First WC build, advice wanted

[PerryC]

Hi all,

I recently made some serious upgrades (for me anyways) to my hardware. With my ram having tall heat sinks, air cooling was pretty much a no-go. I got looking at the AIO solutions, but after looking at people's builds here and HWC I got thinking why not go for a full WC loop. After a buttload whole bunch of reading and looking at some awfully nice builds here I am.

Here are the important parts:

Phantom 630
Asus P8P67 Deluxe board
i7-2700k (currently on stock cooler)
16GB Corsair Vengeance
2x Asus 660Ti DCII

I am looking at picking up a complete kit from Daz to start, then adding blocks for the gpus (EK makes the only FC blocks compatible with my gpus) and all the other bits I will need.

Here is what I am thinking for a loop:



Top rad will likely come from whatever kit I buy from Daz, with fans in a push (either pushing air into the case or pushing it out not sure which). For the bottom rad, I got one of these http://koolance.com/radiator-2-fan-120mm-30-fpi-copper dirt cheap (read free). I think I want the fans set up to push air through the rad into the case.

I have thought of a couple of things since I roughed that out.

a. I originally thought of putting a T connector and a ball valve fitting for a drain, then go thinking wouldn't it be more efficient to put a couple of QDCs on the bottom rad and having a piece of hose with a QDC for a drain?

b. I am a little concerned about the tube run from the bottom rad back to the res/pump. Would I get too much of a kink in the tube as it goes into the drive bays? Without inhibiting flow too much, would a 45° or 60° fitting help out there?

c. Will a single pump be alright for this set up?

d. I know that Koolance rad is a high density rad, so I will need fans with some horsepower to them, any suggestions?

e. What would be the best way to fill up this set up, and bleed it when the time comes?

I will be running distilled water/biocide mix only, no dyes or other additives. No ideas yet on whether I want coloured tubing and UV lighting or not yet. The way this case sits under my desk, nobody sees the window....so the pron pics will have to suffice.


Feel free to point out the errors in my planning and ideas.


Perry

[Neo182]

A single D5 will be fine for this setup. And welcome to the community by the way!
Even if you decide to not run any dyes I suggest you get a solid color tubing , because with clear tubing sooner or later some build up will occur and you will probably want to either drain the loop and clean the tubing individually OR swap it out for some new. I found that I was wasting a whole lot of money on tube replacement (when I was in clear tubing..) as opposed to Black or transparent / see-through tube.

the visual plan seems good - But theres always a little something that you can never predict so just be ready to adapt.

[Hooded]

Looks like a great plan
to your new addiction & the community

QDC or t and ball valve. It's a question of what suites your fancy and pocket book.
QDC has a real advantage if you have a compressor to flush with. Some people here use a lot of QDC, I use non because of cost.

Worry about t he tube run once you get to fitting it. Know way to know for sure what fittings you need until it's in and it's easy to leave tube a little longer so no kink.

Single D5 will be plenty

Gentle Typhoons are the best get fast ones for those rads.

I bottom fill and drain my systems.

Your will be however you figure out how you want to go about it.

[Doxy]

is the 240 rad on the bottom gonna be flat on its back or standing sideways?
b. yeah, a 45 would fit pretty nice
c. should be enough
d. gentle typhoons 1850rpm/2100rpm or Noiseblocker NB-eLoop if you can find em.
e. a very big syringe or usually a home made device something like daz uses in this vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=777JcqPVgLU

[Hooded]

Please don't fill your loop like this idiot did.
Filling Water Loop Fail!

You think it might have been a good plan to prime the pump before he turned it on.

[GEARjmr]

Welcome to the forum Perry . I started watercooling about a year ago and the guys on the forum here are great, havn't steered me wrong yet! I use the GT AP15s and as Hooded suggested some higher rpm fans would be good. Unless you have a fill port set up you might wanna leave a little slack in your res lines so you can pull it out a bit to fill it. Been using UV Blue tubing since the start and its still clear as a bell. Make sure the drain is at the lowest point of the loop and you are good to go.

[PerryC]

Thanks for the welcome and replies.

Looks like Gentle Typhoons it is.

By bottom filling do you mean turning the case on its roof and filling that way? Be interesting with this case...its a beast and don't have a flat top on it. On the other hand, with some QDCs on the bottom rad, I could drain and fill from the same spot. Gravity and water's natural tendency to seek its own level would help immensely. Might need a second "drain hose" and QDC to allow air to escape as water moves through the system.

The hard drive bay and drive you see in the pic above will hang from the 5.25" drive bay above it. The mounting plate will come out, then the rad will be laying flat. Something like this, except mine won't have the other drive bay sitting right on top of it (that pic is from the NZXT website, and the closest image to what I am thinking of):

[Neo182]

Please don't fill your loop like this idiot did.
Filling Water Loop Fail!

You think it might have been a good plan to prime the pump before he turned it on.

Pahaha I remember commenting on the original post of this vid..PRICELESS.

OH GOD , WHY DONT YOU JUST TAKE A FLIPPIN' HAMMER TO IT. GEEZ!

[bungwirez]

hey Perry welcome to the wonderful world of Dazmode!
I've been waiting for a Phantom 630 build.

if you're going strictly with distilled, please just add DazProtect.... its all you need.

[PerryC]

Thanks, hopefully this turns out somewhat half decent.

The blue colour scheme on the Asus mobo kinda threw out my original theme concept, and I am not really too interested in looking for a different board right now. NCIX kind of botched it even more when they sent me a red sleeved 24 pin extension, instead of a black one. I still liked it enough to use it.

This is what it looks like right now (without my fancy artwork above)

Front:



Back (cable management needs more work):

[Father Fuzzy]

To the dazmode Zone

Good too see that stock cooler gone

Looking forward to seeing The build

[PerryC]

Thanks FF...stock cooler still there right now, but its days are numbered.

Now next couple of questions (all related to gpu blocks)...

a. is there a difference performance wise between a serial or parallel bridge? Advantages and disadvantages to either choice?

b. are back plates absolutely necessary? I am planning on using them, just finding a retailer with the ones I need in stock is an exercise in patience.

Perry

[Doxy]

b. backplates offer mostly aesthetics.

[Hooded]

I hear that a parallel bridge won't reduce the flow as much as a serial setup, and cards will run at the same temps. However I have no seen anything in the way of testing to back that theory up. Some say it won't make a difference.
Your back plate will pretty much need to match the GPU manufacturer, other wise no grantee that there will work together.

[MRDcanadian]

to dazmode. glade to have another member coming to be part of the group. looking forward to see your work.