Maximum PC

I decided to make some upgrades to my main folding machine since I keep it on 24/7

- Went from Full Size Case to Super Tower Case
- Added a bigger water reservoir
- Second Pump at the end of the loop
- Four Fan Radiator (total of three radiators)
- Red Tubing and added black anti kink coil
- Compression fittings
- Third Nvidia GTX 480 (Triple SLI)
- OCZ 1250w Power Supply
- New Motherboard Gigabyte G1. Assassin (I needed a new motherboard because I have a MegaRaid SAS 9260-8i for my four drives in Raid 0 (OCZ Vertex 3 SSD), so I needed at least four PCI Express 2.0 slots since I added a third GPU)

Been down for over a week, but time to start folding 24/7 again!










Oh and if anyone is curious, here are my speeds with my Raid Card for the four SSD in Raid 0. I was getting the same speed with three SSD (maxed out the Raid Card I/O), added a fourth for the extra space.

Looking good!!!

Drool... Looks sick.

What case fans are those? They look like 20mm thin ones. Would love to get some feedback about your setup.

Also what gpu blocks are you running? Have you thought about separating the cpu and gpu into their own loops since you do have two pumps? It just looks like you are pumping the outlet of the cpu directly into your gpu without being cooled first. Or am I looking at it wrong? And you have the 4x fan radiator in a push/pull config?

And what case is that? I've seen it before, but can't remember for some odd reason. I'm gonna guess Enermax?


And obviously... whats powering your cards? hehe (no pcie 6/8pin connectors). I'm probably gonna jump upto the OCZ 1250w myself too. I knew my 850w wouldn't be enough, but I bought it when I was only powering one 5870 last year... Again, would love feed back (besides the other review sites that give it good reviews that I've read, I honestly don't know that many people who use OCZ psu besides myself).



Also, anyone know if you can run gpu cooler cards with no spacing in between? As if you had all 16x pcie slots, just stack like seven cards on top of each other or something for a folding machine? Just thinking out loud.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835200061
Rated at 40CFM, from what I understand it’s the perfect amount of air flow for my Swiftech Radiators. They are greatt because I can’t even hear the fans at max speeds.

They are Nvidia GTX 480 with the DangerDen Waterblock and DangerDen SLI fittings

I thought about it, but because I have two pumps, one at the start and one at the end, I am able to pass the water through the loop pretty quick without the water slowing down to much.

Actually that’s the end of the line for the loop, I have labeled the picture to show you the water flow. Also I have drawn arrows to show the push/pull of the fans.
1. Resivor > 2. Pump > 3. Single Radiator > 4. Double Radiator > 5. Quad radiator > 6. CPU > 7. Three GPU’s > 8. Pump > 9. Back to the Reservoir.


Rosewill BLACKHAWK-ULTRA Gaming Super Tower Computer Case, support up to HPTX, come with Eight Fans,Top HDD docking
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811147157

Lol, yeah at the time I still had to work on how I was going to run the power and zip tie the power cables. Love the OCZ Power supply, so far so good, and 100% module, wish the main power cable for the motherboard was a little longer, it’s also super stiff, so I had to work with it a bit.

Thx for the feedback! really appreciate it.

I'm going to assume you hopped on the recent newegg 480 deals along with microcenter instore deals on those DD's since they are around $50 or so... right? God, I wished I had a MC around here. I'm waiting for the 600's to hit the shelves so I can pick up some DD's from my 570's for uber cheap or buy them from a few friends who are more than likely dump their 500's for 600's. Finally trade up to my own LC since I've done a few small loops for others, but never SLI cooling.

Sure did, one heck of a deal for the 480 water blocks, bought them at Microcenter for 50 bucks! I'm lucky to have a Microcenter only 10 minutes away from work.

Hehe, I thought they were DD's, but couldn't tell from the pics.

Hey Pointeo13, inspiring rig.

About the routing of coolant water, would it be possible to route the coolant tubing lines to the CPU after the first radiator (labeled "3" in your photo) and then back to the second radiator (labeled "4") and then continue? I know nothing about water cooling so I'm asking from a place of little knowledge. Of course then the line back to the big 4 fan radiator would be coming straight from the top GPU. I don't know how much this would complicate things.

There's so many different ways you can route it, there's no one right way.

Personally, I would have put the radiators at the end of the loop so they cool the water before they get pumped into the reservoir; then split the radiators up so that the water is cooled directly after it hits the cpu with the 1 and 2 fan radiator, then back into the gpu loops and then into the 4 fan radiator.

In any case, its really how you want to route it and what your routing limitations are cause the tubes won't bend very well; specially those thick tygon lab tubes. The system will still pull the same amount of heat away from the system... provided they do leave the case.

lol, I had a friend who didn't do this correctly and had all radiators suck from the outside of the case... limited fan exhausts... I guess he figured it would cool and the heat would just... go into a black hole or something. Balancing your airflow is going to be important no matter if you air or liquid cool.

I can always spot DD's

Nice rig, inspiring on what I am thinking next as well.

I've only had the pleasure with playing around on EK and Koolance blocks. Really wished MC would sell off their older DD's online.

In all my research, everyone said it wouldn't make a differences where the radiators were in the loop, eventually the water will be the same temp through the entire loop. I'm finding this true since I have tried a couple different ways in the past, especially since I keep the computer on 24/7.

I have also read that. I have not tried to rearrange my loop yet to see if its true.

The only thing I'd say about his setup is that the water coming out of the cpu block is going to be heated a bit as its absorbing the heat from the cpu before it enters his gpu loop, but it doesn't reduce the cooling capacity of the water since it depends on how efficient his setup is at removing the total heat from the entire system. Just like a car.

Plus, he's got two pumps on that sucker to keep the water flowing so he really shouldn't see any real difference if he cooled the water after the cpu block before the gpu intake. It would just complicate his setup even more.

If he really wanted to test it out, grab some 4way nozzel blocks, a few water temp sensors, see what the temps are going in and out of the cpu block and the gpu loops; testing various setups. Would be a cool thing to test and read... (and give him more down time to folding so I can catch up! lol)

Woo haha. I left my window pretty open last night. My large rad is in front of the window pulling air in. Im seeing 33C on the top gpu! Its -4C outside right now. Since these would be running near 90-100C with aircooling im hooked on water for life now.

Sorry about the thread jack....

reminds of the old MPC user like 10+ years ago that sent in a picture of his computer workstation in Alaska... he just moved his entire desk and PC outside in the snow. lol

Yeah, a lot of water is being pushed through that system each minute. Routing issues are a minor concern with that level of flow going on.

I'm not talking about flow issues, just physical dimensions within the case itself.

Once you pack so much tubes in a space, even with a large case that like, it becomes a chore working on it; setup or any replacement/upgrades. That's why so many people like using the big mountain mod cases with that amount of cooling capacity, just more room to get your fingers and arms in the right places.

Yeah I think next round I am going to install quick disconnects, I''ll have to see how much they hamper the flow, but it would be nice since I remove the GPU's and CPU's every so often.

they shouldn't hinder flow too much or at all, they just add bulk to your connectors and they are pretty pricey. And with any kind of "quick disconnect", you still have to watch out for rouge water spills, but they are nice if you want to change out a card without having to remove your entire loop, but again... how often do you do that?