First Watercooling Loop

[AbsoluteZero951]

Looking to make my first watercooling loop which I have had plans to make for quite some time. Just wanted some second opinions on the the parts chosen and second opinions on watercooling. Also opinion on Mayhems Pastel as I would like to have white fluid, but am wary of the nanofluid fluids. GPU blocks. No GPU blocks as I am looking to get them for less than on Performance-pcs.com where I'd be getting the rest of the parts.

 

Build is in a White Phanteks Enthoo primo, other system specs in signature. Black/White color scheme

 

Parts:

 

Rads:

XSPC AX480(top) White

Hardwarelabs Black Ice(bottom) SR2 White

CPU:

EK Supremecy Evo Nickel/Acetal

 

Res/Pump

EK X3 Reservoir White

EK XTop Revo D5 PWM

EK X3 Multiport Top White

 

Fittings/Tubing

Bitspower Mini-Valve White

Bitspower 90 Degree Dual Rotoary extender White

Primochill RevolverSX 12 Pack 1/2 in. White

Primochill 1/2 in. OD PETG

Bitspower Stop Fitting White

Monson Silver Antimicrobial Plug

 

Other:

Mayhams Biocide

Primochill Rigid tubing bending insert 3/8 ID

 

Loop Order: Pump>Bottom Rad>GPUs>Top Rad>CPU>Res>Pump

[W-L]

2 minutes ago, AbsoluteZero951 said:

-SNIP-

Personally I'm using white Pastel without any real issues and it's been at this point over 12 months, one very important thing I want to point out is since your are using nickel in your loop you cannot use silver as it's a borderline dis-simialr metal in a loop environment or Mayhems based biocide since it's copper sulfate based. The option you have for distilled water with nickel in the loop would be a premixed or biocide like Petra (clear) PT nuke.

 

As for the loop order that doesn't matter as long as the res feeds into the pump.

[AbsoluteZero951]

11 minutes ago, W-L said:

Personally I'm using white Pastel without any real issues and it's been at this point over 12 months, one very important thing I want to point out is since your are using nickel in your loop you cannot use silver as it's a borderline dis-simialr metal in a loop environment or Mayhems based biocide since it's copper sulfate based. The option you have for distilled water with nickel in the loop would be a premixed or biocide like Petra (clear) PT nuke.

 

As for the loop order that doesn't matter as long as the res feeds into the pump.

 

So would the pastel be fine or not because of the biocide in it. I just opted for the nickel plated blocks as they are supposed to be a bit more corrosion resistant than strait copper, but am opening to switching to prevent metallurgy issues.

[GirlFromYonder]

3 minutes ago, AbsoluteZero951 said:

So would the pastel be fine or not because of the biocide in it. I just opted for the nickel plated blocks as they are supposed to be a bit more corrosion resistant than strait copper, but am opening to switching to prevent metallurgy issues.

You might want to quote the person in your reply, so he can see it tho. 

[AbsoluteZero951]

3 minutes ago, DeezNoNos said:

You might want to quote the person in your reply, so he can see it tho. 

Thanks that was, I realized right as you posted.

[vong]

18 minutes ago, AbsoluteZero951 said:

-snip-

I've got that case and black ice radiator. Word of warning, the rad will not fit properly in the bottom. The case will need to be modified and you will have to use the bottom removable bracket and modify it too. The SR2 is wider than most radiators so I would suggest getting something else but it'll fit in the top with no problems.

[W-L]

7 minutes ago, AbsoluteZero951 said:

So would the pastel be fine or not because of the biocide in it. I just opted for the nickel plated blocks as they are supposed to be a bit more corrosion resistant than strait copper, but am opening to switching to prevent metallurgy issues.

Pastel and even X-1 from mayhems will work as it has everything included, as for nickel plating it's mainly for looks more than anything else, if you had a nickel free loop that would including fittings, then using just silver or PT nuke in itself is good having both won't have a benefit.

[vong]

27 minutes ago, AbsoluteZero951 said:

-snip-

I would also recommend using a pump/res combo as their 'univeral' pump mount is garbage.

[AbsoluteZero951]

42 minutes ago, vong said:

I've got that case and black ice radiator. Word of warning, the rad will not fit properly in the bottom. The case will need to be modified and you will have to use the bottom removable bracket and modify it too. The SR2 is wider than most radiators so I would suggest getting something else but it'll fit in the top with no problems.

Will it just not fit flush to the bottom, because that I already noticed that and was going to put the bottom in push/pull so the bottom layer of the fans would keep the ports from touching the bottom of the case. As for the width I'll double check on the measurements I looked at to see if its going to be a pain to install without doing something to the case.

 

36 minutes ago, vong said:

I would also recommend using a pump/res combo as their 'univeral' pump mount is garbage.

I have access to an extensive amount of tools and metal, so I can modify the existing bracket by redrilling and threading or even make a new one from scratch if it proves to be a problem.

[vong]

7 minutes ago, AbsoluteZero951 said:

Will it just not fit flush to the bottom, because that I already noticed that and was going to put the bottom in push/pull so the bottom layer of the fans would keep the ports from touching the bottom of the case. As for the width I'll double check on the measurements I looked at to see if its going to be a pain to install without doing something to the case.

