Doing a Custom Loop..

[ch3w2oy]

So I think I'm going to do a custom loop with my PC (finally got some money) and I had a few questions.. 

 

EKWBs website configurator came up with over $900. That seems a little retarded honestly. 

 

How much should I expect to spend to cool my Vega 64 and AM4 CPU (will change from 2600x once zen 2 comes out).

 

I would like to use a monoblock (not sure if that is the generic name for it or just Ekwb) that covers the VRMs and the CPU.. My gaming 7 actually has good VRMs so if it's too much then I'm not worried about it.. 

 

I guess I have to buy a GPU waterblock for my Vega, right? So I need that. 

 

I want to use hard tubing. 2 radiators, at least one thick 360 (front) and a decent 280 (top). I'm using my Entho Pro M, pics in sig, but am seriously considering other options. I really like the new cooler master case, SL600M? I might pick that up, please provide me some other great options.. I really like the Fractal Design R6 as I've seen a few setups done nice in it. 

 

I'm thinking about doing two pumps with 2 reservoirs, if I can do it with the budget I'm hoping to spend (probably $600 at most).. I don't mind buying some stuff used. I'm not sure if I should use the pumps/res in different loops for gpu and cpu.. Or if I should run them in the same loop and if so do I make a Y and run them into the same line or use one to fill up the other? Is that referred to as series and parallel? I just think two would look awesome but it's not necessary but it will also give me a back up option incase one fails.. 

 

Should I just get a kit and then get the extra parts I need? I'm new to this specific water cooling, but I'm really good at this kind of stuff in general so I'm not scared to use anything complicated.. 

 

Any thoughts and opinions are much appreciated! Please feel free to show me some examples.. I will also read the pinned thread above but still would like your thoughts on cases, hard vs soft, price options, pumps, reservoirs, etc.. 

 

Thanks again! 

[RobFRaschke]

$900 is probably right for dual loops with a full cover block for your video card and a monoblock for your motherboard/cpu. Watercooling is not cheap! IMHO, a single good pump, like a D5 vario or equivalent, with a good water volume(decent size reservoir) and a GOOD single 360, or a pair of thinner radiators should handle your load just fine unless you've overclocked the snot out of your Vega, that would really be the tipping point IMHO. $600 is going to be tight for what you're wanting either way.

[Blai5e]

Unless you're going to modify your Phanteks case, you'll only get a 240mm radiator in the front (after removing both drive cages). You can however get a 360mm or a 420mm up top - have a read of your manual under "watercooling installation" pp.27.

[Lathlaer]

52 minutes ago, ChewToy! said:

EKWBs website configurator came up with over $900.

 

52 minutes ago, ChewToy! said:

I'm thinking about doing two pumps with 2 reservoirs

 

54 minutes ago, ChewToy! said:

hard tubing

 

55 minutes ago, ChewToy! said:

2 radiators

Seems about right. You can greatly reduce the price with going single pump and single reservoir (each pump and res demand additional fittings as well).

 

I'm not a fan of dual loops in midi towers especially with single GPU.

[Benjeh]

No point in dual loops if you're on a budget, if you just want to throw no limits money at it however then different story. Monoblock is what EK coined but I think others followed suit with calling them that, I'm not too clued up with the AM4 sockets etc so not sure if the issue that plagued the AM3 board is the same aka poor VRM support then I would just throw a mono block on, cool VRM higher the overclock to stop voltage ripples.

 

My current set up is as follows:

1x 420mm rad

1x 360mm rad

D5 pump res combo

mostly non hardline tubing as I need a new heat gun to bend them

EK blocks 1 on my 6700k and the other on my 980ti.

 

If you want to reduce costs btw, find some 2nd had parts, fittings and rads, maybe a pump res combo will dramatically reduce costs, I would also see about blocks but rads are lottery, people will not clean them before sending them too you, they won't package them properly, and depending on what rad you're buying they're not much cheaper than new.

 

Also note, the bigger the surface area of fins the better, the thicker the rad the better too but at a cost, you will need good static pressure fans to clear that heat. My rads are thin the 360 is a 30mm and the 420mm is a 45mm, 360 has a dense FPI count the 420 is medium.

