Custom loop in a desk

[Chrisrlyon]

Hey guys! Really looking for some help with a custom watercooling project. I've had incredibly little experience with custom loops bordering on essentially none. 

 

Despite that fact, I've decided to do a relatively complex project and there's no stopping me. Im building a PC inside a desk and I want to do a custom watercooling loop. 

 

My main hang ups are the drain and fill ports and Im seeking advice. Since the whole loop is horizontal there is no "lowest point" where I would naturally put the drain port. That on top of me having no idea how it all works is why I am here. 

 

The 2 crude drawings below are my best attempts at coming up with 2 solutions. The best option I saw so far was the ek xres multiport resovoir top pictured. 

 

My question is: if I put the drain port right after the pump and the pump is right after the res, could I just run the pump until the res starts to get low? That seems like it would make life so much easier. 

 

In either case, the drain port would go through the bottom of the table. 

 

Let me know which of my 2 plans seem better, or if there is a 3rd option you guys would recommend. 

 

For the record I plan on using a d5 pump and an xpsc crossflow radiator for a cleaner look IMO

[wzrd]

7 minutes ago, Chrisrlyon said:

Hey guys! Really looking for some help with a custom watercooling project. I've had incredibly little experience with custom loops bordering on essentially none. 

 

Despite that fact, I've decided to do a relatively complex project and there's no stopping me. Im building a PC inside a desk and I want to do a custom watercooling loop. 

 

My main hang ups are the drain and fill ports and Im seeking advice. Since the whole loop is horizontal there is no "lowest point" where I would naturally put the drain port. That on top of me having no idea how it all works is why I am here. 

 

The 2 crude drawings below are my best attempts at coming up with 2 solutions. The best option I saw so far was the ek xres multiport resovoir top pictured. 

 

My question is: if I put the drain port right after the pump and the pump is right after the res, could I just run the pump until the res starts to get low? That seems like it would make life so much easier. 

 

In either case, the drain port would go through the bottom of the table. 

 

Let me know which of my 2 plans seem better, or if there is a 3rd option you guys would recommend. 

 

For the record I plan on using a d5 pump and an xpsc crossflow radiator for a cleaner look IMO

The easiest way to use a drain port in a horizontal build is to put it at the edge of the desk, on either side. That way to drain it, you can just tip the desk on its side, making it the lowest point in the loop.

 

Even if you place the valve directly after the pump, you won't be able to run the pump to drain it. As soon as the reservoir empties, the pump will start pulling in air because the flow rate of the pump is far faster than the rate fluid will come out of the drain valve, and will damage the pump pretty quickly. What you can do, though, is blow into the tube you use for filling and that will act as a makeshift pump and force the fluid out of the valve.

 

Enjoy your build, it will be awesome! I assume by your diagram you are planning to only liquid cool the CPU?

[Chrisrlyon]

13 minutes ago, wzrd said:

The easiest way to use a drain port in a horizontal build is to put it at the edge of the desk, on either side. That way to drain it, you can just tip the desk on its side, making it the lowest point in the loop.

 

Even if you place the valve directly after the pump, you won't be able to run the pump to drain it. As soon as the reservoir empties, the pump will start pulling in air because the flow rate of the pump is far faster than the rate fluid will come out of the drain valve, and will damage the pump pretty quickly. What you can do, though, is blow into the tube you use for filling and that will act as a makeshift pump and force the fluid out of the valve.

 

Enjoy your build, it will be awesome! I assume by your diagram you are planning to only liquid cool the CPU?

That was my fear, thanks for confirming.  I didn't even think about blowing into the fill port, that's a great idea that simplifies my life a lot. 

 

So you would recommend the drain port being right before the resovoir on the far right of the desk then? 

 

And yes, for now I only planned on watercooling the CPU. I have room on the other side of the desk if I want to implement a second loop but yes it would have to be separate. I only have a zotac gtx 1070 so I don't see a huge point in watercooling it, the cost difference there I could just get a 1080 or 1080ti.

 

Thanks so much for your reply!

[wzrd]

15 hours ago, Chrisrlyon said:

That was my fear, thanks for confirming.  I didn't even think about blowing into the fill port, that's a great idea that simplifies my life a lot. 

 

So you would recommend the drain port being right before the resovoir on the far right of the desk then? 

 

And yes, for now I only planned on watercooling the CPU. I have room on the other side of the desk if I want to implement a second loop but yes it would have to be separate. I only have a zotac gtx 1070 so I don't see a huge point in watercooling it, the cost difference there I could just get a 1080 or 1080ti.

 

Thanks so much for your reply!

That makes sense. With all of the space you have it would be very easy to add a second loop in the future without too much hassle. Are you using soft or hard tubing?

 

You can put it wherever is easiest/looks best, as long as the valve is the most rightward component in the desk, so that when you tip the desk up it will become the lowest point of the loop. As it's only a relatively small/simple loop it should be quite easy to drain after that by just blowing through it!

[Chrisrlyon]

I was thinking of just using soft tubing since I've never tried hardline tubing. It seems relatively simple but maybe in the future I will give it a shot once everything else is working well