Wow.... Do you have dual radiators? What kind of case are you using? The problem with the custom build is that I'm slightly concerned about the case. I'm not sure whether I can fit a 4 fan rad into my proposed case even with modification.

 

What kind of case should I want to look for for something like that?

 

I went with CaseLabs. My particular model is STH10. I'll admit, it's one expensive case and I went a bit extreme but you don't have to. I have 3 of the 480 radiators. 2 at the top (one of the pictures have it) and 1 at the bottom. Each radiator has 4 of the e-loop noiseblocker fans rated at 800-2000 rpm but I undervolt them and run them around 500-600 rpm.

 

The thing with CaseLabs is, they make extremely high quality stuff. It's unbelievable. It's a family owned company that's been doing this for 30 years (I believe its 2 brothers) and they personally help you with any questions you have and customize your case the way you want.

 

That being said, you probably do not need such a massive case. They make cases that cost half of what I paid that will fit 1 large radiator easily, I did what I did because 1) I am going to go TRI SLI soon, 2) I wanted to have a full custom loop (mobo + GPU) so I needed the space for tubing, 3) I was so sick of dealing with tight spaces in my Antec 1200, I wanted to get the biggest case I could!

 

What I can tell you is though, aluminum is a must with these cases. The material is extremely high quality (Lian-Li also makes all aluminum cases) and it lasts such a long time and for lowering the total thermal footprint of the system, they also play a role.

 

This is not visible from these pictures but I also used Demiflex.com to custom order filters that attach to your case with magnets. My apartment has carpet floors and I have central A/C. So dust is everywhere and I think I made the right choice by getting filters. They work extremely well, they are very easy to clean, and inside of my case has very little dust (even with 13 fans running all the time), and I never had to clean it yet.

 

Mehmet, that's a sexy looking rig man. Very very cool

 

Thank you sir, I appreciate it, it wasn't easy to get my wife to agree to this though. Every time she sees it she says "this looks like a furniture!"

All in all, with the cooling out of consideration for the time being, the remaining looks fine? Assuming that I will still go for closed-loop when considering the case?

 

HD wise I will probably end up getting one of the OCZ Vector 256GB SSD as many recommended, partition it to have one for windows + PS + LR + SV etc., and the other for FSX. While have another seagate? for everything else?

Would something like this for a radiator be an overkill?

 

So the directly linked question is, does a bigger radiator necessarily mean better cooling? I assume there is a point that the radiator will do no good anymore when the rate of heat exchange is less than the rate of cooling?

Would something like this for a radiator be an overkill?

 

So the directly linked question is, does a bigger radiator necessarily mean better cooling? I assume there is a point that the radiator will do no good anymore when the rate of heat exchange is less than the rate of cooling?

 

The bigger the radiator surface is, the more it will cool. It's much better to buy more radiator than to buy more fans. But obviously the problem is real estate. Most people can barely fit a 360 radiator into their case let alone a 480, in that case they add another set of fans and use it in push and pull configuration. One thing to note with radiators is fins per inch, the lower the number, the faster fan you will need (and the cheaper the radiator will be).

But having said that, my assumption of "the rate of cooling is faster than the rate of heat exchange", would that be correct? Or rate of heat exchange will never really a bottleneck?

But having said that, my assumption of "the rate of cooling is faster than the rate of heat exchange", would that be correct? Or rate of heat exchange will never really a bottleneck?

 

The water will reach an equilibrium point (delta + ambient temp) and the rate of heat exchange greatly depends on fins per inch and the fans you use. That being said, think about a reverse exponential graph, after some point, the decrease in temperatures become very marginal. If you have the financial means and the real estate in your case, its always a better idea to have more radiator surface than to have fans. More radiator, more water, more water, lower delta, that's obviously assuming you are using the right radiators (lower fin per inch + high RPM fan OR higher fin per inch + low RPM fan with high static pressure).

 

I went crazy and even added temperature sensors into my radiators to see how much they cool. My board (ASUS RIVE) has 3 temperature sensors, so I'm using 2 of them, one for the IN of the 1st radiator and one for the OUT of the 3rd radiator. During idle, their temps are equal and is always same as ambient temperature. Under extreme load, IN becomes +9C ambient whereas OUT can go as low as +4C ambient or as high as +7C ambient depending on factors such as humidity and filter cleanness.

So here it is, one of the final decisions.

