[Build Log] 2500K/GTX 680/Fractal Design Arc Midi (custom window mod) *Complete*

[Drunkenvalley]

People who say to scratch the Arc Midi because it's not really designed for it are boring people. The Arc Midi has more than sufficient space and arrangement for a watercooling loop. :3

If you can get your hands on the small, ceramic pumps from Alphacool that'd be awesome. They're really tiny, but apparently push quite a lot of water. They're pretty cheap too. You can park the poor thing on top of your powersupply (laying it on its side is fine, and also means that to fill the loop you just lay the machine on its side, yay!).

Then it's time to go nuts with rads. You'll do fine with just a rad in the roof, but why stop there if you have the money and insanity for it?

Before ordering anything, make sure it will physically fit though. Most fans are 25mm, so whatever rad you consider putting somewhere measure it up, take 25mm off and see what's left for you to fit in there.

[BicycleMafioso]

Just want to post something about temps since when I bought my wc set, people on forums was exaggerating how much rad space I needed (lucky I didn't follow their advice)

Anyway, I use 2x 480 and i7 2600k (OC)

It's cooled by
EK-CoolStream RAD XT 360 (People told me I needed at least two 360)
3xScythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm 1150 rpm
Phobya DC12-260

And at 100% on everything it never reaches over 65'c and I could lower it by simply using faster fans.

Lastly I was quite nervous about setting everything together but I found that if I simply followed the instructions and didnt rush things it went well.
Good luck.

Then those people either didn't know what they were talking about, or had different views of what one would want to accomplish with watercooling.
Depending on rad-thickness, I'd generally go with 1x120 per 'unit', and you've got exactly that.

Now, if you'd want to be able to run the fans even lower and on 40°C, more radiators would help to accomplish that.
But needing more than one 360 for that? Ha, no.

[kidsafe]

How is it boring to be practical?

I love power. I love silence. I love convenience as well. I prefer bay reservoirs, do the Arc Midi would make life terribly inconvenient when you are trying to clamp barbs or tighten compression fittings. Even little things like topping off the res or bleeding air out might require a long necked squirt bottle or extra tubing.

At most I think I would use Alphacool's 45mm radiator up top, and I would also think that a bottom mounted 120mm radiator woul obstruct most PSUs. If you recall in my build, I had to buy a 6.3" long AX850 because anything else was simply too long. I think the best course with the Arc Midi is to find a way to mount another radiator in front.

As it stands you're not going to get much mor cooling out of an Arc Midi with a custom loop than vs an H100 or Eisberg.

[noteworthynerd]

As it stands you're not going to get much mor cooling out of an Arc Midi with a custom loop than vs an H100 or Eisberg.

I know that. As I said in my OP, I want to do it for the fun of it, not because it offers a substantial improvement over the H100.

While I would prefer a bay pump/reservoir, I simply don't see it fitting comfortably in the Arc Midi (even though TTL says it would work). But, like I said a previous post, this picture makes it look more than possible with an all-in-one pump/reservoir on the floor, or even potentially on top of the bottom hard drive cage.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Taking out that top HDD cage would mean that you could get a longer PSU or stick a case fan on the bottom. Something like one of those ceramic pump/reservoir combos in one of the latest TTL videos wouldn't restrict airflow to the graphics card(s) from the front fans that much if you put it in the front of the case.

[Drunkenvalley]

Oh, crap, my post was chewed up? :<
Poo.

noteworthy, if you care about the aesthetics, try and avoid mixing brands for bits and pieces you've got several of, ie rads.

[kidsafe]

Most rads end up being imported by Magicool from the same Chinese factory anyway... so really it's a matter of finding ones with the same finish. Most have that soft black finish...Some like the HWLabs Black Ice models have a glossier deep black, but those are more the exception than the rule.

[Drunkenvalley]

Well, durr, regardless of whom the OEM is, I've noticed that several brands make a distinct show of their rads' appearances. Particularly their "full-size" ones, such as EK's XTX series, that are nicely adorned on the side(s).

And for whatever reason, Koolance's radiators seem a lot more... blocky?

Performance may not always be optimal by cherrypicking a single brand's radiators, but it certainly helps to make the computer look a lot less derp if they've stayed consistent.

[kidsafe]

Sure and XSPC rads have their logo embossed on the sides too. I think as long as the paint is the same, it'll look fine.

Anyway someone (not me) should start a general water cooling thread because there's a lot of little things the guides on other sites don't really touch on.

[Drunkenvalley]

Odds are it'll look fine, yes. But seriously, why mix rad brands unless the rad you want simply doesn't exist with your given brand?

[noteworthynerd]

Well, assuming I can sell my H100, the plan is:

• XSPC EX240 Dual 120mm in the roof
• XSPC X20 450 Acrylic Pump / Reservoir Combo either on the floor or on top of the bottom drive cage
• XSPC Rasa High Performance Acetal CPU Liquid Cooling Block for the CPU, obviously
• Not sure what size tubing, I believe TTL recommend 3/8" ID, does that sound right?
• Required accessories
• Ice Dragon Cooling Nanofluid Coolant White Color anyone know if this coolant is any good? It is the first white I found
• 4x Zalman SF3 for the radiator

Then I'm gonna save some money, and a few months down the road pickup a 680 waterblock as well as a single 120mm reservoir (push fan only) and put it on the back if it will fit, or the front if it won't.

