New watercooled rig
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New watercooled rig
Hi! I'm building a new rig and i wanted to go the watercooling way. The components that need to be cooled are a X1900XT and a AMD64 3400+. I though about buying a reseterator, but maybe it's better to build my own system. Suggestions?
Well since you are here you obviously want to make it quiet, so that would be a 3x120mm rad at least. You could have it neatly mounted at the back of the case with those swiftech things that are meant for that 
I would assume it could be run passive at least at idle.
Passive radiators are obviously large, and often aluminium so you need to find some aluminium blocks to prevent galvanic corrosion. A gold plated CPU block and some zalman GPU and Chipset blocks. If you want to go passive you might as well just get the Res, or wait for the Reserator2 wich should be available later this year. Not sure if it will replace the current one or if it will be a "high-end" option.
Pump, Eheim 1046 or 1048, Laing DDC/swiftech MCP350/DangerDen something, Laing D5/swiftech MCP655, i think those are about it for reasonably quiet, reliable pumps with decent performance and not too expensive.
As for blocks, i have no idea. Might want to check some cooling sites for reviews
So roughly counted it goes something like this, rad(active) 70€, pump 80€, blocks 45+35+25€, water + additive 20€, tubing and clamps 15€, wich adds up to about 290€. And you need some fans if you dont have them. Now you could get a radiator from a car and get used blocks to save some money.
I think that example sounds unreasonable, you can get a very nice Swiftech or AquaComputer kit with everything for 250€, though you need to add a GPU and chipset block if you need that. No wait thats just as expensive if i add gpu and chipset blocks..
If you want cheap the ThermalTake BigWater 745 is pretty nice, the pump isnt the best possible(so i´ve heard) but its about 140€ and comes with a 240mm and a 120mm rad, block, pump, reservoir, and fans. Specs say this has an improved pump too. Hmm, i might actually be recommending a ThermalTake product. Now that´s a first..
It´s about 140€ compared to 220€ for the Reserator. The res is obviously more quiet, but 360mm of active radiator should be pretty damn quiet too with some good fans.. Though if good fans are 15€ a piece, it would add 45€ to the price making it cost around 200€. TT uses Yate Loonies on some stuff IIRC, if these are loonies then it could well be worth the money. Though depending on where you live you could possibly get some good loonies for 5€ a piece
Check out the BigWater 745, it seems to get pretty good reviews. At least no one is saying its loud, wich is good. "Quiet" from hardware sites reviews usually is barely acceptable here.. "loud" is usually louder than a RAID setup hardmounted and a 8000RPM chipset fan and four casefans, wich is very bad. But the Bigwater 745 got a lot of "quiet" on hardware sites.
Ease of use should be about equal on these, the TT need mounting of the rads and the Res need room for the rad on the desk or the floor. Apart from that its basically just mount blocks, mount rads, cut tubes, fit tubes, fill it up, test for leaks, finished.
Hope this was of some help at least..
I would assume it could be run passive at least at idle. Passive radiators are obviously large, and often aluminium so you need to find some aluminium blocks to prevent galvanic corrosion. A gold plated CPU block and some zalman GPU and Chipset blocks. If you want to go passive you might as well just get the Res, or wait for the Reserator2 wich should be available later this year. Not sure if it will replace the current one or if it will be a "high-end" option.
Pump, Eheim 1046 or 1048, Laing DDC/swiftech MCP350/DangerDen something, Laing D5/swiftech MCP655, i think those are about it for reasonably quiet, reliable pumps with decent performance and not too expensive.
As for blocks, i have no idea. Might want to check some cooling sites for reviews
So roughly counted it goes something like this, rad(active) 70€, pump 80€, blocks 45+35+25€, water + additive 20€, tubing and clamps 15€, wich adds up to about 290€. And you need some fans if you dont have them. Now you could get a radiator from a car and get used blocks to save some money.
I think that example sounds unreasonable, you can get a very nice Swiftech or AquaComputer kit with everything for 250€, though you need to add a GPU and chipset block if you need that. No wait thats just as expensive if i add gpu and chipset blocks..
If you want cheap the ThermalTake BigWater 745 is pretty nice, the pump isnt the best possible(so i´ve heard) but its about 140€ and comes with a 240mm and a 120mm rad, block, pump, reservoir, and fans. Specs say this has an improved pump too. Hmm, i might actually be recommending a ThermalTake product. Now that´s a first..
It´s about 140€ compared to 220€ for the Reserator. The res is obviously more quiet, but 360mm of active radiator should be pretty damn quiet too with some good fans.. Though if good fans are 15€ a piece, it would add 45€ to the price making it cost around 200€. TT uses Yate Loonies on some stuff IIRC, if these are loonies then it could well be worth the money. Though depending on where you live you could possibly get some good loonies for 5€ a piece
Check out the BigWater 745, it seems to get pretty good reviews. At least no one is saying its loud, wich is good. "Quiet" from hardware sites reviews usually is barely acceptable here..
