Liquid cooling for a 6950x & dual 1080s?

[waterjug]

Building a new rig, going high budget this time...going to have an i7 6950x, and a couple 1080s in it. I'm assuming I'm going to have to use 3 separate loops...or could I get away with one for the 1080s do you think? Never done a liquid cooling system before either, so recommendations on what to use, at least for the GPUs would be great...was thinking of using Corsair stuff, I like their other products I've used, not sure if they're good in the liquid cooling space or not though

 

[StefanR5R]

IMO there is no need to have separate loops. Radiator surface is about the only concern.

I currently have one mildly overclocked 6950X and one reference-design 1080 together on one 360 radiator. This is sufficient to cool them, but not sufficient to cool them quietly with slow fans if both are under load.

In this small loop, the pump runs on its minimum speed which is more than sufficient. I suspect the pump at slowest speed would even suffice if another GPU and radiator were added.

 

[Valantar]

From what I've read and heard around the Internet, a single loop should be more than sufficient. If anything, two loops at the most. But this should really not be necessary. 120mm radiator area per heat source seems to be considered a minimum, but for a setup like yours, if you want something resembling silence, I'd say 4-5x 120mm (e.g. a 240mm + a 360mm) or 3-4x 140mm. A single, reasonably powerful pump will do fine as long as both the rads and the water blocks are low resistance.

Corsair only makes AIO water cooling kits, and you're talking about a custom loop. Corsair doesn't make parts for those. If you go the AIO route, you need three kits, and it will give you a whole bunch of sources for noise and vibration that aren't necessary. Also, mounting three radiators will most likely be a challenge. AIOs on GPUs are a mediocre solution at best.