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First water loop advice.

NuMetal93
Level 7
Hello all,
I am about to start work on my first water loop and I have some what of an idea of what I need. My real questions are what kida rads and pump am I going to need to cool 3 980s and a 5930k, 240 360?

Lastly my 980s are not the reference model they are the ASUS Strix so they get less then optimal air flow all squished together. I see them the top two get up into the mid 80s C and since I dont know what my financial situation will be in the next few months due to me going back to school, my cards will be air cooled for a bit longer then I would like but education comes first. To sum up this last part would you recommend running at these temps under load for say 56 hours?

Any comments or answers would be much appreciated.

Specs:
Asus rampage 5 extreme mother board
3x gtx 980 strix
i7 5930k
Corsair 760t case
Corsair h100I cpu cooler
9,676 Views
18 REPLIES 18

Antronman
Level 10
You're going to need 1x EKWB X-Top D5 pump.

Pick your tube reservoir.

XSPC or EKWB radiators. 240mm per component. 360mm for your i7-5930k.

EKWB CPU and VGA blocks. Or Aquacomputer CPU block (Cuplex Kryos XT) if you can find one.

Bitspower, EK or XSPC fittings.

Primochill PrimoFlex tubing.

Mayhems or Koolance coolant.

You're going to need a new case 😛

Phanteks Enthoo Primo or Corsair 900D would be a great choice.
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Deon017
Level 8
Hi - the 900D is a great case for a big open loop - I would put a 360 on the top and after the 3x 980's I would put a 420 before going back into the res. I have two 420's in my 900D with primo ridged tubing and a koolance pump and my 4960x runs at 4.3Ghz at about 37 degrees and my 1 hydro copper at 36 degrees with no load. the cpu goes up to about 55 degrees under load or gaming and the gpu to 47 degrees. EKWB has the best component for the CPU block.

Do i really need suck ha big rad for my cpu, my h100I cools it just fine, id really hate to switch out my case.

kkn
Level 14
those vid cards will only go up that high when under laod or else stay cooler when not in use, and the top 2 cards will get hot becouse the 3'rd is running physx and dont have that mutch load on it.
get a pump/res combo ( personaly i prefer tube res before bay res option ).
you need a case that have loads of rad space in it. ( 900D is a good one but a huge ass case )
think 2x 120 fan slot per card for radiator space cooling.
i would recommend a fan controller for the fans. ( one whit lcd monitor on to monitor temps on water ) for a inline temp probe.
like this one -> http://shop.aquacomputer.de/images/product_images/popup_images/53067.jpg
fans i would get ones whit high MMH2O ( Static Pressure and not CFM ) and low start voltage. ( 3 or 4 pin up to you ).
if you are going to colored coolant i would go for colored tubing before the coolant, its a pain to get out and clean later.
get a drain option on the lowest part of the loop so reduce spillage in case leakage and when you are going to change coolant ( every 1-2 year ).

clean rads before instaling to get out resedue from machining and production so the resedue dont destroy the impellars on the pump.
use deionised water ( battery water ( not the acid one ) ) think you can get gallon bottles for a cheep penny in a store of some kind.

do you have the option to mount a fan on the door of the current case you have now?
if so mount one to help cool down the vid cards.
fans, front in and roof and back out ( way of the heat since it goes UP ).

a waterloop WILL set you back close to $1000 or more so think about it before going that way.
as posted up there you NEED the case for it and you WILL void warranty when doing it.

NuMetal93
Level 7
Great! thank you for all the advice, 1000-1200 should be no prob. I dont really care for the 900D though id rather sick whith my 760t or move up to a 780T.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]48825
No option for a fan but i zip tied one to my drive bay lol.

kkn
Level 14
a 240 radiator if the CPU is the only one in the loop.
add more components and you will need more radiator surface.
an option would be to get an external radiator unit if you are going to add the 3 GPU's in to the loop.
heres an example.
48826

48827

Deon017
Level 8
Why change now if you only going to do the loop later, one of the most important things about open loops is the planning, draw it out and check. I would only do it once you ready. If you want to do just your cpu, check the kits that EKWB are selling, there is a great write up from Chino in their thread

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?54578-i7-5960X-Watercooling-Results-With-EK-KIT-X360

and it should fit your case

Deon017 wrote:
Why change now if you only going to do the loop later, one of the most important things about open loops is the planning, draw it out and check. I would only do it once you ready. If you want to do just your cpu, check the kits that EKWB are selling, there is a great write up from Chino in their thread

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?54578-i7-5960X-Watercooling-Results-With-EK-KIT-X360

and it should fit your case

This looks great, do you think that pump could to all of my loop because i was looking at some pump rez combos?

NuMetal93 wrote:
This looks great, do you think that pump could to all of my loop because i was looking at some pump rez combos?


that is a kit, that will say its aimed for cooling the CPU only.
for running 3 cards and a cpu u need a strong pump and you need loads of radiator space to cool it or else you will end up whit shutdown after a short time of using the pc.