My first water cooling loop - need help :<

[Senzelian]

Hey tech-freaks,
 
I'm thinking about building my first water cooling loop for my PC. The summer is slowly coming and it might get a bit too warm in my case.
But I need some help with choosing the right parts and mainly compability.

• 1. How do I mount the pump and what do you think about it? I chose the EKWB DDC 3.2 PWM X-Top because I heard a lot of good things about EKWB and it looks nice, but how do I mount it in my Corsair Air 540?
   
• 2. Are those radiators fine? I took the cheapest I could find, which seem still pretty good. I don't think I can really do anything wrong here or should I use higher quality radiators?
   
• 3. Are two meters of tube enough for a noob like me to build a custom water loop? I don't want to run out of tube when I'm in the middle of building it. 
   
• 4. Which water should I use and what do I need for it? I think distilled water is fine, but what else should I use? I heard something about anti corrosion and such things. Also which paint should I use? I want to have it blue.
   
• 5. Are a 240 and 360 radiator enough for two 980s and a CPU or should I get another radiator?
   
• 6. General thoughts on the parts that I took? I don't want to spend too much money. Around 500-600€ is fine.

 

 

Here are the parts:

1 x Thermaltake Pacific W1 (CL-W022-CU00BL-A)
2 x EK Water Blocks EK-FC980 GTX WF3, Acetal/Nickel
1 x Alphacool Cape Corp Coolplex Pro 10 LT (45221/15718)
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-DDC 3.2 PWM X-TOP CSQ Plexi
1 x MagiCool 240D (LC-RADI240)
1 x MagiCool 360D (LC-RADI360)
12 x EK Water Blocks EK-ACF Fitting 1/4" auf 10/13mm, schwarz
2 x PrimoChill PrimoFlex Advanced LRT Schlauch, 13/10mm, 100cm transparent

Complete link: http://geizhals.de/eu/?cat=WL-538711&wlkey=0307c381c553fd92658022c95b4a7d24

[Enderman]

why not just buy an AiO?

cheaper and will perform perfectly fine in the summer

also way less trouble and risk for a new person like you (especially when you said you were going to put paint in the loop lol)

[murpup569]

First of all water cooling isn't going to help that much I would recomend buying an ac or somthing if you are worried that much.

Water cooling is basically just cooling it further away from your computer. Its not going to change it that dramaticaly.

If you are going to wather cool it you should just put the rads in a different place.

And it is better to get more tube that to less, so get a shit ton of tubing.

You can always use extra tubing.

[murpup569]

I know that case that would be cool to put the pump in the second compartment.

Also after reading your question again. You have two 980s?

ya water cooling would definetly help.

You should almost have the rads in like a seprate room or something.

[Senzelian]

why not just buy an AiO?

cheaper and will perform perfectly fine in the summer

also way less trouble and risk for a new person like you (especially when you said you were going to put paint in the loop lol)

 

I've already an AIO for my CPU. But the GPUs still get very hot and noisy. Also it looks much better. 

I've to start somewhere, so why not here and now?

 

First of all water cooling isn't going to help that much I would recomend buying an ac or somthing if you are worried that much.

Water cooling is basically just cooling it further away from your computer. Its not going to change it that dramaticaly.

If you are going to wather cool it you should just put the rads in a different place.

And it is better to get more tube that to less, so get a shit ton of tubing.

You can always use extra tubing.

I know that case that would be cool to put the pump in the second compartment.

Also after reading your question again. You have two 980s?

ya water cooling would definetly help.

You should almost have the rads in like a seprate room or something.

 

Two meters is really not enough? I don't think I'm even able to use 1 meter, cause the case is so small. What would you recommend?

 

I also thought about putting the pump and reservoir into the 2nd campartment, but still I've no Idea how to mount the pump. I could screw some holes into the bottom of the case. Isn't there something like a bracket for that? I haven't found anything.

[spwath]

I would recommend not a thermal take water block.

Everything else looks good

[Senzelian]

I would recommend not a thermal take water block.

Everything else looks good

 

Why not? It just came out this year and looks amazing. Its also not exactly cheap, so I think it would work fine.

[spwath]

Why not? It just came out this year and looks amazing. Its also not exactly cheap, so I think it would work fine.

Idk, I guess go for it, it's just thermal take has no reputation in water cooling

[bigboy678]

Ok so here it goes.

 

1) there is nothing wrong with the pump you chose. i personally would recommend a pump and reservoir combo though. (like the ek-ddc 3.2 pwm xres100) the pump and reservoir are one unit making things personally a little easier.

 

2)The radiators you picked will be fine with 2 gtx 980's and cpu. are you overclocking anything? what fans will you be using and at what speed would they be running?

