# Water Cooling Newbie



## Uberion (Oct 26, 2010)

First of all thank you for taking the time to read my post 

Its 1 yr on. As it stands my system is running a nice little OC, some would say excessive for air cooling. Judge for yourselves

Intel i7 950 @4.0ghz(25%) stable @ 60c
Asus Rampage 3
12GB Corsair Dominator DDR3 @ 1800Mhz
2x GTX480 @ 836/1672/1848(36%) stable @ 60 - 70c unless maxxed out then 80c

As you can see I have alot of headroom here for adding water to this system. I have managed to acheive such a low temp on my 480 even though it is overclocked by reversing one of nVidia's design choices, my own fan profile. Instead of post generation, i targetted the heat pre generation, always a great believer in tackle the cause not the problem.

When it comes to water im a complete noob, but i have reached the point where i can further myself of my pc any further without the next level cooling.

I want to cool CPU and GPU, do not want to use a resevoir or want the build to nbe too pricey.

I have been reading that car matrix radiators perform better than the ones designed for a PC. Would it be worth investing in one of these? They are a fraction of the cost. The engineering bit will not be an issue.

Here is my list/design for water cooling as it stands:-


Rad 1 -> CPU -> Rad 2 -> GPU1+2 -> Pump ->

2* VW Polo Air Con Matrix Core - Centrifugal Fan
Liang 12v DC Pump
2* GTX480 Ref Blocks
1 Xspc watever CPU Block
1/2 ID 5m Silicone Tubing.

My last 2 questions and im sorry for them all. I have done loads of research but it only further confusing me.

How much distilled water do you estimate i will need and what connectors will i need for the SLi and to join tubing to blocks,rads and pump?

Thank you again.


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## grimx133 (Jan 15, 2008)

Why don't you want to use a res? The other option would be a T-line, but you do need some form of reservoir. 

Hard to say how much liquid, I use about a litre and a half, but it always depends on what's in the loop. 

For connectors I prefer compression fittings, they are great, but expensive. The odd time that I can't use compression, I'll use a worm gear clamp, I trust those more than the spring clip type, though I have used those too.


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## Uberion (Oct 26, 2010)

Thank you for ure reply. Sorry i didnt repsond faster, I have been working, will upload pics of that rig too  

The reason I dont want to use a res is as they help to build heat, and offer very little advantage, aswell as make bleeding harder. To explain, the reason i am using non-pc parts is due to there superior cooling, to then go an add a res would be counter-productive.

Due to my constant strive for perfection in design alone, i have now also changed pumps. The new pump is cheaper and 3 times as powerful. Its a marine bilge pump for boats rated @ 9.8m head and 3500L/H, so its specs are up to the task. It is only unable to be run dry for long periods. I just cannot garantee as to how reliable it is. Uncle is a harbour master so have him on the pump task for me. Custom being built.

Whilst on the subject of others helping. I have a UK top radiator company building my second radiators for me, these will have the same cores as "state of the art" F1 and Superbike radiators. They are also adding UV reactive paint to the dye aswell as improving the asthetics of the radiator. 1/2" barb to connect pipes. I have a fan company building the centrifugal fans for them again these are UV reactive and made to order for the radiators. I have a major pumps company desgning the pump for the system.

I am also now looking into a refridgeration unit for the loop as i would like to add one of these too. Before i have one made to order, i would like a real world example to add in to my test set-up. 

Here is the FINAL intended design.

Water Chiller - > GPU 1 - > Rad 2 - > GPU 2 - > Rad 3 - > CPU - > Pump - > Rad 1 (33% Larger) 1- >

I know the chiller will have its own cooling power but i want the water cold as possible before it enters. Also the CPU is at the end of the loop intenionally, this in my system requires the least cooling, so water tempreture can be hottest here. GTX 480's are hot puppies, and i want mine @ 1GHZ/2GHZ/2500.

My intial budget has gone out of the window im now looking @ around £600 to play with. Added funds to my project  As this is both creative and postive.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

you would get a better overclock with less ram i.e 8GB or 6GB

I have never done water cooling as I dont see the benefit and I overclock all the time. You should really use a res as grimx said it will help.


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## Uberion (Oct 26, 2010)

I hear what you are saying about the RAM. As sometimes at boot it would only pick up 8GB as if in dual channel. This was easily correct with my board, i just turned off "Fast POST" and forced a full check each time. I have been working this fix now for about 6 months and not once has it tried to revert back to 8GB. I think its the memory controller on the CPU does not intialise properly when quick booting. I would be unable to go down to 6GB, i am far too used to twelve and i do get to 75% memory load, when working and playing.

This could be corrected by 3x4GB modules if it becomes an issue, does this sound like a good work around?

Like i said mate i have gone as far as possible now on air. i like a 10 - 20c margin when running @ 100% to allow for atmospheric conditions.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

if you can do tri channel then 3x4GB would better. Tri and dual channel are better than single channel.

with overclocking unfortunately too little or too much ram stops you being able to get your desired speed also the speed of it also matters.

dont bother with quick boot just let it boot normally.


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## Uberion (Oct 26, 2010)

To give you and example of load, I have 4 Eve Online Clients open(4x Exefile.exe @ 1GB/.exe) , COD:BO(@2GB/.exe) and Photoshop (1GB+1 HT Core /worker)

This system can come under very heavy load at times, this is why 6 or 8 will be no use


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

Oh I see now. Maybe scale back the overclock a bit.

If you run cpu-z what does it say as the ratio? 1:1 or 5:6 is preferable.


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## Uberion (Oct 26, 2010)

CPU is 1:1


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

Uberion said:


> CPU is 1:1


see if you dropped the OC it would lower the temps a bit.

I run my core 2 duo at 4GHz with max temps in winter at 58 degrees c I did run it for a while at 4.2 but didn't like the temps I was getting. That was a 1:1 ratio moving it to a 5:6 ration with a 4GHz clock dropped my temps to an acceptable level and therfore didin't need any extra cooling.


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