First time water cooling questions

[NanuNanu14]

My next build is going to be water-cooled. It is going to be the first time I have ever water-cooled something.

 

My question is: Should I go with an AIO cooler, or get one of those 'loop-in-a-box' kits and do it custom?

 

Assume I know only the most basic things about liquid cooling.

[Guest]

Try to do an AIO first, it will start you off with water-cooling

Never rush build plans or build upgrades

[Leonard]

My next build is going to be water-cooled. It is going to be the first time I have ever water-cooled something.

 

My question is: Should I go with an AIO cooler, or get one of those 'loop-in-a-box' kits and do it custom?

 

Assume I know only the most basic things about liquid cooling.

While some AIOs are nice and work fine and perform great for the cost, most of them can leave a negative experience about the whole WC aspect of PC cooling. An AIO does not prepare/educate you to build a "loop-in-a-box". One such tip is that you wouldn't know is that tubing and fittings must be the same ID and OD size to prevent leaks when using compressions but you can get away with different tube size for barbs.

 

Most "loop-in-a-box" normally has some part or parts that will need to be upgraded depending on your preferences, these are mostly the fans, tubing and pump.

 

Any "loop-in-a-box" with a D5 pump is golden at the moment but again the fans and tubing may not suit you.

[NanuNanu14]

I was looking at some of the boxed loop kits, and the res looked really small. Is it easy to swap out the default res for a bigger one?

[asquirrel]

I was looking at some of the boxed loop kits, and the res looked really small. Is it easy to swap out the default res for a bigger one?

Res are generally quite small. At full pump power a res will generally only hold 1-5 seconds of water (meaning a full res will be empty in 1-5 seconds of pump runtime if the loop is not full and actively resupplying the res). The reason res are so small is twofold:

 

1. It takes up space in the case and many cases don't have large voids of a consistent size so a small res will fit in more cases.

2. The res's only practical purpose is to make filling and bleeding less annoying. The res only has a few seconds worth of water, so the odds of it preventing a run-dry situation if a leak occurs are essentially non-existent.

 

I've never looked too deeply into kits myself, but in general, yes, you should be able to swap any part of the kit out with another part and, as long as you can make the fittings match up it will work.

[NanuNanu14]

The whole shebang is going into an Enthoo Pro, which as I understand, is watercooling friendly.

[asquirrel]

The whole shebang is going into an Enthoo Pro, which as I understand, is watercooling friendly.

Kits aren't built for people who thought ahead.

[NanuNanu14]

Did some looking on the internet, and in some other forums.

 

There are no water blocks for my video cards.

 

Not a single one for the MSI R9 390, just the 390x, and even then it's just because the one for the previous version happens to be compatible.

[Ellis_D]

I'd recommend skipping AIO all together if you're planning on doing a custom loop shortly afterward.  They really give no benefit in experience to building a custom loop.  What you need to do is get well acquainted with your case's specifications and what it can hold then take time and watch tons of tutorials and guides for building a water loop. JayzTwoCents is a great resource for this.  If you want to do it right, it takes a lot of research and planning.

 

I'd also say it's not worth it to get a kit if you're planning on swapping out components.  There's really no sense in spend money on hardware you won't be using.

 

Regarding waterblocks for the Video Card, This is one of the areas where you need to plan out your entire build first before buying any component if you want it to be compatible.  Same goes for watercooling motherboards.  It is possible to use a generic GPU waterblock but those are aesthetically unappealing and you'll still need to address the heat from the VRAM and VRM modules because the generic waterblock will not provide any cooling to them.

[NanuNanu14]

Probably won't water cool the cards, as I really don't have any interest in OC'ing them. Temps more than likely won't get that high, but even then I'm just gonna have the fans run full-bore all times.

 

To be honest, I probably wouldn't water cool a GPU, unless it was something like a 980 Ti, Titan X, or Fury X. You know, something that would need liquid cooling.