[ch3w2oy]

1 hour ago, RobFRaschke said:

 

Their configuration didn't even include dual res/pumps.. But Im now only considering one pump and reservoir.. It really is pricey. 

 

1 hour ago, Blai5e said:

Unless you're going to modify your Phanteks case, you'll only get a 240mm radiator in the front (after removing both drive cages).

Would a 360 rad be much different than a 360 AIO? I have my H150i Pro mounted in the front. See my sig link for pics. 

 

1 hour ago, Lathlaer said:

I'm not a fan of dual loops in midi towers especially with single GPU.

 

37 minutes ago, Benjeh said:

No point in dual loops if you're on a budget, 

Okay, so to keep prices down and to get the hang of it maybe I'll just do my GPU first on its own loop and keep my H150i Pro on my cpu. This is really my main reason for doing it. I want my card to run cooler as it'll help with the overclock and I really don't like the fan running as loud as it does..if it was easy enough I would just change the rad on my Liquid Vega 64, it just isn't big enough. I tested my Vega performance in a bucket of ice so I know keeping it cooler will help. 

 

Doing it that way will show me to do it the way I want since I'll do it in stages and save some money for now not doing the cpu.. 

[Benjeh]

2 minutes ago, ChewToy! said:

Okay, so to keep prices down and to get the hang of it maybe I'll just do my GPU first on its own loop and keep my H150i Pro on my cpu. This is really my main reason for doing it. I want my card to run cooler as it'll hero with the overclock and I really don't like the fan running as loud as it does..if it was easy enough I would just change the rad on my Liquid Vega 64, it just isn't big enough. I tested my Vega performance in a bucket of ice so I know jetting it cooler will help. 

 

Doing it that way will show me to do it the way I want since I'll do it in stages.. 

GPU throw out the most heat in my experience, so if you got a nice big rad to cool it then you'll see a nice drop in temps and acoustics. I will literally never go back to air unless I dead ass cannot afford to.

[ch3w2oy]

4 minutes ago, Benjeh said:

GPU throw out the most heat in my experience, so if you got a nice big rad to cool it then you'll see a nice drop in temps and acoustics. I will literally never go back to air unless I dead ass cannot afford to.

Is this a good start? Will it work on a Vega card? I don't mind buying another rad.. 

 

https://www.ekfluidgaming.com/ek-kit-a360g

 

Edit: nevermind, in on my phone lol. I see the compatibility part now.. 

[Benjeh]

5 minutes ago, ChewToy! said:

Is this a good start? Will it work on a Vega card? I don't mind buying another rad.. 

 

https://www.ekfluidgaming.com/ek-kit-a360g

 

Edit: nevermind, in on my phone lol. I see the compatibility part now.. 

Im not sure, I've never bought their kits, 90% of the blocks I own are used. Hell of a lot cheaper this way, I once bought a full copper EK cpu block for £30 including postage, they were around £65 new if i remember correctly.

[ch3w2oy]

11 minutes ago, Benjeh said:

Im not sure, I've never bought their kits, 90% of the blocks I own are used. Hell of a lot cheaper this way, I once bought a full copper EK cpu block for £30 including postage, they were around £65 new if i remember correctly.

I don't know where to find them. Not many options on ebay for Vega. 

[Benjeh]

Just now, ChewToy! said:

I don't know where to find them. Not many options on ebay for Vega. 

classifieds like on here or overclock.net and other tech forums, facebook pages etc, you might struggle with the vega with it being an uncommon card.

[ch3w2oy]

8 minutes ago, Benjeh said:

classifieds like on here or overclock.net and other tech forums, facebook pages etc, you might struggle with the vega with it being an uncommon card.

Thanks for the help!

[Blai5e]

7 hours ago, ch3w2oy said:

Would a 360 rad be much different than a 360 AIO? I have my H150i Pro mounted in the front. See my sig link for pics.

Looks like you made the mod anyway (removing the 5¼" bays. A 360mm radiator should fit without issue now.

