EK-MLC Phoenix

[KWelz]

31 minutes ago, ybing said:

Have anyone bought it and try out yet?  I was planning to get 2 EVGA Hybird and waiting for the Corsair H150i, but a 360 + 280 loop seems tempting, although the price is much higher.  I think it need to purchase the EK block in order to work right?  Normal GPU with block like the hydro copper won't fit?  Does this really worth the extra $$ compare to Asetek 

You cant' really compare this to an Asetek AIO.  It is a Custom loop without the work so you pay a bit of a Premium for the convenience factor.   

 

 And really the pricing isn't that bad when you look at what you get.   

 

For a complete loop with 360mm Rad, Pump, tubing, and a CPU and GPU block you come out to around 425 with this system.  Now lets say I decided to part it out myself. 

 

EK DDC Pump/Res combo $149.99

EK 360mm Rad $79.99

EK Supremacy Block $79.99

EK 1080Ti FTW3 block $139.99

 

I am already at 450 there without adding in tubing or coolant (although I would just use water)

 

The downside to the MLC is that you can't do as much to make it a showpiece.  Hardline, colored liquid, etc.   But that isn't the point of it.   

 

I am seriously considering it for my secondary system that I want to look good but doesn't have to be perfect.  I would get much better temps at about the same cost and could have it all done in an hour instead of an all day project.  

 

[ybing]

52 minutes ago, KWelz said:

You cant' really compare this to an Asetek AIO.  It is a Custom loop without the work so you pay a bit of a Premium for the convenience factor.   

 

 And really the pricing isn't that bad when you look at what you get.   

 

For a complete loop with 360mm Rad, Pump, tubing, and a CPU and GPU block you come out to around 425 with this system.  Now lets say I decided to part it out myself. 

 

EK DDC Pump/Res combo $149.99

EK 360mm Rad $79.99

EK Supremacy Block $79.99

EK 1080Ti FTW3 block $139.99

 

I am already at 450 there without adding in tubing or coolant (although I would just use water)

 

The downside to the MLC is that you can't do as much to make it a showpiece.  Hardline, colored liquid, etc.   But that isn't the point of it.   

 

I am seriously considering it for my secondary system that I want to look good but doesn't have to be perfect.  I would get much better temps at about the same cost and could have it all done in an hour instead of an all day project.  

 

Ya I know, I haven't done any custom loop before, want to build a system a just leave it running, lazy to maintain it.  That's why always went for AIO; is there any way to make this fit into a Hydro Copper block?  Any adapter?  Really have no concept on custom loop...

[KWelz]

9 minutes ago, ybing said:

Ya I know, I haven't done any custom loop before, want to build a system a just leave it running, lazy to maintain it.  That's why always went for AIO; is there any way to make this fit into a Hydro Copper block?  Any adapter?  Really have no concept on custom loop...

The QD connectors are commercially available.   It is theoretically possible to use normal tubing, get a pair of these connectors and connect up the system.  However you would have to take precautions to make sure the GPU block and tubing was completely full.  If you already have the GPU with the block on it you may be better off selling that block and buying the appropriate one for that card.   Keep in mind they make the MLC blocks for all the commonly available cards now.  

[ybing]

1 minute ago, KWelz said:

The QD connectors are commercially available.   It is theoretically possible to use normal tubing, get a pair of these connectors and connect up the system.  However you would have to take precautions to make sure the GPU block and tubing was completely full.  If you already have the GPU with the block on it you may be better off selling that block and buying the appropriate one for that card.   Keep in mind they make the MLC blocks for all the commonly available cards now.  

I see, then its better just use their parts; looking at the specs it seems those radiator could be over 40mm thick 

[KWelz]

Yes in this case it is better to use their parts.  Doing otherwise is possible but not for novices.  

 

The Radiator is a 40mm class Rad and this is pretty standard for performance radiators.   You have 60MM for the huge ones, 40 for performance and 25 for the slim radiators.   