"loud" is usually louder than a RAID setup hardmounted and a 8000RPM chipset fan and four casefans, wich is very bad. But the Bigwater 745 got a lot of "quiet" on hardware sites.Ease of use should be about equal on these, the TT need mounting of the rads and the Res need room for the rad on the desk or the floor. Apart from that its basically just mount blocks, mount rads, cut tubes, fit tubes, fill it up, test for leaks, finished.
Hope this was of some help at least..
I put together my own very first watercooling rig a couple months ago, and I couldn't be happier with the results so far. The best thing that you can do is to educate yourself as much as possible prior to choosing your components... it's easy for people to recommend products, but you also want to know why they recommend what they do. Sometimes those recommendations don't quite fit what you'd like to do, so educating yourself will help you make more informed decisions. There are plenty of sites with a wealth of information and people that are very knowledgable in watercooling (http://www.hardforums and http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/ are a couple) to help you.
That said, I went with a custom kit with parts that I chose myself... I went that route largely to have more control over the parts that would be going into my loop. It's a bit more of a task over choosing a pre-configured kit, but every single step (cleaning the parts, leak-testing, etc.) was actually fun for me.
This is what I ended up with, cooling an Opty 170 and an X850XT (leftover from a previous computer, upgrading soon)...
Swiftech Storm CPU Block
Swiftech MCW60 GPU Block
MCP655 Pump
BIP 2x120 Radiator
2xScythe S-Flex 120mm Fans (had them leftover)
7/16" ID x 5/8" OD Masterkleer Tubing
That said, I went with a custom kit with parts that I chose myself... I went that route largely to have more control over the parts that would be going into my loop. It's a bit more of a task over choosing a pre-configured kit, but every single step (cleaning the parts, leak-testing, etc.) was actually fun for me.
This is what I ended up with, cooling an Opty 170 and an X850XT (leftover from a previous computer, upgrading soon)...
Swiftech Storm CPU Block
Swiftech MCW60 GPU Block
MCP655 Pump
BIP 2x120 Radiator
2xScythe S-Flex 120mm Fans (had them leftover)
7/16" ID x 5/8" OD Masterkleer Tubing
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HammerSandwich
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isendir, what case will you use?
I'd lean to something like:
- Swiftech Apogee - $45
- MCW60 or Maze 4 GPU block - $45
- Eheim 1046 or 1048 OR DDC - $50-75
- Dual-120 rad (lots of choices) - ~$40
- Hose, clamps, etc. - $20
I prefer DC pumps for ease of installation, but Eheim is a good choice as well. Don't sweat the radiator selection too greatly, as almost all offer similar performance at SPCR-approved levels of airflow (i.e. not much). Use 3/8" tubing, which will give plenty of flow and be easy to route.
These components will provide plenty of cooling with a couple of SPCR-approved fans at 5-6V. In fact, you might get good results by ducting the radiator to ONE fan at 5-6V. The dual-120s offer about 12.5% more frontal area than a PA160 and cost half as much...
Concentrate on building a system with clean hose layout, good bleeding and unrestricted airflow. And don't allow the radiator's exhaust to feed the PSU's intake, which might increase your system's noise significantly.
I'd lean to something like:
- Swiftech Apogee - $45
- MCW60 or Maze 4 GPU block - $45
- Eheim 1046 or 1048 OR DDC - $50-75
- Dual-120 rad (lots of choices) - ~$40
- Hose, clamps, etc. - $20
I prefer DC pumps for ease of installation, but Eheim is a good choice as well. Don't sweat the radiator selection too greatly, as almost all offer similar performance at SPCR-approved levels of airflow (i.e. not much). Use 3/8" tubing, which will give plenty of flow and be easy to route.
These components will provide plenty of cooling with a couple of SPCR-approved fans at 5-6V. In fact, you might get good results by ducting the radiator to ONE fan at 5-6V. The dual-120s offer about 12.5% more frontal area than a PA160 and cost half as much...
Concentrate on building a system with clean hose layout, good bleeding and unrestricted airflow. And don't allow the radiator's exhaust to feed the PSU's intake, which might increase your system's noise significantly.
-
HammerSandwich
- *Lifetime Patron*
- Posts: 1288
- Joined: Sat Oct 25, 2003 3:21 pm
- Location: 15143, USA
- Contact:
-
HammerSandwich
- *Lifetime Patron*
- Posts: 1288
- Joined: Sat Oct 25, 2003 3:21 pm
- Location: 15143, USA
- Contact: