Watercooling

[Mals14]

Originally Posted by musicfan

List looks better each time. Are you getting the Swiftech 35x2 heatsink? It's up to you but wanted to make sure you considered it.

List updated. I just placed my order and I included the Heatsink.

Originally Posted by musicfan

At the ASUS site, it lists specs for the RE4 socket 2011. It shows:

2 x CPU Fan connector(s)
3 x Chassis Fan connector(s)
3 x Optional Fan connector(s)

On my ASUS mid-level P8Z77-V, the optional cpu connector, cpu2 fan connector, must run at the same speed as cpu1 so I figure both of your cpu are for your pumps. I only have four fan headers so none are called "optional".

It would help to know if your fan header is discrete or part of header 3. If it is separate, then you could use a splitter for both AP141 since they are only .22 Amps each. Any other fans?

I have 8 total fans: 5 rad fans Cooljag 120mm, 2 AP141 fans as intake, 1 Cooljag 140 for hard-drives and one more if I add it to the pump heat sink.

Originally Posted by musicfan

Andy may know or ASUS support will know for sure but you may eventually want to know what ASUS considers your safe fan amperage limit (likely 1 or 2 amps) for that particular motherboard's fan headers. That mobo is too nice to overload a fan header.

It also appears you can control your AP141 fan speed with voltage cables they give you too, which will work as a fan controller and probably not involve the motherboard. That's the obvious solution should you decide 12 volts at 30dBA is too loud. 7 volts should be quiet at 1000 rpm and that 140 mm fan should still move air.

That's all I can think of for now. I wrote the e-Store at ASUS (about the amp question) but not sure they will reply. You might want to take a peak at the Parts-Guide sticky under fans & controllers and see if there is any helpful background information to speed up your searches. Take your time and keep asking questions.

I will have to do some research on that. Thanks for looking into it.

[musicfan]

Super on the fans. Suggest starting with 5 rad fans off motherboard (1 fan per header). That leaves one fan header open for your loudest fan(s) left. Put the 2 rpm controls for the pumps on the mb cpu 4 pin headers of cpu1 and cpu2. When you add a heat sink fan, it is small (80 mm? 60mm?). Just get a quiet one (around 20 dBA?) since you will have it very close to the pump and don't much cfm. Then you can run that to psu.

Will let you know if I hear back from ASUS. Congratulations on a complete list...at least for the moment.

[apw63]

From the RE4 manual on page 2-37

“The CPU_FAN connector supports the CPU fan of maximum 1A (12 W) fan power.”

This comes from Raja@ASUS in response to a similar question on the ROC forum.

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?12912-R4E-Question-about-4pin-plug-max-watt-support-for-fans

POST #9 is Raja (TeamROC ADMIN) response

“That is correct. Each header is rated at 1 amp max (12 Watts).”

I normally do not power any of my fans from the motherboard. If it’s more than one fan on a header I power it from the PSU. I let the motherboard control the fans and let the PSU power them.

All 6 of my RAD fans are conected the the CPU fan header via a splitter. The fans are powered from the PSU.

Andy

[musicfan]

Thanks Andy. I got the same 1 amp per header reply by phone today with ASUS motherboard support. They also told me that they have nothing against using more than one fan if it is under the 1 amp / 12 Watts but may deny warranty if there is sign of physical damage to the motherboard including heat damage or popped caps.

[Mals14]

Originally Posted by apw63

All 6 of my RAD fans are conected the the CPU fan header via a splitter. The fans are powered from the PSU.

Andy

That is probably what I'll do...thanks. Would this splitter achieve the above goal?

Just bought the water filter and fountain pump to clean my radiators according to Musicfan's guide. Though I need to order 1/2" Barbs to use on my radiator since the tubing is not a snug fit with my compression fittings. That will delay the rad cleaning another week . On a positive note, I was able to run my CPU block through the cleaning loop!

I found these filters for the water cooling loop. Anyone use these? They might increase the time to next maintenance on a loop...

[Transnone13]

I've got nothing but why not 1/2"?

[Mals14]

Nvm, I was able to use the 1/2" barbs from my CPU block and attach them to the rad. Tubing fit nicely. Now cleaning the new rads.

[apw63]

[quote=Mals14;4035277]That is probably what I'll do...thanks. Would this splitter achieve the above goal?...QUOTE]

That is the splitter I use. I have bought 3 splitter and had FrozenCPU sleeve them for me. When Frozen reassembled the splitter they did it wrong. The wire order on two of the legs were out of order. I had to get my ohm meter out and fix the splitter before it worked correctly. To run 6 fans you will need another Y splitter.

