Liquid Cooling Reservoir / Pump Recommendations? (SilverStone RM-52)

Hardware Cooling
1

Hello All,

I’m looking for any recommendations people may have for a reservoir and pump (combo or otherwise) to fit in a Silverstone RM-52 (RM52).

While I am sure I can find a solution that fits well, most options I have found would make loop maintenance very challenging (due to where it needs to be mounted vs where I can drain from.

I have given consideration to putting a Passthrough G1/4 on one of the expansion slots in the back, but this would require I remove the server from the rack for loop maintenance - not ideal, but also not a deal breaker.

I have also given thought to having the front-most radiator be 240mm rather than the full 360mm. This would leave one fan mount point open where I could both mount things and pass a drain tube through the front of the chassis.

Here is everything that would be cooled by the loop:

  • i9-14900K
  • nVidia 4090 OC
  • nVidia 3080
  • 3x m.2 2280 NVMe (if I can find a plate and fittings that will work)

Has anyone worked with this case from Silverstone? Any recommendations would be very welcome.

Thank you in advance you any advice!

Best,
AX

2

That’s a lot of hot hardware for a loop… how much radiator are we talking about here? That’s already approaching MO-RA3 420 radiator territory… Unless you don’t care about the acoustics, because a few super loud fans would let you reduce the radiator area required. Otherwise a full size MO-RA3 and some Koolance QD3 or QD4 quick-disconnects on the expansion slots would give you most of what you need for a low-noise, easy access setup. Furthermore Watercool.de makes some slick reservoir/D5 combos that mount to the side of a MO-RA3.

Regardless, I recommend one of the variable speed Laing D5 / MCP655 pumps. There’s a dozen variations of them these days. Be aware the Alphacool VPP655 is an imperfect clone, I’d avoid it because of the QC and pump housing / top compatibility issues with it. The DDC pumps are fine, but they are undersized for the loop you’re planning.

I have a Swiftech branded D5 (MCP655-B vario) that’s been running fine since 2006. As long as you build your loop right (ie no silver coils, no abrasive loop coolants, no opaque colors that require titanium dioxide, etc) the D5’s will last you past a decade.

Reservoirs are harder to recommend, you can get ones that are designed to let you directly mount a D5 pump on them but it depends on what and where you plan to mount them more than anything else as to the type that is best for you.

3

Kougar,

Thank you for the feedback.

As for radiator space, I am looking at a total of 620mm to 740mm of radiator surface area (less if I can get away with it… The RM52, has the ability to hold two 360mm radiators within the chassis - one just front of mid-line in the case and one at the front - right behind the front panel. There is also a 120mm fan mount found in the back above the rear I/O of the motherboard.

With the amount of radiator space and where they would go pretty much sorted, the real issue I am facing is what reservoir(s) and pump I should use. Given this is a 5U rack chassis, I will have some decent vertical space to play with; however, I also want to ensure I don’t box myself into a corner when it comes to servicing the loop. Gravity being what it is and all, I’d like to make sure I can relatively easily empty the loop come time.

As for horizontal space… now that’s another story. A substantial amount of this space will be taken up by the radiators alone. In the RM52 the forward most 360 rad mount is positioned at the bottom of the chassis, while the mid-line 360 rad mount is positioned at the top of the chassis. I will gain some space back once the waterblocks are installed on the 4090 and 3080; however, most pumps and reservoirs I have found seem to be more cylindrical and thus taking up a larger amount of horizontal space.

Finally, fans and noise. As this system will be within the rack in the basement, I am not very concerned about noise… that said, I’m also hoping to avoid a Dell Server - I mean jet engine decibel level as well.

Thanks again for your assistance.

Best,
AX

4

Ah I didn’t look closely enough at the page, I see what you’re talking about now.

Given a multi-radiator setup like that, I don’t think there will be a truly quick and easy way to drain the loop. You’d either need to rotate the system around a bunch, or use the pump to flush the loop out with clean water, or carefully use compressed air or an air blower like a datavac to gently force most of the coolant out. Obviously the air pressure option should only be used for a soft tube loop with barb & clamp style fittings.

On the flipside, if you use distilled water and a decent algaecide in conjunction with a reservoir, you can extend the service life between loop maintenance to 1-2 years. Perhaps longer. The flipside is you will need to regularly take the entire server to blow out the radiators regularly. With a MORA3 you can just use quick-disconnects, carry it outside and blow it out with a datavac without messing with the server itself.

Assuming a full load dual 360’s are probably going to be on the warm side, and arranging them as depicted will mean the second one will be ingesting heat from the first one despite the height offset. My previous rig was a horizontal 3x140 by 60mm in the top of my case and it got toasty warm with just an old 4790K, 1080 Ti and fans around 900rpm. My current 7700x & 4090 are air cooled for the time being, yet they put out way more heat into the room… and I know a 7700X is half the power consumption of a 14900K. And you’re adding a 3080 onto that anyway. A dual 360 radiator setup with that hardware is going to be warmer than you might be expecting for 24/7 loading.

I recommend against watercooling the SSDs, most motherboards stick them under heatsinks anyway. The loop restriction from them isn’t going to help temps anyway, so unless you plan to run the SSDs under 24/7 loading scenarios I’d say watercooling them isn’t needed.

For a reservoir, again I’m not sure where you plan to mount it. Where the removable drive cage is? From the SSD mounts on the support strut? Just to toss names out there’s the Aquacomputer ULTITUBE, the Watercool HEATKILLER, horizontal tubes that may have bubble issues, and then this 4U thing that won’t work in the front of that case as they depict but can probably be tucked in somewhere else and gives you a pump mount.

A 5U rack is certainly tall enough for standing 100-150mm height reservoirs that mount a D5 to the underside. Most cylinder reservoirs are intended to be mounted vertically so if you use them sideways the pump will either draw in air once there’s a small amount of coolant evaporation, or just bubble up the loop.

If you want hardcore watercooling advice you can check out r/watercooling and visit their very active discord channel. They might even know of better rackmount watercooling cases to suggest for you.

5

How is your build coming? I’ve just started building in the same case. I’ve got a EK-Quantum P360 at the front running to a EK-Quantum P260 X-Flow, so I can to transition to the GPU easier.

I’m hung up on different options for the pump and reservoir. Tomorrow I’m going to receive the EK-Quantum Kinetic TBE 160 because one of the intakes is on the opposite side of the outlet so I can flow through without routing tubes everywhere. Hopefully it will work out.