• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Water Cooling Question(Small form-factor PC)

blTb

New Member
Joined
May 28, 2008
Messages
252 (0.04/day)
Location
Littleton,CO
System Name ROG Machine
Processor Intel Core i7 920
Motherboard ASUS Rampage II GENE
Cooling Noctuna NH-U12P
Memory 3x2GB OCZ Platinum(1600@7-7-7-21)
Video Card(s) NVidia GTX275OC
Storage 500GB WDC Black
Display(s) Acer X233Hbid Black 23" (1080p, 5ms)
Case Antec Mini P180
Audio Device(s) SupremeFX X-Fi(onboard)
Power Supply Coolmax 950W Modular PSU
Software Windows Vista Ultimate x64
Benchmark Scores 3DMark '06: - 15425 Marks (0% OC) - 20340 Marks (CPU:3.7GHz; VGA: 700/1200/1500) ...More coming
Ok. In a few days i'm geting some parts for my new rig.
I'm trying to build Core i7 machine in a small PC case.
My new config looks pretty much like this:
- Antec Mini P180
- 950W modular PSU
- Asus Rampage II GENE(uATX)
- Core i7 920 ++
- 3x2GB DDR3 1600
- 2x500GB SATA-II HDD's in RAID-0
- NVidia GTX280
- BD-Writer

The question is:
Is there any good air-cooler, that will fit this case? If not - what is the cheapest way to build a basic water cooling system, that can handle Core i7 CPU with a little OC?
 
Joined
Oct 21, 2008
Messages
3,459 (0.61/day)
Location
95350
Processor ???
Motherboard 760
Cooling HK
Memory 3x1gb
Video Card(s) 285 Classified / EVGA 480
Display(s) 22" Acer /42" Toshiba
Case Stacker
Power Supply Toughpower 1000w / Coolmaster 650w
Software All of them
It depends some i7 get really hot because they need some voltage it all depends on the chip you get i would just wait till its built then see how much volts you need

how much space do you have for a cpu cooler?
 

DaMulta

My stars went supernova
Joined
Aug 3, 2006
Messages
16,168 (2.51/day)
Location
Oklahoma T-Town
System Name Work in progress
Processor AMD 955---4Ghz
Motherboard MSi GD70
Cooling OcZ Phase/water
Memory Crucial2GB kit (1GBx2), Ballistix 240-pin DIMM, DDR3 PC3-16000
Video Card(s) CrossfireX 2 X HD 4890 1GB OCed to 1000Mhz
Storage SSD 64GB
Display(s) Envision 24'' 1920x1200
Case Using the desk ATM
Audio Device(s) Sucky onboard for now :(
Power Supply 1000W TruePower Quattro
Joined
Oct 21, 2008
Messages
3,459 (0.61/day)
Location
95350
Processor ???
Motherboard 760
Cooling HK
Memory 3x1gb
Video Card(s) 285 Classified / EVGA 480
Display(s) 22" Acer /42" Toshiba
Case Stacker
Power Supply Toughpower 1000w / Coolmaster 650w
Software All of them

Binge

Overclocking Surrealism
Joined
Sep 15, 2008
Messages
6,979 (1.23/day)
Location
PA, USA
System Name Molly
Processor i5 3570K
Motherboard Z77 ASRock
Cooling CooliT Eco
Memory 2x4GB Mushkin Redline Ridgebacks
Video Card(s) Gigabyte GTX 680
Case Coolermaster CM690 II Advanced
Power Supply Corsair HX-1000

DaMulta

My stars went supernova
Joined
Aug 3, 2006
Messages
16,168 (2.51/day)
Location
Oklahoma T-Town
System Name Work in progress
Processor AMD 955---4Ghz
Motherboard MSi GD70
Cooling OcZ Phase/water
Memory Crucial2GB kit (1GBx2), Ballistix 240-pin DIMM, DDR3 PC3-16000
Video Card(s) CrossfireX 2 X HD 4890 1GB OCed to 1000Mhz
Storage SSD 64GB
Display(s) Envision 24'' 1920x1200
Case Using the desk ATM
Audio Device(s) Sucky onboard for now :(
Power Supply 1000W TruePower Quattro
Naw that black ice would handle the load, and then some.
 

