iightfyre Posted September 11, 2020 Share Posted September 11, 2020 Hi Corsair Forum! You all have been so helpful, I figured that I would come back and ask a few more questions so here goes... 1) The CX7 preinstalled thermal paste appears to be way larger than the contact surface with the i9-10900KF. Would you recommend that I use the preinstalled paste or remove / replace with new paste? *See below 2) I see most every build places the inlet / outlet horizontally. Is this the best way to install or can it go vertically? 3) My CPU will have a separate loop - I currently have it slated for 1x 420mm Corsair Radiator which is significantly thinner than the 480mm rads I got from corsair. It will be fully equipped with 6x QL140mm fans in push/pull on the top of the case (air flowing out). Will this be sufficient cooling power if I plan on OCing the CPU in BIOS to 5.0Ghz static on all cores? (My other thought was to switch to 2x 360mm rads with 12x QL120mm fans in push pull and trying to get a hold of a new fan tray for the top the my Obsidian 1000D. But I am hesitant because that would potentially add 10 more fans and I would have to rethink a lot of the RGB and have to wait for a fan tray to be in stock. On top of returning $400 in fans/radiators that I won't use if I swap rad configs on my top tray) As always, any help is greatly appreciated!! Thanks -iightfyre Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeDoyen Posted September 11, 2020 Share Posted September 11, 2020 with that kind of overclock it may pull 300 - 350W tops, so your 420 isn't going to struggle at all. You could pull it off easily on a 360 or a 280. Regarding the position of the waterblock, place it in the way that makes the more sense for your loop. That's the good point with waterblocks for Intel, you can rotate it any way you like. Just mind inlet/outlet of course. About the thermal paste, it's up to you. it doesn't matter if parts of it won't touch the CPU. If you already have some kryonaut or other good paste loungin about, you can replace the stock paste. You'll gain a couple of °C, but it's not necesary, just personal preference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employee Corsair HP Posted September 11, 2020 Corsair Employee Share Posted September 11, 2020 Hi there, LeDoyen already pretty much answered your questions but I will pitch in as well. 1: No need to remove the paste, and you should not see a significant increase in changing it to another thermal paste. 2: As stated in the manual, you can rotate the block any way you like, as long as you use the correct inlet (right port on the block, when looking from the front) 3: 140mm radiators from CORSAIR comes only in the 30mm thick variant, but your 420mm will still be plenty to cool your CPU. If you already have two 480mm radiators in the front, that should also be plenty to cool both CPU/GPU. I would actually advice to just run a single loop, as you will then split the thermal load between all radiators. For example, when you play games, the CPU is not under as much load as the graphics card(s) and it can be an advantage to let the graphics card(s) utilize the CPU radiator. Multiple loops is mostly to have different color coolants, and is mainly just for the looks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iightfyre Posted September 11, 2020 Author Share Posted September 11, 2020 Thanks for the replies! I was really thinking 2 loops for these reasons 1) if running GPU + CPU + 420, 480, 480 rads - worried I am maxing out the capabilities of one XD5 pump. Am I being neurotic? I was imagining 2 loops would split the load to allow for better water flow - smaller actual distance per dedicated pumps = more water cycles / minute = better temps? Wondering if I am overthinking that? 2) I do love the way it looks to have 2 pumps :D Drawback = more points of failure, more expensive, 70% of rad surface area is GPU only - not being efficient? (but I kinda figured a 3090 might get way hotter than the CPU) As long as there is no performance impact then I will likely stay with 2 loops as I already purchased them as well as more than enough fittings and coolant to handle the extra volume. Plus the 1x XD5 looks dwarfed in that case but 2x looks sexy :D Any other reasons besides the above mentioned to rethink my loop configurations? As always, super appreciate the community here!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeDoyen Posted September 11, 2020 Share Posted September 11, 2020 the CPU will always be hotter. I spare you the fancy explanations about architectural differences, transistor densityu bla bla bla.. the GPU is a massive die.. the CPU is very small.. heat density is completely different. So, even with your pump at full speed and fans maxed out, you will always see the CPU reaching "high" temps under heavy load. Example from my pc: running unigine heaven and cinebench in loop got the 10900k up to 78°C, but the 2080 only reached 45°. GPUs are cooled very efficiently under watercooling, because heat is generated in a much wider area than CPUs. Regarding pump capacity, same story. usually the most restrictive elements are the waterblocks. you could even set up a parallel loop to split the load between blocks and increase waterflow in the whole loop, making radiators be the biggest restriction. a single XD5 would make it work very easily, serial or parallel. So yea, dual loop, totally overkill, but so is your case lol! So yea, have fun :) it's totally unnecessary, hence indispensible :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iightfyre Posted September 12, 2020 Author Share Posted September 12, 2020 Thanks for the great info! I am going to proceed as planned with my 2 loops for looks and since I already specced it and drew out my connection diagrams. After getting it up and OCd I will monitor temps and see if I want to rethink the loops and rads. Thanks again so much for the insight!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeDoyen Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 You'll find that your first loop is never the one you keep long term ^^ then.. you'll find you never keep any loop long term >_> it's too much fun to fiddle and perfect it with time lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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