First Watercooling loop

[Harry McPotter]

So I've been wanting to get into custom watercooling for a while bc it just seemed interesting and I hate loud fans. My issue with it is that from the loop configurators on EK and corsairs sites (I don't know any others), what I want (cpu & gpu overclocked) is going to cost me around $800. What I want to know is if this is completely to be expected, or if I could just use some lower tiered & less expensive components that would still work. I have a i9 10850k, asrock z590m-itx/ax, 2x8gb dominator cl16 3600, and (hopefully soon) reference rx 6800.

Any suggestions?

[RONOTHAN##]

You can save money from these things, but depending on how low you go quality and aesthetics will go very down hill. Look on Performance-PCs.com for some other prices. the configurators make sure you get every component but you can verify on one of those sites to see if there's a cheaper version of it. The only pieces where you shouldn't cheap out are fittings and water blocks. They're the most likely places to have leaks and/or directly control performance. Radiators, fans, reservoirs, and to a lesser extent pumps can all go to some of the cheaper options without too much problems, though you might want to go overkill with the radiators to make sure there will be no difference.

[Harry McPotter]

thanks, I'll check that out

[Ravendarat]

I would buy Bykski fittings over the ones you have listed. Excellent quality and substantially cheaper. I have used them on a few hardline builds and have zero regrets. I personally use that same corsair block and res/pump combo and like them a lot, the 120 mm rad is probably a waste honestly. Not sure what your use case is for the 90 degree fittings are if you are going soft tubing but you know your loop plan better than I do