 

Slim aren't that great.  I have one in my build but it is a secondary Rad and is paired with a 40MM one.  

 

With the MLC you are looking at about 70mm once you include the fans.  Which is roughly the same you would have with any other Radiator and fan combo.  

[ybing]

1 minute ago, KWelz said:

Yes in this case it is better to use their parts.  Doing otherwise is possible but not for novices.  

 

The Radiator is a 40mm class Rad and this is pretty standard for performance radiators.   You have 60MM for the huge ones, 40 for performance and 25 for the slim radiators.   

 

Slim aren't that great.  I have one in my build but it is a secondary Rad and is paired with a 40MM one.  

 

With the MLC you are looking at about 70mm once you include the fans.  Which is roughly the same you would have with any other Radiator and fan combo.  

Do you know if the pre-installed fan can me remove?  I already bought some Corsair LL fans (like the RGB lol) waiting for their H150i which still not yet release...  maybe can pop it on; I had the Lian Li PC-o12 case, 280 in the front for the CPU and 360 on top for the GPU, just the top will be tight fit, push pull will not be an option for sure, it will barely fit 3 fans stack together

[KWelz]

Fans are standard 120mm fans(or 140 if you go with that model).   You can switch them out as you wish.  

[ybing]

17 minutes ago, KWelz said:

Fans are standard 120mm fans(or 140 if you go with that model).   You can switch them out as you wish.  

thanks for the help~

[B NEGATIVE]

On ‎11‎/‎27‎/‎2017 at 7:25 PM, jasonvp said:

Not based on my fairly extensive experience.  With a single loop, 3 radiators, an overclocked CPU, and 2 overclocked GPUs, I found that the GPUs' and CPU's temperatures would even out under load.  And it didn't matter which load.  Under gaming load where the GPUs were taxed way more heavily than the CPU: the CPU's temperature evened out with the GPUs'.  Likewise when exporting a video where the transcoding is 100% CPU-bound: The GPUs' temps evened out with the CPU's.

 

When I took those same radiators and same fan setups, and split the loop into 2 independent ones (1 rad for the CPU, 2 rads for the GPUs), the temperature changes became independent.  During a game, the GPUs' temps would go up but not the CPU's.  Likewise with the exporting/transcoding a video: the CPU's temp would go up, and the GPUs' temps would stay low.

 

What's this mean?  The shared cooling vehicle (the water in this case) was warming up the components that weren't being used.  Which makes the radiators significantly less efficient.

 

You're free to believe otherwise, but my experience says I'm right.  And I've been doing this longer than most in the industry (including the big YouTubers).

You are very incorrect. Dual loops are less efficient on all levels than a single loop. Single loops allow you to use all available rad space at all times,dual loops do not. Warming of components that are not being used is not even a concern so I'm confused why you would even worry about this. Rad efficiency goes up with higher fluid temps and has no relation to temperature glide across components.

If you want some 'credentials', I work at EK and have been doing this far longer than you.....

[Nicnac]

I don't know if there really is a market for this. I mean enthusiasts love to build their custom loop for the fun of building it mostly and if you want watercooling performance but don't want to build it yourslf you get aio coolers. This is somewhere in between and doesnt really seem to make much sense

[B NEGATIVE]

9 minutes ago, VegetableStu said:

@EK Luc I dunno, thought you guys should know

I'm not Luc. 

[Jay Deah]

There is a market like this. people like me.

 

I'm someone who love his tech (i do enterprise servers/infra for a job) and wants to have a nice system at home but doesnt want the risk and maintenence associated with custom watercooling. a 'just bolt it on and leave it' solution is exactly what people like me are after. Frankly its either this or sticking with stock air cooling for the GPUs. Provided this meets expectations i can simply bolt on all the bits and be up and running with a full . cpu+gpu loop without worrying about anything at all safe in the knowledge that i'm buying a premium product from a premium manufacturer that i'm using completely as intended and warrantied. For example if it somehow broke my GPU i would expect EK to put that right.

