Proposed Water Cooling System for my Coolermaster HAF X case

[kendrab]

I wanted to get a few opinions before ordering my water cooling parts, so I can catch any errors before it is too late.

XSPC RX360 Radiator (for top of case)
TFC Triebwerk TK-122 Fans 120 mm x 5 mm (3)
XSPC RX240 Radiator (for base of case)
Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120 mm 1850 rpm Fans (2)
Koolance RP-450X2 Reservoir
Laing D5 pumps (2)
Heatkiller 3.0 CPU Block
Heatkiller backing plate for LGA1156 Processor
EK VGA Waterblocks for nVidia GTX 470 Video Cards (3)
Tygon R-3400 .5" ID/.75" OD Tubing
G1/4 1?2" ID Fittings
Stainless Steel Hose Clamps
A piece of .999 Silver in reservoir to act as a biocide agent
Distilled Water for coolant

I had originally planned on running two completely separate loops, with the 360 mm radiator and TFC fans being used to cool the graphics cards, and the 240 mm radiator and Scythe fans being used to cool the CPU. This would have been done with a EK Dual Top Pump Top for Dual Loops and a EK Spin Bay Reservoir for Dual Loops.

However, the Koolance RP-450X reservoir allows for mounting two Laing D5 pumps at the back, and would make a cleaner looking install. It mounts the pumps in series instead of as two separate loops. Will this cool as well as if I keep the two loops separate? I do plan on some fairly aggressive overclocking with an Intel i7-870 processor...

[ottoyu34]

The plan looks good to me, but I personally would ditch the Koolance RP-450X2 if you're going dual loop, since it has a shared res. I would go with the later, using EK dual pump dual loop top, and using something like the EK Spin bay (new dual loop ver.) and just put all those in the 5.25 bays. Better anti-virbation design than the Koolance has.

[CanadianReaper7]

+1 for the single loop design. Basically you end up with one loop that is more overloaded than the other in a dual loop design. Any pump, including a Laing D5 like you are going to buy is 100% fine for flow/head pressure (Laing DDC3.2 is slightly better, but whatever) since you're only running a GPU and a CPU in your loop (no chipset blocks that are overly restrictive). My opinion would be to go put a rad in between your CPU and GPU if you want 100% best temps, but it will work fine and is much shorter tubing wise if you go Res>pump>top Rad>CPU>GPU>bottom rad>res. You only need ONE pump for your loop tbh.

Secondly where are you planning to put this 240 rad in the haf X? Unless you have a tiny PSU or plan to cut out the bottom HDD cage, it won't fit. I've seen some pics of vertically mounting it just behind the HDD cage, but this only works if you go with a super thin rad like a swiftech.

Also ditch the Treib's... they are insanely thick and won't fit under the top of your haf X case. 120x38mm fans will fit on either side, but in the middle you need a 120x25mm fan. I just went for 3x 120mmx25mm San Ace 3000rpm fans on a fan controller. Recently I've purchased GT AP-15's but I'm waiting on a second rad to install these. Pic: IMO go with ALL GT AP-15's if you can find them, or don't mind waiting for the backorder (took me around 2 months from NCIX).


Also be careful of your tubing size and fittings. I know the measurements are confusing when you first start, but it's very important that you get these right and double check the sizes before you place your order.
Looks like you have 3/8" ID 5/8" OD TUBING. You need to get barbs or compression fittings (plus clamps if you go barbs) that are 3/8"ID 5/8"OD. Barbs are cheaper, by a lot. If you can find it, a lot of people on OCN recommend 7/16"ID 5/8"OD tubing on 1/2"ID barbs, since you don't need clamps since the fit is sooo tight and hard to get on initially. TBH just go with clamps and barbs if this is your first time. I went with 1/2"ID 3/4"OD tubing and compression fittings because it looks much beefier inside the massive HAF X case. Choose whatever you like, since performance is about the same with both tubing sizes.

Also why are you going with the Heat Killer? If it's not for looks, the EK Supreme HF (any version) outperforms the HK by about 1C at best and looks sexy to boot, and is often cheaper than the HK when you factor in the cost of a HK backplate.

Edit: more of my HAF X build pics if you need more ideas.

ImageShack Album - 27 images

[kendrab]

[HTML]Where are you planning to put this 240 rad in the haf X? Unless you have a tiny PSU or plan to cut out the bottom HDD cage, it won't fit. /HTML]

I am going to mount my 240 mm radiator in the floor of my HAF X case. To do that, I have removed my inner hard drive cage, and cut it just below where the two reinforcing braces go across it. This leaves me with three hard drive caddy slots rather than the original five, but it also leaves me with 11 cm of height to fit a radiator and fans into.

The top of the hard drive cage rivets to the bottom of the 5 1/4" drive bay area with four rivets, so it is still well supported. I can still have a front mounted fan, although I have had to go with a 120 mm x 25 mm fan to get a little extra space.

