Doing it right the first time
 

Well, I have peaked my air-cooling career. I have been promoted to water-cooling representative position :D

First things, first: I never built a water cooling PC before. However, I am young and keen, willing to do research. In my research I believe I acquired a good picture of what works and what doesn't. Now here is the system I will be putting together:
DFI UT Ultra-D 939
Opteron 170 CCBBE 0610
2 GB DDR-500 by mushkin
Raptor HD
600W Xstream OCZ Powersupply (Don't plan running SLI anytime soon)

-> No particular graphics card in mind, probably will grab something cheap, until the R600 release or 8800 prices go down.

This is a solid setup with good room for overclocking, based on my research.

Now the cooling:
1) I bought a Fuzion cpu block from D-tek, as I seen very good results from it.
2) I bought an Iwaki MD-20RZG-2 pump, and from my understanding this is the Japanese low noise model, with optimum power to heat dump ratio.
3) For my tubing I selected the 7/16 Kleer, with 5/8 OD. I believe this is just as good as the 1/2". Can someone give me an opinion on this decision, given the pump?
4) Now, for the radiator, I was going to dish out 100+ bucks for the Thermochill 120.3, but it simply did not scream extreme. So I went out and got me a 2-308 120.2x2 :p heater core. It is not as huge as the 2-192, but it is pretty dang big. Do you guys like this idea, given above pump, tubing, etc?

Now where am I going to house this? Well, I will be designing it and building it from scratch, using polycarbonate, see through design. I have a box of 30 Delta 109 CFM fans, so I will make sure that air-flow is optimal. I will mostlikely introduce a nice color scheme and avoid the stock black look. But that is later.

I have some pre-drawing board concerns.
1) One thing I did not research to great detail is the reservoir. It seems simple, right? In my opinion it can play a very important role (I used to build gas powered RC planes and tank position was cruicial in many ways). Issues like size and position interest me. I will most likely be doing pump>cpu>rad>res>pump loop, with possible addition of GPU block later. However, I am wondering if the pump>cpu>res>rad>pump would be a wiser idea? Do you get why? I am diluting the hot water from the CPU block, with cooler water in res, and then I am further cooling it in the rad. I never done any studies, but I am sure some WC-seniors can give me some pennies for thought. Next thing is the tank position. I am thinking straight above the pump. Seems intuitive. Is it optimal?
2) Fans....number, push/pull, mounting to rad...
I am thinkin 4 fans on a custom plastic shroud, 3/4" to 5/8'' from rad, pushing out. I think 8 would be overkill. This heater core is very nice, but I am wondering if I weill lose any performance by spraypainting it and is it wise? Also, I don't think these deltas will suffer if I paint them, even thought the blades will be slightly heavier. I wonder if mounting the rad on the bottom of the case (case lifted of the ground a bit) would be better than mounting it on the top or side?

3) Tubing and clamps. Most likely worm-drive. Standard, no?
4) Coolant. I have no clue of any good non-conducting coolants, and how well they perform against H2O...meh, not a big concern, H2O it is!

I think I thought it out well, but some details remain. I will do up some 3d drawings of the proposed case, and post it here at a later date, but now I must go study for my exams. To be honest without this forum, I would have been in some great darkness.

Re: Doing it right the first time
 

Well, with those components, you are likely to have a very well cooled but noisy system. I don't think you will actually need 109CFM fans, but maybe it will help your overclock.

Good luck! If nothing else, it should be a screamer.

Re: Doing it right the first time
 

Well, I think I will be running the fans at 7v, as there is still a typhoon of air, yet it is very silent (well in relative terms, as I used to run a 128 CFM delta for a really long time).

Re: Doing it right the first time
 

I'm with BrianS. This is an extreme amount of airflow for CPU cooling - well past the point of diminishing returns when considering noise. BTW, "very silent" is akin to "very dead." Either the system is silent, or it's not.

That said, I like your proposal except for the fans. But I am allergic to noise, so consider me biased there. Put the res before the pump so the pump's intake sees low restriction and no air. Otherwise the order won't matter significantly.

Re: Doing it right the first time
 

Yup, I agree. I used to run 2 of these big boys on a Scythe Ninja, and it was pretty loud. At 7V instead of 12, it is a good compromise as the fans seem to keep good pressure and CFM is still decent.
That is a good call on the res. Also, I think I will be running non-conductive fluid. I hear that is performs pretty good, and provides that piece of mind. Any favorites or cons, possibly?

Re: Doing it right the first time
 

Update: Picked up a 8800 gtx.

Re: Doing it right the first time
 

don’t run this rig on just water you might get away with it, you might not .. it's simply not worth the risk as additives are cheap..

i stuffed a system from galvanic corrosion