Water cooling is expensive!!!

[JapanDave]

Just about to finish my first ever hard tube build and I started to calculate how much just the water cooling cost and it really surprised me. Why it surprised me is b/c I was buying parts as I needed them over the course of 2 months while building it. Also I should say I went a little silly using 4 radiators, but I did want to fill out the Thermaltake Core P7 case, so I know I did not go the typical water cooling route.

 

Anyway,

Bitspower G1/4" Hexagon Flow Indicator, Digital RGB x 2 = $110

Thermaltake Distro Pacific DP100-D5 Plus 360mm 200ml x 1 = $250

Thermaltake 16 mm Pacific C-PRO G1/4 Fitting x 30 = $300 

Thermaltake Pacific DIY LCS Chrome G1/4 90 Degree x 13 = $130

Bitspower Touchaqua G1/4" Female to Female Fitting x 4 = $20

Thermaltake Pacific W5 CPU Water Block - Black x 1 = $103

Thermaltake Pacific PR22-D5 Plus Pump/Reservoir Combo x 1 = $190

Thermaltake Pacific DIY LCS R33 500ml Reservoir x 1 = $57

Thermaltake Pacific DIY LCS R15 200ml Reservoir x 1 = $45

Thermaltake V-Tubler PETG (16mm) OD 1000mm 4 Pack x 5 = $90

Bitspower Touchaqua Digit Thermal Sensor x 1 = $27

Bitspower Rotary G1/4" drain valve x 4 = $192

EK-CoolStream CE 560 (Quad) Radiator x 2 = $260

EK-CoolStream XE 480 (Quad) Radiator x 1 = $140

EK-CoolStream XE 120 (Single) Radiator x 1 = $63

Thermaltake Riing Trio 140mm Fan x 9 = $450

Thermaltake Riing Trio 12 RGB TT Premium Edition 120mm Fan x 6 = $240

EVGA HYDRO COPPER Waterblock for EVGA / NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti x 1 = $140

 

For a grand total of $2,807 on water cooling products alone.

 

It is just about finished and there really is no reason for this post other than to log the parts I used so when I do this again I will know what I am in for.

Cheers

 

[Whiro]

1 minute ago, JapanDave said:

For a grand total of $2,807 on water cooling products alone.

And I thought spending £350 on custom loop is much hahaha

[JapanDave]

2 minutes ago, Whiro said:

And I thought spending £350 on custom loop is much hahaha

Yeah, before I started I was thinking couple hundred for the pumps, some tubing and fittings, maybe $500-$600. Forgot about radiators, fans and whatever else and not to mention that fittings are expensive for sure!

[Whiro]

3 minutes ago, JapanDave said:

Yeah, before I started I was thinking couple hundred for the pumps, some tubing and fittings, maybe $500-$600. Forgot about radiators, fans and whatever else and not to mention that fittings are expensive for sure!

I’m planning custom loop but definitely not as big as yours, only cpu basically. 

[Letgomyleghoe]

If your interested in some off brand but high performance fans, These will work 

Bjtwit made a video on them and they seemed really good for the price, might slim off a couple dollars.

[JapanDave]

5 minutes ago, Whiro said:

I’m planning custom loop but definitely not as big as yours, only cpu basically. 

That was my plan, then I keep changing it! LOL

1 minute ago, scuff gang said:

If your interested in some off brand but high performance fans, These will work 

Bjtwit made a video on them and they seemed really good for the price, might slim off a couple dollars.

Maybe for next time, I already have everything bought and mounted. Just waiting on one more thing to finish the loop. Plus, not to mention that this RGB crap and mixing brands is a nightmare!!!

[Xplo1t]

It adds up when you start putting it together and find you need that one special fitting.  Then you wonder, should I buy one, or just get the 4 pack.  After my 3970x build, I had probably $500 of fittings and unused fans.  Then again, the entire setup was probably close to $10k so just a small part of the overall build.

[LOLZR]

Watercooling is definitely expensive, but in your going absolutely balls deep with this build too.  1x 560mm rads is more than enough for basically enough for any setup, and your build list includes 2 of these as well as other rads.

[jasonc_01]

Yes it's is... But you went overboard lol. 

[Mick Naughty]

Isn’t too costly. But when you buy a bunch of unneeded stuff it is. 
so that could be said of anything really. 

[JapanDave]

8 hours ago, Xplo1t said:

It adds up when you start putting it together and find you need that one special fitting.  Then you wonder, should I buy one, or just get the 4 pack.  After my 3970x build, I had probably $500 of fittings and unused fans.  Then again, the entire setup was probably close to $10k so just a small part of the overall build.

Yeah, I did the same thing and I have 10 unused fans that I could not figure out how to set up with other Thermaltake fans. I just ended up buying all Thermaltake.

5 hours ago, jasonc_01 said:

Yes it's is... But you went overboard lol. 

Yeah, I did go a bit far. LOL In my defence the Thermaltake Core P7 is a big case to fit out!!!

 

[Blai5e]

6 hours ago, JapanDave said:

Yeah, I did the same thing and I have 10 unused fans that I could not figure out how to set up with other Thermaltake fans. I just ended up buying all Thermaltake.

Yeah, I did go a bit far. LOL In my defence the Thermaltake Core P7 is a big case to fit out!!!

