** Water cooling System Upgrade - Sub zero here I come **

New water cooling system

Once again it is update time, just a quick hint to show you the changes that are taking place



I got a nice nVidia GTX560 back in March, I've been waiting ever since for the 560 waterblocks to be released.

At last my long planned water cooling system update is happening

Here is a hint of what is to come .....

A quality dual bay reservoir imported from the USA:







A quad 120mm rad for the loop



Bits and pieces



Shiny new waterblocks for the graphics card and RAM







Fittings



The rad getting a respray









I shall get round to posting the new pics of the finished system, needless to say things are running at late 20C to early 30C temperatures at idle

 

Awesome, Quad Rad

I nearly bought a 560TI too! But couldnt justify the spend at the moment as im saving up for a new steering wheel and pedal set.

Whats the big circle thing coming out of the reservoir?

 

The pump goes in there A nice way of hiding / incorporating it in the loop.

 

Ha moddin.net ... eehh by gum those were the days

As for cost you don't want to know, lest I say not far off a pair of VR6 Schrick 268 cams

Anyway onto the build ....

GTX560 stripped



With block



Southbridge stripped



mit wasser block



RAM block in the house





Realigned Swiftech Apogee XT Extreme Rev.2



Putting it together ....





Reservoir in action





Almost all together ...



Final pics of the rad setup and the system on the way ....

 

Strewth!

That's insane

 

Awesome.

So, I'm under the impression that third-party water-cooled heatsinks are available for quite a range of GPUs / MBs etc. that fit onto the footprints of the original fan-cooled units.

 

out of interest, what temps does this pc run at as std (air cooled) and when water cooled?

 

I know a guy from a large computer company who represented the UK in the OC challenge earlier in the year. Ok they came pretty much last because of a really bad chip they had and they had trouble getting through customs with liquid nitrogen

Trev, Yes. There is a custom waterblock for most GPU's etc. All mount onto the same fixings as the fan cooler.

 

All temps for a stock system (non OC)

Air Cooling:

• CPU idle = 45C-50C
• GPU idle = 42C-45C
• CPU load= 60C-70C
• GPU load= 85C-90C

Water Cooling:

• CPU idle = 28C-32C
• GPU idle = 28C-30C
• CPU load= 45C-50C
• GPU load= 45C-50C

That's 40C less on the Gfx card alone. Plus I've not optimised the flow yet. I might change the CPU block as it is too restrictive. So cooling performance will get better. I reckon I can perhaps keep the card at 40C under load with a better flow rate through the block and the CPU too.

Standard Setup (idle) ....



Opening up the taps and overclocking (idle) ...



Seems the CPU does not want to go over 3.8Ghz Mind you this is an OC with no voltage adjustments. I've found a surprising amount of headroom for overclocking in the RAM. Got it up to 1700Mhz and counting with some lax timings But that's what you pay good money for. I'll tighten up the timings and see what I can squeeze out of them.

 

Ok, time for some final pics of the setup

Before I started the upgrade I'd ripped the old water cooling setup out and reverted to air cooling for 1-2 months (oh the shame stock coolers and no mods )



Afterwards



The quad rad properly setup



I've got 6x120mm fans on it at the moment. They're divided into two sets via the Cooldrive 6 fan controller, hence I can have just three running at a minimum. I think I might change this into 3 groups.



Altogether at last







Let the gaming begin

So lessons learned ? Some. I was aiming for full 45 degree compression fittings throughout to eliminate the pipe bends and make it look stunning. But regardless of which type of fitting they severely restricted the flow. So for a 1/2" ID fitting they were in fact 3/8" ID

I must say a big thanks to the http://www.thewatercoolingshop.co.uk/ , he helped me out when I needed some advice on fittings. The only ever computer shop to phone me and ask what help can be provided, excellent service

As for upgrades, well I can somehow feel my current 32" HDTV making its way upstairs Plus I think I'll be changing the CPU block as I'm unhappy with it.

 

When i first saw the rad i really didnt think it was that big
6 of those fans outside the case must make some noise too!

Looks great, Waiting for BF3?

 

Opps double post thank you Google Chrome

 

Well I finally stripped the system down again (another 4 hours). Drained the system, flushed all the water blocks and the rad to get rid of that Fesser coolant, horrible stuff, look at what it did to my CPU block



It clogged up the whole block hence no flow through it. N.B.: do NOT buy Fesser One cooling fluid !!

Anyway I stripped out the parallel loop and have moved to a serial loop to eliminate pressure drop. So goodbye to the 3/8"ID tubing and 1/2" tubing throughout now
Also I've added in some 45 degree elbows to help with tube tension and the aesthetics are better too







Excellent, due to better flow and clear / clean water blocks I now have much better temperatures, on average:


Idle :

• CPU 28-32C
• GPU 28C

Load:

• CPU 42-44C
• GPU 42C

At idle:



Still got a little tinkering to do. Some more pipework changes and sort the side window of the case out. I'm struggling to get the GPU over 42C under load that's about a 50C degree drop in temps vs. the stock cooler

 

Needs SSD

 

I have done for the last 6 years (well G11), I thought I'd go for a more environmentally friendly approach and use something non-toxic, obviously that didn't work <dowh>. Currently using some de-ionised water, but will switch to a proper cooling fluid soon. The funny thing is even using G11 it left jellylike deposits around the waterblock cores after prolonged use (~2 years)

Already in there, see Page 2

 

Oh yeah! Cant see it in the pic above, is it tucked down the side or something?

edit - ignore me, was thinking the drive was the 1TB Samsung, but can now see it's your SSD in a 3.5" bracket.