 

3)personally i would recommend more tubing; especially for your first build. also, having more tubing lying around never hurts

 

4)distilled water works fine. you dont have to worry about anti corrosion as much nowadays( unless you have aluminum and copper in your system which it seems you dont.) having a biocide agent (make sure no creatures grow in your loop) is more important. i would recommend checking out mayhem dyes website http://www.mayhems.co.uk. they have premixed solutions that come with everything you need in it and they pretty much have every color you can think of

 

5)Already answered in 2 somewhat

 

6) your parts seem fine with me. you dont want to go crazy on your first build. i would suggest that for the price instead of the thermaltake block you look at heatkiller 4.0 basic cpu block (not the pro, its not needed for your wants) they make amazing blocks, and they are a german based company

 

also just a note that i know alot of people make with their first build. NEVER let the pump run dry! if the pump is on it needs to have liquid in it constantly or it will damage it. when you first fill it up and bleeding the air out of the system turn the power supply only on for a second or two and then turn it off. fill the res some more and repeat the process (you want to make sure that the res (at least in the system i suggested is never out when the pump is on)

[Senzelian]

Ok so here it goes.

 

1) there is nothing wrong with the pump you chose. i personally would recommend a pump and reservoir combo though. (like the ek-ddc 3.2 pwm xres100) the pump and reservoir are one unit making things personally a little easier.

 

2)The radiators you picked will be fine with 2 gtx 980's and cpu. are you overclocking anything? what fans will you be using and at what speed would they be running?

 

3)personally i would recommend more tubing; especially for your first build. also, having more tubing lying around never hurts

 

4)distilled water works fine. you dont have to worry about anti corrosion as much nowadays( unless you have aluminum and copper in your system which it seems you dont.) having a biocide agent (make sure no creatures grow in your loop) is more important. i would recommend checking out mayhem dyes website http://www.mayhems.co.uk. they have premixed solutions that come with everything you need in it and they pretty much have every color you can think of

 

5)Already answered in 2 somewhat

 

6) your parts seem fine with me. you dont want to go crazy on your first build. i would suggest that for the price instead of the thermaltake block you look at heatkiller 4.0 basic cpu block (not the pro, its not needed for your wants) they make amazing blocks, and they are a german based company

 

also just a note that i know alot of people make with their first build. NEVER let the pump run dry! if the pump is on it needs to have liquid in it constantly or it will damage it. when you first fill it up and bleeding the air out of the system turn the power supply only on for a second or two and then turn it off. fill the res some more and repeat the process (you want to make sure that the res (at least in the system i suggested is never out when the pump is on)

 

That helps a lot! Thank you!

1. Then I'll take a combo. I don't have the XRES100 available here in Germany as it seems, so I'll stick to the XRES140. I think the pump is the same, it's just the reservior that is different.

2. I'm not overclocking and even if then just a little like 50 or 100 Mhz. I'll probably use 3x be Quiets Silent Wings 2 and 2x Corsair SP120s, because I've them already lying around.

 

3. How much would you recomment? 3 meters? 4? 200?

4. Thanks for the site. This looks really nice and should make it a lot easier. Btw.: How much liquid am I going to need? What do you think?

6. The acrylic version looks pretty nice. I think I'll use that one instead. The blue liquid would look amazing in that I think

[bigboy678]

That helps a lot! Thank you!

1. Then I'll take a combo. I don't have the XRES100 available here in Germany as it seems, so I'll stick to the XRES140. I think the pump is the same, it's just the reservior that is different.

2. I'm not overclocking and even if then just a little like 50 or 100 Mhz. I'll probably use 3x be Quiets Silent Wings 2 and 2x Corsair SP120s, because I've them already lying around.

 

3. How much would you recomment? 3 meters? 4? 200?

4. Thanks for the site. This looks really nice and should make it a lot easier. Btw.: How much liquid am I going to need? What do you think?

6. The acrylic version looks pretty nice. I think I'll use that one instead. The blue liquid would look amazing in that I think

 

 

The xres 140 is basically the xres 100 just with a slightly bigger reservoir (which will make bleeding the air out a of the system easier)

 

i would say 4 meters of tubing will be more than enough. you will have some left over but i rather have a little more than less

 

sadly i cant answer the amount of coolant you need. its been a while since ive filled a full system and everyones system is a little different (some will need more than others)

 

the acrylic is nice. just be careful screwing the barbs on it. acrylic is a little bit delicate and can crack if you are too rough with it. only hand tighten the barbs on the cpu block (dont use any tools to tighten it and you should be fine)

[Necrodead]

You will probably use around 1L in total, so buy 2 if you are going for premixed or concentrate. 1L is probably just a little less than enough for your needs so you'll have to get 2L.