 

Tell me about it. I just hit the trigger on an overseas purchase of  3 x Primochill cross-flow radiators simply to clean up a couple of long tube runs 

[JapanDave]

1 minute ago, Blai5e said:

Tell me about it. I just hit the trigger on an overseas purchase of  3 x Primochill cross-flow radiators simply to clean up a couple of long tube runs 

LOL, That is my kind thinking! I mounted a single fan rad b/c there was still room on the case.

[jasonc_01]

20 hours ago, JapanDave said:

Yeah, I did the same thing and I have 10 unused fans that I could not figure out how to set up with other Thermaltake fans. I just ended up buying all Thermaltake.

Yeah, I did go a bit far. LOL In my defence the Thermaltake Core P7 is a big case to fit out!!!

 

You have more fittings in this thing than my last 4 custom loops combined. 

 

I would have bothered with flow indicators or a temp sensor. Flow indicators are only visible with clear fluids, so pastels and fluids like vue (mixed reviews) are out. The temp sensor, meh fluid temp doesn't really matter if the cpu and GPUs are running cool. 

 

 

[zogthegreat]

Hey JapanDave,

 

Try using either Barrow, Barrowch or Bykski parts. They both are OEM manufacturers for Swiftech, Aquacoumputers and I think ThermalTake. Their parts are considerably less expensive than ThermalTake or EKWB,

 

Barrow and Barrowch are the same company. Barrowch is the higher end components for water cooling:

 

https://www.bykski.us/

 

http://www.barrowch.com/

 

http://www.barrowint.com/plus/view.php?aid=1152

 

Also, try doing some sketches of what you want to do so that you can figure how many fittings, etc that you will need. Reading your list, it seems to me that you have too much gear, as LOLZR said,  do you really need 3 radiators?

 

As you stated in your title, water cooling is expensive, so you really need to plan out your rig. eBay is your friend for water cooling! I just snagged 2 240mm radiators, an XSPC RX240, 58mm radiator and a Swiftech MCR220 XP for $20.00 USD.

[LOLZR]

@zogthegreat I mean, this case does have space for 3 large radiators. But you really don't have to add another 120mm just because you can.

[JapanDave]

35 minutes ago, LOLZR said:

@zogthegreat I mean, this case does have space for 3 large radiators. But you really don't have to add another 120mm just because you can.

Yep, surely does need it.

 

[zogthegreat]

HOLY SHITE!!! Dude! That's awesome! And, yeah, I guess you really did need that many radiators! 

 

Honestly, you should send some pic's to ThermalTake and ask them to sponsor your next build!

 

I hope that you never have to move that beast!

 

AWESOME JOB!!

[JapanDave]

11 hours ago, zogthegreat said:

HOLY SHITE!!! Dude! That's awesome! And, yeah, I guess you really did need that many radiators! 

 

Honestly, you should send some pic's to ThermalTake and ask them to sponsor your next build!

 

I hope that you never have to move that beast!

 

AWESOME JOB!!

Oh really, but I doubt they would do something like that for a lowly consumer. But thanks for the compliment. Once I get it all finished, still have cable management and I am not happy with a couple of bends, some runs are a few millimeters off horizontal and vertical planes. No one would ever be able to pick it up, but b/c I measured them I know they are there and it is killing me. 

 

Yeah, it weighs a ton!!!

[JapanDave]

I tore this down, I was not happy with the motherboard I had a ROG Strix X570-E Gaming and I ordered a ROG Crosshair VIII Formula as it also has built in water cooling for the MOBO. This seems to fit better into my build. This is the 4th tear down due to parts I was not happy with.

[zogthegreat]

I understand. A lot of modders just go for the big bling bling stuff and forget that it's the little details that make the difference between an average build and an awesome build. And I'm the same way, if I know that it's not quite right, I will go completely OCD until it looks good to me.

 

Keep up the great work!

 

BTW, you would be really surprised about Thermaltake and other corporations tossing you hardware for a build. I know Corsair does it all the time for serious modders. a couple of hundred in fittings and fans to them vs the free direct advertising of their products to other modders is more than a fair exchange as far as corporate PR departments are concerned.

 

 

[cesh me inside b0z]

Just easier to buy a stock heatsink instead.

[jasonc_01]

On 1/29/2020 at 5:12 AM, JapanDave said:

I tore this down, I was not happy with the motherboard I had a ROG Strix X570-E Gaming and I ordered a ROG Crosshair VIII Formula as it also has built in water cooling for the MOBO. This seems to fit better into my build. This is the 4th tear down due to parts I was not happy with.

jeez thats huge. I kinda feel like you should run dual pumps on a loop that big.

[zogthegreat]

On 2/1/2020 at 7:11 AM, cesh me inside b0z said:

Just easier to buy a stock heatsink instead.

(chuckle) As a general rule, people who want to do it the "easier way" don't hang out on site's like this! 

[JapanDave]

2 hours ago, jasonc_01 said:

jeez thats huge. I kinda feel like you should run dual pumps on a loop that big.

I am running 2 pumps. Remember the distro has a pump too. But that said, I just switched out the 500cc reservoir for another distro, so running 3 pumps now.

 

On 2/1/2020 at 9:11 PM, cesh me inside b0z said:

Just easier to buy a stock heatsink instead.

Would be easier to buy a pre- made PC or a laptop too.