First water cooling build - Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic XL

[KakenBetaal]

I'm planning my first water cooling build with hard line. Yes, I realise it's more difficult, but I have R/C model building experience and am somewhat mechanically handy so I reckon I can handle the extra difficulty. I'm also perfectly prepared to get a whole lot of bends wrong in the learning process. I have a few choices for this build, as it seems to me, and wondered what you guys would think.

 

The PC:

AMD Ryzen 9 3900X

Asus Crosshair VIII Formula motherboard, the one that comes with the EK block for VRM cooling.

Asus RTX2070 Super OC Advanced.

Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic XL

 

Choice 1:

Slim or medium thick radiators - either the EK SE 360 or the EK PE 360. I was planning to fit two of these. Given the above, I should have more than sufficient cooling capacity regardless of this choice.

 

Choice 2:

Put the above two radiators on air intake, one on the bottom of the case, one on the side. That would leave me with four exhaust fans, 1 rear and 3 top. All 120mm. I think this will be the more effective cooling solution as both radiators will ingest cool outside air.

 

Choice 3:

Use the EK G1 distribution block, putting that on the side. This would mean having one radiator on the bottom as intake, and one at the top as exhaust. I feel this will be the prettier option, but may have a small cooling performance penalty as already slightly warmed air will be exhausting through the top radiator.

[Morgan MLGman]

I'd go the third route. Your parts aren't particularly power-hungry and two radiators (360mm I assume) would more than suffice. You can buy thicker ones if you're worried about cooling performance, the distribution block looks gorgeous.

[Bananasplit_00]

I would not go for SE radiators, PE for sure.

 

I would go for the dist block though because of the looks. cooling shouldnt take much if any hit

[KakenBetaal]

Cheers for the help! OK, PE radiators and the distro plate it is.

[Mick Naughty]

Cant you put one in the top too?

Id do one bottom and top, keep the front as fresh intake and get the distro plate.

[KakenBetaal]

13 hours ago, Mick Naughty said:

Cant you put one in the top too?

Id do one bottom and top, keep the front as fresh intake and get the distro plate.

Yup, as in choice 2. With all three of you guys recommending that, I'm going to listen and go that route. Thanks very much!

[OnlyOneMike]

How did the build go. I'm building the a water cooling loop inside the same case with a complete corsair eco system for cooling. Went for the thicker 360mm at the bottom and slim at the top cause of clearance issue.

I'm using

I9-9900K 

2080Ti

64GB Dominator Black RGB (Yes overkill)

Maximus XI Motherboard 

Lian Li Distro Block 

Phanteks Distro Block

Riser vertical mount 

 

I could use some help with how I configure my loop also worth cooling the VRam

Also what coolant everyone recommends 

I'm going to start with the clear XL5

 

[KakenBetaal]

I've only just got all my parts - there was quite a wait on the G1 distro block and also the PE (medium-thick) radiators. Currently I'm preparing the radiators and my vertical GPU mount for priming and painting, as I want them to be in white.

 

Oh, and I now have a 3950X instead of the 3900X and 32GB of high speed memory.

 

[snowandsand]

On 1/31/2020 at 1:16 PM, KakenBetaal said:

I've only just got all my parts - there was quite a wait on the G1 distro block and also the PE (medium-thick) radiators. Currently I'm preparing the radiators and my vertical GPU mount for priming and painting, as I want them to be in white.

 

Oh, and I now have a 3950X instead of the 3900X and 32GB of high speed memory.

 

Nice!  I just decided to move my current setup from the non XL to an XL and went with the Radikult Dynamic Duo front distro.  Waiting for that to arrive and I will attempt my first hard line build lol.  

[KakenBetaal]

Oh, that's very nice indeed! Just spent a pleasant half an hour looking at Radikult videos.

[MaratM]

You have to decide if it the looks you are after or the noise!!! I have 3 360 rads in a o11d (not xl) 2 360 hw-labs gts and 1 360pe and I wish I used thicker rads) to make up the performance slimmer rads have denser fpi (fins per inch) that needs a bit more rpm speed thus noise! The thicker is better if you can fit it)

[KakenBetaal]

Yes, I've installed 2 x PE rads, more than adequate for my heat needs, I think. The machine is alive no20200207_123701143_iOS.heicw.

[Noalcastor]

On 2/8/2020 at 12:10 PM, KakenBetaal said:

Yes, I've installed 2 x PE rads, more than adequate for my heat needs, I think. The machine is alive no20200207_123701143_iOS.heicw.

20200207_123553000_iOS.MOV

This is exactly the build I wish to make