First ever custom water cooling build - Looking for advice!

[ImAyaanKhan]

I'm 13, and after having successfully completed my first ever build (A ryzen 3 APU with 8gb DDR4 and a 120gb ssd + 1tb HDD, nothing too fancy), I've decided to move on to custom water cooling.  My current spec sheets are:

PC parts: 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor	$144.89 @ OutletPC
Motherboard	MSI - B450 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard	$109.89 @ OutletPC
Memory	G.Skill - Aegis 8 GB (1 x 8 GB) DDR4-2666 Memory	$32.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Mushkin - Source 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$51.89 @ OutletPC
Video Card	MSI - Radeon RX 580 8 GB ARMOR OC Video Card	$169.99 @ Newegg
Case	NZXT - H500i ATX Mid Tower Case	$89.97 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Corsair - CXM 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply	$59.89 @ OutletPC
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$719.51
	Mail-in rebates	-$60.00
	Total	$659.51
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-06-10 12:21 EDT-0400

 

Water cooling parts: https://www.ekwb.com/custom-loop-configurator/shared/oW5cfdcec269342

I'd like any recommendations on changes I can make to the parts list, like cost-saving measures and recommended cases for water cooling, and just any general advice and rookie mistakes I should avoid. I look forward to hearing from you!

[Bananasplit_00]

my first advice is to upgrade performance first, my second advice is to not get EK blocks or EK SE rads as they are pretty meh.

 

for cases it depends on what you are looking for, Define R6/S2 are nice, the Define/Meshify C if you want something compact or the Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic if you want something that shows off your parts well.

[ImAyaanKhan]

Also, is the h500i really better than the h500 for watercooling?

[ImAyaanKhan]

1 minute ago, Bananasplit_00 said:

my first advice is to upgrade performance first, my second advice is to not get EK blocks or EK SE rads as they are pretty meh.

 

for cases it depends on what you are looking for, Define R6/S2 are nice, the Define/Meshify C if you want something compact or the Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic if you want something that shows off your parts well.

Ouch, my whole build is EK, do you have any recommendations for better parts around the same price or maybe lower?

[ImAyaanKhan]

5 minutes ago, Bananasplit_00 said:

my first advice is to upgrade performance first, my second advice is to not get EK blocks or EK SE rads as they are pretty meh.

 

for cases it depends on what you are looking for, Define R6/S2 are nice, the Define/Meshify C if you want something compact or the Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic if you want something that shows off your parts well.

Also, do you think it's worth it to custom water cool the GPU, or should I downgrade a custom CPU loop to save money?

[chen57]

to me it always seems a little weird to buy midrange parts and watercool them.. why not buy better parts ? Just want to do it for the looks and fun ?

[Bananasplit_00]

1 minute ago, ImAyaanKhan said:

Ouch, my whole build is EK, do you have any recommendations for better parts around the same price or maybe lower?

Watercool is the brand i recommend for blocks as they are the top performers and dont usually cost more than the EK ones, any rads besides the SE from EK are nice, the SE are just low performance so i dont like them.

[ImAyaanKhan]

1 minute ago, chen57 said:

to me it always seems a little weird to buy midrange parts and watercool them.. why not buy better parts ? Just want to do it for the looks and fun ?

I'm on budget, so I can't go for high end parts

[Bananasplit_00]

1 minute ago, ImAyaanKhan said:

Also, do you think it's worth it to custom water cool the GPU, or should I downgrade a custom CPU loop to save money?

i wouldnt watercool any of this. i would spend the money on better performance, a nice screen or something to that effect unless you REALLY want to do watercooling. The watercooling wont be doing much for performance and will be just a looks thing really

[ImAyaanKhan]

Just now, Bananasplit_00 said:

i wouldnt watercool any of this. i would spend the money on better performance, a nice screen or something to that effect unless you REALLY want to do watercooling. The watercooling wont be doing much for performance and will be just a looks thing really

I'm not really doing this for performance, I'm doing this to gain experience, and the PC is going to be built to be sold on ebay, too, so that I don't waste my parent's money doing this

[3 Lions]

I think you should probably start off with an AIO. I know some people see water-cooling and want to go all out on a custom loop, it's only after a few weeks that they start to feel uncomfortable with the set-up and decide that they don't like it.

