help needed from watercooling pros

[beastineden]

I need some help fellas. I've always used hydro series products since the h50 days, but I want to move into a more "proper" liquid cooling system. For my needs, a completely custom loop would be overkill (not aiming for OC records), so I'm looking at the XSPC Raystorm 750 EX360 Extreme kit on frozencpu. The calculated TDP for my system is around 600w. (a touch more as the bulk of that is CPU and GPU's obviously). I need to know if the kit listed above is good enough for reasonable cooling for a 4770k (possibly going naked within the next month if I can muster up the balls for it lol)and 2-way GTX 780 SLI. (the SLI waterblocks are on the way already ). I've seen multiple users using a dedicated 120mm rad for the GPU's but is that a must? Let me know guys. I appreciate the help.

Edited December 17, 2013 by beastineden

[ir_cow]

Iv run custom in the past , it great when it works but a pain to bleed the air and setup.

aside from that you don't need a dedicated second loop , just high enough flow rate and a large enough radiator. I have a thick 360 rad from xspc that dissipates 600watts so you can get them easy enough.

I'm sure someone who does the custom stuff more wil come along and say something, but my experience is all you need is high flow rate .

 

edit: I didnt see the sli part. you may need two rads than.

[Waco]

Dual 360 rads should do the trick. Flow rate doesn't matter much as long as it's high enough to keep water temps the same throughout the loop.

 

I don't like high water temps...it kinda defeats the point of watercooling. Always get more radiator than you think you need.

[beastineden]

I'm pretty sure i don't have room for another 360. I'm rockin' an obsidian 750d so I definitely have room for a 240 on the bottom or the front. I figure that should be enough to dedicate to the SLI config. But the plain answer is "no... the setup you listed probably won't be enough to cool your system".. correct?

[Puck]

With the CPU and two hot GPUs in the same loop you will probably want more then one 360 rad for optimum temps. A 360+240 would be much better.

[wevsspot]

Reviewing the performance numbers of the EX360 radiator over at Martins Liquid Labs would indicate that the EX360 is probably not up to the task of cooling an overclocked 4770K and two GTX 780 video cards.  The EX is a fine radiator, but it's slim design is a trade off between ultimate cooling performance and fitting into a wider range of space constrained enclosures.  Based on the radiator thickness, fin design and FPI on the EX360, it looks like it is probably tuned to work best with lower speed fans, which is one other possible hurdle to getting the cooling capacity that you need for the 4770K and the twin GTX 780 video cards.

 

With all that being said, considering how inexpensive tubing is, and taking into account some extra time and hassle....  If it were me I'd be tempted to go ahead and build my loop using that kit and then seeing if the resulting performance met my needs/expectations.  If it doesn't, you can always buy some more tubing and a second radiator and re-plumb the loop to include both radiators.

[beastineden]

Reviewing the performance numbers of the EX360 radiator over at Martins Liquid Labs would indicate that the EX360 is probably not up to the task of cooling an overclocked 4770K and two GTX 780 video cards.  The EX is a fine radiator, but it's slim design is a trade off between ultimate cooling performance and fitting into a wider range of space constrained enclosures.  Based on the radiator thickness, fin design and FPI on the EX360, it looks like it is probably tuned to work best with lower speed fans, which is one other possible hurdle to getting the cooling capacity that you need for the 4770K and the twin GTX 780 video cards.

 

With all that being said, considering how inexpensive tubing is, and taking into account some extra time and hassle....  If it were me I'd be tempted to go ahead and build my loop using that kit and then seeing if the resulting performance met my needs/expectations.  If it doesn't, you can always buy some more tubing and a second radiator and re-plumb the loop to include both radiators.

I was looking at the AX360 rad kit, but i'm not sure i'd be able to fit it comfortably in a push/pull config in my case. Its around 55mm thick i think. Well, based on yours and Waco's input, I think I'll just get this kit, and get an additional 240mm rad. It isn't that much more and i'll give myself the headroom if i wanna pursue more aggressive cpu/gpu overclocks. Thx guys

 

Edit: yes i'm aware the amount of headroom would be negligible lol

Edited December 17, 2013 by beastineden

[Boinker]

While i was watercooling my system i managed a oced to 4.70ghz i7 3930k and a pair of overclocked gtx480s to 900mhz at 1.150volts on a xspc rx360 triple radiator. I will admit the system got warm when everything was running but it handled everything very well with scythe 1200 rpm kaze fans. Now if i added the third 480 then i would need an additional 240 rad to cool it enough.

[Boinker]

Also i bouht and used the raza kit. I really did not like it either. The tubing is garbage, res does not clear air well and is loud. Just my experience.

[wevsspot]

If you go with the AX360 just go with a push configuration using a single set of fans, but you'll need to use higher cfm fans in that application.

[beastineden]

yea i'm definitely going with the raystorm ex 360. w/ an additional 240mm rad in the loop. The rasa kits aren't even an option. Thx for the help fellas. much appreciated. I'll let you guys know when all the parts are in, and I'll post pics of the setup. Hopefully I'll get some thumbs up lol

[wevsspot]

Congrats on the new gear and best of luck.