Brand comparisons

[Tigersoze]

There are plenty of brands, and some specialize more in, say, fittings than others. I am wondering which brands you prefer and/or use.

[GalacticRuler]

GPU = MSI

Motherboard = Asus

PSU = Seasonic

RAM = Kingston HyperX

SSD = Samsung

HDD = WD

[Enderman]

ek for waterblocks

ek or alphacool or black ice for radiators

bitspower for fittings and hard tubing

ek ZMT for soft tubing

bitspower or ek or xspc for reservoirs

any D5 for pump

[Enderman]

GPU = MSI

Motherboard = Asus

PSU = Seasonic

RAM = Kingston HyperX

SSD = Samsung

HDD = WD

this is about watercooling components

[thekeemo]

GPU = MSI

Motherboard = msi

PSU = evga

RAM = Kingston

SSD = none

HDD = seagate

If you want water cooling

Ek for blocks

BP for fittings and tubing

And that German brand that makes these bigass rads for rads

[brandishwar]

There are plenty of brands, and some specialize more in, say, fittings than others. I am wondering which brands you prefer and/or use.

Fittings: That depends. I've used Swiftech, Koolance, and EK for angled fittings and SLI fittings. For hard tube fittings, Primochill is what I've used. Bitspower I hear is good, but they're very overpriced in my opinion. The only reason to go with Bitspower is their color selection, but if you're going with just black or chrome, you're better off saving your money and going with Swiftech, Koolance, or EK. Personally my preference is Swiftech or Koolance since they tend to have greater compatibility than EK, especially with extension fittings.

Blocks: Depends on the reviews. I've used Koolance, EK, Watercool, and Aquacomputer. Aquacomputer tends to be the best for all-around cooling on their GPU blocks, handling power delivery cooling better than anything else courtesy of their backplates, while also looking the best overall in my opinion. Only downside is that's aesthetics you're not going to see if you're using a tower. For CPU blocks, I've used Koolance and EK. On that, EK is over-hyped in my opinion. Actually, EK overall is very over-hyped.

Tubing: For soft tubing, I actually just get what's at the hardware store. I know I'll have to change it out more often, but given it's under .50 USD per foot, you're still coming out ahead, mostly. For hard tubing, I used copper in my last couple builds. If I would go with PETG or acrylic, I'd likely find an industrial supplier.

Radiators: AlphaCool. Never had a problem with their radiators, and they tend to be the top performers. Plus they have a plate under the screw holes protecting the find and channels from screwing down too far. Beyond that, only other brand I've used is XS-PC, and they perform very well too. Martin's Liquid Lab provides some of the rundown on performance.

Bottom line, shop around. There's a wide variety available, so whatever look you want you can probably get. Don't settle entirely on one brand. Aquacomputer, Watercool, Koolance, Swiftech, EK, AlpahCool, XS-PC, Phobya, Primochill. Seriously there's plenty out there, plenty of variety to choose from, so don't lock yourself into one brand, especially EK since they tend to be very, very over-hyped. Other brands are just as good or better than EK.