Watercooling Questions

[Hexus0]

Hey everyone, well the heat in Cali is really hot, and I find that a good excuse to go watercooling. I'll be purchasing everything by the end of the week hopefully, but I really think I should double check over everything.

First off everything will be going in my Lian-Li PC-65B, which is modded with a 120MM blowhole at the top and I'm going to be putting an Antec Tricool I want to cool my CPU, GPU, and NB, which I'm hoping isn't too much.
I was researching some parts, and someone from another post recomended these parts so I think I will be going with them.

CPU Block and Pump
Danger Den Copper TDX and DD12V-D5 combo - $108.75
GPU Block
Low Profile Maze4 GPU Block - $46.45
Radiator
-Black Ice Pro II $35.99
-Panaflo 120MM M1A
Tubing
Clearflex Tubing 1/2" 10 x $1.25 = $12.50

I was thinking of mounting a resoviour(sp?) outside of my case, but I think I'd rather have one that goes in the 1/4"(I think?) drives, so I'm hoping if someone can recomend me a good resoviour (not too expensive) that could be mounted in my case. I'm trying to keep the parts at ~$250 USD.

Now to my questions....
How/Where would I mount my radiator? I was thinking that I could mount it at the top of my case and the 120MM fan at the top could help with airflow but I'm not sure if it would fit? I've seen the EVO 360's and they have a kit to mount the radiator outside on the top or side of the case, and I'm thinking that might be a little easier, because all I would have to do is drill 2 holes at the top?

Whats the best way I could set up the loop, like what to cool first then what last. My video card runs the hottest out of everything, and are there any things that I should keep in mind or know when I put everything together?

How hard is it to setup a watercooling system? I've seen the video on how to install the Maze4 and TDX and it doesn't seem to hard, but I'm also worried about leaks and things like that, what can I do to prevent that type of stuff?

What is a good way to test the loop/watercooling system for leaks, kinks, and other things that could affect my system? Should i test it like once outside the case, once inside the case, and then actually run everything?

What type of temps will I be seeing with the cooling system I chose and the specs I have. I've seen people who have gotten there GPU and CPU down to like 30C, which I'm hoping I can achieve.

As you can see I'm a noob, and I really need some help with most of this stuff. Any help or info is appreciated. Thanks...

Edit: I think I'm going to either mount the radiator to the side of the case, or maybe along with the blow whole at the top of my case. I'm still deciding on how everything would be worked out.

And I think I will be going with this resovior for now.

 

[NINaudio]

That would be a good cooling setup. It will end up being very similar to mine (see sig), with the exception of the pump and radiator. Load temps for me are cpu: 43-44, gpu: 49-50. It's hard to say what yours will end up being, but they should be good.

You should just get that same reservoir from dangerden, you'll save on shipping that way. I'm not too familiar with the layout of your case, but most people usually end up modding their cases to fit a 120 x 2 radiator. If you don't want to do that much modding you could mount it outside, but personally, I prefer to keep it all internal.

Loop order has very little effect on overall temps reached. You might see at most a 1 C variation. Most people tend to run the loop like this res->pump->cpu->gpu->chipset->rad->res.

Setting it up isn't all that hard. The most time consuming task is probably planning how to route your tubing so that it does not hinder case flow much. It is recommended that you test the system outside of the case for 24 hours to check for leaks and then install it into the case.

 

[Hexus0]

Well I decided I'm going to stick with the Black Ice Pro II (I'm getting it from dangerden anyways). My Lian-Li was modded to fit a 120MM fan at the top, so I'm thinking I'll mount one of the fans from the radiator to that, so I'll have 1 fan just cooling the radiator, and the other one cooling it, and taking the hot air out of the case.

 

[NINaudio]

You'd be better off getting the Black Ice Xtreme and using a push/pull fan configuration on it if you only plan on using one fan to take the air out of the case.

 

[HardWarrior]

Bear in mind, that since the BIX has a much denser fin structure, you're going to need a more powerful fan for sterling performance. The BIP actually performs better with the same fan than a BIX would. Also, push-pull does yield better performance in general, but that's offset a bit by the fact that this configuration makes it much harder to keep your rad clean.