I just priced out a water cooling setup for my dual GTX480 system with a dual loop design. One for the 2 video cards and one for the CPU and chipset. The grand total is $1300. Wow, can water cooling take chunks out of the pocket book. I am going to have to fine tune the setup before I place the order. Anyone else done water cooling and can chime in on their prices to setup a system?

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Yeah I can tell You It's not cheap, There's are setups for the cpu only, that cost about $80-$100, Like the H50/H70 from Corsair, Then there's the Swiftech H20-320 EDGE Series Liquid Cooling Kit which set Me back about $340 and yeah I bought an extra swiftech 360x120 radiator(mcr320-qp), 10' of extra 1/2"ID/3/4"OD tubing, Four Koolance vid-nx295s water blocks(I need two more still), 12 fans and some misc fittings. So Yeah It's not cheap, I have a lot here and I'm just starting on putting It all together as I feel up to It(long story), $1300.00, I spent more than that and It's a one time thing, But then some of It was for ordinary pc parts, Thankfully except for the vid-nx295s water blocks It can all be reused on newer video cards, Which I'm not likely to buy unless their dirt cheap.

Yeah especially when you are cooling dual loop and more than one video card. The 480 blocks are like $120 from Danger Den a piece so you would be looking at $240 alone just for blocks for the video card. Then by the time you add radiators, pumps, and the blocks for anything else you are cooling it can get quite high.

I've never priced out a dual loop from Danger Den so I'm not sure how high it would go, but I would think $1300 would be on the higher side. Depends on what radiators and pumps you pick.

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Traveling through space at ~67,000mph!

I just priced out a water cooling setup for my dual GTX480 system with a dual loop design. One for the 2 video cards and one for the CPU and chipset. The grand total is $1300. Wow, can water cooling take chunks out of the pocket book. I am going to have to fine tune the setup before I place the order. Anyone else done water cooling and can chime in on their prices to setup a system?

I'm not sure of the total, but it was extensive. I do have a bullet proof heat eliminator. My rig is heavilly overclocked, and runs very cool. My two 480's run at 50C at 855 MHz. My CPU runs at 4.235 GHz and is 51C.

Cost breakdown
Aquarium chiller for CPU loop $450
2 Black Ice Radiators for the 480's at $180 each.
2 Danger Den water blocks at about $170 each.
hoses, clamps, tees, fill ports, drain ports, fluid about $400 to $500.
2 10 watt Eheim pumps $75 each
8 140mm high volume fans for the radiators about $20 each
Various other supplies about $100 including double insulation for the chilled loop.

I am over volted, and rock solid for the GPU's and the CPU 980x. I definitly run 24/7, and my highest RAC so far is 59,650.53. I'm knawing through some AP units at the moment, so my RAC will drop until they clear.

Steve

Edit: I see the 480 water blocks have come down in price. I got mine when the 480's first came out about 9 months ago.

2nd edit: All my cooling parts were purchased individually. I didn't use anything but raw parts. It was expensive, but to me it was worth it.

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Warning, addicted to SETI crunching!
Crunching as a member of GPU Users Group.
GPUUG Website

Yeah, I understand it is going to be a nice setup once I get everything purchased and installed. It is just hard to bite that $1300 bullet and buy everything. It will be my first water cooled setup and I have been wanting to do one for many years. Now I am sort of stuck in doing it if I want to SLI my 2 GTX 480's and keep temps down. Even the aftermarket air coolers won't keep the 480's cool when running games at max resolutions. In Seti it isn't an issue but I don't just use the computer for that and finding a 140mm flexible SLI cable is a nightmare.

I have though about adding another video card and doing tri sli with water cooling but then I will most likely have to bump up past the 1100 watt power supply that is in it. This isn't a huge issue being I have a 20amp circut that the computer is plugged into and I could run a 1500 watt without much concern. I just want to make my water cooling loops work out the best. I think 2 X 480 on one 3x140mm fan radiator should be ok. I was thinking of the cpu/chipset and maybe the 3rd 480 on the second loop. I am just not sure of temps. Any thoughts on the distribution of cards per loop?

Getting late or I would post the whole list of parts I am looking at. I will do that tomorrow.