Andy

[Mals14]

I am looking to do a push/pull configuration and the radiator screws ( 1-1/8" length)are not long enough to allow attachment of case-fan-rad. Any suggestions on which screws to use and where to buy them? Im guessing i need Black machine screws 6-32, 1-1/4"?

[musicfan]

Are you still using the HW Labs Black Ice SR1? About 1/2 way down the features list, they say M4 screws. Measure the length you need and go to a real hardware store with the best selection of screws and bolts. They can cut it for you or you can if you have a bolt cutter often found electrician multi-purpose tools. While there get rubber washers to fit M4 or 6-32 screws. Put a rubber washer between all metal vibrating parts. Make sure you don't puncture your water-tube of your rad when you install. Good luck.

[Mals14]

Originally Posted by musicfan

Are you still using the HW Labs Black Ice SR1? About 1/2 way down the features list, they say M4 screws. Measure the length you need and go to a real hardware store with the best selection of screws and bolts. They can cut it for you or you can if you have a bolt cutter often found electrician multi-purpose tools. While there get rubber washers to fit M4 or 6-32 screws. Put a rubber washer between all metal vibrating parts. Make sure you don't puncture your water-tube of your rad when you install. Good luck.

Yes, same radiator. Good tip on the rubber washers.

[The Dude]

put a nut on the screw before cutting it and then back the nut over the cut and off the screw to repair any mashed thread from the cutting process.

[Mals14]

Originally Posted by apw63

That is the splitter I use. I have bought 3 splitter and had FrozenCPU sleeve them for me. When Frozen reassembled the splitter they did it wrong. The wire order on two of the legs were out of order. I had to get my ohm meter out and fix the splitter before it worked correctly. To run 6 fans you will need another Y splitter.

Andy

If I understand it correctly, do my fans have to be PWM fans in order to use this splitter? I ask because I am buying more fans in order to do a push pull config for my top 360 rad. I will probably need to buy 4 more fans. On a side note, I don't think I have space at bottom to do a push pull config on my 240 rad.

[apw63]

Originally Posted by Mals14

If I understand it correctly, do my fans have to be PWM fans in order to use this splitter? I ask because I am buying more fans in order to do a push pull config for my top 360 rad. I will probably need to buy 4 more fans. On a side note, I don't think I have space at bottom to do a push pull config on my 240 rad.

No you do not have to use 4 pin fans to use the splitter. If you have one 4 pin fan as the master, the 3 pin slaves should work just fine. You will get unknown fan RPM on the 3 pin fans. Say you have one 4 pin brand X fan and three 3 pin fans of brand Y. If they are all 1000-2000 rpm fans will all the fans run at the same speed? I don't know if the fans will or will not. PWM will be telling the 4pin fan to spin at X rpm, does that same voltage translate in to the same X RPM to the 3 pin fans. It’s up to you which fans you buy 4 pin or 3 pin. For the components that you are cooling 120.3, 140.2 will be enough RAD, push pull maybe over kill but more is always better right?


Andy

[NilsJohan]

Originally Posted by apw63

No you do not have to use 4 pin fans to use the splitter. If you have one 4 pin fan as the master, the 3 pin slaves should work just fine. You will get unknown fan RPM on the 3 pin fans. Say you have one 4 pin brand X fan and three 3 pin fans of brand Y. If they are all 1000-2000 rpm fans will all the fans run at the same speed? I don't know if the fans will or will not. PWM will be telling the 4pin fan to spin at X rpm, does that same voltage translate in to the same X RPM to the 3 pin fans. It’s up to you which fans you buy 4 pin or 3 pin. For the components that you are cooling 120.3, 140.2 will be enough RAD, push pull maybe over kill but more is always better right?


Andy

I believe that the 3-pin 'slaves' will simply run at full speed all the time. The speed of the PWM fan is regulated by a signal that is sent on the 4th pin. The fan itself gets full voltage all the time, but the PWM signal 'tells' the fan how fast to spin. If you check on the Akasa splitter (which I also have) you will see that one fan has all 4 pins (this is the 'reporting fan' that reports fan speed) while the rest has only 3 pins, one of them is to receive PWM, the other two receive the voltage. I believe the 4 to 3 pin converter simply leaves out the PWM pin (the 4th pin) and simply gives the 3 pin fan the full voltage straight up.

As a side note, I have had problems regulating my fans using my Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe motherboard, but I believe this is a software issue. The motherboard seems to attempt to regulate my fans using voltage regulation, which does not work on the splitter, since the voltage from the motherboard does not supply the fans. The only way I got it to work properly was by putting one fan on the CPU header and the splitter on the CPU_OPT header. Since I got it to work this way I haven't really played around with it much.

[apw63]

You are right Nils, the more I thought about it this afternoon I knew I had posted some bad info. This link to PWM is all you need to know about it.

