GIGABYTE Z390 waterforce help

[killerbee04x]

GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS XTREME WATERFORCE LGA 1151 (300 Series) Intel Z390 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 Extended ATX Intel Motherboard

1

 So my parents got me a new motherboard.. it requires water stuff. So what case do I get for it? What stuff do I need to buy to build a water works? I just want one graphics, one storage.. simple stuff. Why they got me this thing I don't know? It requires me to by new everything. I have a 2015 steam mechine i3.. nothing like this..

[PopsicleHustler]

You should return it. This mobo is designed for high end custom watercooled build.

[Master Disaster]

1 minute ago, PopsicleHustler said:

You should return it. This mobo is designed for high end custom watercooled build.

Why? Building a custom loop isn't that hard, heck you can buy all in one kits in a box that literally contain everything you need (except pipe cutters).

[PopsicleHustler]

Just now, Master Disaster said:

Why? Building a custom loop isn't that hard, heck you can buy all in one kits in a box that literally contain everything you need (except pipe cutters).

If you have money, time and experience to build a watercooled build from scratch, then sure go ahead. But OP looks to be someone with no experience in PC building at all.

[Master Disaster]

Just now, PopsicleHustler said:

If you have money, time and experience to build a watercooled build from scratch, then sure go ahead. But OP looks to be someone with no experience in PC building at all.

Yeah, I cannot disagree with you on that one. Some of the terminology OP uses does indicate inexperience.

[killerbee04x]

13 minutes ago, killerbee04x said:

GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS XTREME WATERFORCE LGA 1151 (300 Series) Intel Z390 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 Extended ATX Intel Motherboard

1

 So my parents got me a new motherboard.. it requires water stuff. So what case do I get for it? What stuff do I need to buy to build a water works? I just want one graphics, one storage.. simple stuff. Why they got me this thing I don't know? It requires me to by new everything. I have a 2015 steam mechine i3.. nothing like this..

Ok. I just want to 4k game. I've look at the kits. I don't need a cpu cooler. It has one. Should I just randomly by some water case. Hope the parts fit? The packing says all cores to 5ghz.. so what size radiator is that? It's a little confusing..I can't buy a box till I know what size radiator it needs. 

[PopsicleHustler]

12 minutes ago, killerbee04x said:

Ok. I just want to 4k game. I've look at the kits. I don't need a cpu cooler. It has one. Should I just randomly by some water case. Hope the parts fit? The packing says all cores to 5ghz.. so what size radiator is that? It's a little confusing..I can't buy a box till I know what size radiator it needs. 

Tell you what, if you want to game in 4k, you can build air cooled system that would run games in 4k no problem. I would strongly advise you to stay away from water cooling system until you get some experience in general custom PC building.

 

The motherboard you have is made to overclock 9900k above and beyond 5Ghz

[killerbee04x]

Thanks.. it's a gift from my mom. So I'm using it. Lot of confusing and misleading detail on the box. It doesn't even list a skill level. Like expert.. advance... Ok I'll get a i9900k... I hate asain gimmicky. Make something look simple and stress free when they don't even provide basic information. Like radiator size for the 5ghz. Can I add graphics card to the loop thing still get 5ghz.. 

[mxk]

7 minutes ago, killerbee04x said:

Thanks.. it's a gift from my mom. So I'm using it. Lot of confusing and misleading detail on the box. It doesn't even list a skill level. Like expert.. advance... Ok I'll get a i9900k... I hate asain gimmicky. Make something look simple and stress free when they don't even provide basic information. Like radiator size for the 5ghz. Can I add graphics card to the loop thing still get 5ghz.. 

haha skill level, pretty high when you don't know how to build a PC. This isn't exactly a lego set, and people who know how to take advantage of the motherboard and all of it's features don't really need the basic info. 

 

It may take you some time, but there are loads of information all over the internet that can tell you how to use this motherboard and make a custom loop.