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Yeah especially when you are cooling dual loop and more than one video card. The 480 blocks are like $120 from Danger Den a piece so you would be looking at $240 alone just for blocks for the video card. Then by the time you add radiators, pumps, and the blocks for anything else you are cooling it can get quite high.

I've never priced out a dual loop from Danger Den so I'm not sure how high it would go, but I would think $1300 would be on the higher side. Depends on what radiators and pumps you pick.

Actually I thought It would be a single loop as I have only one pump. But that's ok.[/quote]

Huh? I was responding to Brkovip, in reference to your "I can tell you it's not cheap" comment. Either way.

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Traveling through space at ~67,000mph!

Very nice looking block. Too bad not everyone builds to the reference design, it would make things like this a bit better than making sure you have the one to fit a one off from a specific company and would probably bring block prices down in some circumstances. Albeit wouldn't happen much as I assume that most cards are built from reference designs now. Sucks about your DVI layout, best of luck!

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Traveling through space at ~67,000mph!

Well here is the setup I am thinking of doing. Feel free to toss in thoughts about different items you would use.

Pump x2:
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/6190/ex-pmp-54/Swiftech_MCP655_12v_Water_Pump_w_Speed_Control_and_38_Conversion_Kit_317_GPH.html?tl=g30c107s153

CPU block:
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/10697/ex-blc-733/EK_Supreme_HF_Universal_CPU_Liquid_Cooling_Block_-_Rev_2_-_Full_Copper_Sockets_775_1156_1366_939_940_771_754_AM2_AM2_AM3.html?tl=g30c85s139

GPU block X2:
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/11148/ex-blc-779/Danger_Den_DD-GTX480_VGA_Full_Card_Liquid_Cooling_Block_-_All_Copper_Version_GPU-6900-CC.html?tl=g30c87s143

Radiator X2:
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/10465/ex-rad-182/Black_Ice_SR1_Low_Air_Flow_Optimized_-_420_Radiator_-_Black.html?tl=g30c95s931

or
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/10466/ex-rad-183/Black_Ice_SR1_Low_Air_Flow_Optimized_-_560_Radiator_-_Black.html?tl=g30c95s1148

depending on if 2 X gtx480's can be run on the 3X140mm radiators without heat issues.

Reservoir:
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/10794/ex-res-213/PrimoChill_-_Typhoon_Split_Window_-_Single_Bay_Dual_Loop_-_Orange_RES-TSP-SD-O.html?tl=g30c97s168

Chipset cooler:
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/11068/ex-blc-772/EK_ASUS_Rampage_III_Extreme_Full_Board_Cooling_Block_Kit_-_Nickel_EK-FB_RE3_-_Nickel_Hot_Item.html?tl=g30c89s147

Then hoses and barbs and anti kink coils make up the rest of it.

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Very nice! The adjustable pump looks like a very good idea. I would stick with 1/2" ID on all the hoses. I was a little unsure about the fill port having 1/2" fittings, but if it does then it should be fine. Don't forget to get a drain as well. Here is an example.

http://www.dangerden.com/store/delrin-fillport.html

Just tee off the lowest section of the hose, and put the device at the end. Also Tygon tubing also available from Danger Den is by far the best choice.

Steve

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Warning, addicted to SETI crunching!
Crunching as a member of GPU Users Group.
GPUUG Website

Here is a thread with an explanation of my system, and some pictures.

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=62406

Steve

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Warning, addicted to SETI crunching!
Crunching as a member of GPU Users Group.
GPUUG Website

Very nice! The adjustable pump looks like a very good idea. I would stick with 1/2" ID on all the hoses. I was a little unsure about the fill port having 1/2" fittings, but if it does then it should be fine. Don't forget to get a drain as well. Here is an example.

http://www.dangerden.com/store/delrin-fillport.html

Just tee off the lowest section of the hose, and put the device at the end. Also Tygon tubing also available from Danger Den is by far the best choice.

Steve

I have to second the fillport / drain and the Tygon. Tygon makes it so much easier to route the rest makes maintenance on a system a lot easier. As far as the block go I've only ever used two different kinds of block ones from Swifttech and Danger Den, I can't speak on the EK Supreme brand, but you will really like that block from DD.