[ImAyaanKhan]

Just now, LinusTechTipsFanFromDarlo said:

I think you should probably start off with an AIO. I know some people see water-cooling and want to go all out on a custom loop, it's only after a few weeks that they start to feel uncomfortable with the set-up and decide that they don't like it.

Again, I'm only doing this for experience, and I'm going to be selling this PC on ebay

[3 Lions]

Just now, ImAyaanKhan said:

Again, I'm only doing this for experience, and I'm going to be selling this PC on ebay

If you are selling it on Ebay, you should probably stick to air cooling. 

Edited June 10, 2019 by LinusTechTipsFanFromDarlo

[Bananasplit_00]

1 minute ago, LinusTechTipsFanFromDarlo said:

I think you should probably start off with an AIO. I know some people see water-cooling and want to go all out on a custom loop, it's only after a few weeks that they start to feel uncomfortable with the set-up and decide that they don't like it.

no dont buy an AIO, AIOs are trash.

2 minutes ago, ImAyaanKhan said:

I'm not really doing this for performance, I'm doing this to gain experience, and the PC is going to be built to be sold on ebay, too, so that I don't waste my parent's money doing this

you wont be getting back what the loop cost once you flip it

[TheGlenlivet]

I get it, you just want to do it for the experience.  

If that's the case, then don't worry about high end water cooling parts.  Mid range water cooling gear to go with your mid range CPU/GPU/MOBO/Case will be fine.

The EK stuff isn't the best, but it's not bad.  Also, their configuration website makes it east to get parts that fit.

[3 Lions]

Just now, Bananasplit_00 said:

no dont buy an AIO, AIOs are trash.

Not all of them are 'trash'. 

[ImAyaanKhan]

1 minute ago, TheGlenlivet said:

I get it, you just want to do it for the experience.  

If that's the case, then don't worry about high end water cooling parts.  Mid range water cooling gear to go with your mid range CPU/GPU/MOBO/Case will be fine.

The EK stuff isn't the best, but it's not bad.  Also, their configuration website makes it east to get parts that fit.

So you're saying I should go forward with my current sheet then? That's awesome

[ImAyaanKhan]

Just now, LinusTechTipsFanFromDarlo said:

Not all of them are 'trash'. 

Meh, I've heard a lot about pumps on AIOs breaking after a month. It's always the pump wherever I go.

[TheGlenlivet]

1 minute ago, ImAyaanKhan said:

So you're saying I should go forward with my current sheet then? That's awesome

It will work.  I'd add another stick of RAM though.

[ImAyaanKhan]

4 minutes ago, Bananasplit_00 said:

no dont buy an AIO, AIOs are trash.

you wont be getting back what the loop cost once you flip it

Also, I've noticed that people on ebay care more about aesthetics than performance, though that's probably because they're uninformed. If I don't break even, I still believe I can get a good chunk back

[ImAyaanKhan]

1 minute ago, TheGlenlivet said:

It will work.  I'd add another stick of RAM though.

as in 2x8gb or 2x4gb?

[3 Lions]

Just now, ImAyaanKhan said:

Meh, I've heard a lot about pumps on AIOs breaking after a month. It's always the pump wherever I go.

Most pumps fail because they have been set at constant 100% speed, ideally they should throttle up and down. 

[ImAyaanKhan]

Just now, LinusTechTipsFanFromDarlo said:

Most pumps fail because they have been set at constant 100% speed, ideally they should throttle up and down. 

Which means that if I get one, I have to download their utility software (which will most likely be glitchy), and fully customize the speed, and then hope I acted fast enough. Sounds convenient. (Sarcasm intended)

[TheGlenlivet]

2 minutes ago, ImAyaanKhan said:

as in 2x8gb or 2x4gb?

if you can't afford 2x8 then 2x4 will perform better than 1x8.  

[ImAyaanKhan]

Just now, TheGlenlivet said:

if you can't afford 2x8 then 2x4 will perform better than 1x8.  

Alright, I'll compare prices between the two