Looking to do my first watercooling loop

[HunterAP]

My system has a Ryzen 3700X on a Noctua NH-D15 and an EVGA RTX 2080 XC Ultra, all in a be quiet! Dark Base 700. My CPU idles at 60x and ramps up to 78c under full load, and my RTX 2080 idles at 36c but will crash by hitting >86c unless I force the fans to a much higher speed.

 

I figure I'd go with a custom loop rather than an AIO since I can put two 360mm rads (on in front, on up top) in my case, if the rads are thin enough.

I went through the EKWB configurator and came up with this parts list: 

 

 

I have a few questions.

1. Could I replace those EK fans with Noctua NF-F12 fans? They're slightly cheaper and I've always and a good experience with Noctua fans
2. My case supposedly supports a 360mm rad in the front, but I've seen that I have to remove the PSU shroud cover near the front of the case to fit it, as well as people saying that I can't have any of the HDD cages that are above the shroud be in use. Is this the case if I use these slim rads?
3. Follow up to #3, do I have enough clearance to do push-pull on both rads?

[Alphabear1978]

I don't know the case. Only looked at the pictures.  You will still have some shroud but you will not have the side plate and you will lose your HDD cages.  It looks like that on the back plate you can still mount some HDD and SSD.  As you are looking to use the slim rads, I don't know if you really need push/pull configuration.  Less metal is going to absorb less heat.  Decent fans (the Noctuas are perfect) and a good fan curve should be enough.  Are you planning on overclocking your CPU or GPU?  If so, I would add at least an other 240 or 360 rad. My rule is a minimum of 240 per device if I don't plan to overclock, 360 if I plan to overclock to the maximum.

[HunterAP]

In my situation, those two little HDD cages below the PSU shroud are already populated by 3.5" drives, I just have one more that's mounted above the shroud which will supposedly be a conflict.

 

I figured a push-pull is better than just one or the other, and the case isn't really airflow oriented so the more air I can get through the the better, no?

 

And I'd be going with two slim 360mm rads since I plan on cranking both the CPU and GPU, or at least letting them both auto OC (PBO + XFR for the 3700x, and cranking the power/temp slider on the RTX 2080). Doing those things already makes my system quite hot so I didn't get a chance to really OC them manually.

[Alphabear1978]

You need to make sure you have decent airflow all around, on spot with a push pull configuration will throw off the balance.  Try to balance so your intake and your exhaust are equal.  If this is impossible you have 2 choices, you go with a negative or a positive pressure in your case.  In a negative pressure your exhaust is bigger then your intake and you will suck in the rest of the air you need through holes and cracks.  With positive pressure, it is the other way around.  My advise here is, if you live in a dusty environment and you cannot equalize the pressure, go with a positive pressure setup.  Dust will be blown away from your case instead of sucked in. If you don't have a dusty environment, you can go for a negative pressure and suck as much air and heat out of the case.  Just remember that because the 2 most important heat sources are water cooled, the temps in your case will not be at the same level as when you air cool and while airflow is still important for your VRM/RAM/..., it is not THE factor for losing performance.

 As for the HD, can't you put one behind your motherboard?  I kind of need to see your current setup to have a better idea.

 

[HunterAP]

I know about positive & negative airflow situations, and in my situation I can equalize it and don't have a lot of dust build up. I suppose I can go with just a push config on both intake and exhaust 360mm rads and live with that.

And unfortunately you can't fit any 3.5" drives behind the motherboard. I have three 3.5" drives and two 2.5" drives, and the case has two slots for 2.5" drives and 2 3.5" cages in the front of the case under the shroud, and all of these I listed so far are populated. My last 3.5" is in it's own cage above the shroud at the front of the case near the intake fans, and I have nowhere else to put it in this case.

[SolarNova]

 

The Noctua NF-A12x25 are better than the NF-F12 , (quieter) ..if u can get those for around the same price then do so, otherwise yes get NF-F12s, they are solid.

 

If u just going 1 rad, CPU + GPU u only need 8 fittings. 2 per loop component. (Rad, Pump/res, CPU, GPU)

I would also add a drain port for easy maintenance. This is something i havnt done (twice) and I regret it

[Alphabear1978]

7 hours ago, HunterAP said:

I know about positive & negative airflow situations, and in my situation I can equalize it and don't have a lot of dust build up. I suppose I can go with just a push config on both intake and exhaust 360mm rads and live with that.

And unfortunately you can't fit any 3.5" drives behind the motherboard. I have three 3.5" drives and two 2.5" drives, and the case has two slots for 2.5" drives and 2 3.5" cages in the front of the case under the shroud, and all of these I listed so far are populated. My last 3.5" is in it's own cage above the shroud at the front of the case near the intake fans, and I have nowhere else to put it in this case.

If 360 is not a problem, you can always go for 240 in the front.  You will need to make choices.  Going water cooling takes time.  With air you can throw things in your pc, test out thermals and flip things around if you don't like it.  Once you start playing with water cooling, you do not only have more stuff that needs to be in the case, you also cannot change things that easily so it takes time to design, try out and build.

As SolarNova says, make sure you have a fill and drain port somewhere in your loop.  Keep your drain port on the lowest part of your loop or a place that can be the lowest part when you flip your case around.  (see picture of my current project, it is not  finished yet but it is operational.  The drain port is on top of the case for loop 1 but I can flip the case around and have it to be on the bottom) 

Also, if you can afford it, buy a leak tester.  EKWB has one and it saves time and possible a lot of money.  It uses air to put pressure in your loop.  If the air escapes you have a leak, if not you are good to fill up your loop and enjoy.  Back in the day you had to prey that non of the fittings were leaking when you filled up the loop, if so you had (non conductive) water that you had to clear up.  Wait until it is all dry, just to be sure, refill it again, etc.