Pasted for section 3.3 Fan Speed Response to PWM Control Input Signal

The PWM input shall be delivered to the fan through the control signal on Pin 4 (see Section
2.1.4). Fan speed response to this signal shall be a continuous and monotonic function of the duty
cycle of the signal, from 100% to the minimum specified RPM. The fan RPM (as a percentage of
maximum RPM) should match the PWM duty cycle within ±10%. If no control signal is present
the fan shall operate at maximum RPM. See Figure 3.

I control all 10 of the fans in my system from the bios. I have 7 Noiseblocker NB-Multiframe M12-P 120mmx25mm Ultra Silent PWM Fan - 1000-2000 RPM - 12-29 dBA and 3Phobya Nano-G 14 140mm x 25mm Black Silent PWM Fan. The 6 RAD fans are attached to the CPU fan header. 2 of the 140mm are attached to one of the case fan headers by a splitter and the other 2 fans one 120 and one 140 are attached to another case fan header. Power for all the RAD fans comes from the PSU. In the bios I have the CPU fan control set to silent. The case fan headers are set to standard. At idle my RAD fans run at 1000 to 1100 rpm, under full load (CPU and both GPUs) the RAD fan average around 1400 rpms. CPU runs high 40s C GPUs average around the same at 23 C ambient. I don’t control my fans with software. The ASUS control software is not very good for my RE3. The RE4 control software is in a whole different class of control.


Andy

[Mals14]

Great news, just got my gpu waterblocks from Germanyl! Bad news...I forgot to order the bridge for the blocks.

Additional Comment:

Originally Posted by NilsJohan

I believe that the 3-pin 'slaves' will simply run at full speed all the time.

If the 3 pin fans run at full speed then why bother. And why does Akasa make it sound like all five fans will be 'controlled'?

Originally Posted by NilsJohan

If you check on the Akasa splitter (which I also have) you will see that one fan has all 4 pins (this is the 'reporting fan' that reports fan speed) while the rest has only 3 pins, one of them is to receive PWM, the other two receive the voltage. I believe the 4 to 3 pin converter simply leaves out the PWM pin (the 4th pin) and simply gives the 3 pin fan the full voltage straight up.

As I understand it:
1st pin-Ground
2nd pin-Power
3rd pin-Sensor
4th pin-PWM

So the splitter is leaving out the 4th pin on the 4 fans with 3pin connectors? So there is no PWM on those 4 fans?

[apw63]

Originally Posted by Mals14

If the 3 pin fans run at full speed then why bother. And why does Akasa make it sound like all five fans will be 'controlled'?



As I understand it:
1st pin-Ground
2nd pin-Power
3rd pin-Sensor
4th pin-PWM

So the splitter is leaving out the 4th pin on the 4 fans with 3pin connectors? So there is no PWM on those 4 fans?

No the splitter leaves out the 3rd pin not the 4th. The 4th is where the control comes from, the 3rd pin is sense or RPM. With out the 4th pin the fans will run full speed.

Andy

[Mals14]

Originally Posted by apw63

No he splitter leaves out the 3 pin not the 4th. The 4th is where the control comes from, the 3rd pin is sense or RPM. With out the 4th pin the fans will run full speed.

Andy

That makes sense...no pun intended! Thanks for the explanation.

So it turns out my Heatkiller GPU waterblocks are not compatible with the ASUS GTX 680's. I took off the Heatsink and the layout is different than the original GTX 680. I guess I failed to read that it is compatible to the reference Nvidia GTX 680 PCB only!!!!

Any suggestions on how to proceed? I see one of two options:
1) Try to return the gpu waterblocks and use the asus gtx 680's without watercooling them or
2) Try to return the video cards and buy ones with the reference pcb's. Though I'm not sure which brand sells the cards with reference pcb's...

[musicfan]

Sorry to hear about the compatibility issue. Not many manufacturers make non-reference VGA water-blocks. From your links, it is clear the ASUS is not reference (under the specs) while the Heatkiller you linked to is for reference.

I checked the Koolance Wizard and the EK Cooling Configurator wizard. EK makes this model for the non-reference ASUS. You would probably want a backplate too. I saw nothing else at FrozenCPU or the Heatkiller (Watercool.de) site or the Danger Den site either.

Otherwise, you can sell the ASUS gtx 680's to someone who wants to air-cool and get reference 680's. You might talk to the vendors. Not sure the ASUS would still be under warranty if dissembled. But the Heatkillers should be and could they be returned?

Also am not sure you can live with the EK design so check that out. EK's new VGA block is unusual with two ports in front. The more typical is on top like the Heatkiller with front & back ports. So to SLI, you would likely want to email EK because the style is new. I am not sure what bridges to recommend for example.

Perhaps others will have better ideas. Hang in there.