Jefferz hard line water cooled PC build thread.

[jefferz]

This setup is gonna be nearly dead silent-- including at idle-- even when it's running full blast, right?

With that many fans, will you even need to run them above 60% RPM at any point?

It should be whisper quite, I went way to big on the radiators but I wanted the extra capacity just in case I ever decide to go SLI. The pump should be the loudest part.

@Shoemaker
If you go soft tubing, you do a cpu custom loop for under $260.
You can get an XSPC Raystorm cpu block for $50, there's a couple 3x120mm radiators out there for under $60, and a XSPC x4 reservoir/pump combo for $100. Add another $50 for fittings, tubing, and some other miscellaneous parts.
That pump is also powerful enough to add a video card block in later.

 

[GhostZ06]

It should be whisper quite, I went way to big on the radiators but I wanted the extra capacity just in case I ever decide to go SLI. The pump should be the loudest part.

@Shoemaker
If you go soft tubing, you do a cpu custom loop for under $260.
You can get an XSPC Raystorm cpu block for $50, there's a couple 3x120mm radiators out there for under $60, and a XSPC x4 reservoir/pump combo for $100. Add another $50 for fittings, tubing, and some other miscellaneous parts.
That pump is also powerful enough to add a video card block in later.

damn i almost bought one of these for my cp you



http://www.xs-pc.com/watercooling-kits-rx/raystorm-pro-d5-photon-rx360-watercooling-kit

this one to be exact

 

[jefferz]

damn i almost bought one of these for my cp you



http://www.xs-pc.com/watercooling-kits-rx/raystorm-pro-d5-photon-rx360-watercooling-kit

this one to be exact

For $320 that's still a good price. At the price I posted above, you're just going to get barb fittings. That kit has better looking compression fittings, which can be $6-$7 a piece. Barbs are about $2 a piece.
I didn't factor the price of fans, thermal paste, etc that are included in the kit either. Personally I'd replace those fans though with Noctua or Phanteks static pressure fans. You might not see a performance difference, but it will make a difference for noise.
Thanks for bringing up the kits. I'm working on a custom loop section for madmicks big thread and I didn't think of adding in kits.

 

[Madmick]

It should be whisper quite, I went way to big on the radiators but I wanted the extra capacity just in case I ever decide to go SLI. The pump should be the loudest part.

@Shoemaker
If you go soft tubing, you do a cpu custom loop for under $260.
You can get an XSPC Raystorm cpu block for $50, there's a couple 3x120mm radiators out there for under $60, and a XSPC x4 reservoir/pump combo for $100. Add another $50 for fittings, tubing, and some other miscellaneous parts.
That pump is also powerful enough to add a video card block in later.

Is that why you also elected not to go with an m.2 SSD?

After all, the difference between the m.2 960 Pro and 2.5" 850 EVO might be enormous, but so far, unlike with SSD vs. HDD load times, I haven't found anything concrete indicating there's a significant real-world difference at all for games.

 

[jefferz]

Is that why you also elected not to go with an m.2 SSD?

After all, the difference between the m.2 960 Pro and 2.5" 850 EVO might be enormous, but so far, unlike with SSD vs. HDD load times, I haven't found anything concrete indicating there's a significant real-world difference at all for games.

I'm using a 500gb 960 evo nvme. I have a 500gb 850 evo I might use also. It depends on if I like the looks of the Sata cable there. I picked up a braided white cable just in case.
If it looks like crap, I'll probably sell the 850 and get another 960.
I haven't used a mechanical drive for the past 4 years.
What are your thoughts on raid 0 nvme? From what I've read it really isn't worth it.

 

[Madmick]

I'm using a 500gb 960 evo nvme. I have a 500gb 850 evo I might use also. It depends on if I like the looks of the Sata cable there. I picked up a braided white cable just in case.
If it looks like crap, I'll probably sell the 850 and get another 960.
I haven't used a mechanical drive for the past 4 years.
What are your thoughts on raid 0 nvme? From what I've read it really isn't worth it.

Oh, my bad, I missed that on the PCPP page. I only saw the 850 EVO. I knew that you already had experience with motherboard firmware support for NVMe OS boot support, so that's why it stuck out to me.

I have not looked into RAID 0 NVMe. I'm still struggling to find evidence for advantages of 2GB/s throughput versus 500MB/s throughput for real world tasks. Right now there's so little out there, and when I skim Reddit discussion on the topic it usually amounts to this:
https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/4tr7qo/samsung_950_pro_m2_vs_850_evo_in_terms_of_real/

 

[MusterX]

@jefferz

I wanted to ask you about overclocking.

