Planning my first Custom Loop need some advice & help (soft tube) + airflow path

[Kratos]

Hello, I'm about to put together my first custom watercooling loop so have mercy because my watercooling knowledge is by no means advanced.

 

I need some help regarding the parts. So to make it easier here's some information: at the moment I am NOT going to do the GPU, just CPU. I recently got a 4090 (msrp) so I don't want to risk the warranty of a 2000€ card especially when it already maxes out at 65c which is really decent.

 

I have gone for the Phanteks Enthoo Pro 2. Right now I am going to use the HDD mounts and have 8x so.. I understand that's a bit inconvenient since it can restrict the pump mount & fans & radiator.

I was planning on getting the 13900K or the 7950x. Not sure right now...as the 13900K is more power hungry but the 7950x is hotter. I do 3D rendering, videogame development as well as composition, VFX & Video editing so I would be sometimes doing hard 100% CPU renders (most I try to do them with the 4090 but not all software has GPU render support).

 

As for cooling, my idea was to get a 420 mm radiator and top mount....but turns out you can't do that in my case, because of motherboard clearance issues. So now I thought of getting a 480 mm and mount it on the front.

I saw Jayztwocents & Gamers Nexus video where they said that a front mount was not ideal and if you do one, you will have to put the tubes facing the bottom of the case instead of the top. But that was with an AIO. I'm not sure about custom loops. I was also thinking of mounting the pump+ reservoir on one of the fans, probably the 2nd or 3rd one with one of those brakets that come with the pump+reservoir. Of course running soft tubes. with my setup I would say I need no more than 3 tubes. Pump to CPU block, CPU block to radiator, radiator to pump.

 

Also, could you guys explain a bit what fittings to choose? I know they must match everything, meaning everything has to be the same unit, but I don't understand what that unit represents and what unit to choose myself.

 

I haven't seen any kind of video or article or review of a custom 420 or 480 mm loop with any of the CPUs mentioned, i'm honestly shocked no one has posted anything (that I could find) regarding thermal performance. I would like to know how a 480 mm can handle both. I imagine with the 7950x it will hit 95c still but it will clock to 5.8 GHz or something like that. As for the 13900K no idea as what to expect.

 

My plan B is to go either 1x 360 mm on the top or just 2x 360 mm  (top & front).

 

As for the airflow, I've always done top & back exhaust and front & bottom intake. Not sure how would it apply here if I install a 480 mm on the front as intake. Other ideas I had is to do the reverse. Top & back intake and front & bottom exhaust (sound sooo wrong lool). Also another thing I was considering is to just stick 2x 120 mm fans on the backplate of the 4090 just sitting there. It would cool down the gpu even more on iddle while blowing the air quickly to the motherboard, cpu and ram while exhausting it to the top fans. Not sure how this will work if it will introduce a mess there. I will try to make a Photoshop diagram. I've been using a 120 mm fan on my PSU to keep it cool just sitting there and hell it works.

 

Any suggestions on what to get? My budget is flexible. For radiator I was going to go with 480 mm Alphacool or EKWB with 30 mm thickness. 45 maybe, but ideally 30 for hard drive clearance issues.

As for tubes I want them transparent, just cheap ones I don't care about the looks as long as they're good quality.

For the Pump & Reservoir, something BIG. I will have to check with meassurements.

 

At the moment I was thinking:

 

-Pump & res: EKWB EK-Quantum Kinetic TBE 300 D5, or, Raijintek Antila D5 EVO

-Radiator: Any EWKB or Alphacool. Which radiator performs the best? (Needs to be under 150$/€)

-Tubes: Soft transparent tubing 

-Fitings: No idea

-Liquid: Distilled water that doesn't hurt the components??

 

Would also like some recommendations on a drain valve.

 

I know this was a TOO extensive post so thank you for whoever takes the patience to go for all of it. Thanks!

 

 

[thrasher_565]

15 hours ago, Kratos said:

Hello, I'm about to put together my first custom watercooling loop so have mercy because my watercooling knowledge is by no means advanced.

 

I need some help regarding the parts. So to make it easier here's some information: at the moment I am NOT going to do the GPU, just CPU. I recently got a 4090 (msrp) so I don't want to risk the warranty of a 2000€ card especially when it already maxes out at 65c which is really decent.

 

I have gone for the Phanteks Enthoo Pro 2. Right now I am going to use the HDD mounts and have 8x so.. I understand that's a bit inconvenient since it can restrict the pump mount & fans & radiator.

