Hi all I'm considering building a watercooled system for the first time and have a couple of questions. Firstly, I like the look of the Antec P182 case http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cases/2007/04/26/Antec_P182_case_review/1. However, with a watercooling set up where would I stick the radiator? I'm failing to see where it would go inside the case without modding, esecially if I go for a 3 x 120mm. Is the idea to have it on the outside? Secondly, do people recommend not having the CPU and graphics card in the same loop? Its going to be a reasonably high end system for gaming, with overclocking, so both parts will be pumping out a fair whack of heat. My main motivation for going watercooled is to have a system like this but to keep it extremely quiet. Is this a reasonable reason or am I expecting too much? Thanks for any help and feel free to point me towards any articles that you think might help me out. Most articles I've found are quite out of date.
Unfortunately you can't usually have great performance and silence - most WC pumps make a reasonable amount of noise, and you can definitely have a quiet WC loop that gives good performance. A 120.3 will give you the best potential for cooling, but as you have already pointed out, it's a big thing to try and fit into any case without modding.
The pump I have isn't exactly loud, it doesn't make any real noise at all, a decent Laing pump should be pretty silent. Silent fans and you will have a pretty quiet cooling solution. A 120.3 will be fine usually (what are you CPU and Graphics card?) As you have noticed, a 120.3 wont fit in the p182
The Laing D5 Vario is decently quiet at its lower numbers. I'm just disappointed that although my WC loop is quiet, my chipset fan is far too loud and an aftermarket cooler isn't possible .
Thanks guys. So with a single 120 radiator would I be seeing lower than normal temps if I had both the cpu and gfx card in the same loop? I'd want to be getting better temps than I could with an expensive air set up.
I've only ever used a 120.3 set up, and I'd like to know how a single 120 would cope with a CPU and GPU loop as well, especially with a i7 overclcoked.
Only if you had a hurricane blowing through it or stuck it outside in the middle of an Alaskan winter.
I wonder.... Although I had a triple rad in my last rig, it was cooling a FX60 and a 7800GTX.. both over clocked. CPU never got above 40 degrees, and the GPU never went over 45 degrees no matter how I clocked them. Even when the FX60 hit a brick wall and I went mad with voltages, it never went above 40. I think a triple rad is overkill for pretty much any desktop system from my experience. Although you wouldn't see temps like that on a i7/GTX295 rig with a single 120, I'm still wondering if it will be better than air. Anyone cooled recent high end gear with a single 120?
What's the heat capacity of a single 120 though? I'm sure Nexxo had the figures lying about somewhere...
I think you mean this thread. http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=155169 Looks like a 120.1 is a no no then. According to the maths, a 120.2 rad will not do it either.
Hmmm, so I'd have to go dual loop then. If I went with the Antec P182 case could I get two 120 rads in there? One on the back fan and one on the top, with a 120 intake at the front of the case bringing in cool air.
I currently have a Q6600 and an Asus Striker II Extreme (NB, SB, Mosfets) in a loop with a 120 and a 2x80 rad, and the temps never hit 40 on the CPU. All low speed fans (Noctua and Silenx) with stock voltages and clocks on the hardware. I would think that, especially if you're OC'ing, you'll need some serious fans on those rads. If you still want to try a single 120, I suggest one of these and just run the tubing into a different room. You should be able to keep from going deaf with the proper precautions.