[SolarNova]

You can save a bunch of money by buying parts from various manufactuers instead of just one.

 

You can save on the blocks, res, fittings, and possibly even pump by goign with Barrow and/or Bykski.

 

Idealy u should get a good D5 pump and rads from more well known manufactuers/brands.

 

i wouldnt bother with dual loops, especialy if u want to save money.

 

You cna most certanly build a full loop for less than $900.

[ch3w2oy]

19 minutes ago, SolarNova said:

 

@Benjeh @SolarNova

How's this one for a start?

 

https://www.ekfluidgaming.com/ek-fluid-gaming-a240r

 

 

@Lathlaer

What do I need to bend hard pipes if I go that route? I think I'm just going to stick to soft tubing if it costs too much..

[Lathlaer]

2 minutes ago, ch3w2oy said:

What do I need to bend hard pipes if I go that route?

What kind of tubing? PETG? Glass? Copper?

[SolarNova]

4 minutes ago, ch3w2oy said:

@Benjeh @SolarNova

How's this one for a start?

 

https://www.ekfluidgaming.com/ek-fluid-gaming-a240r

 

 

@Lathlaer

What do I need to bend hard pipes if I go that route? I think I'm just going to stick to soft tubing if it costs too much..

So EKWB's kits are a good way to go BUT, those ones are Aluminium, meaning future upgrades wil lHAVE to be aluminium, this will limit your options. You cant mix Aluminium with copper.

[ch3w2oy]

10 minutes ago, Lathlaer said:

What kind of tubing? PETG? Glass? Copper?

What do you have? Is that your PC in your avatar? I would like PETG, glass would be cool but I'm sure it's harder and more expensive.. I don't like copper pipes.. 

[ch3w2oy]

10 minutes ago, SolarNova said:

So EKWB's kits are a good way to go BUT, those ones are Aluminium, meaning future upgrades wil lHAVE to be aluminium, this will limit your options. You cant mix Aluminium with copper.

That sucks.. Seems like a decent kit, though.. I just need to get a 360 rad to use with it.. 

[Lathlaer]

11 minutes ago, ch3w2oy said:

What do you have? Is that your PC in your avatar? I would like PETG

It's borosilicate glass and you need a blowtorch to bend it. I didn't bend it though, you can buy 90 degree tubes from companies like Alphacool or Mayhems. 

 

For PETG bending you need a silicone insert and a heat gun. There are bending kits that help with 45 and 90 degrees as well that can help. Also, you need lots of patience if you are doing it for the first time. Or just buy pre-bent, I believe there are those made of PETG as well. The plus side is, it's much easier to cut than glass.

 

Personally, I'm a fan of clean bends so I prefer pre-bent tubes and the connectors will do the rest of the work for you (rotary S fitting - aka double 45 - is essential) but there are people who prefer a touch of imperfection in their builds.

[Mehmy]

1 hour ago, ch3w2oy said:

That sucks.. Seems like a decent kit, though.. I just need to get a 360 rad to use with it.. 

You can buy https://www.ekfluidgaming.com/ek-fg-360-expansion-pack if you want to get the 360mm one. Just, as said earlier, you'll need to be careful in future if/when you upgrade

[Bajantechnician]

22 hours ago, ch3w2oy said:

I don't know where to find them. Not many options on ebay for Vega. 

I bought mine off of the EK site. It's usually out of stock so look at Performancepcs. Just make sure you buy what you want correctly because even though they'll check the order a bit for you (i ordered 30 things, all nickel, accidentally ordered 2 black nickel pieces. They sent me an email asking me if I had ordered the wrong pieces, which I did) returns suck since they deduct 20% no matter what.

1 hour ago, ch3w2oy said:

What do you have? Is that your PC in your avatar? I would like PETG, glass would be cool but I'm sure it's harder and more expensive.. I don't like copper pipes.. 

Petg is able to be cut like soft tubing. Acrylic must be sawed or cut with the spin cutter, glass can only be used with a Demel or a spin cutter. You will need to heat and bend glass just like acrylic, but you will need an actual blowtorch. I personally use acrylic. Its a good middle ground between petg and glass.