New PC

[♦Cooneytay♦]

I am going to make a new PC with a new Intel i7 processor. I figured I might as well go all out and make this the fastest computer I might ever own. Well I started planning now and it won't be for at least a year or so until I start creating this project. I have a question though. I was going to go with 3 way SLI with 3 GeForce 280 gfx cards. I was wondering weather I should have one water cooling set-up for the whole thing or should I go with one system for the processor and hard drives and another for the 3 graphics cards?

I am going to use this topic for any other questions I have.
BTW. I am going to use this case http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3878859&sku=L261-1213

I need some help with this. I was thinking it would look cool to have to separate water cooling set ups but idk if i could fit to radiators in the case. I need some opinions!

[Spawn-Inc]

go with 2 loops if your going to water cool 3 cards and the cpu. don't ever water cool ram or hard drives as its a waste of money and time. i would water cool the cpu and northbridge in the second loop.

i would use a quad 120mm rad for the gpus and a triple for the cpu and north bridge.

[♦Cooneytay♦]

sorry Spawn-Inc but I have changed my mind and decided to go with only two cards. Do you think I should still go with the 2 loops or just go with one?

[Spawn-Inc]

i think you can pull off going with 2 high flow water block on the gpu's and 1 on the cpu and get away with using a quad 120mm rad on them. you should get pretty good temps as well with enough room to overclock. i would double up on fans and try to mount it external for best cooling.

[♦Cooneytay♦]

Sounds good. Thanks for the help Spwan-inc

[Spawn-Inc]

but i would check back in a year since newer parts will come in and what not. a year is a long time in the computer world.

[p0Pe]

if you gonna wait a year i wouldnt wanna choose parts right now. for what i know, the gtx280´s in sli would be beaten by a low end card at that time...

for the watercooling, you should be fine if you use a 18 W laing pump, and the quad 120 mm raddy:)

[TheGreatSatan]

This sounds like it's going to a rediculously expensive build. What case are you using?

[♦Cooneytay♦]

I decided to just buy the case around Christmas and just wait for the CPU, Gfx cards, ram. I am going to start buying the psu and I will eventually get the water cooling set-up just without the water blocks (I am going to put my current system in the case). I was wondering if this case would be big enough to mount an internal radiator, a double or maybe triple 120mm rad. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3878861&CatId=1510 Can you please tell me the maximum size for a radiator I could fit in here and maybe tell me or show me how you would do it.

[jdbnsn]

That's a pretty big case, I would think you could fit just about any rad in there. Although I've never understood why one would want to mount a rad inside a case while the whole idea of watercooling is premium heat transfer. Placing it inside the case insulates the rad from heat exchange with the ambient air of your room. Anyway, I run dual GPU's, and a CPU off of a single 120 rad so you should be okay.

[♦Cooneytay♦]

jdbnsn, I was thinking about putting a dual 120 rad in the bottom of the case and cutting out the bottom. If I was good with sketchup I could show you. I was just going to cut a rectangle in the bottom which would allow airflow out of the case past the rad.

[Spawn-Inc]

Anyway, I run dual GPU's, and a CPU off of a single 120 rad so you should be okay.

really? there either low end gpu's cpu's or your temps are through the roof...


looking at the specs a bit of both.

[jdbnsn]

really? there either low end gpu's cpu's or your temps are through the roof...


looking at the specs a bit of both.

A bit of low tech by today's standards. But the System is strong enough to run fairly recent games like Crysis on full settings, or multitask like watching a movie while on the internet and photoshop, etc... So it is pretty full functioning with what I have, and the temps can get a little high with long term gaming, but never enough to cause a problem.