I was planning on getting the 13900K or the 7950x. Not sure right now...as the 13900K is more power hungry but the 7950x is hotter. I do 3D rendering, videogame development as well as composition, VFX & Video editing so I would be sometimes doing hard 100% CPU renders (most I try to do them with the 4090 but not all software has GPU render support).

 

As for cooling, my idea was to get a 420 mm radiator and top mount....but turns out you can't do that in my case, because of motherboard clearance issues. So now I thought of getting a 480 mm and mount it on the front.

I saw Jayztwocents & Gamers Nexus video where they said that a front mount was not ideal and if you do one, you will have to put the tubes facing the bottom of the case instead of the top. But that was with an AIO. I'm not sure about custom loops. I was also thinking of mounting the pump+ reservoir on one of the fans, probably the 2nd or 3rd one with one of those brakets that come with the pump+reservoir. Of course running soft tubes. with my setup I would say I need no more than 3 tubes. Pump to CPU block, CPU block to radiator, radiator to pump.

 

Also, could you guys explain a bit what fittings to choose? I know they must match everything, meaning everything has to be the same unit, but I don't understand what that unit represents and what unit to choose myself.

 

I haven't seen any kind of video or article or review of a custom 420 or 480 mm loop with any of the CPUs mentioned, i'm honestly shocked no one has posted anything (that I could find) regarding thermal performance. I would like to know how a 480 mm can handle both. I imagine with the 7950x it will hit 95c still but it will clock to 5.8 GHz or something like that. As for the 13900K no idea as what to expect.

 

My plan B is to go either 1x 360 mm on the top or just 2x 360 mm  (top & front).

 

As for the airflow, I've always done top & back exhaust and front & bottom intake. Not sure how would it apply here if I install a 480 mm on the front as intake. Other ideas I had is to do the reverse. Top & back intake and front & bottom exhaust (sound sooo wrong lool). Also another thing I was considering is to just stick 2x 120 mm fans on the backplate of the 4090 just sitting there. It would cool down the gpu even more on iddle while blowing the air quickly to the motherboard, cpu and ram while exhausting it to the top fans. Not sure how this will work if it will introduce a mess there. I will try to make a Photoshop diagram. I've been using a 120 mm fan on my PSU to keep it cool just sitting there and hell it works.

 

Any suggestions on what to get? My budget is flexible. For radiator I was going to go with 480 mm Alphacool or EKWB with 30 mm thickness. 45 maybe, but ideally 30 for hard drive clearance issues.

As for tubes I want them transparent, just cheap ones I don't care about the looks as long as they're good quality.

For the Pump & Reservoir, something BIG. I will have to check with meassurements.

 

At the moment I was thinking:

 

-Pump & res: EKWB EK-Quantum Kinetic TBE 300 D5, or, Raijintek Antila D5 EVO

-Radiator: Any EWKB or Alphacool. Which radiator performs the best? (Needs to be under 150$/€)

-Tubes: Soft transparent tubing 

-Fitings: No idea

-Liquid: Distilled water that doesn't hurt the components??

 

Would also like some recommendations on a drain valve.

 

I know this was a TOO extensive post so thank you for whoever takes the patience to go for all of it. Thanks!

 

 

i would do compression fittings they cost a bit more but are worth it imo. i would buy em but i got like 100+ fittings in my build... maybe oneday... too many other things to spend my moeny on...

 

Distilled water  with an additive to prevent growth.

 

witch radiator is best i dont no and probably dose not matter. thinner can work with crapper fans well thicker might need more rad fans to get the most out of it.  but the cost for good fans can be spend on another thin rad so... unless your out of rad space. then ya better fans and thicker rad.

 

i recommend a d5 pump. last longer and should be quieter dose cost a bit more thow

 

pump top mostly for looks so w/e you think looks good and mounts how you want. you dont need a res if you wanted to save moeny thow there are cheap reses as well.

