PC Water Cooling

[Epic]

Iv got a Coolermaster Stacker Case with a Q6600 Quad Core in

Now its as noisy as can be in all fairness, all with brand new gear in etc and i just want to move onto water cooling and enjoy my power in silence as much as i can!

Anyone here got water cooling?

I want to go custom but unsure on what bits to use. had a look on overclocker uk and they got some Alphacool stuff and that all seems to be 8mm. Id like to run cooling to my CPU and 8800GT and my NB, not totaly sure on how to split the pipes etc to get all this in.. any suggestion??

[carl0s]

I think you just need to disconnect some case fans. The Q6600 runs relatively cool anyway and as long as you have the fan speed throttling enabled in the BIOS, it'll be quiet. Mine is. I'm sure a water pump would be louder than my Q6600 with the stock fan. Or do you have a non-Intel fan?

[DamanC]

If you are new to watercooling then may I sugest you start with a kit. :)

If you spend a litte, air cooling can be relitively quiet too. If you have a rev 1 8800GT then it will be that making all the noise. Install Rivatuner, knock the fan speed down and you will see what I mean.

[Epic]

Only have to case fans. and yeah i got an after market fan on the CPU. have played with Rivatune and turned the GPU fan up b4. god it was like a rocket trying to take off at 100%! lol Thats why i think having one fan for the rad and the pump been the only noise it would be alot better than my after market CPU fan and the 8800GT's fan

[DamanC]

Out of interest, what fans do you current have, inc size?

A couple of noctua 120mm and a decent CPU cooler will be just as audioable as a water cooling system and alot cheaper. You will get away will a passive acellero s1 on the GPU too.

If you really want quiet and are not bothered about the cooling properties too much then the zalman passive WC kit is what I would recomend. Basically, silent :)

[Daston]

as for watercooling you will need

Radiator, Resivour, Water Pump, CPU Block and Gfx card block.

As for plumbing in it will go Pump -> CPU -> Gfx Card -> Rad -> Resivour -> Pump

I have gone back to air cooling as I found watercooling to be a pain in the arse when you come to change hardware or if the pump fails.

[Epic]

When i built my system i looked into every part bit my bit, reviews etc etc. was recommended the Corsair for performance and silence. and thats really good!

Iv got a coolermaster sphere as shown in the pics. and 3 120mm fans, one in the front that come with the case, one top and one rear.

After looking at the CM Sphere people said it was pritty quite.. so maybe its just the fact i got to many fans going

So all in, thats 6fans running in the system
1. CPU
2. PSU
3. GPU
4. Front
5. Rear
6. Roof

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d81/Epicadmin/Image040.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d81/Epicadmin/Image041.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d81/Epicadmin/Image042.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d81/Epicadmin/Image043.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d81/Epicadmin/Image044.jpg

Maybe i am just been fussy about it. its not "that" loud, but i could do with it been abit quiter

[Epic]

System Spec
eVGA 780i
eVGA 8800GT 512mb
Intel Quad Q6600 OEM
Artic Silver Paste
OCZ 2GB 1066Mhz
Corsair HX620 Modular PSU
Hitachi 160GB SATA 7200RPM (OS Drive)
Hitachi 320GB IDE 7200RPM (Storage/Gaming install Drive)
LG DVD-RW DL SATA
Coolermaster Stacker 831
CoolerMaster Sphere CPU Cooler
3x 120mm Case Fans

[Matt H]

how about buying one of those beer fridges and sticking the whole lot in there ;)

Then you can enjoy a cool PC and a cool beer at the same time ;)

[DamanC]

80mm fans

Thats your problem. They "look" stock to me, might be worth investing in them or even better chopping them out for some 120mm fans, even if that means a new case. Another thing is the mesh pannels are no good at keeping the noise in.

Who makes your PSU? whats the db rating on it? Alot of PSU's are noisey especially the cheap ones.

[Epic]

Its a Corsair PSU, and i edited my post. i think they are 120mm.. The corsiars really quite to be honist. highly recommended. and yeah. the panals on the case have no sound proofing what so ever!

The front fan is stock the other 2 i think i had anyways. i might get 3 coolermaster 120mm fans and see if there any quiter. but i dont want to be waisting my money

[DamanC]

but i dont want to be waisting my money

Im sorry to say, you done that when you brought a case with mesh sides. If you are going to water cool your going to need at least 1 fan to keep the hard drives/motherboard cool etc anyway. Combine it with the PSU and ran fan you are still left with 3.

I would be looking at replacing the case fans for some Noctua's.

See the grey metalic cage/guard behind both the front and rear fans? Cut it out, will make a massive difference :)

[DamanC]

Is that another fan sitting above your GPU?

[Epic]

Would you recommend the 800rmp or 1200rmp fan
http://www.thecoolingshop.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=Noctua&x=0&y=0
I got the case mainly on the way it looks and the size. Had good reviews

[Epic]

Is that another fan sitting above your GPU?

EDIT!!!

Sorry. yes thats the NB fan, i totaly forgot about that. so 7 fans!

[DamanC]

Id get two 1200rpm, one for the front and one for the rear. Make sure you make those grills vanish thou :)

If you are not overclocking, ditch the top fan, Replace the cooling solution on the 8800GT (acellero s1) will work passively with good airflow. Check to make sure the CPU cooler is throttled (PWM) so that its not flat out all the time.

Finally if you really not sure, get a fan controller, it will allow you to knock them down a few notch's should you need to do so.

Are those black grill blanking plates at the front removeable? you should get shot of them if they obstruct the fan

Good luck, its a PITA making PC's quieter. Amusingly enough I have a clients PC in that is having the silent treatment tonight :)

[DamanC]

Forgot to add - can you tell how loud the NB fan is? Does the CPU cooler flow air to it?