Config Questions
 

Im looking to build my first watercooling rig and I have a couple of questions.

First of all the case is going to be hand made (Im a carpenter) and will have a seperate rad-box containing the pumps, res's, and radiators. Will be cooling an FX-55 on one loop and a 6800 Ultra on the other. I will be overclocking neither and am looking for low temps in this hotbox of a house I live in (Costa del Sol) with no AC. My question is mainly on the pumps and which is the better choice for the setup Im planning. Pumps are either the Swiftech 655 or the CSP MAG.

CPU Cooling loop

1 x PA160 Thermochill
1 x Swiftech 6002-64
1 x 655 or CSP Mag

GPU Cooling loop

1 x PA160 Thermochill
1 x DDen Maze 4 or Silverprop Fusion HL
1 x 655 or CSP Mag

So which is the better choice for the pumps?Money is not an issue, reliability, performance and acceptable noise is.

Also how does the Silverprop HL compare with the Dden? Will it work on a 6800Ultra (I cant find any worthwhile information on the thing)

Thanks in advance.

** Fans are San-Ace 38mm's I picked up awhile back, forgot to mention.

PQ graph for the CSP-MAG?
PQ graph for the 6002?
PQ graph for the PA160?

CW charts for them?

Since your using a single pass rad and a low flow managable block, I'd go with the CSP MAG as they have such a tiny heat dump and good enough specs for the 6002 and the maze 4.

I realize that you are asking about pumps, but it looks as though you are planning to use two radiators.
If so, be sure not to put them in "air series" (i.e. don't set them up so that the air outflowing from one rad becomes the intake air for the other). For a full explanation take a look at Cathar's comments in this thread .
The PA160s (although I've never laid hands on one) are optimized to work with fairly quiet fans. Your SanAce 38s might be overkill for the PA160 - will work fine but might make more noise than you'd like. Any idea how well they work with PWM controllers?

Also - don't forget that, for an external rad-box, using AC power might actually be more convenient than DC - and If I lived in a climate like yours without A/C, I'd be thinking of building a radbox I could hang out the window and leave most of the heat and noise outside. Not that CPU/GPU and pumps generate that much heat (major culprit would be the CRT unless you're got a LCD) but no point in making your "hotbox" even hotter...

Its a triple chambered design with the radiators occupying one chamber each and the pumps/res/powersupply occupying the third. with the only thing entering the box is the 4 hoses to the blocks. Havent really decided on the connection there yet. On the sound issue, the Rad box and the Comp Box are both Triple layered ( 2 x MDF with high density foam in between, with both sides covered in Aluminum.) Yea, overkill but this is the 5th case Ive built from scratch and I think I finally have the fan sound thing licked. If not Ill have a beast, but the sledgehammer is nearby if it gets too loud.

Yea its hot here, not as hot as Arizona but damn near. The back room where I have the computer is not that bad, and there "Usually" is a nice breeze off the Med, but the days that there are not it can get pretty miserable.

Yea my main concern is about the pumps, and whether or not they are powerful enough, hence my original question, as Im a carpenter not an engineer and to be truthful I just dont understand half of what gets said in here about curves and such. Thanks for the thoughts on things.

Sounds great. Do you have pictures posted anyplace?

No none actually just starting on it, had to go out and buy a few more tools, sold all of mine when I moved to Spain. Ill post some when it gets recognizable as something more than a pile of material.

Right now Im trying to get in all the components, as the dollar/euro conversion is getting worse and Im importing about half of my stuff. Still havent decided on the pumps.

Ok, bought 2 Swiftech 655 pumps and they should be here in a couple of days.

Im going to have to order the Rads shortly so I have to come to a decision.

So here is the final setup minus the rads...Everything 1/2 with the San Ace 38's

CPU

655 w/ 6002-64

GPU
655 w/ Dden Maze4

I was thinking on the PA160s, Mounting them in the center of the tunnels in my radbox. Fan 1 pulling in fresh air, pushing it towards the rad, Fan 2 mounted on the rad, pulling air from the front, Fan 3 pulling air out of the tunnel. Equal distance between all three fans. Should be plenty of air for the rads with a certain amount of redundancy at the same time.

Yea, I know Im going overboard here but humor me. This is my build for a couple of years and Im just having fun with it.

I'm unclear how you're going to arrange things with three fans and avoid air-series...
I think a sketch might help get you some more feedback - it'd certainly help me.

I'd like to see how the external rad box turns out. That sounds like it's going to be pretty big, especially if you're running the radiators in parallel (more frontal surface area = bigger box, one would assume) with double-walled construction. I'm very interested to see how it turns out as far as your noise levels. If you can somehow post a drawing of your design, we can help you fine tune it for the best cooling/sound capabilities, if you'd like.

Im going to start snapping pictures within the week. Yea its going to be a monstrosity (My wife has already christened it "The Beast" lol) If the noise levels are no good, I always have the sledgehammer to fall back on. Framing and Bottom are done on the case.

Case- 23" Cubed

Rad Box- 15" High x 23" Square

The Case will sit on top of the rad box, and the whole thing will sit on a heavy duty base with industrial castors.

The question is whether or not I will need a crane to lift the case 15 inches to the top of the rad box. lol

So how's the box coming? Any pictures yet? I'm thinking of building a double-walled box in the future to reduce pump and fan noise, so I'm very interested in how well your project turns out.

Still waiting on my PA160s, Res's, They got shipped yesterday, the Power supply, should be here in a few days, have the frame built and the bottom panel in, but I got side tracked building a new desk, its completed now so back to the box, Ill post pictures tommorow.