Where to find niche liquid cooling gear?

[nightmarevoid]

I'm helping my friend with his First PC, and we decided to go for a LunarCore wall mounted type of thing. I'm kinda struggling to find the more niche parts we want for it though. Can anybody help me out? we're looking for stuff like:

orange T Virus (double helix) reservoir

opaque orange hardline tubing

420x140 fan grill

Amazon isn't yielding much and I haven't looked at niche stuff in so long that My old go-to site seems mostly defunct lol. Any pointers in the right direction would be greatly appreciated

[Devryd]

Maybe aliexpress?
Thats where I got most of my water cooling gear.

[Poinkachu]

27 minutes ago, nightmarevoid said:

I'm helping my friend with his First PC, and we decided to go for a LunarCore wall mounted type of thing. I'm kinda struggling to find the more niche parts we want for it though. Can anybody help me out? we're looking for stuff like:

orange T Virus (double helix) reservoir

opaque orange hardline tubing

420x140 fan grill

Amazon isn't yielding much and I haven't looked at niche stuff in so long that My old go-to site seems mostly defunct lol. Any pointers in the right direction would be greatly appreciated

Double Helix :
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33015511513.html

Fan Grill :
I found one, but it's uk based.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152479580889

https://www.coldzero.eu/fan-grill-420mm-hexx

Just curious, isn't watercooling usually just use transparent one and then color the liquid ?

[nightmarevoid]

23 minutes ago, Poinkachu said:

Double Helix :
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33015511513.html

Fan Grill :
I found one, but it's uk based.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152479580889

https://www.coldzero.eu/fan-grill-420mm-hexx

Just curious, isn't watercooling usually just use transparent one and then color the liquid ?

Thanks for the links. I'm kinda surprised to see so much trust for aliexpress. Most people I talk to stay away from there. I'll give it a shot though.

 

As far as water cooling color goes, I remember the best advice being to use treated water, and colored tubing/reservoir. This way there's no additives in the water possibly reducing performance, causing corrosion, etc. plus this way it will give the effect of that the reservoir is actually the helix and not the tube around it.

[Devryd]

I have been running my ali express loop for over two years and never had any problems with it. As long as you stick to brands like barrow or byksky, you are fine imo

[Poinkachu]

45 minutes ago, nightmarevoid said:

Thanks for the links. I'm kinda surprised to see so much trust for aliexpress. Most people I talk to stay away from there. I'll give it a shot though.

 

As far as water cooling color goes, I remember the best advice being to use treated water, and colored tubing/reservoir. This way there's no additives in the water possibly reducing performance, causing corrosion, etc. plus this way it will give the effect of that the reservoir is actually the helix and not the tube around it.

I'm not into custom watercooling, so idk about watercooling quality of aliexpress stuffs.
But if we're talking about just.. stuffs, there is quality stuffs at aliexpress as well, just gotta know where to buy from. At the very least decent enough to be used.
I mean, most of the stuffs we bought are either partly made in china, or nearly fully made in china. If not truly made in china. Even Apple.
Me personally, I run my own tests & checks on stuffs I bought from aliexpress before I deem it okay to use.
If I am to go watercooling though, I will still test & check stuffs I bought even from EK.

Fill it with cooling liquid, put a stopper plug on each opening. Let it sit for days in a warm environment is easy enough test for leaks & deformation IMO.

But yeah, niche stuffs usually are more readily available @ aliexpress.

[Motifator]

20 minutes ago, Poinkachu said:

If I am to go watercooling though, I will still test & check stuffs I bought even from EK.

EK is not a high standard when it comes to WC, they use the same OEM as some of the more bottom of the barrel companies. They had lots of nonsensical issues in past, like the nickel plating and the CSQ fiasco. Their management is just like EVGA and as with the EVGA they collab'd, they love to overprice. I mean who on earth would pay several couple hundred dollars for a set of barbs? They're out of their minds, and their products tend to have bad QC. Remember the leaking Predators and their crappy o-rings too.

https://www.techpowerup.com/294095/ekwb-lays-off-25-of-workforce-blames-lower-watercooling-sales

Yeah, blame the sales when people are resorting to other brands. Also a lot of the people on that picture look like a bunch of hipsters.

High standard WC is more like Aquacomputer, Koolance, etc.

[Poinkachu]

1 hour ago, Motifator said:

EK is not a high standard when it comes to WC, they use the same OEM as some of the more bottom of the barrel companies. They had lots of nonsensical issues in past, like the nickel plating and the CSQ fiasco. Their management is just like EVGA and as with the EVGA they collab'd, they love to overprice. I mean who on earth would pay several couple hundred dollars for a set of barbs? They're out of their minds, and their products tend to have bad QC. Remember the leaking Predators and their crappy o-rings too.

https://www.techpowerup.com/294095/ekwb-lays-off-25-of-workforce-blames-lower-watercooling-sales

Yeah, blame the sales when people are resorting to other brands. Also a lot of the people on that picture look like a bunch of hipsters.

High standard WC is more like Aquacomputer, Koolance, etc.

Well, I was just stating that no matter what brand it is, when it comes to putting liquid near my PC parts, I'll test & check thoroughly first.

Although the chance of me going custom loop is pretty much 0.00000001%

[Motifator]

10 minutes ago, Poinkachu said:

Well, I was just stating that no matter what brand it is, when it comes to putting liquid near my PC parts, I'll test & check thoroughly first.

Although the chance of me going custom loop is pretty much 0.00000001%

Yeah tbh, if you're custom liquid cooling, like if you check your PC a few times before a fresh re-build, do it way more than a few times with a full loop. Leak tests, etc. I typically use the old school WC stuff when it comes to liquid cooling, like transparent tubing so I could see the water flow easily... it does get gunky fast though.

[thrasher_565]

On 11/8/2022 at 3:12 AM, Motifator said:

EK is not a high standard when it comes to WC, they use the same OEM as some of the more bottom of the barrel companies. They had lots of nonsensical issues in past, like the nickel plating and the CSQ fiasco. Their management is just like EVGA and as with the EVGA they collab'd, they love to overprice. I mean who on earth would pay several couple hundred dollars for a set of barbs? They're out of their minds, and their products tend to have bad QC. Remember the leaking Predators and their crappy o-rings too.

https://www.techpowerup.com/294095/ekwb-lays-off-25-of-workforce-blames-lower-watercooling-sales

Yeah, blame the sales when people are resorting to other brands. Also a lot of the people on that picture look like a bunch of hipsters.

High standard WC is more like Aquacomputer, Koolance, etc.

aquacomputer is not hi end.. there alot of problems with there stuff.. i have a bunch of stuff... like the 2 port lid on the res not sinking up... or the scratch marks on the back of a plate for there filter... and alot of the flow meteors seem to also have problems...

 

koolance also has alot of flack for there qdc not leaking and each time they say they fixed it it leaked still...

 

ek got the patent for the good qdc that dont leak and charge $100 a set...

 

heatkiller stuff seem the best but i dont have much other stuff so i dont no.

 

point is probly all company's have problems. they pay the chiness to make something for them and most case dont qc there stuff and just reles it. designed in america made in china sold in america... and the chinese copy it and remake there own as there no law about patents there.

[fonzz1e]

can try check on these sites

• modmymods
• titanrig
• performance-pcs
• dazmode

personally i have no issue with

• waterblocks: bykski, corsair
• rads: freezemod, bykski, barrow (dabel-20b)
• fittings: freezemod, bykski, barrow
• tubing: alphacool epdm

oh my ek-supremacy developed hairline cracks on acrylic g1/4, still no leaks tho