Going under water for the first time, part 2: moving to a new home

[chrisk]

Folding my i7 920 (currently at 3.4GHZ) and two GTX 285s 24/7 means leaving the fans running pretty much 100%. This causes lots of noise, especially with two rigs in the room going all out.

I have always thought about watercooling, but found it to be a pain to get started. I would do some research, and then doubt what I was deciding to do and out off any purchases. The idea of water in my rig, and the possibility of leaks, required maintenance, etc. also did not appeal to me.

Now I have GTX 285s with temps in the mid 80s. This got me looking more closely, and the deal was sealed when Sagath powered up his rig, and the cool silence sold me. I raved about this to kruzn4evr, and he offered to help me get started. At first I was going to do the video cards only, but decided that the bigadv WUs, along with the relative silence of a cpu block, it made sense to do my i7 920 as well.

Here is a pic of the rig that will be watercooled:


The specs of the rig are found in my system drop down box. I have since added a Vertex SSD which is installed in the HDD bay.

To make room to watercool, I am willing to remove one of the two Raptors pictured, and even a DVD drive if I need to make room for a rad, pump, and reservoir. Kruzn4evr is setting this up for me, but all will be explained and I will help so that I can WC my folding rig on my own.

Here is the list of parts Kruzn suggested I could start with on my first watercooling journey. Looks were not important, but I wanted good performance done right:

• Swiftech MCP655 12V Industrial Water Cooling Pump 1/2IN Barbs
• Swiftech APOGEE GTZ LGA775 CPU Water Block G1/4 Chrome HI-FLOW 1/2IN Barb Fittings and 1366 mount
• Primochill Primoflex Pro LRT Black 1/2IN ID 3/4IN OD Tubing (10 Feet)
• Primochill PC Ice NON-CONDUCTIVE Water Replacement 32OZ - Clear
• Danger Den Brass Fillport W/ Wrench
• Bitspower Single G1/4 Rotary 90 Degree 1/2IN Barb Fitting for 1/2 Inch ID Tubing
• Ek Water Blocks Ek Multioption Res 100 REV.2 Water Cooling Tube Reservoir G1/4
• Bitspower G1/4 High Flow 1/2IN Barb Fittings for 1/2IN ID Tubing (Pair)
• Innovation Cooling IC7 Diamond 7 Carat Thermal Compound
• Yate Loon D12SM-12C 120MMX20MM Cooling Fan 1800RPM 62CFM 29DB
• Hardware Labs Black Ice SR1 360 Triple 120MM Water Cooling Radiator G1/4
• Two EK-FC285 GTX SLI - Acetal (PCB ver 1) full cover blocks

I didn't want any LED fans, UV tubing/liquid etc. I did not decide to cool the NB either, so I hope this will not limit my i7 overclock. I am not sure of how many barbs were ordered/needed.

After the loop is set up, I will OC the GTX 285s (currently on stock because I am afraid of the mid 80c temps), and then the i7 920 will hit at least 3.8, hopefully 4.0GHZ.

After I finish learning about this i7 WC setup, I'll look into some used watercooling gear for my folding rig (right now its a Core2Quad setup...hopefully in a few weeks it will be i7 too....)

Really looking forward to this, and I thank Sagath for talking me into it, as well as Kruzn for talking me into it some more; and for putting this project together for me.

[LCB001]

Looks like a neat project, as usual we will need lots of Pics.

I'm thinking of doing this next summer, so I will probably be taking notes on this...

One thing I never liked about that case was the way the HDD bays restrict the path of the air from the front intake, it won't be a problem for you much longer though.

Good Luck...

[chrisk]

Yeah I actually added a fan (that you can't see) as an intake where the lower 5 1/4 drive bays are. That fan will also have to be removed to make room for the res I would assume. The big side fan would also blow air on all the lower parts.

[Ghlin]

That case looks reeeaaallll familiar :)

I dunno, I'm thinking of switching to the 3/8 ID 5/8 OD tubing - it easier to work with, even tho you have a monster of a case. I think routing the tubes will be much easier to work with, and I believe I've read in some cases its given better performance.

I'm sure either or will do just fine, just some food for thought :)

Good luck with the project :)

[gingerbee]

good luck and have fun. if size in your case matters then there's not much performance difference between the 355 and the 655 and the 355 takes up a lot less space. jmo oh i have both pumps and the difference in temps are nothing.

[Dazmode]

You have same set up as I do.

List looks good, except GTZ. Supreme LT will be better for the same $$. If you after performance, HK3.0 is obvious choice.

I also, say EK150 would work for HAF better. 100ml works best in medium towers.

[Babrbarossa]

I wasn't very happy with my apogee GTZ- was very happy to switch to my heatkiller although the GTZs are pretty cheap now and available at NCIX.

[3.0charlie]

Seriously consider 3/8" tubing, Chris.

[chrisk]

Thanks for the suggestions guys but the parts are ordered so all there is to do is start the fun

[SugarJ]

I hate to ask, but you did check that your GTX285's are Rev 1? Because the blocks you have listed are Rev 1. The easiest way to check on EVGA's is that the part number has a 1280 number for Rev 1, and 1180 for Rev 2.