• MB: Asus Rampage MAXIMUM Gene V/Z77: - AU$248
  
• CPU: i7 3770K, going to de-lid it, need the HT for photo/video editing: - AU$335
  
• GFX: NVidia GTX580 - AU$0
  
• RAM: G.Skill Trident X DDR3 2400MHz CL9D v1.65 8GB (2 x 4) - AU$120 ~~ Purchased already
  
• HD: OCZ Vector 256GB SSD and one SATA (1TB) - Price not important
  
• Cooling: NZXT Kraken x60 - AU$155
  
• Rad Fans: Noctua NF-A14 FLX 140mm x4 - for a push-pull setup AU$29 x 4 = AU$116
  
• Case Fans: Noctua NF-S12B-FLX 120mm x2 (more if must) x 2 - AU$25 = AU$50
  
• Case: NZXT Switch 810 White Full Tower - AU$199
  
• PSU: SeaSonic X-750 Version 3 - AU$225
  

Decided to still go with the i7 because I figured I needed to go HT for my multimedia work (I am also a big-time photography enthusiast). Case wise, it seems that the switch 810 is more popular, and it does support my cooler that I'm planning to get, plus it has enough room for custom loops for the future.

 

On that topic, thanks Mehmet for all the advices on the custom loop, it will be my next project with Haswell! This time round, I did a total cost calculation, figured it costed a lot more than what I was expecting, so don't really have the budget to go custom this time round.

 

If something is looking extra out of the ordinary (in a bad way), please let me know.

Oooh yummy.

 

Some people will whine about your PSU (OMG only 750W!) but it's MORE THAN ENOUGH for that system. You can have an extremely high quality PSU with 500W and power that system. Or you can get a crappy 1000w that wouldn't run hehe.

 

If you do go true water cooling I've got no idea how much power those things need to run... so hopefully someone else can write something.

Oooh yummy.

 

Some people will whine about your PSU (OMG only 750W!) but it's MORE THAN ENOUGH for that system. You can have an extremely high quality PSU with 500W and power that system. Or you can get a crappy 1000w that wouldn't run hehe.

 

If you do go true water cooling I've got no idea how much power those things need to run... so hopefully someone else can write something.

 

I've checked the case as well, less fancy from my original proposal, but very rooooommmmyyyyy........ Water cooling I think its not too hungry for power, after all it's just a pump and some fans (though going for a push-pull setup with fullhouse noctua fans :lol: )

Anyway I just came across someone who works for coolmaster and is also a simmer. He strongly suggested against NZXT for many reasons, one of which is that it hasn't got a factory of its own, quality wise and reputations are not as good as corsair (in terms of cooler) and TT (in terms of case).

 

He also stated that a top-end air cooler (ie NH-D14) is theoretically better than a closed-loop water cooler. I was able to compare some results too and it seemed that the D14 indeed is very impressive!

 

I have a D14 now that I got like a year ago, and thinking about the x60 (as listed). But with all these comments and opinions, I thought I bring it up here to see what do you think about his claims; it would be better to follow it up with some facts or figures.

 

If in fact that the majority feels D14 is the way to go, that saves me some money getting a closed-loop water cooler!

I believe the best cooling is (listed best to least)

 

Aftermarket liquid coolers (usually have expensive separate parts)

Noctua DH14

Closed Loop coolers like H60/80/100 etc

Smaller aftermarket hsf like Hyper 212+

Have you thought about a water cooling kit like the XSPC kits that are available here? http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=207_160_45

 

I've just been doing some reading up as I'm going to go water cooling for my next build and seeing as it will be my first time I'm thinking of grabbing one of these kits.

 

It's a lot cheaper than buying the parts seperately and they seem to get good reviews. From what I've read the kits with the D5 pumps are better and compression fittings are easier to work with.

 

Just another thing to consider ^_^

Have you thought about a water cooling kit like the XSPC kits that are available here? http://www.pccasegea...Path=207_160_45

 

I've just been doing some reading up as I'm going to go water cooling for my next build and seeing as it will be my first time I'm thinking of grabbing one of these kits.

 

It's a lot cheaper than buying the parts seperately and they seem to get good reviews. From what I've read the kits with the D5 pumps are better and compression fittings are easier to work with.

 

Just another thing to consider ^_^

 

Definitely cool cool, as my case I'm looking at can fit a 3x 140mm radiator, and I'm looking at the XSPC EX420. However, there doesn't seemed to be too much reviews on it. Can you give me some comparison notes or reviews that you've come across please?

Try this:

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cases_cooling/xspc_d5_rx360_water_cooling_kit_review/1

Try this:

http://www.overclock...ng_kit_review/1

 

This actually looks interesting, the res is a bit ugly, thinking of changing one, it takes up too many of my bays