[jasonvp]

I just recently received a 360 rad and CPU block for the EK Phoenix and put it all together on my streaming PC. (OC'd 5960X CPU).  Normally I'd prefer to do custom cooling loops, but my goal with this streaming rig was to spend as little as possible on it and use hardware I had available to me.  The only thing I really needed to purchase for it was good CPU cooling (that OBS 'slow' preset is a killer!) and a cheap GPU.

 

Anyway, the Phoenix is stupidly easy to set up and use.  And it's doing a decent job of keeping that cookin' CPU cool.  Under load, the temperature gets up into the mid-60s C.  But this is actually OK, because again, FFMPEG (which is what OBS uses) is an excellent CPU stress-tester.

 

I have the unit connected to the CPU fan header on my motherboard, and I have it set to 50% speed, fixed (variable speeds are a waste and too noisy).  At 50%, I can barely hear the fans and pump because the rig is pretty far from me.

 

Overall I'm pretty pleased with it.

[Gullerback]

I grabbed a block for my 1080 ti and a 140 rad. I'm just hoping to keep it under 45c is all

[ybing]

Finally got everything fitted into the tiny case, cable management nightmare with all these RGB, who invented this LOL

 

[kodox]

May I please get an info on what clock and voltage you use?

On 1/16/2018 at 2:33 PM, jasonvp said:

I just recently received a 360 rad and CPU block for the EK Phoenix and put it all together on my streaming PC. (OC'd 5960X CPU).  Normally I'd prefer to do custom cooling loops, but my goal with this streaming rig was to spend as little as possible on it and use hardware I had available to me.  The only thing I really needed to purchase for it was good CPU cooling (that OBS 'slow' preset is a killer!) and a cheap GPU.

 

Anyway, the Phoenix is stupidly easy to set up and use.  And it's doing a decent job of keeping that cookin' CPU cool.  Under load, the temperature gets up into the mid-60s C.  But this is actually OK, because again, FFMPEG (which is what OBS uses) is an excellent CPU stress-tester.

 

I have the unit connected to the CPU fan header on my motherboard, and I have it set to 50% speed, fixed (variable speeds are a waste and too noisy).  At 50%, I can barely hear the fans and pump because the rig is pretty far from me.

 

Overall I'm pretty pleased with it.

I'm running a 5960X@4.4@1.2V because anything higher burns my Corsair H115i having Noctua 2k RPM fans. Full Blender load gets it to 80-85°C.

Then I have 2x "Titan Xp"s i'd love to cool with this but not sure if I can connect anything here with two rads?

@EK Luc @EK_Derick - is it possible to connect dual 280 Phoenix rad and dual Titan Xp with 5960X and cool it at higher than 4.4?

I'm a 3D modeler, but I have disability with hands and maintenance of a custom loops is not an option, but Phoenix could work. Could I go dual 280 or dual 360? Or maybe 3 systems? One Phoenix loop or each GPU and CPU on its own?

[jasonvp]

3 minutes ago, kodox said:

May I please get an info on what clock and voltage you use?

I was running it at 4.3GHz; that's all I could manage.  I lost the silicone lottery, as it were.  Voltage was 1.30125.

 

I keep saying "was" because I've returned to its stock clocks and voltage to reduce power consumption.  The machine is no longer using its CPU for streaming; rather using the GPU.  In fact I could use a significantly less powerful CPU for what I'm doing, but I already have the 5960X and working motherboard.  So there's that.

 

Either way, I'm quite pleased with the Phoenix so far.

[kodox]

1 minute ago, jasonvp said:

I was running it at 4.3GHz; that's all I could manage.  I lost the silicone lottery, as it were.  Voltage was 1.30125.