When I decided that I wanted to water cool both the CPU and the video cards, I was in a bit of a panic. I thought I would need to go with a Swiftech Radbox and mount the second radiator outside the case. It turns out adding a 240 mm rad in the base of this case is actually pretty easy.

This is the link to my project:http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/case-mods-worklog-gallery/37592-haf-xcited.html

[MpG]

I wouldn't bother with those Triebwerk fans, unless you're specifically looking for their appearance. Plenty of solid 25 and 38mm fans that will work just as well, if not better.

And that Koolance reservoir doesn't allow for running the pumps in series - they run independent of each other, with a shared reservoir. Also, two D5 pumps put out a fairly significant heat dump, and I'm not seeing any massive restriction in that loop that would call for a second pump. The HK3.0 is a fairly free-flowing CPU block, and EK latest GPU blocks are pretty good too. You could even run the GPU blocks in parallel for even lower restriction. But a second pump might actually hurt more than it helps - just a thought.

[Dazmode]

I had bad experience with Tygon tubing, which get clouded and look awful pretty quick. I have never had issues with TFC or Primo tubing.

[kendrab]

Originally Posted by MpG

that Koolance reservoir doesn't allow for running the pumps in series - they run independent of each other, with a shared reservoir. Also, two D5 pumps put out a fairly significant heat dump, and I'm not seeing any massive restriction in that loop that would call for a second pump.

My thinking may be off on this; I have been assuming that the shared reservoir won't hurt overall cooling provided each section of the loop is properly cooled. I was going to assign the larger 360 mm radiator to cool the video cards, while the 240 mm radiator would cool the CPU. But while this would work pretty well for general use, it might limit my CPU overclocking.

I have reminded myself that my cooling goals when I started were to keep temperature fluctuations (delta T) to around 10-12 C for the GPU's, and 5-6 C for the CPU. Perhaps with these goals, two separate loops/pumps/reservoirs will be best. Now I am thinking of using an EK Spin Bay reservoir for dual loops, two Laing D5 pumps, and an EK D5 Dual Top Pump Top for Dual Loops. This way, the heat load for each subsystem (GPU/CPU) will be kept separate from each other. It still simplifies the packaging by having two pumps on a common mount, and two reservoirs in a larger bay reservoir.

As far as fans go, I have decided to go with Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120 mm 1850 rpm fans on both radiators, and taming them down as needed with a good four channel fan controller. I want to have the three fans for upper radiator on one channel, the two fans for the lower radiator on another, the front intake fan on a third channel, and the rear exhaust fan on a fourth channel. Does anyone have a fan controller recommendation?

Also, how much of a difference is it cooling wise if the fans are mounted in a "push" or "pull" configuration? I can mount the fans either way for the top radiator, but the lower radiator/fan assembly would fit in my system better if the fans were kept above the radiator. I don't really want to mount fans below the bottom of my case, for this would mean I would have to raise the case higher off the ground.

Before I forget, I want to thank everyone for their feedback. It has been greatly appreciated!

[lowfat]

Originally Posted by Dazmode

I had bad experience with Tygon tubing, which get clouded and look awful pretty quick. I have never had issues with TFC or Primo tubing.

It all depends on the type of tygon you use. R3400 is black so clouding doesn't matter. R3603 is clear and it clouds due to plasticizer in the tubing. But there are tygon tubing that do not use it, like the B-44-4x. It is pricey but it is the clearest tubing you can find.

[Dazmode]

I keep trying different fancy controllers, but every time I fall back in tried and true Rhoebus Extreme.

At mid speed 1500-1800 push or pull doesn't matter

[MpG]

Originally Posted by kendrab

My thinking may be off on this; I have been assuming that the shared reservoir won't hurt overall cooling provided each section of the loop is properly cooled. I was going to assign the larger 360 mm radiator to cool the video cards, while the 240 mm radiator would cool the CPU. But while this would work pretty well for general use, it might limit my CPU overclocking.

I have reminded myself that my cooling goals when I started were to keep temperature fluctuations (delta T) to around 10-12 C for the GPU's, and 5-6 C for the CPU. Perhaps with these goals, two separate loops/pumps/reservoirs will be best. Now I am thinking of using an EK Spin Bay reservoir for dual loops, two Laing D5 pumps, and an EK D5 Dual Top Pump Top for Dual Loops. This way, the heat load for each subsystem (GPU/CPU) will be kept separate from each other. It still simplifies the packaging by having two pumps on a common mount, and two reservoirs in a larger bay reservoir.

Nothing wrong with that, but the flip side is also true - in the vast majority of cases, the benefits of dual-looping are non-existant. You have the same wattage going into the water, and the same wattage being dumped from the water. The rest of the time, single-loop actually helps minimize temperature fluctuations by allowing all radiators to act all the time, even if only half of your system is under load. And if the whole system is under load at once - you're no worse off than with a dual-loop.

The only real exceptions are when you want to isolate a particularly restrictive block on a component that really doesn't mind higher water temps (i.e. power circuits/chipset), and even then, the benefits are quite minimal.