Waterlogged

New Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2009
Messages
35 (0.01/day)
Location
The UDE of Pitatopia

The pump is not bad and I'd swap the acrylic top for a brass top on the TDX, but everything else...well, I wouldn't touch it. It's best if you don't mix aluminum and copper because of galvanic corrosion. You can slow the development of GC with special fluids(read: expensive) and frequent coolant changes (every 3-4 months) but in the end, your still taking an unneeded risk. You can get the same fillport in brass or Delrin. As for the acrylic T, many of those "special fluids" I mentioned have alcohol in them which doesn't play nice with acrylic at all, i dries it out and causes it to crack. I've also seen some just split putting the fittings in them. You can also get the T in Delrin as well.

I'm not a big fan of HWL (even though I still recommend their BIP and BIX series), they really let me down when they released the GTS line. :nutkick: The GTX does have less pressure drop and fewer FPI than the GTS line but there are better rads out there that do the same job or better for far less noise. Take the XSPC RX series for example, they match the performance of the Thermochill PA series and cost less. They also don't require the stronger fans that the GTX do as they only have 8 FPI compared to 20 for the GTX.
 

Waterlogged

New Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2009
Messages
35 (0.01/day)
Location
The UDE of Pitatopia
Hate to double post but I had to leave in a rush for work and forgot to mention some things.

I don't have an i7 but from everything I've seen over @ XS, there haven't been to many i7's that have run "cool". They've all been pretty "warm" (very loose usage of the word;)), I doubt that a single 120 rad would give acceptable temps. It would probably be best to at least consider a 2 x 120 rad as a "minimum requirement". If your really strapped for room, Swiftech has stackable MCR120's on their site that should give a little less cooling power than a standard 2x 120. Another thing to consider is that smaller cases already have worse air flow than the bigger "closet cases" (as I call them) so this also has to be factored into rad selection for acceptable temps.
 

DaMulta

My stars went supernova
Joined
Aug 3, 2006
Messages
16,168 (2.51/day)
Location
Oklahoma T-Town
System Name Work in progress
Processor AMD 955---4Ghz
Motherboard MSi GD70
Cooling OcZ Phase/water
Memory Crucial2GB kit (1GBx2), Ballistix 240-pin DIMM, DDR3 PC3-16000
Video Card(s) CrossfireX 2 X HD 4890 1GB OCed to 1000Mhz
Storage SSD 64GB
Display(s) Envision 24'' 1920x1200
Case Using the desk ATM
Audio Device(s) Sucky onboard for now :(
Power Supply 1000W TruePower Quattro
Yea aluminum and copper don't mix well at all. Even tho I have done that, and ran it for at least 7 months with no issues....I have had very good luck with Black Ice, but I do run my fans at a high speed. With the 240 I have ran two 180 Tecs on them and it cooled the water just fine. I do have a new 120 Black Ice I have yet to use, but it has been painted. I plan on using it on my next build on a CPU with the 240 on the video cards. Reviews state that it can rip out as much as 900watts(the 240 black ice)
 

Waterlogged

New Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2009
Messages
35 (0.01/day)
Location
The UDE of Pitatopia
DaMulta, got any links for those reviews? Google seems to be failing me ATM.
 

DaMulta

My stars went supernova
Joined
Aug 3, 2006
Messages
16,168 (2.51/day)
Location
Oklahoma T-Town
System Name Work in progress
Processor AMD 955---4Ghz
Motherboard MSi GD70
Cooling OcZ Phase/water
Memory Crucial2GB kit (1GBx2), Ballistix 240-pin DIMM, DDR3 PC3-16000
Video Card(s) CrossfireX 2 X HD 4890 1GB OCed to 1000Mhz
Storage SSD 64GB
Display(s) Envision 24'' 1920x1200
Case Using the desk ATM
Audio Device(s) Sucky onboard for now :(
Power Supply 1000W TruePower Quattro
Google seems to be failing me tonight also..(long ago did I read that)..I guess we could always email them.
 

DaMulta

My stars went supernova
Joined
Aug 3, 2006
Messages
16,168 (2.51/day)
Location
Oklahoma T-Town
System Name Work in progress
Processor AMD 955---4Ghz
Motherboard MSi GD70
Cooling OcZ Phase/water
Memory Crucial2GB kit (1GBx2), Ballistix 240-pin DIMM, DDR3 PC3-16000
Video Card(s) CrossfireX 2 X HD 4890 1GB OCed to 1000Mhz
Storage SSD 64GB
Display(s) Envision 24'' 1920x1200
Case Using the desk ATM
Audio Device(s) Sucky onboard for now :(
Power Supply 1000W TruePower Quattro
Top