First Time = Hard Line

[EvelynX]

Hey friends!

I got a LianLi 011Dynamic a couple of weeks ago and decided to go for the money shot and add a second card. (Strix 1080ti) but now the top boi gets way too hot.

 

Oh no! An excuse to water cool my system! 

 

Well it's my first time doing a custom loop and you won't convince me to use soft tubing so can anyone give me any advice going into it. I'm going to make sure I'm well informed before I buy anything.

Going to get that fancy front panel Lian Li reservoir while im at it!

I'm not new to Pc building at all but this is my first time going custom loop so your expertise is appreciated.  Yes you, specifically you! 

 

Couple of points I could do with help with -

 

1. Any benefit at all to using all the rad space (3x 360) or is that going to trip me up elsewhere.

2. Should I bend the tubes or do all the corners with fittings? Is there risk to that?

3. I was going to do EK Waterblocks configuration and tweak it a little. Is that a bad idea? Are there better options?

4, Any specialist tools you'd recommend?

5. Are Thermaltakes RGB water fittings worth the extra dislikes my build post will get. 

 

Im not too concerned about fucking it up because I can always just tear it down and start again, but nonetheless id love some tips that might often get missed in guide videos etc.

 

 

Hope you can help!

[firereverie]

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1. Any benefit at all to using all the rad space (3x 360) or is that going to trip me up elsewhere.

2. Should I bend the tubes or do all the corners with fittings? Is there risk to that?

3. I was going to do EK Waterblocks configuration and tweak it a little. Is that a bad idea? Are there better options?

4, Any specialist tools you'd recommend?

5. Are Thermaltakes RGB water fittings worth the extra dislikes my build post will get. 

1. Check your clearance! Measure, measure, and measure again. The more radiator you add, the more thermal displacement, the more thermal displacement the less hard you have to run your fans and the quieter your system will be. That being said if it ends up being too thick by the time you have fans on the rads that you can’t get to connections to put it together then it’s a waste. If you have the space check out hardware labs GTX, 54mm thick and $105 USD on performancepcs.com.

2. More fittings == more possible leaks and much higher cost. IMO if you’re willing to learn to bend buy some extra tubing and practice, Jay has some really good how to videos.

3. Not sure what you mean by tweaking using EK blocks, but EK also has a discord server where you can chat people up on specifics too.

4. If you decide to bend, thermaltake and some others sell bending jigs (thermaltakes is about $60 USD on amazon), also make sure you have the correct size silicon insert for your tubing and a good heat gun. Primo chill makes a tube end chamfering bit for getting a clean finish on your tube ends which is important for getting a good seal in your fittings. 

5. Personally I wouldn’t risk those, they go together kinda wonky and I read about one too many leaks, the risk plus the extra cable management seem like a no go to me and the only build I’ve seen that really leveraged them was where the builder laser etched all his tubing so the designs glowed.

 

Quote

Im not too concerned about fucking it up because I can always just tear it down and start again, but nonetheless id love some tips are often missed in guide videos etc. 

Do your homework and planning and tripple check. Best case if you fucked up something just won’t fit, worst case it leaks all over the insides of your build and ruins all your expensive components. Take your time, and you’ll have a great rig.

[EvelynX]

@firereverieThanks for the advice! I saw Jays video with that drill bit and it was impressive! I'll take a look and see about bending the tubes. I'll probably just buy in excess so I can do a few practice bends.

And yeah the water fittings, cable management I suspect would ruin it because id want clear tubes and fluid to take advantage of them but then youve got wires everywhere!

[firereverie]

Oh one more tool that I forgot about, a 24 pin power jumper, if you have cable sleeving tools you can make one for less then a dollar, otherwise they sell them for about $3.50. They connect to the end of your 24 pin in place of your MB so you don’t have to power your system to fill your loop. You can also do it with a paper clip or a bit of wire if you’re confident you won’t short the wrong pins and release the magic smoke.

[MaratM]

You do not need a power supply jumper, a paper clip does the same job free of charge (just short green and black wire), however a spare power supply (literally any, even working unit salvaged from an old office pc) is much better. During leak test all you need a molex connector.

a tube cutter is a good thing to have, can be easily picked up from any hardware store for few$

Do you home work about the case lian li o11 dynamic is a tricky one with the side rad.

I’m currently building a rig in lian li o11 dynamic with 1080ti strix. This card with attached waterblock is huge.

The only way to fit 2 of them is vertically, so you will need a vertical mount kit with minimum 4 pci-e slots and 2 raiser cables, do not cheap out on them.

rads can be placed without any problems are: a slim one at the bottom and anything up to 55mm thick at the top.

It will be very custom configuration so there is no point of buying fancy barrow/bykski reservoir distro plate. Get singularity computers pump/res mounting kit it will look cleaner.

try to mock it all up with all the rads-fans installed an try to visualise you tube runs after that you order your fittings. I persanaly use barrow cause they are cheaper. Make sure that you order correct tubes 12mm is the easiest way to work with.

also it is a good idea to use some kind of fan controller such as aquaero or corsair commander pro to control fan and pump speed. A few pwm fan splitters with power delivery is also a good idea

and the last thing - get rid of all the dust filters - i dropped around 3-4C on the coolant temp just by doing so

 

[Quadriplegic]

If you haven't gotten the distribution block yet, this will do:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Barrow-watercooling-Waterway-Boards-for-LIANLI-O11-dynamic-Computer-Case-LRC-2-0-RGB-Light-INTEL/32912039161.html?spm=a2g0o.cart.99999999.266.2d933c00CzXOcK

You can either get just the block or block+DDC pump combo. I have been looking around and it is cheaper to get block + pump combo. Bitspower has block too, but it was over €200 last time I checked.

Regarding the tools, what tubing do you want to go with? Acrylic or PETG? Both have their ups and downs. At the very least, acrylic will require a saw and chamfer tool, PETG can be cut easier, but it is harder to make it smoother (you can use the same chamfer, but edges will have to be sanded down). And check the length of tubes before buying. It would be a shame if you bought 10 pieces of 50 cm length tubing only to find out that you need 60 cm of tube. You can get Bitspower tubing in either 1 m or 50 cm length from Overclockers.co.uk.