5GigsOrBust

So this is my first custom loop build. I wanted to go custom to decrease noise and to give myself the ability to watercool the board vrm since it came with a waterblock, and the GPU in the future. CPU itself can draw 300W under load so to cool everything in one loop, I need quite a bit of cooling power. I started looking into the surface area of different size radiators and determined that a 400mm rad is the probably the sweet spot. The 400mm rad has more surface area than a 560 rad, and I only have to buy half the amount of fans. My main concern was the fact that 200mm fans usually have low static pressure, but I found a solution to that. For Science! gave me a link for a high static pressure version of the noctua nfa-20 fans that are not listed for sale on noctua's website, so big thanks for that. Finally got all the parts in and built. After testing, I found the temps to be within only few degrees of my previous setup, but that is with the vrm included in the loop, so I'm fairly certain the temps should be lower without that. At idle, the coolant temp sits right around ambient. Also the max fan rpm has gone down from 3000 with the previous setup, to 1200 so the noise difference is incredible. I went with soft tubing & barbs for now because the system is on a test bench, so who cares. The cable management is terrible, I just have everything set up for testing. Not sure if I could fit this into a case, but for now I like it sitting next to the bench. The size of this thing sitting on the desk is hilarious to me. Wasn't able to find many custom loop 400mm builds online so I wanted to share this.

So this is my first custom loop build. I wanted to go custom to decrease noise and to give myself the ability to watercool the board vrm since it came with a waterblock, and the GPU in the future. CPU itself can draw 300W under load so to cool everything in one loop, I need quite a bit of cooling power. I started looking into the surface area of different size radiators and determined that a 400mm rad is the probably the sweet spot. The 400mm rad has more surface area than a 560 rad, and I only have to buy half the amount of fans. My main concern was the fact that 200mm fans usually have low static pressure, but I found a solution to that. For Science! gave me a link for a high static pressure version of the noctua nfa-20 fans that are not listed for sale on noctua's website, so big thanks for that. Finally got all the parts in and built. After testing, I found the temps to be within only few degrees of my previous setup, but that is with the vrm included in the loop, so I'm fairly certain the temps should be lower without that. At idle, the coolant temp sits right around ambient. Also the max fan rpm has gone down from 3000 with the previous setup, to 1200 so the noise difference is incredible. I went with soft tubing & barbs for now because the system is on a test bench, so who cares. The cable management is terrible, I just have everything set up for testing. Not sure if I could fit this into a case, but for now I like it sitting next to the bench. The size of this thing sitting on the desk is hilarious to me. Wasn't able to find many custom loop 400mm builds online so I wanted to share this.

Dumb question, but seriously its not easy to find an ATX test bench. I see cheap crappy-looking ones for under usd $100, and I included a picture of those below for comedic value. I also found something from Praxis that costs over $200. Why would a test bench cost more than a decent full case?!  I would go for the cheap one but I'm gonna be running a 420 rad so I need something more sturdy. First time buying a test bench so idk if the market is always this crappy or its a more recent supply chain thing. I see decent-looking test benches in tech videos, so I know they exist somewhere, but I can't find anything online. I'm getting desperate enough to consider something like the Core P3, but its not really a test bench. As stated, I've included a picture below of the kind of thing I'm trying to avoid, any recommendations are appreciated.
 
 
 

Idk, cpu is already maxed out at 5.1 allcore 1.32v core and 1.25 vccsa & vccio
Yeah that's what I tried first and it is stable, but the secondaries are loose on auto. I can tighten all secondaries except trfc & trefi.

Increasing ram frequency & voltage will not degrade the CPU. VCCSA & VCCIO are the two main memory-related voltages on Intel. Setting those voltages too high can degrade the IMC. Usual advice is to not go over 1.30-1.35v longterm on those. Usual advice for ram voltage depends on the specific memory IC, but on B-die its not recommended to go over about 1.5v for daily usage. I run mine a bit higher because I have fans above the ram sticks and I don't mind replacing them, but that's not recommended for everyone. I would recommend before you overclock your ram, find out what IC you have, and look up common OC settings for that specific IC.

The question you're asking can only really be answered with testing. I would recommend testing out both configurations, both stress testing and real world use case testing. Record your temps over time, and go with the configuration that provides the lowest average temps.

My setup is pretty similar, and the temps on my 970 are about the same. I wouldn't be worried about it. 

That VRM on the z370 board was designed to power a 6-core CPU max. I would keep an eye on VRM temps, even at stock speeds with the 9900k. 

You should be able to run those in dual channel, but they will both run at 2133mhz

Cooler Master make their own AIOs

Or a desk fan.. Hmm... 🤔
 
I'll send you some, I've got too many

I got it from Amazon, and it wasn't more than 6 weeks ago. Might still be returnable through amazon, gotta check

https://pcpartpicker.com/products/memory/#S=4000,5100&T=130150150280,140140140040,140140140310,140140140320,140140140340,140140160310,140150150350,140160160310,140160160340,140160160360,150150150280,150150150350,150150150360,150150150390,150160160350,150160160360,160160160350,160160160360,160160160390,160160180180,160160180350,160170170360,170170170320,170170170370,170170170380,170170170390,170180180360,170180180380,180180180380,180180180430,180190190380,180190190390,190190190390,190190190430,190190190460

Hilarious. I do need a lot of fans in this system, and if I could fit more I would

I think it needs more fans, as the 27 you currently have aren't enough. 
🤗

Memory OC is weird. I had a Gigabyte B350 board that would do 3200 on my 3000 XMP kit all day long, but if you touched timings it would throw a fit. I got rid of it because the VRM struggled with CPU overclocking even on my very mediocre CPU and replaced it with an MSI ITX board, which would refuse to post at 3066 even with excessive voltage, but could do CL14-17-17 on my 16-20-20 kit without breaking a sweat.

I'm sure no one cares because its Intel, but I just wanted to post my poor slow, underpowered little PC on the interwebs for the world to criticize. Before you mention it, the CPU block is sideways because if I mount it any other way, the tubes don't quite reach where the rad is mounted. Anyways, have at it 🙃
 
9900k, 5.1 @1.315v
16gb OLOy DDR4-2666 @ 3733 MHz
Gigabyte Z390 Designare
Evga CLC 360 + 3x industrial NFF-12s (running intake because room ambient is lower than case ambient, duh)
RTX 2070 Super Founders (leftover from previous build, 3080 coming soon) 
WD 128GB NVMe boot (more than enough for just the OS)
2x Adata 256gb SSDs in RAID-0
2x 1tb WD Black HDDs
1x NFS-12 & 1x NFA-9 for exhaust (yes, I do need 2 exhaust fans)
3x UpHere RGB ring fans for front intake
Seasonic Focus Gold 650 
Deepcool Matrex 70 case (because why spend too much on a metal box)
 
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/BJzQZZ
 







 
 
 

New marketing term: "Decorative airflow" :p.

Mmm, RGB and Noctua *rubs big fat tummy*

Oh that does help a lot the front might as well not exist for air intake :p.

dude you're calling an Rtx 2070 super and a 9900k slow! wtf man.

is the 90mm fan robbing any air from the gpu?
 

Part from the bad airflow case I see nothing bad about this system. It will for sure have negative pressure cuz well that front panel prevents a lot of air from getting in but otherwise nothing wrong.
 
The psu will not cut it for a 3080 tho.

ngl if youre getting a 3080 you might wanna upgrade your PSU LOL

No frustration here, just a bit of light sarcasm to brighten the day