 

For the cooling, you'll need 

• cooling liquid
• tubing, you can do soft tubing or hard tubing (you have to bend the hard tubing yourself)
• radiator+fans (to cool the liquid)
• heat gun (this is if you do hard tubing, not soft tubing)

If you want to liquid cool your graphics card, you'll need to take apart the card and take the air cooler off, then attach a water block and you can add it to your custom tubing loop.

 

Yes, you can still add your graphics card to the loop and hit 5hz, custom loops have the best cooling. Since you're newish to PC's, I recommend you do a soft tubing custom loop instead of a hard tubing loop. It's easier to manage for trouble shooting and more of a "plug and play" kind of process. You don't have to get a heat gun and bend your hard tubing and such.

 

You don't need a "water case" for water cooling, you can water cool in really any case if you try hard enough. Just make sure you get a case with enough space to fit the loop, radiators, and the length of the gpu that you pick.

[MaratM]

To start with it is an E-ATX board!!! You need a case that has e-atx support. You need a cpu and putting anything  9700k into it is not an option. The board needed to be watercooled so the case must have watercooling support. After you decide on the case there are 2 options 1-st go a hard way and get a fully custom loop or get a ek a rad pump combo https://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-mlc-phoenix-280-radiator-core-module a couple of quick disconnect fittings a couple compression fittings and a couple  feet of soft tubing. And make some research youtube and top 3 threads in this section of the forum is very helpfull

[bowrilla]

Well, this won't be an easy task since you haven't dipped a toe into the PC building pool let alone watercooling pool. It can be done but you'll need to do some research. You'll need to be aware as well that this board makes only sense with a top of the line configuration. The board itself costs more than some budget to low middle class gaming PC builds out there - or even the 9900k. There's no point in putting an i3 or i5 in it. It would work but it'd be a severe mismatch.

 

CPU

This board was made with a 9900k OCed to max in mind, a 8700k would also be a fitting choice but anything else would be like putting Bugatti Veyron grade tires on a Volvo middle class estate with a 2l Diesel engine - it would work (NOTE to anyone trying to be a smart ass here and pointing out that this wouldn't work because of technical specification xyz: don't be a dick, this is an analogy to make a point) but there's lots and lots of unused potential and wasted money. So if you decide to build that system be prepared to spend a lot of money on it. I'm actually surprised that your mom got one of those since they're pretty new and mostly sold out. 

 

Case

You'll need an EATX case since that mainboard is big. Look at the BeQuiet! Dark Base 700 (ignore PCPartPicker's claim it wouldn't fit, it's Tom's Hardware's recommendation for EATX in 2018 and the specs confirm it will fit) or the NZXT H700 (again: PCPartPicker has faulty data, it will fit according to specs) with imho better looks but less airflow. Both cases can fit up to 360mm radiator in the front and at the top - at once according to specs. That's a lot (!) of radiator space. I'd recommend you 280mm or 360mm just for the 9900k - that thing runs hot and those cases (even though both are not full sized big towers). You'd think that the 360mm radiator would be a lot bigger than the 280mm one - it isn't, the difference is surprisingly small. 280mm radiators are 140mm wide and 2x140mm (plus some plumbing space on the short sides) long while 360mm radiators are 120mm wide and 3x120mm (again, plus some plumbing stuff) long. That's 392 cm² for the 280mm radiator vs 432 cm². You'd need to compare fin density and radiator thickness to compare two specific radiators and to see which radiator actually comes with the most surface area - more surface equals to better cooling (to some extent, radiators work best the bigger the ΔT [temperature difference] between ambient and radiator temperatures are, the smaller the ΔT gets the less efficient the radiator works). 

 

Memory

Memory is totally up to you, anything 16GB and up is absolutely enough for gaming. That boards offers 4 memory slots so 2x8GB are absolutely sufficient and fine for anything you'll throw at it and you can add 2 more modules in the future. Since this is going to be a system with bragging rights and the maximum of performance you can get - don't look for anything less than 3200MHz DDR4 memory and don't cheap out on the (CAS) latencies (that's how many clock cycles your memory needs for certain operations). 

