Water cooling i7

Associate
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i would like to join the water cooling adventure but i am really a nOOd on this..

on a post before i tried 2 OC my cpu to pass 3.8 but heat was giving me problems so now i will try to approach it differently.

i would like to cool my cpu and gfx card...i have done some research around but coz i am new to this and where i live isn't common practice to find WC items i still need some help putting together a good WC setup.

i will be visiting UK soon to be exactly i will be going to Bolton...so it will be easier for me to get all the parts when i get there in few days time.

i would prefer a single loop if possible my budged can get around £400 maybe more:)

thanks for your time reading this and for your help.
 
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Most people get 3.6 -4.0ghz with a decent air cooler on i7.

Water cooling is good if you want a quieter system or will place more than 1 component for better overlocking.

It does require some fiddling about with your pc to get optimal performance though.

What temps were you getting with your overclocked i7?
 
Soldato
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Do it!

I don't know of any places to buy such kit in Bolton, but then I've never seen watercooling things for sale on the highstreet anywhere. OcUK will deliver to pretty much anywhere, which is probably a better approach to take.

As a brief summary:
Put a waterblock on anything you want to water cool
Find space for a pump (they're small). and buy one with Laing written on it if possible
Find space for radiators. The more the better. This is the difficult part, and may involve losing optical bays, cutting holes in the top of the case etc.
Connect up with pipes
Leak test
Done

Picking which hardware is one of the more interesting parts to the process so I won't rob that from you. You can assume it'll all work together, as nearly everything uses the same size threads. 60mm thick radiators are better than 30mm thick, 38mm fans are better than 25mm, and it's best to space the fans away from the surface a bit using sheet metal, old dead fans with the hubs removed, or whatever else comes to mind. You only really need fans on one side of the radiator.

The only really difficult thing is placing radiators, as the pump is small and waterblocks are smaller than heatsinks. You want a 240mm or 120.2 radiator (same thing) for the cpu only, if adding the graphics card at least three fans worth of radiator. Three 120mm radiators is basically the same as a single triple, so don't worry about using multiple smaller ones. I've got three 120mm and one 240mm, just because thats all I can fit in my case.

There's a water cooled gallery on here somewhere which is well worth flicking through
 
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1) is your 5770 a reference card?

2) try changing the BIOS settings to CPU volts = 1.29, uncore to 1.25 and CPU PLL to 1.94 or 1.96 to see if you can OC it a bit more because you should be able to get 4GHz easy with that Heatsink and fans

3) It might be a good idea to get a new case to more easily do WC, this basket assumes you're using a reference 5770 although you will need some extra fans
84883261.png


edit: doesn't show up for me apparently so it consists of : XSPC DDC 18w Ultra pump/reservoir, CM 690 II advanced, EK Supreme HF clear top, EK 5770 block, 2x Swiftech MCR220's, 4m of 7/16" Masterkleer clear tubing, and 10 Bitspower Stubby 1/2" barbs. You'll also need some worm/jubilee clips along with some fans like I previously said.
 
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Soldato
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MCR220 is a 30mm thick radiator, which is best avoided unless you absolutely cant fit a better one or you really like 3000rpm 38mm fans. Clear topped waterblocks are prone to cracking and leaking. That's pretty crude overclocking advice as well, though the point that it should be able to hit 4ghz on current cooling is valid.

"Reference card" means full cover waterblocks will fit, and tends to mean spending time staring at your card and photos from google trying to work out if the components are in the normal place. Or you can use a core only block and heatsinks on the ram, which is cheaper, higher performance, will fit your next graphics card as well, but doesn't look as nice.
 
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1) is your 5770 a reference card?

2) try changing the BIOS settings to CPU volts = 1.29, uncore to 1.25 and CPU PLL to 1.94 or 1.96 to see if you can OC it a bit more because you should be able to get 4GHz easy with that Heatsink and fans

3) It might be a good idea to get a new case to more easily do WC, this basket assumes you're using a reference 5770 although you will need some extra fans
84883261.png


edit: doesn't show up for me apparently so it consists of : XSPC DDC 18w Ultra pump/reservoir, CM 690 II advanced, EK Supreme HF clear top, EK 5770 block, 2x Swiftech MCR220's, 4m of 7/16" Masterkleer clear tubing, and 10 Bitspower Stubby 1/2" barbs. You'll also need some worm/jubilee clips along with some fans like I previously said.


1) Its Asus 5770 V2 if i remeber well its not a reference card..

2) I will try that..and see from there..

3) New case i will need 2 add more £££ that i dnt have @ the moment mate. :(
 
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1) Its Asus 5770 V2 if i remeber well its not a reference card..

2) I will try that..and see from there..

3) New case i will need 2 add more £££ that i dnt have @ the moment mate. :(

in the £400 budget I included the case

@JonJ678, he could use RX240's if he wanted to for a bit more and OCUK don't sell GPU only blocks which he would have to get however they may be cheaper although he would also need to get some ram sinks and thermal pads
 
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in the £400 budget I included the case

@JonJ678, he could use RX240's if he wanted to for a bit more and OCUK don't sell GPU only blocks which he would have to get however they may be cheaper although he would also need to get some ram sinks and thermal pads

i was thinking something like this setup http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17558270 i dnt mean to go at the extremy and cut my casing coz i wnt knw how to do that maybe in the near future i could try when i get the tools..i tried google but @ times the items used in those setups can not be find...
 
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i was thinking something like this setup http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17558270 i dnt mean to go at the extremy and cut my casing coz i wnt knw how to do that maybe in the near future i could try when i get the tools..i tried google but @ times the items used in those setups can not be find...

the CM 690 II has space for 2 rads, one definitely internal and the other requires no cutting if it is internal or external.

and I've been running 1.96 for a few weeks now and nothing's gone wrong
 
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