With a major water cooling setup like that at what point, or would you, hit a heat saturation limit of the radiators? If everything is perfect you could achieve room temperatures. Without a chiller or peltier, it would be the best temperature you could achieve. However with those once you reach maximum efficiency of the radiators you would merely maintain a certain temperature. So is it beneficial to run more than one radiator as far as bringing the average temperature down or would ultimately you still end up running the same temp? The only experience I've had with water cooling was with older 240 rads in a single loop cooling a processor and it seemed to work relatively well, however never reached room temperature due to inefficiencies.

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Traveling through space at ~67,000mph!

i might be crazy, or ignorant here on this subject.....but would it not be cheaper to buy a 5000 btu air conditioner at wallymart......install it in the same room? or pump the cold air from the airconditioner straight into your computer?


or do what radio, and tv stations do....use nitrogen hook ups on their towers to help improve the conductivity of the wire between the transmitter, and the tower....


just wondering

:)

i might be crazy, or ignorant here on this subject.....but would it not be cheaper to buy a 5000 btu air conditioner at wallymart......install it in the same room? or pump the cold air from the airconditioner straight into your computer?


or do what radio, and tv stations do....use nitrogen hook ups on their towers to help improve the conductivity of the wire between the transmitter, and the tower....


just wondering

:)

That would help, and I have an 8000 BTU in the computer room I run all summer. The closer you get to the CPU , GPU and motherboard with the cooled air the better. For me the water cooling works, as nothing gets much over 52°C or 53°C regardless of room temperature. The system does get warmer as ambient temperature rises, but not much. Even when it gets to be 90°F in here, nothing is even close to the danger levels. This room is also my bed room, and I am used to the 57+ dB of background white noise of the chiller, fans, and air conditioner in the summer.

Steve

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Warning, addicted to SETI crunching!
Crunching as a member of GPU Users Group.
GPUUG Website

as rear venting GPU's become more the norm, air cooling might come back into style.

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Janice

as rear venting GPU's become more the norm, air cooling might come back into style.

You are right. In many cases air cooling can work just fine. For me the robustness of water cooling eliminates any chance of a runaway heat problem. It just can't happen. Hopefully I can prolong the life of my components.

Steve

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Warning, addicted to SETI crunching!
Crunching as a member of GPU Users Group.
GPUUG Website

http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/12/puget-custom-computers-mineral-oil-cooled-pc/

Yeah there has been a number of mineral oil pc's around over the years. Notice it never got popular, yuck could you imagine needing to swap a part or upgrade that mess.

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Traveling through space at ~67,000mph!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/12/puget-custom-computers-mineral-oil-cooled-pc/

Cute, but not really very effective.....
12 hours at peak load? LOL.
The only place for heat to radiate is from the outer surface of the tank.
The oil simply stores the heat. You would have to add a pump and radiator of some sort to shed heat for it to be effective.
Nice coffee table piece, though.

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"Time is simply the mechanism that keeps everything from happening all at once."

Could you imagine the oil cooled setup after 3 months of running? I would think it would start to smell from bacteria and other things growing in it.

The water cooling setup I am going to do is because I live in the room also and can't have yet another air conditioner in the room. The central air does a good job provided you don't have a plasma t.v. on and 2 computers doing Seti in the summer when it is 90 outside. I also would like it a bit quieter in my room then having all the fans running at full speed 24/7. I have even thought about putting insulated ducting on the back of my computer and venting the exhaust outside the house. That would be an ugly 6" or 8" tube going out the wall.

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I have even thought about putting insulated ducting on the back of my computer and venting the exhaust outside the house. That would be an ugly 6" or 8" tube going out the wall.

I thought of that too, but never got around to actually doing it. Instead I use the chiller and twin radiators.

Steve

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Warning, addicted to SETI crunching!
Crunching as a member of GPU Users Group.
GPUUG Website

LOL, found my old computer on that link...

It is completely submerged in mineral oil...This pic was an early test not finished yet. I figured was cheaper than water cooling. I pumped the oil in a closed loop through a 50' coil of copper submerged in my aquarium reservoir which was chilled. Worked a charm and still the most rock stable OCs I have achieved were with that oil rig. Also it was neat to have a system that never needs cleaning never builds up dust and is TOTALLY silent. =)

Here is the thread I posted about the build on:
Pugetsystems forum
My posts start about 1/2 way down, username "brandontroy"

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"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not Eureka! (I found it!) but rather, 'hmm... that's funny...'" -- Isaac Asimov