 

I have access to an extensive amount of tools and metal, so I can modify the existing bracket by redrilling and threading or even make a new one from scratch if it proves to be a problem.

Fan/rad mount holes won't line up as an SR2 rad for 120 fans is as wide as a 140mm fan if you get what I'm saying.

[AbsoluteZero951]

48 minutes ago, W-L said:

Pastel and even X-1 from mayhems will work as it has everything included, as for nickel plating it's mainly for looks more than anything else, if you had a nickel free loop that would including fittings, then using just silver or PT nuke in itself is good having both won't have a benefit.

Sorry, realized I didn't ask the question the most clearly, but what I was trying to ask in the beginning was if i could use Pastel with the nickel plated blocks as the only blocks I can get for the Gigabyte Gaming G1 gpus from EKWB are nickel plated, as well as the fittings being only nickel plated. 

[AbsoluteZero951]

4 minutes ago, vong said:

Fan/rad mount holes won't line up as an SR2 rad for 120 fans is as wide as a 140mm fan if you get what I'm saying.

Still a little confused as the diagram show the mounting holes on the radiator to be the standard 105mm spacing so i dont understand the problem. As for the width it is 12mm under the max width spec of 145mm for the bottom, so i'm sure it would be a pretty tight fit.

 

 

[vong]

2 minutes ago, AbsoluteZero951 said:

Still a little confused as the diagram show the mounting holes on the radiator to be the standard 105mm spacing so i dont understand the problem. As for the width it is 12mm under the max width spec of 145mm for the bottom, so i'm sure it would be a pretty tight fit.

Yes it's a tight fit but because of the way Phanteks designed the bottom rad mount the holes won't line up because they're for 140mm fans (pretty sure, you can confirm it).

[W-L]

22 minutes ago, AbsoluteZero951 said:

Sorry, realized I didn't ask the question the most clearly, but what I was trying to ask in the beginning was if i could use Pastel with the nickel plated blocks as the only blocks I can get for the Gigabyte Gaming G1 gpus from EKWB are nickel plated, as well as the fittings being only nickel plated. 

Yes pastel will work with nickel plated blocks and fittings without any issues, usually they have a copper variant available in combination with the nickel ones. 

[AbsoluteZero951]

3 minutes ago, vong said:

Yes it's a tight fit but because of the way Phanteks designed the bottom rad mount the holes won't line up because they're for 140mm fans (pretty sure, you can confirm it).

The manual shows it supports 4 120mm fans in the bottom so I'd assume it has to have the proper 105mm spacing for them.

[AbsoluteZero951]

3 minutes ago, W-L said:

Yes pastel will work with nickel plated blocks and fittings without any issues, usually they have a copper variant available in combination with the nickel ones. 

Unfortunately not for my GPUs (image from their configurator). Thanks so much for the info, it helps quell some of the uncertainty in making my first loop.

[vong]

5 minutes ago, AbsoluteZero951 said:

The manual shows it supports 4 120mm fans in the bottom so I'd assume it has to have the proper 105mm spacing for them.

Okay looks like a made a little mistake. It looks like it can support 2 140s and 4 120s at the bottom. If you look at the 120 mounts you'll see how close it so to the psu shroud, that's the problem with fitting it to the bottom without the bracket.

[AbsoluteZero951]

19 minutes ago, vong said:

Okay looks like a made a little mistake. It looks like it can support 2 140s and 4 120s at the bottom. If you look at the 120 mounts you'll see how close it so to the psu shroud, that's the problem with fitting it to the bottom without the bracket.

How does the bracket help with the spacing from the PSU shroud, it should have the same dimensional restrictions with or without it I think.

 

[vong]

4 minutes ago, AbsoluteZero951 said:

How does the bracket help with the spacing from the PSU shroud, it should have the same dimensional restrictions with or without it I think.

 

You've got the case right next to you so you tell me. The mounts on the bottom for 120s are different to the mounts for 120s on the bracket.

 

Looking at this shows me theres barely any room between the mount and shroud and according to my maths the rad needs about 14mm clearence.

[AbsoluteZero951]

11 minutes ago, vong said:

You've got the case right next to you so you tell me. The mounts on the bottom for 120s are different to the mounts for 120s on the bracket.

 

Looking at this shows me theres barely any room between the mount and shroud and according to my maths the rad needs about 14mm clearence.

So a not so wide rad would be needed as it seems like people can get rads in the bottom without lopping stuff of the case somehow, but im guessing there about ~10mm or so thinner than the SR2.

[vong]

2 minutes ago, AbsoluteZero951 said:

So a not so wide rad would be needed as it seems like people can get rads in the bottom without lopping stuff of the case somehow, but im guessing there about ~10mm or so thinner than the SR2.

That's right. Stick a 120 fan in the bottom where the psu shroud and the panel with the phanteks logo meet and measure how much clearance you got. I'm pretty sure any normal looking radiator would fit.

[AbsoluteZero951]

1 minute ago, vong said:

That's right. Stick a 120 fan in the bottom where the psu shroud and the panel with the phanteks logo meet and measure how much clearance you got. I'm pretty sure any normal looking radiator would fit.

The thinnest I've found is 120mm, but most are at 130mm( like the ones in the pictures) which is basically the same as the SR2. I'm gonna take measurements in the morning to double check. Thank you so much for the help, should help me make sure that my loop is just perfect before ordering it.