Doing it right the first time

[cling]

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

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 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.

[Brians256]

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.

[cling]

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).

[HammerSandwich]

Originally Posted by cling

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).

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.

[cling]

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?

[cling]

Update: Picked up a 8800 gtx.

[muffy]

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