Suggestions on custom cooling

[Smackaroy]

how big of a pain is it to do custom cooling like is it easy to put together and if it is in how big of a pain is it to upgrade your cpu will you have to take down the whole loop and drain it?

[WWicket]

4 minutes ago, Smackaroy said:

how big of a pain is it to do custom cooling like is it easy to put together and if it is in how big of a pain is it to upgrade your cpu will you have to take down the whole loop and drain it?

A massive pain. 

 

For real though, it depends on how complex of a loop, how well designed the loop is, and if anything goes wrong (And everything probably will go wrong-- see Murphy's Law). 

 

Custom loops are pretty much never worthwhile to a sane person in terms of gains vs PITA. They are installed by masochists obsessed with having the biggest d*PC, naive fools that convince themselves it won't be that big of a pain, and those that can afford to have someone else deal with all the pain for them. 

 

Your PC with a custom water loop: 

 

Also, you will spend more than the Canadian GDP on fittings.

 

As for replacing the CPU, if you are lucky and use flexible tubing, you can sometimes just unmount the CPU block, put in a new CPU, and remount the block without draining/disassembling any of the loop. If you are unlucky-- PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN ENDLESS PAIN

[Smackaroy]

1 minute ago, WWicket said:

A massive pain. 

 

For real though, it depends on how complex of a loop, how well designed the loop is, and if anything goes wrong (And everything probably will go wrong-- see Murphy's Law). 

 

Custom loops are pretty much never worthwhile to a sane person in terms of gains vs PITA. They are installed by masochists obsessed with having the biggest d*PC, naive fools that convince themselves it won't be that big of a pain, and those that can afford to have someone else deal with all the pain for them. 

 

Your PC with a custom water loop: 

 

Also, you will spend more than the Canadian GDP on fittings.

 

As for replacing the CPU, if you are lucky and use flexible tubing, you can sometimes just unmount the CPU block, put in a new CPU, and remount the block without draining/disassembling any of the loop. If you are unlucky-- PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN ENDLESS PAIN

Okey dokey 

[bignaz]

Like usual. Someone who knows nothing comes in with there expert opinion.

 

 

Disregard everything he says as he has absolutely no clue what he is talking about.

 

 

 

There's tons of kits that will get you up and running fast at around $300-$450usd.  The performance you gain over air and the trash aio's is great. 

 

 

Changing cpu's is simple if you go with soft tubing. You unmount the block swap cpu's then add thermal paste and remount.  Whole process maybe 5 min. 

 

 

First time builders I always recamen soft tubing. Make sure you just make your cuts straight when using compression fittings.  It's very easy.  Now what you do is lay everything out then plumb it up. After that remove it from the case then fill it up and leak test. First time builders leak test for 24 hours. I have not leak tested a loop in over 10 years but I been water-cooling since back when we used pond pumps. 

 During the leak test start to shake your radiators every way to get air out. Then "burp it" just open the fill port to let the air out. Then let it run and after 24 hours of no leaks burp it again and put it back in the case.  This is why I use soft tubing. I can swap anything out without messing with my loop. I can even swap out mobos and use the same loop. Hard tube you can't do this. 

 

A good loop is the best way to cool your system. Lower noise, more reliable then aio's that will die after around 4-6 years. I have a D5 pump that's over 11 years old running just fine. And cool great. I got mine on a 3900x at 4.5ghz and it loads at 65c after the loops been heatsoked typically in games I'm at 53c. No air cooler or aio will even come close to that. 

 

 

 

My advice is buy a kit. I like the Corsair Hydro X line but they don't offer it in a kit. But there's a bunch of great kits out there that are priced good and will give you really nice cooling preformace. 

 

 

Water-cooling is not hard. It's extremely easy now. Just make sure you don't over tighten fittings. When using soft tubing the cuts are straight and you won't have any issues.  People get jealous and will try and talk you out of it and tell you to get what they have so they feel cool.

 

 

There's tons of vids and if you have any questions people will help you. I personally recamend the Corsair Hydro X line but it can be a bit more to get everything you need  "tack on $70 for the Corsair commander of you want the rgb to work" but it's better stuff the. EKWB. I switched from EK to Corsair and I won't be going back.  But the EK kits are great kits I would go with the P280 or P360 kit from them. 

 

 

But after you go with a custom loop you won't go back to anything else. And the stuff will last. I can cut off the parts I used on my old socket 939 system get an $8 mount and use it on my AM4 system. 