Is picking parts like this really that much better than buying a kit? This is gonna be quite a bit more expensive than a kit would be.

[Drunkenvalley]

Just pick a tube size of preference. Though generally stay with 3/8" or 1/2". None of your components will have prefitted barbs unless they're weird, and those two sizes are easy to get pretty much any form of fitting for.

Note that 3/8" is "compatible" with 1/2" fittings, but not reversely. Also, it's a bitch to fit the small tube on "too big" fittings. Learnt from fitting the 3/8" tubes onto my Apogee HD Gold's 1/2" prefitted (this is quite rare) barbs.

[kidsafe]

Well, assuming I can sell my H100, the plan is:

• XSPC EX240 Dual 120mm in the roof
• XSPC X20 450 Acrylic Pump / Reservoir Combo either on the floor or on top of the bottom drive cage
• XSPC Rasa High Performance Acetal CPU Liquid Cooling Block for the CPU, obviously
• Not sure what size tubing, I believe TTL recommend 3/8" ID, does that sound right?
• Required accessories
• Ice Dragon Cooling Nanofluid Coolant White Color anyone know if this coolant is any good? It is the first white I found
• 4x Zalman SF3 for the radiator

Then I'm gonna save some money, and a few months down the road pickup a 680 waterblock as well as a single 120mm reservoir (push fan only) and put it on the back if it will fit, or the front if it won't.

Is picking parts like this really that much better than buying a kit? This is gonna be quite a bit more expensive than a kit would be.

I've hear pretty much nothing beats the Swiftech MCR-x20-QP radiators in the 30-35mm thickness range, but again they have a slightly different finish than most other radiators. It's a personal choice I guess. Performance vs looks. Then again if you aren't using 5.25" bays at all, you may as well use something even thicker like the XSPC RX240 or an Alphacool NexXxoS UT60 or XT45.

I have no experience with anything besides Laing D5 pumps, so you're on your own WRT that pump/reservoir. Just make sure when you prime the pump, tip your case on its side and get plenty of water in the loop. Water in the reservoir is not necessarily enough, you want the pump to be pushing as little air as possible.

Bump up to the XSPC Raystorm CPU block maybe...it looks way better and has better flow (not as important for a simple loop.)

My suggestion for tubing is to get opaque 3/8" ID 5/8" OD PrimoChill PrimoFlex LRT tubing in whatever color you want. It's great tubing and flexes better than anything else on the market. Premixed/dyed coolant is a bitch to maintain...the color will separate from the fluid over time. I'd personally stick with distilled water. Do not get 100% deionized water...all it'll do is leach more ions from your loop and provoke corrosion. Do not use purified drinking water or tap water because they contain minerals. Just get a 5gal jug of distilled water to initially flush your radiators and then as coolant. Add a biocide like Petra's Nuke-PHN (benzalkonium chloride) and *maybe* a silver coil. There are concerns that silver's anodic index is too different from copper/brass, but I'm of the mindset that bacterial growth will cause problems well before a silver coil induces corrosion in your loop.

Those fans should be fine. Low-FPI rads like the XSPC EX/RX, Alphacools, Swiftechs, etc. don't really need high static pressure fans.

EDIT: Some people who use 1/2" barbs like using 7/16" ID tubing for a tighter fit, but not overly tight like 3/8" ID.

[Drunkenvalley]

His pump'll be fine for just a CPU loop tbf. I'm curious why he doesn't go for one of the various XSPC Rasa kits if he's gonna go full Rasa though.

[noteworthynerd]

Because I was told to hand pick my parts. -.-

[Drunkenvalley]

That's fine, but if you've handpicked what is identical to a kit, why not pick up the kit?

[noteworthynerd]

All of the RASA kits on FrozenCPU have a bay pump+reservoir...

[Drunkenvalley]

This should be the god of all things PC for you.
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php

Alas, it seems there really aren't any larger sets that include a 240 rad without a bay res. Honestly though? Thick 120 + slim 240 will be more than enough, and also fun to struggle with.

If you can fit this baby...
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=33429

[Yeren]

In TTL's latest Vlog, he has some awesome ceramic pumps and optical reservoirs, why not wait a wee while and have a look at them when released, wont be too long now

[noteworthynerd]

In TTL's latest Vlog, he has some awesome ceramic pumps and optical reservoirs, why not wait a wee while and have a look at them when released, wont be too long now

They're already out: Pump, Pump/Top/Res

Seem kinda gimmicky to me, I dunno. I'd need to see them in a rig before I spent the money on them, and I can't wait another month for TTL to release a video like that, Ivy Bridge will be here at the end of April, I need everything else ready before then.