Cooling Loop Advice

[Cpetersen75]

I'm wanting to do a new build soon but with the price of components right now I decided to just try and maximize my current setup until prices stabilize again (if ever). That being said I have a few options and I'm looking for advice on what the best route to maximize my current cooling setup is going to be. 

 

Current Build

Aorus Z390 Master

i5-8600k - 5.1ghz all cores (delided)

GTX 1080 Ti - OC using afterburner (no shunt mods yet)

Thermaltake View 31 Case 

EKWB Fluid Gaming a360g aluminum loop kit with CPU and GPU blocks (push pull on 360mm radiator with 4 more case fans, 3 being 140mm)

Corsair HX1200i PSU

 

My biggest limitation right now is the all aluminum kit, it is not the best for upgrade-ability especially with EK ending support for the DIY line of aluminum components. I figure I have a couple options all ranging in prices so before I just start throwing money at it I wanted to get some opinions. 

 

1) Upgrade the current pump in the system with an aluminum safe D5 from EK and grab some more aluminum fittings and throw another cheap 360mm aluminum radiator, also doing a slightly bigger reservoir. Looking at the difference between the D5 and the pump that came with it makes me wonder if my flow rate is low and i'm losing some cooling performance to that. All in it would be around $300-$350 with new coolant and tubing.

 

2) While unconventional I figured another option would be to grab a cheap 360mm AIO during black Friday either the ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 360 ($125) or the Enermax Liqmax III 360 ($85) and using that to cool the CPU and then making a separate loop just for the GPU using the 360mm radiator I already have which would reduce some strain on the stock pump as well as giving it a larger cooling capacity all to itself. I like this idea because when I do my new build I don't really want to do aluminum again and this would get me by for really cheap for the time being. 

 

3) Redo my entire loop in copper and then reuse some of those parts when I do end up doing a new build. While this would be ideal I don't really want to throw that much more money into a full loop seeing as I would need a new CPU block and GPU block in the near future, also I would probably use a different case with different pump/radiator options. 

 

Sorry this is a little bit longer of a post but I would really appreciate the feedback and opinions! 

Thanks again!

 

 

 

 

  

[thrasher_565]

3 hours ago, Cpetersen75 said:

I'm wanting to do a new build soon but with the price of components right now I decided to just try and maximize my current setup until prices stabilize again (if ever). That being said I have a few options and I'm looking for advice on what the best route to maximize my current cooling setup is going to be. 

 

Current Build

Aorus Z390 Master

i5-8600k - 5.1ghz all cores (delided)

GTX 1080 Ti - OC using afterburner (no shunt mods yet)

Thermaltake View 31 Case 

EKWB Fluid Gaming a360g aluminum loop kit with CPU and GPU blocks (push pull on 360mm radiator with 4 more case fans, 3 being 140mm)

Corsair HX1200i PSU

 

My biggest limitation right now is the all aluminum kit, it is not the best for upgrade-ability especially with EK ending support for the DIY line of aluminum components. I figure I have a couple options all ranging in prices so before I just start throwing money at it I wanted to get some opinions. 

 

1) Upgrade the current pump in the system with an aluminum safe D5 from EK and grab some more aluminum fittings and throw another cheap 360mm aluminum radiator, also doing a slightly bigger reservoir. Looking at the difference between the D5 and the pump that came with it makes me wonder if my flow rate is low and i'm losing some cooling performance to that. All in it would be around $300-$350 with new coolant and tubing.

 

2) While unconventional I figured another option would be to grab a cheap 360mm AIO during black Friday either the ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 360 ($125) or the Enermax Liqmax III 360 ($85) and using that to cool the CPU and then making a separate loop just for the GPU using the 360mm radiator I already have which would reduce some strain on the stock pump as well as giving it a larger cooling capacity all to itself. I like this idea because when I do my new build I don't really want to do aluminum again and this would get me by for really cheap for the time being. 

 

3) Redo my entire loop in copper and then reuse some of those parts when I do end up doing a new build. While this would be ideal I don't really want to throw that much more money into a full loop seeing as I would need a new CPU block and GPU block in the near future, also I would probably use a different case with different pump/radiator options. 

 

Sorry this is a little bit longer of a post but I would really appreciate the feedback and opinions! 

Thanks again!

 

 

 

 

  

hmm well i guess fist have to ask what is your setup now and temps? i be leave aluminum coolant will be worse temps wise vs water but the rads are cheap so...

[Mick Naughty]

I'd find another rad, 360 if you can fit it. Or a 240. Should be fine with two rads on that hardware if you already have the blocks. No real need to throw more money at it. 

[Cpetersen75]

16 hours ago, thrasher_565 said:

hmm well i guess fist have to ask what is your setup now and temps? i be leave aluminum coolant will be worse temps wise vs water but the rads are cheap so...

Current setup is just the CPU and GPU being cooled with the EK Fluid Gaming a360g kit which is a 360mm radiator, the kit has the EK-XRES 100 SPC-60 MX PWM for a pump with the specs of: Maximum pressure head: 2.2m - Maximum flow: 250 L/h. If I go with another 360mm rad I would probably want to upgrade pumps also right? 

Current temps on CPU max out at about 85 but playing games with both the CPU and GPU being overclocked I have seen close to 90 which is why im trying to improve that some! Thanks again!

[thrasher_565]

27 minutes ago, Cpetersen75 said:

Current setup is just the CPU and GPU being cooled with the EK Fluid Gaming a360g kit which is a 360mm radiator, the kit has the EK-XRES 100 SPC-60 MX PWM for a pump with the specs of: Maximum pressure head: 2.2m - Maximum flow: 250 L/h. If I go with another 360mm rad I would probably want to upgrade pumps also right? 

Current temps on CPU max out at about 85 but playing games with both the CPU and GPU being overclocked I have seen close to 90 which is why im trying to improve that some! Thanks again!

i would try a another rad as there cheap if you can fit it. ya more flow rate dose lower temps but it has to be 1 lpm = 1 degree drop. so if your at 90c then you would some how need 5lpm flow rate witch would be stupid to do so... no point. there are probably better ways of lowering the temp. but there will be diminishing return.

[thrasher_565]

hmm i looked at the case and its not that good of a case for air flow as the front is basically blocked by the window. so if you do add a rad in the front it will be reduced its prefromace. but i would probably still tray another 360m rad. i did notice you delieded you cpu witch is probably the best performance for the money.

[Cpetersen75]

3 hours ago, thrasher_565 said:

hmm i looked at the case and its not that good of a case for air flow as the front is basically blocked by the window. so if you do add a rad in the front it will be reduced its prefromace. but i would probably still tray another 360m rad. i did notice you delieded you cpu witch is probably the best performance for the money.

Awesome, thanks for the advice!