Cooling Best Water Cooling Setup

Seeing as im about to undertake a large scale modding/overclocking project that will involve building a benchmark-bashing machine of only the highest quality/fastest components, i am interested to see what many of you would consider the BEST possible water cooling setup (SLI and Dual Proccesor based system).

I thought i'd get advice from you people, because, although maybe not so new to hardware and overclocking, i have relatively little experience with water cooling set ups.

 

I would personally use a large bore loop but then again, it all depends on the space in the case. This log may give you a few ideas

 

Small bore would be best as there's alot to cool ans space will probs be limited.

 

Ok thanks for the info, the case has plenty of space though, its a Lian Li PC-71 Full Tower case

 

Visit Coolmiester's Project Dualmaster projectlog for a dual CPU, SLI watercooled setup.

 

Thanks for the link Nexxo

 

If you want the best id probably go for something like.

DD NV-78s SLI - assuming your going too use Dual 7800GTX fastest on the market.
1 or 2 D4 M5s
1 or 2 BIX Triples 1 before the CPUs 1 after
2 x Swifttech G4 Storms
1\2" Tygon
Tweakmonsters for the Rear Chips, if DD don't provide a backplate of which i think they are not 100%.
Oh and a nice Bored out and re-threaded Fass-o-matic.
oh yeah and 6 Papst 4412 F/2 GL fans at 5v should do it

*dribbles* that would do the trick most lickely, if you want that extra degree off your CPUs you could sell both your legs and get a couple G5s.

Id say go for a dual Pump setup give the Storms as much flow as possible more flow the harder they work .

 

Whoa. He's not building HAL9000.

He needs only one Laing D4 M5 pump.
He needs only one BIX3; he can even comfortably use a BIX2 as Coolermiester demonstrated in his setup (why do you think I gave him that link?).
The Fass-o-Matic doesn't need boring out or re-threading (the Aqua-tube does).

Don't go overkill on the components. Think balanced. Think elegant. Think of how you are going to fit and route it all.

 

He asked for the best and he's using a PC-71 as i understand it that is a monster. I did think how he would set it up, Triple in the top and 1 in the base, res in the 5.25s and mouth the pumps too the front rack or on there backs alongeside the mobo tray, Coolermiesters is a nice setup yes but i wouldn't say it was the best if the larger the radiaters the more heat you'll remove a single BIX Triple would probably do it yes also the more flow you throw at the G4s the better performance so i understand having 2 pumps would give you better results and in such a large case space isn't really an issue and if plumbed right it would look nice.


morgan.

 

if you are looking for max. overclock... forget the DD NV series (that cools the ram and the GPU), and just get a normal DD Maze4 GPU block... it has much better performance than the dual chip/gpu coolers and the DDR3 Ram modules run very cool anyway, ram sinks and a low spinning fan is all that is needed on them.

If it was me.. and I was after the best, I'll probably take my setup along the lines of what M_D_K is suggesting and have my loop as follows..

a separate D5, G4, rad loop for each CPU on 1/2" and then a smaller Maze4 GPU SLI loop, using a DDC on 3/8" for the GPU

that makes 3 loops in total.. but if best is what he asked for, best (overkill?) is what he gets

 

NOt suggesting having more then one loop i was suggesting soething alonge the lines of,

D5 > Rad > G4 > D5 > Rad > G4 > GPU 1, > GPU 2

that'll give you the high flow and preasure, or something along those lines, maybe some DDCs as they push more for there size.

Morgan.

 

swifteck storm pfft.. G5 silver

 

yeah two G5s so that would be what £500 ish give or take lol


morgan.

 

Ok, thanks for the advice guys.

Yes im thinking of dual 7800GTX's.

Yes the PC-71 is a huge case and has lots of room.

I did originally consider to loops with 2 pumps but seeing as you guys dont recommend it i might reconsider based on what MDK said

 

Id also suggest going down the 10mm Innovatek route and looking at that side of the fence as its it is easy too setup if you get some nice inovatek tubing.
Something alonge the lines of sc4mpi which has dual nv-40s dual eheim 1046s and triple bix with a A64 inovatek block with silver base plate.
Could be worth considuring not the best but probably the neatest.

morgan.

 

The issue is price and simplicity. Coolmiester's setup already has pretty low temps (mid 30s C on the CPUs, and somewhere around 45-ish C on the GPUs?). A BIX3 will improve on that a few degrees, but I doubt that yet another BIX3 and an extra pump are going to make much difference beyond that.

In the end, you'll be adding all that pricey hardware, and adding all that restriction and complication to a loop just for a few tiny degrees C, if that. Not worth it, in my opinion. Good WC design is not just about applying brute force, more rads, more pumps etc. It's about balance and not adding any more complications than are necessary to have a clean, efficient loop.

 

If your going for absoloute benchmark power forget water and go phase change.

 

Fair enough a 2nd BIX3 would yes drop a few C but he did say he wanted the BEST and not the GOOD setup so a few degrees C would be better and for a case so large it doesn't matter and yes as you said good planning is the key so with anything you do if you plan it right it will look ok, now did i see anywhere in his post saying he wanted PERFECT watercooling or we just alking about the lowest temps we can get here. Also from all test i believe that the storms do perform with higher flow so if he was too remove the front HDD cages from the PC-71 he would have ample room too make up a bracket for either 2 D5s or 2 DDC pumps with a bit of carefull plumbing hed come out with an ice looop.


morgan.

 

Maybe so, maybe not.
My experience with the 90nm core AMDs is that they run absurdly cool to begin with, it's the video cards that produce the biggest heatload.

I am still surprised that people don't assemble their systems with the stock cooling and then design the upgrades to address the issues that they discovered. How does one spec a loop to deal with an unknown load?

For instance...
My current 3500 Winnie has been saddled with six different heatsinks and two different waterblocks.
Temps have varied less than 3-5C irregardless of the cooling...it just doesn't run that hot.
The XFX 6800GTs on the other hand, idle in the mid forties and hit mid-sixties under load.
My best fix so far ( and it temporary since it precludes SLI) was mounting an Aerocool DP-101 CPU sink and copper ramsinks. This setup outperforms my previous best solution, the DD NV-68 waterblock.

My next waterloop might only include the graphics cards and bypass the CPU altogether...there just isn't much to gained there.

FaiNT, why not just run the thing stock and see what it does before tossing money willy-nilly at an undefined problem?

 

Ok thanks for the advice clocker, i'll give that a go