Help me build a good loop
 

Alrighty then.... not sure what the best components are or what all really needs to be cooled and what don't for a good benching rig. I'll most likely start it on air to make sure everything works and then jump into water before going to DICE and LN2. I want to play with it all and learn along the way... and hopefully put up some nice scores. Haven't really set in stone on the system yet but i'm leaning towards i7 on a Rampage II setup on a HSPC Top Deck Tech Station and I know i'm gonna want the CPU and GPU/GPU's in the loop for sure.... Anything beyond that would be by recommendation.

From personal experience skip the water cooling. Water cooling is great if you have a case, play video games and pretty much just show and tell. Stick with a TRUE heatsink and a pot. Practice on the heatsink and then use the pot when you want to get extreme. Water cooling was a waste of my time and money and I went thru many of water part changes and what not. It wasn't for me. Heatsink to pot is a quick change unlike water setup to pot. Some will tell you water this and that but muh. Trust me. Don't get me wrong now, there are some sweet water setups out there that cool better than a TRUE but it is at least going to take a triple rad as my double rad didn't beet my TRUE.

I'd have to agree with nip. Especially with the performance of today's air h/s coolers, water on the cpu doesn't seem to be all that cracked up.

Water on the gpu's however is another story. Go ahead and find waterblocks for ur gpus, most perform on par with each other and availability varies from card to card. Still, most cards have a certain amount of headroom for overclocking on air. The principals still apply regarding level of overclock vs heat output. So if you master air overclocking, extreme cold is pretty much just a major leap down the scale of temps management.

Hmmm..... well, this is mostly gonna be just for the experience and the fun just playing around. Whatever water setup I get and use will end up in my 24/7 everyday use rig most likely which is in a case.... so it's a win win for me I guess you could say. It will be an expensive part of the hobby but it will be fun for sure.... more of a want for the hell of it than a need you could say LOL.

I do want a big or multi rad setup though.

Well if you want to watercool and bench than you will want to run 2 loops so you can pull the cpu block and put a pot on it to bench while keeping your gpu's and chipset (if you want) on water. If you just want to watercool a rig it will be cheaper.

I need to know your budget, parts to be cooled and case this will be in/attached to.

Well... It will start out in benching first while i'm working my way to the pots. It will end up in a Cosmos S case when i'm done benching with it and on pots exclusively.... down the road. I did figure it would be best with two loops though.

Budget isn't a real problem because it will be done over time.... shouldn't take long but i'm not rich enough to buy it all at once LOL. I do want to get good parts though... and like I said before i'm really not sure of what all needs cooled and what really doesn't. I've read both sides and it can be confusing at times.

As far as parts go... i7, ASUS Rampage II Extreme and I haven't decided on the GPU's as of yet.

Lemme get you started with the online websites that carry water-cooling gear first off:

ArticMod.com
Crazy PC
D-TEK
Danger Den
EK
Frozen CPU
HighSpeed PC
Koolance
JabTech
Performance PC's
Petra's Tech Shop
Sidewinder Computers
Swiftech
ViperJohn's Pro Mods

That will be a big help Supes...thanks bro!

Do you want your loops to be inside the case or out? What video cards? Seriously give me a budget to work with or I will just give you sticker shock. I have over $1500 in parts being used in my currently configured lcs, give me a budget so I can help you pick out something that fits your needs without being over the top.

$1500-$2000 Would be OK, But if it can be done with the good stuff for less thats always better. Did $1500 get you all the stuff you really wanted or did you have to settle for less on a couple of things? I only ask cause I have never reall priced this stuff and I have no idea how expensive it can get. I just want to go with the stuff thats proven to work right and last. The loops would be great inside once I put them in a case but if they have to be outside to get better cooling then that is fine, Just want it to be as cool as it can be. BTW.... Thank You for offering your help on this!!

OH.... As far as Vids, I haven't set that in stone yet. Don't know if the 2xGTX285HydroCoppers or maybe 3x are good enough or if I should go the 2xGTX295 route with my own blocks. I'm even considering going to the red side.:eek:

We can start working with the rads and other stuff until I can make up my mind on the vids LOL.... Unless you need to know before hand to put the whole thing together?