 

get the tubing that's 1/2 id and 5/8 od. dont get the 1/2 id and 9/16 od as the tube is too flex-able you need atlest a 1/8 wall thickness or bigger 

 

 

 

Edited November 9, 2022 by thrasher_565

[fonzz1e]

• EK D5 TBE200 will do, extra reservoir volume doesn't matter (only delays loop heating up & cooling down)

 

• rads wise you can go with hardware labs 360gts, they oem for bitspower & corsair as well
• it depends on what fan rpm u gotta run em on yer rads (reviews here)
• do remember to flush it before you use em

 

• soft tubing go with epdm or mayhems ultraclear,
• make sure ID & OD size matches yer compression fittings
• i went with 10mm ID 16mm OD

 

• fittings i went china brands, they're soooo cheap (barrow, bykski & freezemod)
• been using them more than a year now without issue

 

• coolant you can go with distilled water plus mayhems hades+ & inhibitor+ additives
• i'm using DIY 70% distilled water + 30% ethylene glycol (cas# 107-21-1) mix

 

oh if you have extra budget, grab a air leak tester (it helped me out alot)

[Kratos]

On 11/9/2022 at 4:57 PM, thrasher_565 said:

i would do compression fittings they cost a bit more but are worth it imo. i would buy em but i got like 100+ fittings in my build... maybe oneday... too many other things to spend my moeny on...

 

Distilled water  with an additive to prevent growth.

 

witch radiator is best i dont no and probably dose not matter. thinner can work with crapper fans well thicker might need more rad fans to get the most out of it.  but the cost for good fans can be spend on another thin rad so... unless your out of rad space. then ya better fans and thicker rad.

 

i recommend a d5 pump. last longer and should be quieter dose cost a bit more thow

 

pump top mostly for looks so w/e you think looks good and mounts how you want. you dont need a res if you wanted to save moeny thow there are cheap reses as well.

 

get the tubing that's 1/2 id and 5/8 od. dont get the 1/2 id and 9/16 od as the tube is too flex-able you need atlest a 1/8 wall thickness or bigger 

 

 

 

Wow thanks! That was a lot and very usefull information!

 

I went for the EKWB Quantum surface S480 for the radiator (480 mm) which was 111€ quite cheap.

For the pump & res I went for the EKWB Quantum Kinetic TBE 300 D5 Acetal which was black friday deal for 170€. Ordered the bracket too.

 

What are compression fittings? Could you explain or send some links? What are they for? Sorry for my ignorance. I will look it up myself too, but it helps if you already have a good source of knowledge.

 

As for distilled water with additives, will the Corsair Hydro X Series XL5 do? Does it have all you mentioned? If it does I'll get 2 of them. I suppose EWKB, Raijintek, Alphacool and Thermaltake have their own versions too? Couldn't find them.

 

What do you mean Pump top? To mount it on the rear of the case? I've been considering where to mount the pump. 

I'm going to mount the radiator on the front as intake and run the tubes from the bottom of the rad. With this config, where would the pump need to be? Does the height matter? I heard that the pump with this config would need to be higher than the rad. At least with AIOs, would this matter with custom loops?

 

Are those tube sizes in inches? I can't find anything like that in my country. All I see when I search is 12/16 mm, 13/19, 10/13, 10/16, 11/16 and so on. What you mentioned translated in mm would be 12.7/15.8 but there is nothing similar, tried 13/16 and no results. Could you be more specific?

 

 

[Kratos]

On 11/10/2022 at 7:39 AM, fonzz1e said:

• EK D5 TBE200 will do, extra reservoir volume doesn't matter (only delays loop heating up & cooling down)

 

• rads wise you can go with hardware labs 360gts, they oem for bitspower & corsair as well
• it depends on what fan rpm u gotta run em on yer rads (reviews here)
• do remember to flush it before you use em

 

• soft tubing go with epdm or mayhems ultraclear,
• make sure ID & OD size matches yer compression fittings
• i went with 10mm ID 16mm OD

 

• fittings i went china brands, they're soooo cheap (barrow, bykski & freezemod)
• been using them more than a year now without issue

 

• coolant you can go with distilled water plus mayhems hades+ & inhibitor+ additives
• i'm using DIY 70% distilled water + 30% ethylene glycol (cas# 107-21-1) mix

 

oh if you have extra budget, grab a air leak tester (it helped me out alot)

Thank you! Now I have more knowledge thanks to this, though a few questions:

 

I saw some reviews and it seems they perform better on low rpms but then they are practically the same as Alphacool & EKWB. Got an EKWB 480mm because it was really cheap and also got the pump & res combo since it was even cheaper than a smaller res. So I would have to flush the radiator even if its new?

 

Noted about tubes. So I've seen CPU blocks, pumps & rads with "G 1/4 Universal for fittings" is that something I should be concerned? Would any fitting fit on any of those rads, blocks & res? Then,

The only kind of size I have to worry about is that fittings match tube size right?

 

Could yo provide some links about that water with all those things?

 

I was considering an air leak tester too, wasn't sure but i'll give it a look. Thanks!