First Liquid Cooling Setup

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
R

RoboticPlayer

Commendable
Oct 29, 2016
2
0
1,510
I've never done any water cooling before, or much cooling at all, as my build is all stock heatsink and fans. However, I am setting up a build for my friend (will be building it later, just picking the parts), and want to know a bit more about liquid cooling.

What parts can be liquid cooled? Is it just the CPU?

How do you set up liquid cooling in a new system?

What all do you need to have a liquid loop?

I know my friend will want liquid cooling, and possibly need it. He will be doing gaming and video editing for YouTube, so he will likely overclock, but still want quiet performance.

Also, what would be the best case to get for a water cooled build? Here is the current build.

So I just need an opinion on what case I should get and how I should go about water cooling the rig. I had heard something about the CoolerMaster H115i but don't really know anything about it.

Thanks in advance, RoboticPlayer
 
Solution
K
If you have a res/pump combo, I would recommend the Corsair 750D, I have one and its amazing. I have a triple radiator on the top and a dual radiator in the front.
It has 2 120mm fan ports on the bottom that you could use for a radiator as well.

For custom loop parts, I would get everything off of EKWB website. They make amazing parts. Theres two types of custom loops. Hard tubing and soft tubing. Hard tubing is a little more expensive and uses acrylic tubes that you use a heat gun to bend the way you want. They look much nicer but they need special fittings and they take a lot more work to build the loop with since you have to plan ahead how you want each bend.

Soft tubing its the opposite. Its easy, uses regular compression...
Sort by date Sort by votes
K

KeelinTy

Reputable
Nov 20, 2014
929
0
5,660
What kind of water cooling. Custom loop or all in one? All in one is the H115i and a custom loop is those fancy photos you see with colorful tubes.

With a custom loop, you can water cool almost everything in your system, motherboard, cpu, gpu and sometimes even the SSD haha. Plus you get bragging rights saying you have one. And when people come over, they are amazed at the tubes and colors in your system.

Custom loops are more of a hobby though and an expensive at that. My custom loop cost me about $500 usd for a res, a 360mm radiator, a 240mm radiator, a pump, a cpu block and a gpu block. And thats not including fans. With my loop, it was about an extra $80 for decent fans

A all in one (aio) would be much easier and cheaper. About $100ish for a aio with 240mm of rad space. But aio coolers only cover the CPU. Some gpus, you can buy addons that allow you to hook up an aio cooler to it but I personally find that unattractive.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
rubix_1011

rubix_1011

Contributing Writer
Moderator
Jan 12, 2007
16,707
660
60,190
I would recommend reading through the watercooling sticky at the top of the forum (also linked below in my signature).

There are a lot of things to consider and while it might seem overwhelming at first, the choice to understand watercooling vs. all in one boxed coolers vs. air cooling is very beneficial if you enjoy the science behind it. Give that a read through and let us know if that helps clear up the basics and gives you other questions or ideas. We're here to help you figure out what is best for you or the build you're working on.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
R

RoboticPlayer

Commendable
Oct 29, 2016
2
0
1,510


The person that I am setting up the build for wants the best of the best, and wants to spare no expense. He gave me a budget of around $4000.

I would say a custom loop for the build. What would be a good case to do a custom loop in? And any recommendations for custom loop parts?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
K

KeelinTy

Reputable
Nov 20, 2014
929
0
5,660
If you have a res/pump combo, I would recommend the Corsair 750D, I have one and its amazing. I have a triple radiator on the top and a dual radiator in the front.
It has 2 120mm fan ports on the bottom that you could use for a radiator as well.

For custom loop parts, I would get everything off of EKWB website. They make amazing parts. Theres two types of custom loops. Hard tubing and soft tubing. Hard tubing is a little more expensive and uses acrylic tubes that you use a heat gun to bend the way you want. They look much nicer but they need special fittings and they take a lot more work to build the loop with since you have to plan ahead how you want each bend.

Soft tubing its the opposite. Its easy, uses regular compression fittings from the EK store and you dont need a heat gun. You can make soft tubing loops look nice if you have the layout right but IMO, hard tubing looks the best
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
L

l187l

Honorable
Nov 2, 2012
53
0
10,660
you should not be doing your first loop with someone else's money... Especially a $4k build. Neither of you know anything about the upkeep. If he's not willing to build his own $4000 rig, then he's not going to be willing to take his loop apart once year to clean the blocks. Just get a decent AIO for him and be done with it.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
K

KeelinTy

Reputable
Nov 20, 2014
929
0
5,660


Good point. I clean out my loop every 6 months or so. My system is apart on my table for a good 2-3 days while I thoroughly clean everything and take apart the blocks and replace tubing.

Id suggest a STRIX gpu from Asus to keep the noise low while having great cooling and I would suggest a H115i for the CPU.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom