Some questions about first water cooling build. Would really appreciate the help!

Vizhous · Feb 23, 2015

Hello Guys,

I want to do my first water cooling build but I have a few questions and I would really appreciate it if someone could help me a little bit.

So first of all, my components:

Corsair 900D
AMD FX8350
Nvidia GTX 770
ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z

So my build itself is not that strong and I plan on upgrading it later on this year, so yea, I know that. I just want to build my first water cooled system right now and later on add newer/better components. What I definitely want to do is adding 1 or 2 gpus later on this year, so for now I just want to cool the FX8350.

So I want to use 2 480 radiators (yep I know, overkill) and I want to use a single pump/single loop. First of all, is a single pump (right now im looking at EK X-TOP D5) enough for 2 480s, cpu, 2gpus and so on? I see alot of dual loops in builds and I am not quite sure if thats just overkill/for the looks or if its necessary.

So right now I want to buy the following components:

2x Alphacool UT60 480
8x Corsair SP120 Quiet Edition
1x EK Supremacy MX
1x EK EK-RES X3 250
1x EK X-TOP D5
10x EK ACF Fitting 1/2 and 3/4
1x PrimoChill Primoflex Advanced LRT 3m

So I have a few questions:

- First of all, are these parts okay, do they all work together just fine or did I forget/miss out on something? The Radiators are full copper and I don't exactly know about the rest but I read that copper/nickel ist fine together, is that true?

- Do I also need a block for my motherboard? I read that it can be necessary but I don't know if it is for my board, since I also read that motherboard blocks need stronger pumps etc. (Look at motherboard block 2.0 PSI (Pump guide)). I have no fan directly on to my motherboard so it may be needed? Overall I have just 3 front fans and 1 back fan besides the radiator fans.

- In addition to the question above is my pump strong enough/ok for 2 480's 1 cpu later on maybe 2gpus etc? Ive seen a lot of people run dual loops/dual pump but I don't know if it's really a necessity. And also is that pump good?

- My fittings and tubing are all right?

- I chose the reservoir kind of randomly but I guess it's ok? As far as I know they don't change that much and its more about looks, isn't it?

- Fans: I'm kind of split between SP120 and NB Eloop, anyone got some experience with them? I just want to decide between these too, can't get gentle typhoons here and don't like noctua. Also, do you think I need push/pull? Will I need it after adding 2 gpus? I heard eloops are loud in push/pull so that I should better go with the SP120s. I think I'll just go with the Corsair SP120 since eloops are loud in either push or pull I don't know anymore and maybe I need that later on?

So thank you very much in advance and I would really appreciate any help/comments etc. !

geofelt · Feb 23, 2015

What do you wish to accomplish?
For the money you spend on those parts, you can buy a i4-4790K and motherboard that at stock will outperform a highly overclocked FX-8350.

rubix_1011 · Feb 23, 2015

A D5 is plenty strong for a loop larger than that, but as geofelt mentions...what are your goals? If it is hardware performance, you might consider upgrading MB, CPU, GPU, etc.

If you want to get into watercooling, this would work...might make some adjustments to your loop components...there's other options out there that would be cheaper...plus, you're way overkill on rads, by a long shot.

Vizhous · Feb 23, 2015

Ok guys thank you very much for your input!

So first of all, yes it would be probably better to just get an Intel.

I just don't really want to right now, I bought this MB and CPU almost 2 years ago and tbh at that moment I didnt really expect AMD to be out of the CPU market like they are right now, thats also why I bought a more expensive MB. I just wanted to upgrade the CPU later on and be fine, oh well. Now that there are no better CPU's than mine, or atleast the fx 9590 is kind of equal to a highly overclocked 8350 I just thought ok, I'll stick with my cpu for now and later on switch to Intel. I also thought that in most of my Games a newer GPU would help me more than a better CPU so I wanted to go with Overclocking my FX8350 to around 4,8 5,0 but I guess I overestimated the perfomance increase.

Buying a new CPU and a new MB (I would probably not go with a budget MB) would also be quite expensive and I think I would rather want to build my water cooling loop for that money than buying a new CPU even though that's probably the wrong decision perfomance wise.

So ok, rubix_1011 what adjustments do you recommend? Getting a cheaper loop would always be nice.

Well on the radiators, as you probably read I got an 900D, so alot of Space and filling that would be quite nice. Although I have to say I could also go with a 480 and a 240 in the bottom while having nothing on top. That wouldn't be thaaat overkill and also a little bit quiter since its not right next to my ear.

rubix_1011 · Feb 23, 2015

Well, ultimately, this is going to depend on budget, planning and expectations.

Vizhous · Feb 23, 2015

Ok, so I don't want to go higher than what I wrote up there, and thats around 500 Euros. My expectations are to get low temperatures, right now If I oc it to 4,8 I will get to 80c in prime 95 and I don't want to exceed 60/65 under full load in p95.

Of which parts did you think when you wrote that I could get cheaper parts or that you would make some adjustments?

What do you think of an MB Block in my case? As I can see in your first reply you think that the d5 will be more than enough? What's with the Reservoir? Which components would be cheaper/better?

prettyflvcko · Feb 23, 2015

These parts will all fit together
2x Alphacool UT60 480
8x Corsair SP120 Quiet Edition
1x EK Supremacy MX
1x EK EK-RES X3 250
1x EK X-TOP D5
10x EK ACF Fitting 1/2 and 3/4
1x PrimoChill Primoflex Advanced LRT 3m

First of all a waterblock on this motherboard will be completely useless.
Second of all this pump can support up to 4 waterblocks and up to 3 360mm radiators.
Third of all your fittings and tubing will fit together. The inside diameter of the tubing is 1/2 the outside diameter of the tubing is 3/4 and your fittings are 1/2-3/4 so everything is perfect.
Fourth of all you reservoir is okai, you'll have anough liquid to keep everything cooled down in your system.
Fifth of all these fans will be perfect, they can pull high pressure at low rpm's. For now only a push configuration will be enough and even if you add another GPU it will be enough. Push/Pull won't do that much of a difference in your case mate.

