Extender_G14_Ni.html?id=4NiLmkLB&mv_pc=1256

CPU Radiator @ Case Bottom - Alphacool NexXxoS UT60 Full Copper Double 140mm Radiator 324 x 144 x 60mm (Radiator Watts at 10C, 1250 rpm = 206) http://www.frozencpu.com/products/16825/ex-rad-426/Alphacool_NexXxoS_UT60_Full_Copper_Dual_140mm_Radiator.html
GPU Radiator @ Case Top - Alphacool NexXxoS XT45 Full Copper Triple 140mm Radiator 468 x144 x 46mm (Radiator Watts at 10C, 1250 rpm = 302) http://www.frozencpu.com/products/16830/ex-rad-431/Alphacool_NexXxoS_XT45_Full_Copper_Triple_140mm_Radiator.html
Temperature Probes Water - Bitspower G 1/4" Temperature Sensor Stop Fitting - Matte Black (BP-MBWP-CT) http://www.frozencpu.com/products/10373/ex-tub-620/Bitspower_G_14_Temperature_Sensor_Stop_Fitting_-_Matte_Black_BP-MBWP-CT.html?tl=c229s579b145&id=kISyRgfV&mv_pc=643
Temperature Probes Air - Bitspower G 1/4" Temperature Sensor Stop Fitting - Matte Black (BP-MBWP-CT) http://www.frozencpu.com/products/10373/ex-tub-620/Bitspower_G_14_Temperature_Sensor_Stop_Fitting_-_Matte_Black_BP-MBWP-CT.html?tl=c229s579b145&id=kISyRgfV&mv_pc=643
G1/4 Fitting Extender - Bitspower G 1/4" Thread Fitting Extender - Matte Black (BP-MBWP-C40) http://www.frozencpu.com/products/10371/ex-tub-618/Bitspower_G_14_Thread_Fitting_Extender_-_Matte_Black_BP-MBWP-C40.html?tl=c101s1354b145#options
Fill Port Plug - Bitspower G1/4" Low Profile Matte Black Stop Plug w/ O-Ring (BP-MBWP-C09) http://www.frozencpu.com/products/10362/ex-tub-610/Bitspower_G14_Low_Profile_Matte_Black_Stop_Plug_w_O-Ring_BP-MBWP-C09.html

The temp sesnors measure the coolant temp in and out of each radiator plus there's 2 air temp sensors, one measured ambient air, the otjher measures inside case air temp. All of them are displayed on a Reeven Six Eyes. It can control fan speeds manually, but I use three Phanteks fan hubs working off 3 MoBo headers to do that automatically and just use it to read temps.


http://www.reeven.com/6eyes-2

One hub comes with the case, bought two more
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4RE5032993

Fans are all Phanteks PH-140SP's ... currently the best noise / performance ratio on the market. System is dead quiet .. so much so that I have sat down a few times and "turned it on" when it was already on and in sleep mode.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

If I was building new today, this is what I'd do ... keep in mind I'd likey stall till Z270 Mobos / CPUs and the 1080 Tis were available and into later steppings and end of Q1, 2017

MSI Gaming Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium ($230)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130870

Intel 6700k ($340)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117559

Mushkin Enhanced Redline 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3000 Model MRB4U300GJJM16GX2 ($172)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117559

MSI 1080 Ti Seahawk - This is a maybe... I don't mind installing the block myself but the question is why bother ? I want to see how the AIB PCBs perform and whether the Seahawk has the reference PCb or something that's better and actually performs better ... right now we aren't seeing that performance difference.

Phanteks Enthoo Primo - White ($230)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811854002

Seasonic 1050 Snow Edition ($205)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151145

Acer Predator XB271HU bmiprz 165 hz w/ G-Sync and ULMB ($780)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824106004

Phanteks Fan Hub ($20 each x 2)... 3 Channels w/ the 3rd one that comes with case
1 - (6) fans on 420mm rad
2 - (4) fans on 280mm rad

Not sure what rads I'd use as haven't checked reviews in a while.. i think I'd lean towards the Hardware Labs Sr2 as :

a) It has nice finish
b) Comes in White
c) Has multiple ports

Its a great solution where 60mm works
3 - Case fans
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4RE5032993

Need a replacement for Reeven Six Eyes


In designing a custom loop make sure you account for :

-easy access to fill ports .. will likely involve extension fittings
-workable drainage port .. see bottom right of the oc (quick disconnect at lower right of radiator.
-easily accessible bleed ports on top rad as well as reservoir

Feel free to ask if you have any questions and I'll provide more pics.