I'm currently using an i5 7600k CPU at 3.80GHz (Overclocks to 4.20GHz)
Description taken from UserBenchmark

The i5-7600K targets high end gamers, it sits just behind the flagship i7-7700K in Intel’s Kaby Lake lineup. The 7600K will likely be the most popular gaming CPU of 2017 (some competition from AMD’s upcoming Zen/Ryzen CPUs, would be very welcome). Comparing the 7600K and 6600K shows that the two processors are very closely matched and comparing the 7600K vs the hyper-threaded 7700K highlights the relative strength of the 7700K for workstation performance. There are no significant architectural differences between Kaby Lake and Skylake so, when fully overclocked, the two generations should perform similarly but Kaby Lake offers faster base clocks, improved speed shift technology which helps CPU responsiveness, and better integrated graphics. [Jan '17 CPUPro]

My question is would you overclock this CPU and why? I haven't noticed any applications I run would require it to be faster than it already is right out of the box. I also am not currently liquid cooled. I'm using a Cooler Master EVO 212 to cool it.

 

[jefferz]

@jefferz

I wanted to ask you about overclocking.

I'm currently using an i5 7600k CPU at 3.80GHz (Overclocks to 4.20GHz)
Description taken from UserBenchmark

The i5-7600K targets high end gamers, it sits just behind the flagship i7-7700K in Intel’s Kaby Lake lineup. The 7600K will likely be the most popular gaming CPU of 2017 (some competition from AMD’s upcoming Zen/Ryzen CPUs, would be very welcome). Comparing the 7600K and 6600K shows that the two processors are very closely matched and comparing the 7600K vs the hyper-threaded 7700K highlights the relative strength of the 7700K for workstation performance. There are no significant architectural differences between Kaby Lake and Skylake so, when fully overclocked, the two generations should perform similarly but Kaby Lake offers faster base clocks, improved speed shift technology which helps CPU responsiveness, and better integrated graphics. [Jan '17 CPUPro]

My question is would you overclock this CPU and why? I haven't noticed any applications I run would require it to be faster than it already is right out of the box. I also am not currently liquid cooled. I'm using a Cooler Master EVO 212 to cool it.

If you're gaming, you'll definitely want to OC it, you'll see a frame per second increase. If you're just browsing the web, watching videos, etc you won't notice a difference.
You should be able to get that 7600k up to 4.4-4.6ghz easily with a hyper 212. I got my 7700k to 4.8 with a hyper 212 and that was just a simple oc in a mediocre case(rosewill challenger). There's nothing wrong with the hyper 212, it's been the little engine that could for oc'ers for a long time. I'm willing to bet most of the people in the other build/buy thread have used one or are currently using one.
What I would recommend you do is to look at the software for your motherboard. Almost all manufacturers offer an auto overclock utility. They usually require 1 click or maybe 2, the utility does everything for you. Gigabyte calls theirs Easy Tune, Asus calls there's Turbo V evo, and I think MSI calls their OC Genie. The others I don't know the name.
Try it out, if you don't like it you can set it back to stock.

 

[MusterX]

If you're gaming, you'll definitely want to OC it, you'll see a frame per second increase. If you're just browsing the web, watching videos, etc you won't notice a difference.
You should be able to get that 7600k up to 4.4-4.6ghz easily with a hyper 212. I got my 7700k to 4.8 with a hyper 212 and that was just a simple oc in a mediocre case(rosewill challenger). There's nothing wrong with the hyper 212, it's been the little engine that could for oc'ers for a long time. I'm willing to bet most of the people in the other build/buy thread have used one or are currently using one.
What I would recommend you do is to look at the software for your motherboard. Almost all manufacturers offer an auto overclock utility. They usually require 1 click or maybe 2, the utility does everything for you. Gigabyte calls theirs Easy Tune, Asus calls there's Turbo V evo, and I think MSI calls their OC Genie. The others I don't know the name.
Try it out, if you don't like it you can set it back to stock.

I'm using a Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming 3

Like I said though, I don't notice any lag or frame rate issues on any of my games. I could boost it to the recommended 4.20GHz but I just don't know if I would notice any difference.

 

[MusterX]

@jefferz

My next question is should I decide to overclock, would that reduce the lifespan of the CPU and do you think old heatsink and fan combo's are still cutting it against water cooling. If I move to a water cooled solution I want tanks with changeable fluid because I've had bad luck with some factory sealed systems in the past that have cheap water pumps. Anyway, thanks for your thoughts on this topic.

 

[jefferz]

I'm using a Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming 3

Like I said though, I don't notice any lag or frame rate issues on any of my games. I could boost it to the recommended 4.20GHz but I just don't know if I would notice any difference.

Here's an example of what an OC can give you.

A hyper 212 will keep your processor nice and cool. There's a reason that they're the #1 selling cpu cooler. I wouldn't worry about overclocking on a 212 evo. There's thousands of people out there that oc using it.
There's basically 3 tiers of coolers.
stock: useless for a k series processor
hyper 212: the best performance per cost cooler
Noctua NH-D15/240mm AIO: best performers but most expensive

If you want to go with a refillable AIO, EK makes one and so does Swiftech. You'll have to dig into which one performs better. Personally I'd go with the Swiftech because it looks more like a custom loop and you'll be able to pick your own color. They both require a lot of depth though so measure before you buy.
For air coolers, a Noctua NH-D14, Noctua ND-D15, or a Phanteks PH-TC14PE will perform just as well as any AIO cooler. The only downside is their size, they're really big and heavy. If you move your computer a lot I wouldn't use one.