Looking to upgrade to a full water cooled system

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
C

cptKillbot

Commendable
Oct 13, 2016
1
0
1,510
I am currently in the process of upgrading my tower from a Thermaltake Haf tower to the Phantek Enthoo Prime and am debating on going with a closed loop or a modular water cooled system. I have never done water cooling so I was wondering which would be better for me as I already have a closed loop 120mm Corsair for my processor but want to incorporate my graphics card as well and beef up the cooler as the tower is bigger. Also, will eventually end up with a second graphics card. I game quite a bit and am working on overclocking (been pouring over the tutorials here) and want to keep everything nice quiet and cool. Any help would be appreciated and I'll keep y'all updated as I go through the build.
 
Solution
n0ns3ns3
you have couple of options:
1. Sealed (separate) AiO for CPU and (every ) GPU - IMHO not a good idea in terms of noise and perfromance. Mikel mentioned few of them
2. Not sealed AiOs like EK Predator, Swiftech, Fractal Kelvin, Alphacool - they are simple to install and yet expandable and customizeable.
3.1 Complete custom loop.
3.2 Complete custom loop kit.
the later is a bit complicated and not cheap, but if done right it gives the best performance, noise and look.

As a side note, I would strongly recommend against multi GPU for gaming. Higher input lag is the most annoying after the games support and perfromance issues.

Another side note is the case - for 250$ I'd be looking at Be Quiet Silent Base 900 pro...
Sort by date Sort by votes
Mikel_4

Mikel_4

Respectable
Oct 15, 2016
712
0
2,660
Cheapest GPU water cooling for Founder Edition or other blower type air cooler is to use universal GPU water block cooling your GPU core and leave VRM cooling to blower type fans, you can use low AIO such as Corsair H55, NZXT X41, or Cooler master Seidon 140.
CPU + two 200 watt TDP graphic card single loop

  • ■ CPU water block
    ■ Two Full cover water block or two universal GPU water block + MOSFET/FINFET heatsink
    ■ Matching fittings and tubes (Inner Diameter/Outer Diameter ex. 10mm ID/12mm OD) and soft tube and hard tube (you can't plug soft tube fitting to hard tube (PETG, brass, borosillicate glass), plan what tube you like).
    ■ Your case radiator support, usually latest mid tower ATX case support at least 140+120+240mm rad (NZXT S340), larger and faster fans cool better than smaller and slower fans, www.extremerigs.net will add your water cooling tech stuff.
    ■ After you understand "flow rate + pressure drop + TDP dissipation" you can choose your own pump.
    ■ Although some rad can be used as "reservoir" (HardwareLabs SR2 MP series, Alphacool Nexxxos series, or Aquacomputer AMS series), I'd say reservoir is mandatory, later if get the feel of your loop then you can decide to use or not.
Pump Priming and Air Bleeding, 1st setup

  • ■ The easiest way is by video tutorial, use "water cooling pump priming" and "water cooling air bleeding" keywords and search by video on your search engine.
    ■ Add ATX bridge to ease your fist water cooling setup
Pimping

  • ■ Non stained coolant dye/color additive or UV reactive premix + UV light.
    ■ Novice=colored tube, intermediate=PETG, expert/artist=borosillicate glass, chrom/nickel plated brass pipe and copper/bronze pipe.
    ■ Nanoxia LED fittings + LED/RGB fans + Custom braided PSU cable
Links

  • ■ http://www.xtremerigs.net/categories/reviews/water-cooling/
    ■ https://www.ekwb.com/shop/kits, I don't know why big vendor prefer EKWB (Gigabyte, MSI, and Asus) as their water block OEM (MSI GTX 1080 Seahawk EK, Gigabyte Aorus Z270 Gaming 9, and Asus Z270 Maximus IX Formula).
    ■ I suggest you start with expandable AIO such as EK XLC Predator, Fractal Design Kelvin, Swiftech H220, Alphacool Eisbaer, those should cool 160w CPU+160w GPU, later you can replace or upgrade parts.
    ■ Water cooling vendors, good reputation not comparing with each other on performance
    - Koolance
    - XSPC
    - www.watercool.de/ www.aquacomputer.com/ www.alphacool.com/
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
n0ns3ns3

n0ns3ns3

Illustrious
May 25, 2016
8,065
4
42,715
you have couple of options:
1. Sealed (separate) AiO for CPU and (every ) GPU - IMHO not a good idea in terms of noise and perfromance. Mikel mentioned few of them
2. Not sealed AiOs like EK Predator, Swiftech, Fractal Kelvin, Alphacool - they are simple to install and yet expandable and customizeable.
3.1 Complete custom loop.
3.2 Complete custom loop kit.
the later is a bit complicated and not cheap, but if done right it gives the best performance, noise and look.

As a side note, I would strongly recommend against multi GPU for gaming. Higher input lag is the most annoying after the games support and perfromance issues.

Another side note is the case - for 250$ I'd be looking at Be Quiet Silent Base 900 pro
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA68V45G2217
That's a truly remarkable case.

If you decide to go with fully custom loop, we can help you to pick the components for your loop according to your preferences. To keep things quiet, about 240mm (120x2) rad surface per component is required along with good fans such as Noctua's NF-F12 industrialPPC
Keep in mind that high quality loop (CPU+GPU) would be starting around 400-450$.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom