Advice on first loop

[Koeshi]

I am planning to build my first custom water cooling loop in the next couple of months (time based on funds) and am looking for some advice on building it.  The components I am looking to cool are the R5 2600 currently in my system and 5700 XT I am going to add.  My thinking is that a good (and affordable) starting point would be to get one of the EK kits like this and then add in another 240 rad, two fans and the waterblock for the 5700 XT.  From what I can see the internal metals for the EK kits are all copper and nickel (which I don't think has the mixed metal problem that aluminium/steel have) and so adding a copper or nickel based GPU waterblock would avoid the corrosion issue for the most part.  My original plan was to go with this waterblock from Watercool as I really like the design, but it seems to have a SS insert that may cause a problem.

 

The case that it is going in is a CoolerMaster MasterCase Pro 6, but I don't have the space for a 360 rad as I am one of those still using a 5.25" bay for an optical drive.  Just thought I should include that for context of the mounting points/space available.

 

What I am looking to hear from you watercooling experts on here is: is there something I am missing/not understanding, any advice on improving on what I have planned and would the GPU waterblock that I like cause a problem or not (I know there are anti-corrosion chemicals but I would like to avoid the issue as much as possible).  In short, enlighten me about what I have wrong.

[Bombastinator]

Not a watercooling expert but what the heck?

 

my understanding of the chemical reactions say you are correct about the stainless.  Not about the nickel plated brass though.  If you want to add another 240 are you also planning on WCing the GPU? 

[Damascus]

1 hour ago, Koeshi said:

From what I can see the internal metals for the EK kits are all copper and nickel (which I don't think has the mixed metal problem that aluminium/steel have) and so adding a copper or nickel based GPU waterblock would avoid the corrosion issue for the most part.  My original plan was to go with this waterblock from Watercool as I really like the design, but it seems to have a SS insert that may cause a problem.

No issues there, copper/nickel are completely safe together (gold, silver, most copper alloys and nickel are largely compatible) and any "nickel" parts are actually plated copper, with the nickel forming a secondary layer.  As for the steel plate, several types of steel are completely acceptable in a copper based loop, including the jet plate you're referring to.

 

Now on to the more important part of my response - don't get the EK kit!  For the price you would pay, there are some much better options available from watercool, aquacomputer, alphacool (even byski or Barrow would be a better alternative)

 

I would recomend getting a heatkiller IV for the CPU/GPU, pick any res you want

https://www.aquatuning.de

 

 

D5 Pump (71.79)

Tube D5 (79.95)

AM4 Heatkiller IV Pro (54€)

6 pack 13/10 fittings (19.79€)

240mm radiator (49.99€) + 2 great eloops (17.16€)

 

Total: 292€ +8€ish for some tubing

 

Pick out the 13/10mm tubing of your choice (I recomend rubber, such as EK's zmt lineup) and as many/few radiators as you want!  This is a cheaper but waaaaaay better alternative to that EK kit.  Your pump is miles better, the block is equivalent, the radiator is slightly worse but the fans are superior (fixing this is easy, swapping the Alphacool rad for a hardwarelabs GTS would be cheaper and higher performance, at the price of needing to buy from an american seller) 

[Bombastinator]

35 minutes ago, Damascus said:

No issues there, copper/nickel are completely safe together (gold, silver, most copper alloys and nickel are largely compatible) and any "nickel" parts are actually plated copper, with the nickel forming a secondary layer.  As for the steel plate, several types of steel are completely acceptable in a copper based loop, including the jet plate you're referring to.

 

Now on to the more important part of my response - don't get the EK kit!  For the price you would pay, there are some much better options available from watercool, aquacomputer, alphacool (even byski or Barrow would be a better alternative)

 

I would recomend getting a heatkiller IV for the CPU/GPU, pick any res you want

https://www.aquatuning.de

 

 

D5 Pump (71.79)

Tube D5 (79.95)

AM4 Heatkiller IV Pro (54€)

6 pack 13/10 fittings (19.79€)

240mm radiator (49.99€) + 2 great eloops (17.16€)

 

Total: 292€ +8€ish for some tubing

 

Pick out the 13/10mm tubing of your choice (I recomend rubber, such as EK's zmt lineup) and as many/few radiators as you want!  This is a cheaper but waaaaaay better alternative to that EK kit.  Your pump is miles better, the block is equivalent, the radiator is slightly worse but the fans are superior (fixing this is easy, swapping the Alphacool rad for a hardwarelabs GTS would be cheaper and higher performance, at the price of needing to buy from an american seller) 

Copper/steel has a similar problem.  Takes many months but it happens.  I could provide pics but it got so bad I had to change the pipes out.

[Damascus]

52 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Copper/steel has a similar problem.  Takes many months but it happens.  I could provide pics but it got so bad I had to change the pipes out.

1. What grade steel did you use? 
2. Stainless, galvanized, or other?
3. Was it a jetplate, or did you use steel tubing for hardline?

[Bombastinator]

11 minutes ago, Damascus said:

1. What grade steel did you use? 
2. Stainless, galvanized, or other?
3. Was it a jetplate, or did you use steel tubing for hardline?

Iron is iron as far as chemistry is concerned.  “Stainless steel” still rusts.  It just does it in a way that flakes the rust off in tiny micro slivers so it slows the process down.  When you’re talking elctro galvanic action stainless gums up like everything else.  Galvanized mild I believe.  I had som mild black iron too that went even faster.  I had galvanic fittings on the galvanized and thought I could get away with it.  Nope.

 

this exposes what I got for watercooling experience btw.  Gravity and pump hot water house radiators.

[Damascus]

55 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Iron is iron as far as chemistry is concerned.  “Stainless steel” still rusts.  It just does it in a way that flakes the rust off in tiny micro slivers so it slows the process down.  When you’re talking elctro galvanic action stainless gums up like everything else.  Galvanized mild I believe.  I had som mild black iron too that went even faster.  I had galvanic fittings on the galvanized and thought I could get away with it.  Nope.

 

this exposes what I got for watercooling experience btw.  Gravity and pump hot water house radiators.

Iron is Iron... no, not really.  Stainless steel is a broad term, and there are a vast number of variants that will/will not work for a loop.

This is a chart representing the galvanic series.  You can use it to broadly determine the compatibility of different alloys/elements.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanic_series

 

 

TLDR: STEEL WORKS, DEPENDS ON WHICH ONE.  A F%$@ING JETPLATE WON'T CAUSE ISSUES

[Koeshi]

11 hours ago, Damascus said:

Now on to the more important part of my response - don't get the EK kit!  For the price you would pay, there are some much better options available from watercool, aquacomputer, alphacool (even byski or Barrow would be a better alternative)

 

I would recomend getting a heatkiller IV for the CPU/GPU, pick any res you want

https://www.aquatuning.de

 

 

D5 Pump (71.79)

Tube D5 (79.95)

AM4 Heatkiller IV Pro (54€)

6 pack 13/10 fittings (19.79€)

240mm radiator (49.99€) + 2 great eloops (17.16€)

 

Total: 292€ +8€ish for some tubing

Thanks, I really appreciate the parts recommendation.

 

12 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

Not about the nickel plated brass though.  If you want to add another 240 are you also planning on WCing the GPU? 

What do I have wrong about the nickel plating?  And yes the plan is to include another 240 to handle the GPU.

 

@Damascus while being told that I am able to use one of the heatkiller GPU blocks is what I wanted to hear, why do you say specifically the SS is fine for the jetplate?

[Bombastinator]

2 hours ago, Koeshi said:

Thanks, I really appreciate the parts recommendation.

 

What do I have wrong about the nickel plating?  And yes the plan is to include another 240 to handle the GPU.

 

@Damascus while being told that I am able to use one of the heatkiller GPU blocks is what I wanted to hear, why do you say specifically the SS is fine for the jetplate?

Apparently it is I who have things wrong.

[Damascus]

4 hours ago, Koeshi said:

Thanks, I really appreciate the parts recommendation.