 

Storage

If you have a M.2 NVMe SSD you can put it the new build. 500GB is a good size for your Windows drive, the more the better though. For mass storage both cases offer enough space and mounts for 2.5" and 3.5" drives so adding a cheaper 2-3TB drive won't be any issue. 

 

GPU

Since you want to game at 4k you're looking at RTX 2080 or RTX 2080 Ti cards (or used GTX 1080 Ti cards, they're mostly out of stock and out of productionf or months, most 1080 Ti cards still available cost the same or more as a RTX 2080 for the same or even a little less performance). You do not need to add the GPU to your custom loop but if you want to you'll need a fitting waterblock and ideally a full cover waterblock (full cover means the waterblock covers not only the main chip but also memory chips and the VRMs - especially those can get toasty, so a full cover is a good idea). Especially with full cover waterblocks you'll need to make sure that the blocks fit the PCB layout of your GPU of choice. So don't just buy any GPU if you want to have at least the option to include into your custom loop. EK Waterblocks has you covered with a) a configurator and b) a shop with multiple full cover blocks and compatibility lists. If you want to add the GPU to the loop you'll need to disassemble the cards, remove the air cooler and mount a waterblock on it. You'll also need to increase the cooling capacity of your loop by adding more radiator surface. A 240mm radiator should be enough to handle one card, but more radiator surface wont hurt your system. If you want to go full custom loop I'd go with either 2x 280mm (NZXT case) or 2x 360mm (BeQuiet! case, this one doesn't offer 140mm wide mounts on the top).

 

PSU

That CPU, a 4k compatible GPU, the fans and the pump, they require power. You'd probably be okay-ish with 600W if you don't OC but it would be close. 800-1000W are more suitable especially in order for you to have some room for OC. Go full modular for a tidier build and the option to use custom cables. Your PSU should at the very very least be 80+ Bronze certified, a higher grade is generally better but it comes at a price. This certification means how efficient the PSU works (meaning: 100W in your system equates to 100W + X from the wall). Refer to the PSU Tier List to get yourself a good (Tier 1 or 2) PSU. Don't cheap out on this one, it's the heart of your system and if it dies it can take a whole lot of components with it. 

 

Custom Loop

There are basically two main types of custom loops with several sub types. The main difference is soft and hard tubing. Soft tubing means you have a flexible hose you only need to cut to size. Hard tubing means you have rigid tubes you either have to bend with heat or you have to use fittings to change directions (and you'll have to change directions multiple times). Soft tubes are a lot easier to setup but they don't look as tidy. Hard tubing requires some skill. You can use plastic tubing (Acryl and PETG) as well as glass or metal tubing. There are various different subtypes concerning tube diameters and materials. You'll have to make sure that your fittings (the stuff you screw into your waterblocks, radiator, pump etc to connect those to the hoses or tubes) match the tubing you're using and has the right diameter. The threads on waterblocks, radiators and so on are usually standardized G 1/4" (and so are on the Gigabyte blocks). There are different types of fittings as well, Jayztwocents has you covered with several videos about fittings and custom water cooling in general. For up to two blocks and just one radiator EK's SPC pump is sufficient, you can also use a D5 pump since space in both cases I suggested is not an issue. There are combinations of reservoirs and pumps but you can also add them seperately or even get along without a reservoir. Reservoirs are very useful though to bleed the system from any air bubbles and it's a lot easier to fill them up. They do not add additional cooling. More water only means it takes a little longer for the water within your loop to reach max temp. The maximum temperature is the result of heat going in from the water blocks and heat being dissipated through the radiators into the ambient air. If you want your pump and reservoir separated you'll need mor fittings and tubing. For your fans you'll want static pressure ones on your radiator that can push more air through the radiator and its fins like Noctua's Industrial NF-A14 (140mm fans) or NF-F12 (120mm). They should controllable via PWM for a wider range of rpms. Push or Pull configurations don't make any significant difference. Absolutely irrelevant is loop order. Again, Jayztwocents has you covered with experiments here and he (and several others) have proved that loop order is irrelevant. You'll always read water when it's about water cooling. The thing is though: you do not use regular tap water. The very least is distilled and deionized water to reduce corrosion. You can either add concentrates to fight algae and add additional protection against corrosion (and colour if that's what you want) or you can use premade coolants. Some are also based on alcohol just like the coolant in modern cars. 