I hope I could solve all your interrogations.

Best Regards
Marc

Vizhous · Feb 23, 2015

prettyflvcko :

Thank you very much! Yes that solves a lot of questions! Could you expand on the motherboard block part? I'm happy it's not needed since it costs a lot but why is it useless? Is it in general not needed that much or is the board itself the reason why it doesn't need extra cooling?

And since the pump can support 3 360's it can also support 2 480's since 3 360's have a slightly bigger surface area, am I right? Just a guess at how it's "calculated".

prettyflvcko · Feb 23, 2015

Vizhous :

prettyflvcko :

Thank you very much! Yes that solves a lot of questions! Could you expand on the motherboard block part? I'm happy it's not needed since it costs a lot but why is it useless? Is it in general not needed that much or is the board itself the reason why it doesn't need extra cooling?

And since the pump can support 3 360's it can also support 2 480's since 3 360's have a slightly bigger surface area, am I right? Just a guess at how it's "calculated".

If your CPU is well cooled you don't need to worry about this. Since you have an FX-8350 you probably won't acheive 5.5ghz overclock, so no worries to have with this. And 3 360's have a slightly bigger surface area so yes it supports two 480mm rads. People that are cooling their boards are doing it for the look most of the time. Don't forget to pick the solution.

Vizhous · Feb 23, 2015

prettyflvcko :

Vizhous :

If your CPU is well cooled you don't need to worry about this. Since you have an FX-8350 you probably won't acheive 5.5ghz overclock, so no worries to have with this. And 3 360's have a slightly bigger surface area so yes it supports two 480mm rads. People that are cooling their boards are doing it for the look most of the time. Don't forget to pick the solution.

Ah, ok!

Sure, thank you very much for all of your answers, it helped me a lot!

prettyflvcko · Feb 23, 2015

Vizhous :

prettyflvcko :

Vizhous :

If your CPU is well cooled you don't need to worry about this. Since you have an FX-8350 you probably won't acheive 5.5ghz overclock, so no worries to have with this. And 3 360's have a slightly bigger surface area so yes it supports two 480mm rads. People that are cooling their boards are doing it for the look most of the time. Don't forget to pick the solution.

Ah, ok!

Sure, thank you very much for all of your answers, it helped me a lot!

You're welcome. Enjoy your watercooling system

Vizhous · Feb 23, 2015

prettyflvcko :

Vizhous :

If your CPU is well cooled you don't need to worry about this. Since you have an FX-8350 you probably won't acheive 5.5ghz overclock, so no worries to have with this. And 3 360's have a slightly bigger surface area so yes it supports two 480mm rads. People that are cooling their boards are doing it for the look most of the time. Don't forget to pick the solution.

Just reread your post and just want to be safe: But 5 ghz would be ok?

prettyflvcko · Feb 23, 2015

Vizhous :

prettyflvcko :

Just reread your post and just want to be safe: But 5 ghz would be ok?

Yes it will.

Vizhous · Feb 23, 2015

Ok, thank you very much for all of your help !

rubix_1011 · Feb 24, 2015

Just to clarify, a reservoir has no impact on cooling ability of a watercooling system. It will allow a little longer time for load temps to reach equilibrium, but that is only a matter of minutes. If your system is running for more than 5-15 minutes at a time, then this isn't a valid cooling concern. A reservoir is intended to allow trapped air a location to be purged to as well as providing additional liquid volume in the event air displaces in the loop or a small leak forms.

For the loop you are proposing, you could easily have chosen an XSPC D5 kit and come out cheaper, especially if you are only cooling your CPU at this point and are thinking of expanding later. Although, the parts you have chosen are fine, it really depends if you are going to follow your future plans or not. If so, the D5/MCP655 is a great pump to use, regardless where you get it or how it is branded.

I feel a lot of these threads are being asked/answered in such a quick turnaround without consideration of what actually should be planned and considered with some informative that isn't always spot on. Watercooling really isn't a 20 minute plan and decision, but it seems like many threads are.

Vizhous · Feb 24, 2015

rubix_1011 :

Okay, thank you! I knew what the reservoir was basically for but didn't know if it could impact performance too, so that's nice to know!

I plan on following my plans and I know that there are cheaper solutions for what I currently want to do but in this case its not all about perfomance! Its just that I really want to build a custom waterloop because I wanted to build one for a long time already and I just want to do this next "challenge". Thanks for the input on the pump!

I really understand what you mean and I'm definitely not the most patient guy, but it's also not like I just came up with this idea a week ago, although it may seem like that. I already saw more clueless people asking for complete lists of watercooling parts for their system without coming up with one themselfs.

From the beginning on I was kind of sure that I wanted 2 480's, its overkill, but its not random. I needed to know which pump to use and even that was already decided on a d5, it's just that I found this thread I linked above which mentioned motherboard blocks and that increased the need of a strong pump by a lot, atleast in that thread.

Well, like I said, I understand where you're coming from and I thank you for your input!

rubix_1011 · Feb 24, 2015

I'd strongly recommend for you to do as much information gathering as you can or need to do...don't just assume that the first answers you get are always right and don't discount that there might be correct and incorrect data interwoven with one another. Research is your best friend and will help you to determine what is the best solution for you...since it's your money and system in question.

Some questions about first water cooling build. Would really appreciate the help!

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