No prob!  It's pretty biased towards watercool, but still a pretty solid base.  If you wind up getting the hardwarelabs radiators, I would also get cheaper fittings from that seller (probably performancepcs)

4 hours ago, Koeshi said:

What do I have wrong about the nickel plating?  And yes the plan is to include another 240 to handle the GPU.

Nothing wrong with nickel plating or brass, as nickel is galvanic ally similar to copper and brass is almost identical (because brass = cu + Zn)

4 hours ago, Koeshi said:

@Damascus while being told that I am able to use one of the heatkiller GPU blocks is what I wanted to hear, why do you say specifically the SS is fine for the jetplate?

The main part is that they'll definitely be using the correct type of steel, watercooling manufacturers have been using jet plates for decade(s) and they have predominantly been made of SS.  This is very common, and not something that should cause alarm for anyone 

[Koeshi]

Okay, I know I didn't respond for a while but life got in the way.

 

So, here is what I have in mind:

 

Heatkiller Tube/D5 pump combo

|

v

Alphacool Eisblock (decided to change to this over the Heatkiller as it allows me to cool a dual BIOS card)

|

v

Heatkiller CPU block

|

V

Top-mounted Black Ice Nemesis Radiator GTS 280 (I'm assuming this is the hardware labs model you meant) with EK Vardar fans (because static pressure and vendor neutral RGB)

|

v

Front mounted Black Ice Nemesis 280 GTR Radiator

 

Then back to the reservoir.

 

The only things that I am still unsure about are the fittings and the tubing.  There doesn't really seem to be much difference (that I understand) between different clear tubing and then fittings are just what suit my taste and convert from G1/4 to 13/10mm.

 

Anything that you think I have missed?

[Bombastinator]

47 minutes ago, Koeshi said:

Okay, I know I didn't respond for a while but life got in the way.

 

So, here is what I have in mind:

 

Heatkiller Tube/D5 pump combo

|

v

Alphacool Eisblock (decided to change to this over the Heatkiller as it allows me to cool a dual BIOS card)

|

v

Heatkiller CPU block

|

V

Top-mounted Black Ice Nemesis Radiator GTS 280 (I'm assuming this is the hardware labs model you meant) with EK Vardar fans (because static pressure and vendor neutral RGB)

|

v

Front mounted Black Ice Nemesis 280 GTR Radiator

 

Then back to the reservoir.

 

The only things that I am still unsure about are the fittings and the tubing.  There doesn't really seem to be much difference (that I understand) between different clear tubing and then fittings are just what suit my taste and convert from G1/4 to 13/10mm.

 

Anything that you think I have missed?

Making sure the fittings are the same type of metal, or at least won’t react with it is crucial.  Iirc the heat killer is copper, so non metallic, copper, brass/nickel plated brass, or some specific types of stainless steel.  Also applies to the radiator.

[Damascus]

7 hours ago, Koeshi said:

Okay, I know I didn't respond for a while but life got in the way.

 

So, here is what I have in mind:

 

Heatkiller Tube/D5 pump combo

|

v

Alphacool Eisblock (decided to change to this over the Heatkiller as it allows me to cool a dual BIOS card)

|

v

Heatkiller CPU block

|

V

Top-mounted Black Ice Nemesis Radiator GTS 280 (I'm assuming this is the hardware labs model you meant) with EK Vardar fans (because static pressure and vendor neutral RGB)

|

v

Front mounted Black Ice Nemesis 280 GTR Radiator

 

Then back to the reservoir.

 

The only things that I am still unsure about are the fittings and the tubing.  There doesn't really seem to be much difference (that I understand) between different clear tubing and then fittings are just what suit my taste and convert from G1/4 to 13/10mm.

 

Anything that you think I have missed?

Tubing size doesn't matter, I personally use the tiny 6/10mm for convenience. beyond that, the vardars are decent and the nemisis is solid.  Take your pick of fittings, it's all the same

[Koeshi]

Thanks guys, have really appreciated the feedback.  I think I am all sorted, but may come back with questions when I have the parts (which won't be any time soon).