Hey guys, i'm in the planning stage of building my first custom pc/case/desk build, and it is also my first attempt at using watercooling! Being a n00b at watercooling, I have a question: The desk is quite large, ~34" x 76", and the components will be spaced out as much as possible while still looking nice and being functional. My question is would it be better to use one watercooling loop with a powerful pump and radiator, or would it be better to set up 2 small loops, one to cool half the hard drives and both video cards. The second loop would cool the other half of the hard drives, the ssd, the cpu and RAM. I believe there would be plenty of space for 2 loops if necessary, and I am wanting to make the system as quiet as possible, which I think would be more possible with 2 loops instead of one big loop. Suggestions? Thanks!!!
I wouldnt bother watercooling the ram, hdds or ssds. Some gentle airflow will suffice. What are the cpu, motherboard and gpu in question? What case are you using and will you be overclocking?
The case is going to be a custom desk that I will build. I would link the thread for the post with the sketches, but I don't know how to do that lol. The board is an ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe, the CPU is an Intel 2600k Unlocked and the dual video cards will be Sapphire Radeon HD6970. Will probably start with a single video card and eventually add the second when money is not so tight
Single loop and a pair of 120.2 rads will cool that lot quite nicely, maybe two 120.3 rads if the budget would allow and you plan a heavy O/C. Fan choice makes a big difference too, Gentle Typhoon 1850's would be a good bet to use with rads and are worth the cash. But again, don't bother water cooling the hard drives or ram, complete waste of time and you will likely be heating them up rather than cooling them when the system is at load.
The plan is to being learning the ins and outs of overclocking with this set up, so I want to make sure everything is cooled properly. I also want it to look good to though, which was the purpose of the hard drives and ram being cooled. I just wanted to have them to look cool with some fluorescent fluid, but if cooling those parts are going to be detrimental to the rest of the cooling system then I guess I can do without