And the last point for now: THOU SHALT NOT MIX YOUR METALS! Or to be more specific: never mix aluminium and copper/nickel in your loop. There will be galvanic corrosion and it will quickly deteriorate your metals to the paint of catastrophic failure. Mixing copper and nickel is fine. In fact, basically all nickel blocks are only nickel-plated copper. Mixing those might only look inconsistent. If anyone is trying to tell you mixing copper and nickel is bad lacks scientific backing. That means: your motherboard has a waterblock made out of copper, EK's Fluid Gaming Kits are not an option for you, they are incompatible!

 

Final words

This build is going to be expensive - very expensive (talking about significantly beyond $2k). It's absolutely doable but you'll need to do your research, get informed, watch videos, read threads and plan ahead. If you're a bit intimidated, that's ok, better being careful and not messing up very expensive hardware than being careless and over confident. I'm sure though that your mom would understand if you'll explain to here the size of this project that follows this mainboard. There are many really good mainboards in the high end class out there that don't require custom watercooling for half the price. If you want to proceed, ask questions before messing up rather later when it's about handling any potential damage.

 

Merry Christmas!

[killerbee04x]

Thanks.. it will take a year to build. I'll do it. I don't like loans.. my 2015 steam mechine i3 is slower then my phone but it will do till my computer is up and running. I use my phone for school work more then it.  I'm excited and happy to become a member of the community. I thank my mom for her effort. When it's built I think she'll be very happy. She trying to get me into futuristic stuff so that I can be a scientist or doctor.. I'll try not to let her down. I'm only in highschool but I think it will last me a long time.. help me simulate stuff.

[aezakmi]

holy fuck that's a $1k board 

 

you should put no less than a 9900k on that

[bowrilla]

1 hour ago, killerbee04x said:

Thanks.. it will take a year to build. I'll do it. I don't like loans.. my 2015 steam mechine i3 is slower then my phone but it will do till my computer is up and running. I use my phone for school work more then it.  I'm excited and happy to become a member of the community. I thank my mom for her effort. When it's built I think she'll be very happy. She trying to get me into futuristic stuff so that I can be a scientist or doctor.. I'll try not to let her down. I'm only in highschool but I think it will last me a long time.. help me simulate stuff.

Well. You could talk to her if you cant maybe give it back and switch to a less of a ... golden balls kind of mainboard and have something left for the base system? That board is almost twice as much as my base system of 3 weeks ago. It costs more than most people's whole system. It's a great board but it demands top of the line stuff and by the time you have it all together we're already on the next generation. Most good mainboard cost like $150-200, even enthusiasts level boards rarely exceed $250. Your board costs 4-6 times that much. I'm not trying to discourage you. Do build yourself a computer. But it would be a shame to have it around without it working. For that money having a very good board, an i7, 16GB of memory and a good PSU is very much possible without compromising performance. You could probably even throw in a mid-level (non-4k-capable) GPU. It's only a suggestion. That route you could build it next week, have it running at the end of the day (or the day after) and still learned how to build it all.

 

It's up to you. If you do decide to build yourself a balls to the wall system with that board go and document that build. It might be an interesting story and a good read for other people who are to scared to build a computer, let alone their first computer with a custom loop.

[killerbee04x]

five types of special languages used in modern AI's  do you see something that sticks out at you? a I9 case?