New Water Rig Setup

[divardio]

Hello all.

First of all, I've learnt a lot from you guys here, and will continue to post untill my pc is finished.

I am about to build my first rig, I already have the hardware, but have no water cooling components yet.

I have attatched my setup jpeg, and am up for plenty of advice.

My goals are:
Good looks (Hence the silly reservoir and 3/8" Tube, sorry folks)
V.Good performance but not bleeding edge (Running 2.4 @ about 3.6)
Value for money
Silence

As a newbie I'm keen for you're opinions, especially regards my pump configuration and est cooling potential.

Note: I'll be writting/recording music not playing Doom 3

[JamesAvery22]

Originally Posted by divardio

Hello all.

First of all, I've learnt a lot from you guys here, and will continue to post untill my pc is finished.

I am about to build my first rig, I already have the hardware, but have no water cooling components yet.

I have attatched my setup jpeg, and am up for plenty of advice.

My goals are:
Good looks (Hence the silly reservoir and 3/8" Tube, sorry folks)
V.Good performance but not bleeding edge (Running 2.4 @ about 3.6)
Value for money
Silence

As a newbie I'm keen for you're opinions, especially regards my pump configuration and est cooling potential.

Note: I'll be writting/recording music not playing Doom 3

Well your tubing looks like its a lot more complicated than it has to be... Everything looks really cluttered in just that picture so Im sure it would be worse in real life. Not to mention with your pumps there it would be a pain in the rear end to remove/replace/add a PCI/AGP card...

Personally Ive never been one to any kind of intake on the bottom of my case just because of dust etc. If thats not a problem for you (you have wooden floors) then thats kool.

Id move the radiator to that top 120mm and move the pumps to the bottom of the case and the resevoir to the back of the case, like outside of the case where that 80mm is exhausting to and just remove the fan. Would be a lot easier to route stuff that way, much more space to work with and would probably look cleaner.

[rundymc]

ok, so you have one pump pumping through the blocks to the res, another through the rad to the res?
not optimal- the water must mix and all, and you're better of putting everything in series
having an intake at the back may not be the best idea, at least by personal preference since I prefer to control ventilation and seperate in and outtakes as much as possible, so as to prevent 'mixing'
your rad has the fan blowing at it- meaning the dead spot ought to be larger than if the axial fan sucked through it- I recommend you change this

[Arcturius]

Originally Posted by rundymc

ok, so you have one pump pumping through the blocks to the res, another through the rad to the res?
not optimal- the water must mix and all, and you're better of putting everything in series
having an intake at the back may not be the best idea, at least by personal preference since I prefer to control ventilation and seperate in and outtakes as much as possible, so as to prevent 'mixing'
your rad has the fan blowing at it- meaning the dead spot ought to be larger than if the axial fan sucked through it- I recommend you change this

No, it looks like he has one pump between the blocks, and the other between the res and rad.

I agree that it might be easier to put the rad at the top of the case. It looks like you're already planning a shroud, so you should be OK there. If you put a single intake on the bottom with just a fan, it would be easier to put a filter on.
I think the 80mm fan at the rear should be moved to the front--the presence of the fan is a good idea to compensate for the exhaust from the PS, but its placement would promote mixing of intake/exhaust air.

With the rad at the top, you might want to consider just mounting the pumps down front hooked directly together in series, as opposed to spacing them throughout the loop.

Edit: Just wanted to comment that the overall setup looks pretty good, and the dual pumps should help make up for the 3/8" diameter hose.
Also, won't the 15K drives void your efforts at quieting the machine down? I've got 2 IBM 36Z15s and a Seagate Cheetah 15K.3, and they are far from quiet...

[divardio]

Thanks for the advice guys.

Heres some of my reasoning for the setup, it might be wrong but I'll give it a go,

With the Rad sucking cool air in, it seems that the optimal placing for it as long as I can manage the dust, is at the bottom. Also I figured there'd be less water/air bleeding problems?

With regard to the rear fan intake, I might have to rethink this one, My initial thoughts were, if I could have the PSU drawing in cooler air, the PSU would stay cooler, keeping PSU fan speed down, also it might cool the mosfets a tiny bit. But it's all just guess work.

Note, just to be clear, heres the order>

PUMP > RAD > CPU > PUMP > FSB > RES

Arcturius, is this recommended, I've read bad things about it regards PSI / flow / pump redundancy etc..

Quote- "you might want to consider just mounting the pumps down front hooked directly together in series, as opposed to spacing them throughout the loop"

And yeer, I'm a bit worried about those 15Kers, but I found them cheap and couldn't resist.

[nikhsub1]

HERE is one of the cleanest H20 setups I've ever seen (not mine). If you are going to go with the rad at the bottom, which I don't recommend due to dust, I would flip the setup. I would have the RAD on the floor with the fan on top of the rad pulling in air. I would run the 2 csystem pumps in series one right after the other and be done with it, it will help reduce tubing. I would try to get the rad at the top of the case if possible.

[HammerSandwich]

Do you know about Silent PC Review? A must for anyone interested in quiet computers.

You have a lot of fan there and should consider some sort of fan controller.

Don't use 90s on the pump intakes.

[JamesAvery22]

Originally Posted by Arcturius

Also, won't the 15K drives void your efforts at quieting the machine down? I've got 2 IBM 36Z15s and a Seagate Cheetah 15K.3, and they are far from quiet...

My 15k.3s are quieter than my WD800JB... My ibms were loud though...

And divardio,
What 15k drives do you have? Unless it happens to be those 15k.3s you better be cooling them some how. I still wont run my 15k.3s without some breeze over them.

[divardio]

Originally Posted by JamesAvery22

My 15k.3s are quieter than my WD800JB... My ibms were loud though...

And divardio,
What 15k drives do you have? Unless it happens to be those 15k.3s you better be cooling them some how. I still wont run my 15k.3s without some breeze over them.

They're Maxtor Atlas U360's, will they be ok?

[divardio]

I'll do without the 90's on the pumps, thanks HammerSandwich.
Also I don't think fan noise will be a prob? They're low CFM.

Just a quick question,

Do you guys think my system is geared for high flow?
And would I benifit from higher PSI instead (Pumps pumping together with Y connectors)?
Maybe I should be using Y connectors?

Does anyone have first hand experience using 3/8" / 2 block / 2 pump systems or similar?

[Arcturius]

Originally Posted by divardio

I'll do without the 90's on the pumps, thanks HammerSandwich.
Also I don't think fan noise will be a prob? They're low CFM.

Just a quick question,

Do you guys think my system is geared for high flow?
And would I benifit from higher PSI instead (Pumps pumping together with Y connectors)?
Maybe I should be using Y connectors?

Does anyone have first hand experience using 3/8" / 2 block / 2 pump systems or similar?

The 'y' connectors would put your pumps in parallel, and allow for theoretically higher flow (assuming the pumps can generate enough pressure to allow for that increase).
Putting the pumps in series will increase the system's pressure capability to overcome restrictions in your loop and allow them to better approach their theoretical maximum flowrate.

[JamesAvery22]

Originally Posted by divardio

They're Maxtor Atlas U360's, will they be ok?

Sorry for the late reply but Id say you might be...

http://storagereview.com/php/benchmark/bench_sort.php

Go to Net Drive Temp my X15-36LP's supposidly run at 32c above ambient on avg and the Maxtor Atlas 15ks (thats what you have right?) run at 30c above ambient. My x15-36lps needed some good air flow. Id definitely have a fan on them. If you dont Im sure theyd get pretty hot.