Pondering Water Cooling

[CheeseMan42]

Thanks man!

 

How often do you have to "top off" your res?

 

Also would there be any issue in internally front mounting the rad? Other than the obvious of expelling the heat inside the case? I don't use internal optical drives so I always have a lot of room in the front and would think getting "fresh" air directly to the radiator would be the best case scenario.

 

I haven't topped mine off in the ~5 years I've had it. It is at about half of the original level. Again, that is because I can't get the cap off.

[RJR]

How do you decide what size radiator will facilitate your cooling needs and what is the point of diminishing returns on this? IE when I do something I do it right and I usually go big. So I would likely do a 240mm rad (if they even make these maybe 2 120's). Would that be overkill as I would plan on adding the GPU to the loop when I upgrade at the end of the year.

First, I just wanted to clarify something, my configuration above is for a specific reason and was never meant to be a recommendation of a WC loop for you, nor did I ever expect anyone to see it as a recommendation, it's a price comparison only (around $300).

 

OK, you may want to check out THIS site and see some of the reviews he has done. Your going to have a few variables, when you decide on your loop, that will determine what components will be best for you. Little things like radiator FPI (fins per inch) will give you an idea of what fans you may need to use and hence how loud they will be. When he reviews a radiator he gets into different fan speeds vs heat load to determine a temperature delta that will give you a good comparison between different radiators. You can also check out THIS forum, lots of very knowledgeable comments over there just for research sake.

 

Sorry for breaking the chain, I'll let you and cheeseman get back to it, good luck with the loop.

[krazypoloc]

I haven't topped mine off in the ~5 years I've had it. It is at about half of the original level. Again, that is because I can't get the cap off.

 

Thanks thats good to know I was always curious about that.

First, I just wanted to clarify something, my configuration above is for a specific reason and was never meant to be a recommendation of a WC loop for you, nor did I ever expect anyone to see it as a recommendation, it's a price comparison only (around $300).

 

OK, you may want to check out THIS site and see some of the reviews he has done. Your going to have a few variables, when you decide on your loop, that will determine what components will be best for you. Little things like radiator FPI (fins per inch) will give you an idea of what fans you may need to use and hence how loud they will be. When he reviews a radiator he gets into different fan speeds vs heat load to determine a temperature delta that will give you a good comparison between different radiators. You can also check out THIS forum, lots of very knowledgeable comments over there just for research sake.

 

Sorry for breaking the chain, I'll let you and cheeseman get back to it, good luck with the loop.

Don't apologize for being helpful.

 

This is excellent info and exactly what I have been looking for!

[Boinker]

For the most part if your looking into an I7 and cooling a you under the same radiator then I would recommend using the larger rad that I posted earlier, it got reviewed on a water cooling. It got good marks and tradeS blows with the more expensive fesser radiators. The swiftech pump I mentioned does well with that rad but the yes I posted is a pain to bled with a high volume pump. You can go really either way with that rad. Quiet or loud.

[cjloki]

For the most part if your looking into an I7 and cooling a you under the same radiator then I would recommend using the larger rad that I posted earlier, it got reviewed on a water cooling. It got good marks and tradeS blows with the more expensive fesser radiators. The swiftech pump I mentioned does well with that rad but the yes I posted is a pain to bled with a high volume pump. You can go really either way with that rad. Quiet or loud.

 

yea at least a three fan rad....i woulda bought the four fan but switech didn't make it at the time ...good call boinker

[t0asty]

there are some sexy cases on that xtremesystems site. Now I need to see where I can find ~300 for some WC

[wevsspot]

krazy - while I highly respect the advice and opinions posted in your thread - i can assure you that if you only plan on w/c your cpu then a 120x2 radiator would be fine.

 

if you really want to simplify the project Swiftech also sells an all-in-one radiator that includes res/rad/pump in one easy to mount and install assembly. in fact i sold off all my individual w/c parts earlier this year and went with one. i replaced a swiftech mcr320 rad, micro-res, mcp655 pump with the MCR220-Drive unit. You can see it here;

http://www.jab-tech.com/Swiftech-MCR220-DRIVE-Pump-Included-pr-4620.html

 

and honestly I couldn't be happier. idle and load temps are 2C worse than my original setup, but so much easier to deal with and less worries with leaks inside the case. my assembly is mounted on the back of my lancool k62 so i only have two hoses and clamps to worry with actually inside my case.

 

you can also buy the unit without the pump and upgrade to the mcp355 pump instead if you want to install it yourself.

 

ease of installation was certainly a deciding factor, as well as regular maintenance like topping off, and/or draining/refilling etc.

 

you can find pics of my setup over in the watercooling gallery thread

 

my hardware;

asus p6td deluxe

intel i7 920 running at 200x20 for 4.0Ghz 24/7

idle temp = 36/40/37/38

load temp = OCCT for four hours = 72/74/72/73

 

p.s. jab-tech is an awesome company to do business with. if it's listed in stock it's in stock. their pricing is competitive and service is top notch. highly recommended.

Edited August 12, 2010 by wevsspot