 

I keep saying "was" because I've returned to its stock clocks and voltage to reduce power consumption.  The machine is no longer using its CPU for streaming; rather using the GPU.  In fact I could use a significantly less powerful CPU for what I'm doing, but I already have the 5960X and working motherboard.  So there's that.

 

Either way, I'm quite pleased with the Phoenix so far.

Compared to their custom solution? There shouldn't be actual difference, right? What exact rads are these in Phoenix?

[jasonvp]

1 minute ago, kodox said:

Compared to their custom solution? There shouldn't be actual difference, right? What exact rads are these in Phoenix?

What do you mean "their custom solution"?  In my main gaming rig, I have an entirely custom setup using their components and it's a vastly better set-up than their AIO.  But it also cost a lot more.

 

I don't know what, exact rad they're using.  I don't generally use their radiators when I build my custom loops; I prefer AlphaCool's rads for that.

[kodox]

12 minutes ago, jasonvp said:

What do you mean "their custom solution"?  In my main gaming rig, I have an entirely custom setup using their components and it's a vastly better set-up than their AIO.  But it also cost a lot more.

 

I don't know what, exact rad they're using.  I don't generally use their radiators when I build my custom loops; I prefer AlphaCool's rads for that.

Why is it better? I'm talking about purely performance: what radiator and what pump you're using to get better performance? I presume Phoenix, being made of their blocks, their pumps and their rads, should be no different in the performance part?

[jasonvp]

12 minutes ago, kodox said:

Why is it better? I'm talking about purely performance: what radiator and what pump you're using to get better performance? I presume Phoenix, being made of their blocks, their pumps and their rads, should be no different in the performance part?

My total water cooling setup cost me over $2000 in total, which includes completely independent CPU and GPU loops.  Let that sink in for a moment.  I'm using their pump/res combo along with their block.  But AlphaCool 60mmx480mm rads and a pile of Noctua fans in push/pull.  I have vastly more radiator surface area, and more fans moving air through the rads.  It allows me to run the fans at ridiculously low RPMs (600-700RPMs, depending), which makes the machine silent.

 

All while keeping an OC'd 7900X and 2 OC'd Titan X Pascal cards frosty.

 

I like EK's parts.  Their fans are a bit too noisy for my tastes, so I'll aways default to Noctua when I'm assembling a custom setup.  And their rads are some of the best in the biz, but I have a pile of AlphaCools, so I use those instead.

 

 

[kodox]

13 minutes ago, jasonvp said:

My total water cooling setup cost me over $2000 in total, which includes completely independent CPU and GPU loops.  Let that sink in for a moment.  I'm using their pump/res combo along with their block.  But AlphaCool 60mmx480mm rads and a pile of Noctua fans in push/pull.  I have vastly more radiator surface area, and more fans moving air through the rads.  It allows me to run the fans at ridiculously low RPMs (600-700RPMs, depending), which makes the machine silent.

 

All while keeping an OC'd 7900X and 2 OC'd Titan X Pascal cards frosty.

 

I like EK's parts.  Their fans are a bit too noisy for my tastes, so I'll aways default to Noctua when I'm assembling a custom setup.  And their rads are some of the best in the biz, but I have a pile of AlphaCools, so I use those instead.

 

 

No need for sinking. My first custom loop was back in 1998 with Thermaltake. But, since 4 years ago, since I crashed in my R44, I have my hands messed up and can't manage fully custom loop maintenance.

I know rad surface wins it all, but 1mm for 1mm, was interested in pump, block and rad core performance. Nothing more.

[Ubleron]

On their site they say you need to buy either CPU or GPU addon, but what if my card already has a liquid plate with fittings, can't I connect their pump\fan combo to it?

[Nicnac]

this is such a specific niche, i really wonder if their r&d will pay off...

[KWelz]

15 hours ago, Nicnac said:

this is such a specific niche, i really wonder if their r&d will pay off...

This is no more Niche than AIOs.