First watercooling build

[Kirihuna]

Hi there,

 

I plan on dropping quite a bit of money I've saved up on watercooling a PC I will be building in the future. This is my first time watercooling. I've seen a lot of videos of it done and stuff.

 

I would love to do acrylic tubing for straight lines, but it would probably take weeks to do.

 

I know the reservoir I want is a "T-virus" reservoir, sorta like Linus uses. Theme of the build is blue and black. (red and black is over done IMO while black and green don't look that great.)

 

Case will be a 900D. I'm all for two rads in the basement, top mounted and front mounted. But I don't know what brand of radiators to use. Or CPU block. or GPU block.

 

I like the company EKWD, I enjoy their designs and overall look to their products. But I really don't know much about them. They seem pretty popular in watercooling builds. As is Alphacool radiators.

 

Anyone have any advice for radiators / cpu blocks / gpu blocks / coolant? Pump is taken care of, as I decided I might go with the EKWD silent pump.

 

The loop will be just a CPU and 2 GPUs. No chipsets, NB / SB, etc.

 

edit:

Cards will be 780s from EVGA and CPU will be i7-4770k.

 

M/B is a z87 Sabertooth.

[WunderWuffle]

The loop will be just a CPU and 2 GPUs. No chipsets, NB / SB, etc.

What CPU and GPU are they?

[Guest]

• Acrylic won't take too long to do but does cost more as you need more fittings which add up.
• With the 900D, you can't fill all those mount points. My personal advice would be a 480 in the top, 480 in the bottom and possibly another 240 in the bottom depending on your skills & your PSU cabling. 
• What cards & CPU socket are you using?

Watercooling is less about performance and more about looks most of the time so it's kind of difficult to recommend you specific parts. Personally if you like the EK stuff, I would go with probably an EK supremacy CPU block and a similar style for the GPU. 

[Kirihuna]

Cards will be 780s from EVGA and CPU will be i7-4770k.

 

M/B is a z87 Sabertooth.

[WunderWuffle]

Cards will be 780s from EVGA and CPU will be i7-4770k.

 

M/B is a z87 Sabertooth.

Best looking CPU and GPU block IMO are the EK Supremacy Clean Acrylic, and the EK GTX 780/Titan SE.

 

Do you have a preference on where you want to buy your parts from?

[Kirihuna]

Best looking CPU and GPU block IMO are the EK Supremacy Clean Acrylic, and the EK GTX 780/Titan SE.

 

Do you have a preference on where you want to buy your parts from?

As I live in America, preferably somewhere in America or has cheap shipping.

 

I was looking on Frozen CPU.

[WunderWuffle]

As I live in America, preferably somewhere in America or has cheap shipping.

 

I was looking on Frozen CPU.

Frozen CPU and Performance-PCs are great choices for buying WC components.

 

Acrylic tubing wont take weeks to do, but it is not recommended if you are a first timer, or if you dont have a lot of patience. 

 

You might want to take a look at Caselabs cases. They're simply amazing.

 

I would go with Hardware Labs SR-1, or GTX depending on your fan choice. The SR-1 is a low FPI rad, great for low RPM fans, while the GTX is a hugh FPI rad, geared towards 2000+ RPM fans.

 

And most importantly, whats your budget? I read that you are dropping a big chunk of money... Does that mean $750 or more?

[Kirihuna]

My budget is over $750. It's not entirely defined right now. It's more of a "well, if I need it or I can get a better part that would be of great value, I guess I'll fit it in."

 

My fan choice is probably going to be the Corsair SP120s. I have them in my current build and I love them. All would be on the 7w setting.

 

I guess I should note this build won't happen until at least winter during my winter break from college.

[WunderWuffle]

My budget is over $750. It's not entirely defined right now. It's more of a "well, if I need it or I can get a better part that would be of great value, I guess I'll fit it in."

 

My fan choice is probably going to be the Corsair SP120s. I have them in my current build and I love them. All would be on the 7w setting.

 

I guess I should note this build won't happen until at least winter during my winter break from college.

Do you want to PM me your email so I can send you a shopping cart on FCPU, if not, I can always make a list on here.

[LAHWF]

Waterblocks: Koolance

Radiators: Alphacool

 

Koolance makes the best waterblocks these days in my opinion.

QUALITY and performance.

 

Stay away from EK...

They are not to my liking.

 

Order of importance to me...

1: Quality

2: Performance

3: Looks

Edited August 8, 2013 by airdeano
Language

[WunderWuffle]

Waterblocks: Koolance

Radiators: Alphacool

 

Koolance makes the best waterblocks these days in my opinion.

QUALITY and performance.

