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mooimabear · ‎11-06-2012

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum, so firstly and foremost, thanks for helping me out! I'm in the process of building a new gaming rig and was looking to water cool this bad boy. I'll be needing to water cool the following and wanted your advice as to what I should get because I honestly don't know the level of water cooling I'll need for my setup thus far:

Case: NZXT Switch 810
CPU: Intel i7 3930K
GPU: 2x ASUS MATRIX HD 7970 PLATINUM (Crossfire)
Motherboard: ASUS Rampage IV Extreme

I want to water cool both video cards and the CPU. What setup would you recommend?

I'd like the noise level to be on the low side.
I want to keep everything "internal."
I'd prefer not to do any additional modding. Not that I'm lazy or anything but this is my first build so I want to start on the simpler side of things and learn a bit more about modding to apply to my next build. I know you can fit two rads within the 810 so I'm hoping that will play to my advantage!

Looking forward to hearing your water cooling suggestions! Thanks again!

Best,

mooimabear

kkn · ‎11-06-2012

mod page: overkill
ive done one in the same case as you have, downside is that i have a large pump.
and i do not have my cards on water.
after 3 hours of gaming on 4.4ghz my water is on 27+c cooling on the 240 rad bottom ( room temp 24+c )
you have to sacrifise the bottom HDD cage to fit the 240 bottom.
and look away on the plate i made becouse i have it as "table" for my muse.

mooimabear · ‎11-07-2012

kkn wrote:
mod page: overkill
ive done one in the same case as you have, downside is that i have a large pump.
and i do not have my cards on water.
after 3 hours of gaming on 4.4ghz my water is on 27+c cooling on the 240 rad bottom ( room temp 24+c )
you have to sacrifise the bottom HDD cage to fit the 240 bottom.
and look away on the plate i made becouse i have it as "table" for my muse.

Thanks for the reply! I'll definitely be using your build as my go-to reference page! My main concern now is just trying to figure out how I'm going to water cool the dual Matrix 7970's. Do you have any recommendations? :confused:

xeromist · ‎11-07-2012

You'll need more than a 240 rad to cool both GPUs and the CPU. Think something more like this:

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kkn · ‎11-07-2012

xeromist wrote:
You'll need more than a 240 rad to cool both GPUs and the CPU.

i think he have a 360 in mind too.
just the cards it self need a 360 to cool them.
and the 240 can be to the cpu.
he can fit a 420 in top if he want to and a 280 in bottom.
he can do 120 or 140 fans in top, front, back and bottom in the case.
whit a 120x3 in top he have space on the sides to pull the fann cables and mabye mount 2 and 2 fans together by Y-adaptors if thats an option.

kkn · ‎11-07-2012

i cant help you mutch on the cards sorry.
give x-pack a pm and see what he can recomend since he have a few 7950's on water.
and how you will set your loop up is up to you.
mabye pump - cpu - 240rad - gpu - 360rad - res?
or if you want to ditch the front cover of the case and add a 280 rad to the loop? ( have to do some modding to fit one of those there ), and loose both HDD trays probably.
the options are there, but its you who have to take the desissions on how mutch you whana spend and set up on it.
i have my settup, you have yours, others have theirs.
what are you gona cool?
cpu and gpu? ram? northbridge?
get fans whit high static preshure and low start voltage ( so you can controll RPM on them ) and low amps.
get a fann controller of your own choise. manual sliders, touch screen, one whit software or a combo.
mabye a controller that you can connect a few termal probes to it? you can connect a termal adapter to the loop so you know the water temp on each in or outlet of the rads ( mabye after each inlet to the rads from a hot source? ).
theres lots you can do, it all depends on your monney flow 😉

Zka17 · ‎11-07-2012

Unfortunately there is no full cover water block for the Matrix HD7970 Platinums yet... 😞 (I would be the most happy ROGer if I missed one - if so, just let me know who is manufacturing it) So, you have two choices there: 1.) keep the air-cooling for a while (they suppose to perform very well even on air) or 2.) use common GPU block and maybe search for some VRM block... (this may need some luck)

Also, it would be nice if you could provide adequate cooling to your mobo's VRM too... for that a full mobo block would be nice too... (full, including the SB too, to get rid of that fan's noise)

But, sincerely, if this is your very first build, I would go on complete air for the beginning... max. a closed loop water cooler on the CPU... the hardware you selected, specifically the mobo, is the best one around - but accordingly is the most complicated too... it was built for the "hardcore" people... I'm not trying to say that you can not be such a "hardcore" guy, if you want you will sure be! Just I'm trying to convince you to start with smaller steps...

Start with air-cooling, learn your system, then decide if you want water or not... by that time, maybe the full cover blocks for your graphics crds would be available too...

xeromist · ‎11-07-2012

Yep, I figured that as well but I don't like to assume. Better to just say it outright just in case. 🙂

A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station…

kkn · ‎11-07-2012

xeromist wrote:
Yep, I figured that as well but I don't like to assume. Better to just say it outright just in case. 🙂

true.
to the OP:mail enny of theese supliers and ask if they have a waterblock that will fitt on your cards before even trying to buy one, to be on the safe side so you dont sit there whit 2 blocks you can not use at all, bether safe then sorry.
http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l3/g30/c309/s1590/list/p1/Liquid_Cooling-Water_Blocks_VGA_-_Card_-_ATI-...

EKWB is not planing to make enny WB to the ASUS MATRIX HD 7970 PLATINUM series. ( EK: Sorry, we have no plans to make any waterblocks for this position. Thank you. )

Granger · ‎11-07-2012

The Swiftech MCW82 will fit your cards, but you will need the heatsinks for the vrms (Swiftech also have them MC14 or MCW14, I can't remember)

I've just put my 2 non reference 6870's under water with them. The only problem I found was that I needed to shorten 6 of the VRM heatsinks to have enough clearence for the tubing (2 minutes with a dremel)

The heatsinks come with a sticky thermal pad already on (peel off plastic and hold for 20 seconds)

It doesn't look as nice as a full cover block, but they work well.

I know I won't get a full cover block for mine, you may be able to get one in the near future, so it may be an idea to leave the cards on air for a month or so and see if someone makes a full cover for it 😉

Also, you will need at least 120.5 of rad (a triple and a double rad) to cool all of that, especially if you are intending to OC

Water Cooling Advice For New (First) Build