 

 

[Blai5e]

@bignaz & @Smackaroy

 

I've been watercooling since about 2005 (first using the Corsair Cool kit with 2x Swiftech GPU blocks for my GeForce 7900GT's and a Thermaltake 5¼" bay mount reservoir) and more recently, I've been using using EKWB parts. My loop consists of the CPU, 2 x GPU waterblocks, 2 x radiators, a D5 pump/reservoir combo and a Phanteks distribution plate all plumbed in using PETG hard line tubing. It wasn't cheap but hey; I don't waste money on booze & hookers plus I enjoy it as a hobby.

 

@WWicket sprouts the worse case scenario and neglects to state that open loop watercooling is more for the hobbist/enthusiast where cost is (to an extent) normalised in balance with passion. Yes, fittings can take a sizable chunk of cash but wouldn't you want confidence that those fittings are well made and leak-proof? If you decide on the soft-tube path, you'll save in some of the fittings as the tube can perform some/most of the bends you may need to do with hard tubes (assuming you're not into making most of the bends yourself with a heat gun).

 

As mentioned by others, changing components with an open loop plumbed with soft tubing is a relatively straight forward exercise but you can take it further using "quick connects". Using "quick connects", you can completely remove water cooled components with basically zero risk of a leak. Koolance sells a full range of "quick connect" fittings whereas EKWB only sells the "quick connect" for exactly this purpose.

 

Finally, do the research... there are plenty of guide both written and video that can help you decide whether you want to accept the red pill or blue pill. I'll list just a few below:

• JayzTwo Cents - YouTube channel (a plethora of water cooling videos, Jay has made use of quick connects in some of his videos).
• Paul's Hardware - YouTube channel (check his "Black Panther" build for an example quick connects).
• EKWB Guides - a range of guides from the basics to more advanced topics.
• Water Cooling Guide by Alfaa - a bit old but contains all of the basics.

[andrewmp6]

I will add ek has a air leak tester now,You can build it in the case and pressure test it with air for a day if you like.

[Blai5e]

Just now, andrewmp6 said:

I will add ek has a air leak tester now,You can build it in the case and pressure test it with air for a day if you like.

I have the Dr. Drop version as the EK version wasn't a product when I got it. Useful so-as not to be surprised with a loose fitting when filling

[andrewmp6]

5 minutes ago, Blai5e said:

I have the Dr. Drop version as the EK version wasn't a product when I got it. Useful so-as not to be surprised with a loose fitting when filling

Yulp and is great to pin point a leak also.You can use it on a waterblock just plug the other port.And i have seen a few video where they are filling the loop first time and it springs a nice leak going everywhere lol.I'd rather not do that.

[WWicket]

5 hours ago, bignaz said:

Like usual. Someone who knows nothing comes in with there expert opinion.

 

Disregard everything he says as he has absolutely no clue what he is talking about.

...

5 hours ago, bignaz said:

But after you go with a custom loop you won't go back to anything else. 

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Never claimed to be an expert, but I'm not at all new to watercooling (as in first wc'd build was an Athlon XP and MCW6000) and just recently got rid of my custom loop for an air cooled build. Guess what? Whole build took less time than the tubing in my last build. My computer is much smaller and lighter now and worry and maintenance free. Have had a pump top explode and destroy a computer. Never have had a single issue with an air cooler. 

[BigDamn]

I recently did my first ever custom loop from parts mostly bought on AliExpress (I'll be doing a write-up of my experience on the forum soon!). My configuration consist of dual 360mm radiators that cool the CPU and GPU. Was it a pain in the ass? Meh. There's a few challenges along the way, but no more than building your first ever PC. But all in all that's not the point. I didn't build my first PC because I thought it'd be easy. I didn't do this loop cause I thought it'd be easy. I didn't install an intake on my car cause I thought it'd be easy. I did them all because the challenge is what makes it fun. The results? Saved a few bucks not buying a prebuilt. With the loop I get much better temperatures but no performance gain. In my car I get slightly better MPG and a little extra (sexy) noise. Many could argue that none of these tasks are worth doing as the work can be complicated, risky, and time consuming with not much in return. But they're all worth it to me.

 

If you desire the challenge, go for it! It's satisfying to finish your loop and watch your temperatures slashed in half. Literally. My GTX 1080 went from 80-85c to 40-45c. As I mentioned, there's no performance gain (until I overclock) but the experience was definitely worth it.