 

Stay away from EK...

They are not to my liking.

Have you actually had hands on experience with EK? EKWB is proven to be one of the better performing waterblocks. It's all up to the OP in the end though.

[terrytek]

Yeah I agree with wunderwaffle. EK i believe makes the best waterblocks IMO.

[airdeano]

any and all water blocks all perform within a margin of error, so the "performance"

value is pretty mute (0°-4°, if). the quality is usually tied to the performance and

aesthetics of the part. all the name-brand manufactures make some excellent blocks

and it really comes down to what you like to see.

 

so find a water block to would enjoy looking at for awhile and then find out how it

ranks to other water blocks. if it is constantly on the bottom of every list, choose

another or run with it.

 

airdeano

[ixi_your_face]

Stay away from EK...

They are not to my liking.

 

Just because he likes/dislikes something, doesn't mean you should keep away from them.

 

[Kirihuna]

I was discussing with a member last night and there might be a change in cases. The black and blue themed build could happen, but there could be a white and blue now.

 

Instead of a 900D, might use a Merlin ST10 in white. Pain some of the panels blue. Use sort of an R2D2 theme build.

 

Anyways. Since EK seems to be pretty much a good idea, these are the two I'm between. Nothing difference except one is clear and one is foggyish.

 

[Ghost]

I was discussing with a member last night and there might be a change in cases. The black and blue themed build could happen, but there could be a white and blue now.

 

Instead of a 900D, might use a Merlin ST10 in white. Pain some of the panels blue. Use sort of an R2D2 theme build.

 

Anyways. Since EK seems to be pretty much a good idea, these are the two I'm between. Nothing difference except one is clear and one is foggyish.

One has the CSQ design, one doesn't. The CSQ design caused a big split in opinion. Some people loved it, some hated it so they made a clear version. The clear version is the newest revision although performance is the same. You can also buy colored acrylic tops from EK for the CPU block. IMO they look best but they will cost you extra on top of the block.

[Kirihuna]

CSQ I assume is making it cloudy?

 

Also, I did not know of these acrylic tops. The blue looks very interesting.  I might actually get that.

 

[_ASSASSIN_]

I was discussing with a member last night and there might be a change in cases. The black and blue themed build could happen, but there could be a white and blue now.

 

Instead of a 900D, might use a Merlin ST10 in white. Pain some of the panels blue. Use sort of an R2D2 theme build.

 

Anyways. Since EK seems to be pretty much a good idea, these are the two I'm between. Nothing difference except one is clear and one is foggyish.

the only difference is in styling, which is why I like EK, they  put out tons of different models

[_ASSASSIN_]

CSQ I assume is making it cloudy?

 

Also, I did not know of these acrylic tops. The blue looks very interesting.  I might actually get that.

 

trust me, it looks cooler having a clear top and using a pastel coolant, looks freaking baller

\

[Kirihuna]

Funny, cause that build you just posted is a similar build that inspired me to do this in a 900D haha.

[_ASSASSIN_]

Funny, cause that build you just posted is a similar build that inspired me to do this in a 900D haha.

haha, because I was going to recommend you look at his build :P

anyways, you might want to start quoting people so they get a notification when people resopond

[_ASSASSIN_]

but just a fair warning, I would be extremely careful, as you are using rather odd stuff for a beginner e.i acrylic tubing, I really hope that you have someone experience with you to help, because 
1. acrylic, while it looks cool, is extremely time-consuming for builds
2. so many sources for leaks with all those 

it would be best if you set up a watercooling route for us to look at so we no how it looks and how we can improve it :D

[Kirihuna]

but just a fair warning, I would be extremely careful, as you are using rather odd stuff for a beginner e.i acrylic tubing, I really hope that you have someone experience with you to help, because 

1. acrylic, while it looks cool, is extremely time-consuming for builds

2. so many sources for leaks with all those 

it would be best if you set up a watercooling route for us to look at so we no how it looks and how we can improve it :D

Oh no. I don't think I'm doing acrylic first. If anything, I would upgrade to acrylic in the future. I don't think I could build a system and do an acrylic loop in 3ish weeks. After I get the 900D and build (or Caselabs), I would do measurements and plan it out. It's too hard for me to plan it out via online pictures.

 

If I do go with a white case, I'll have to get white rads. Alphacool seems to be the only one with those. Is Alphacool generally a trustworthy and great brand?

[airdeano]

Alphacool is very reputable in radiators.

 

a CaseLabs SM8 mock-up

 

 

airdeano

[Kirihuna]

Th

 

Alphacool is very reputable in radiators.

 

a CaseLabs SM8 mock-up

 

 

airdeano

That's a nice case.