HAF-X Watercooling Advice please.

[RazerM]

Looking for a little (well a lot of) advice on a custom Watercooling setup for my rig.

Specs are:-

 

Core i7 980X 3.33GHz (Gulftown) Extreme Edition (Socket LGA1366) (@ Stock for now)

Stock Cooler

Asus Rampage III Extreme X58 Mobo

Corsair Dominator GT 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-15000C9 1866MHz Triple Channel (CMT6GX3M3A1866C9)

1 x EVGA GTX 580 SC 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-E (Thinking of adding a 2nd)

Asus Xonar D2 7.1 PCI Sound Card

Corsair 950W TX Series PSU - 78A 12V Rail

All tucked away nicely in a Coolermaster HAF-X case.

 

I was considering a Corsair H100 Liquid Cooling solution but decided against it for a couple of reasons.

1st, for the same performance I may as well gone with a high end Air Cooler (Noctua etc.)

2nd, Watercooling looks sexy xD

 

I tried watercooling a few years ago but it was a cheapo kit and i was low on funds (and experience).

 

So anyways, I thought I would ask you knowledgeable lot to suggest a custom setup for me.

 

I don't have a clue what parts I need so if you're gonna give me a list please remember to let me know ALL the parts i'll need. (I don't wanna order everything and then find out i've got some parts missing when i'm halfway through putting it together lol)

 

In order of requirements:-

 

1: Looks

2: Performance

3: Cost (Budget £300-400)

4: Ease of assembly (Im fairly good at reading instuctions)

 

Thanks in advance.

When it's all bought and setup I'll post some pics.

Edited October 22, 2011 by RazerM

[Hyper]

I've had realy good luck with the EK waterblocks.

 

For Rad's I generally use swiftech as I favor low volume fans for less noise.. though I have used a Black Ice stealth and it works pretty good as well (but likes higher volume fans)..

 

Pumps.. MCP655/Laing D5 or a Swiftech MCP355 I usually swap out the tops so I can use compresion fittings..

 

A quick look up of a UK shop and something like (you may be able to find better prices..not sure)

Pump or Pump D5

 

Water block

 

For rad's not sure what will fit the case best... Probibly stick with Black Ice, XSPC or swifttec

[cirro]

alot of towers like the haf-x, c800d, and like mine the atcs have built in options for specific sizes

(aka the top of my tower is designed for a 3x120mm rad)

 

always helps to see what your system is designed to handle before you start.

its not always fun having to mod your case because what you wanted doesn't fit will

 

i'd check out, and make a little pre-design of what you want first, and then make sure all is well with your computers tower specifications

 

 

-edit- yes blocks look sexy, with nicely fitting tubes and such

 

but to me, a pre-designed all in one just screams, "ID DO MORE, BUT I HAVE NO CLUE WTFS GOIN ON"

[olokul]

short of the cpu i have almost the same rig as you. i went a little extreme on my water cooling but you can get the picture of how i ran thing in my case. im running 3 loops 1) cpu 2) motherboard 3) 580's the hole system was bought at dangerden

 

 

edit for list of parts

 

CPU MC-TDX block

MB R3E full cover block (looking at there webpage and it looks like they dont make it any more)

580's dd-gtx580 satin copper

pumps x3 dd/laing ddc3.25

Reservoirs x3 dd-cylindrical

Radiators 2 Black Ice GTX480 1 Black Ice GTX120

all 3/8 fittings and parker premium hose

running feser one red coolant (next time will be running distilled water, much cheaper)

 

this was just a quick picture i took of it, ill try and get a few better ones for you to see. i also modded the side of my case to hold 2 Black Ice GTX480 radiators

 

running 16 ultra kaze fans in a push pull on them

Edited October 24, 2011 by olokul

[Waco]

Good god that thing must be loud as hell...

[olokul]

not really i have them hooked up to a fan controller. they are rf wireless led 12v dc 10amp dimmers the fans only pull something like .6amps so i left plenty of room on the controllers for safty

 

 

 

i tried to go back and see if i ever posted my old p4 computer, it had 10 80mm vantec tornados 5 of them were on the side panel of the case. now that thing was loud this doesnt even come close to that thing

Edited October 24, 2011 by olokul

[Tjj226_Angel]

Just something a bit quick before I write my full post. The corsair H100 is a bit deceiving for it's reviews. It can be a water cooler, but currently it holds no reason to buy it other than barging rights. However, when people write about the H100 they only have the fans in push or pull configuration. You can put it in a push pull configuration which increases the performance. However, you will not be able to control the other two fans with the little pump device. What I am trying to say is, it is still something that should be considered.

[Tjj226_Angel]

So I did some looking around, and from what I can tell the HAF X is not going to be good for water cooling. The best you can put in it is a 360 mm radiator and that is kind of half butt at best because it takes up a bay slot in your case. Go with the XSPC 240 mm radiator kit. It is a great kit for a little more than an H100 and provides much better cooling results. You can get the same kit in the 360 mm radiator configuration, just understand you will be missing your top bay.

 

If, and only if you want to go all out and spend 400 pounds, or 640 USD. That you would be a lot better off actually buying the corsair 800D, or any water cooling case and THEN buy your water cooling loop.

 

Also, if you don't mind buying ebay items this would be perfect for you http://www.ebay.com/itm/Corsair-Obsidian-800D-2-New-Perspex-Xspc-360-Radiator-3-Sickleflow-fans-/260877410130?pt=AU_Components&hash=item3cbd815f52 .

 

In the end, no matter what you do, your case just isn't going to cut it. If you don't want to change your case, you would be better off going with the h100 and then buy yourself the 2nd gtx 580.

 

Just my thoughts.

[bigball1]

So I did some looking around, and from what I can tell the HAF X is not going to be good for water cooling. The best you can put in it is a 360 mm radiator and that is kind of half butt at best because it takes up a bay slot in your case.

 

WHAT!!!

 

You can put more then 1 rad in the case. Top, bottom, front, back, on the side panel. There are tons of spots to put rads. I have mine on the top and on the back. I dont know were you where looking.

 

Or you can do what Olokul did and put more cooling rads then there are in a dump truck in your case.

[olokul]

 

Or you can do what Olokul did and put more cooling rads then there are in a dump truck in your case.

 

 

hey now that uncalled for atleast i can hit 4.81GHz on my 950 with that setup for benchmarks, and my 2 580's top out at 59c when pushed to almost 1000mhz with the over volt mod on them. but yes i did go a little overboard with my watercooling, the only downside to it is that the hole case weighs in at around 85lbs makes it a little hard to take to lan partys

[bigball1]

hole case weighs in at around 85lbs makes it a little hard to take to lan partys

 

 

 

DIET !!

 

I should weight mine too. l like im around the 40lb range.

[Waco]

Hmm...I may end up weighing my machine tonight just for the hell of it.