New Custom Loop For my PC

[kittenmetal]

Hi,

Ok I have always gone with all in one options for liquid cooling out of ease of use, but I am looking to build my own custom loop now,

I am looking to build it as cheaply as possible, so to emphasize what I have available already,

I have 3 Radiators
One double 120mm
One Single 120mm
One Double 180mm

What I am  wishing to be cooling in my next build

CPU - AMD Vishira 8320
GPU - 2 x Nvidia GTX 1080 / 1060

Bearing in mind That I am next year going to be rebuilding my Machine from the ground up and probably looking at a new motherboard CPU and RAM (AMD Zen) (ANd then contacting microsoft to get my license unlocked to the new hardware!)

what advice can you give me on building this custom loop

Naturally - when I build it Take of the old tubes empty the radiators and clean them out!

Also I am wondering If it is possible to add my old GTX 750 TI into the Build and use it as a capture card - seperately to the SLI'd 1080 / 1060 GPU's In which case I want that included in the custom loop

 

[0ld_Chicken]

1 hour ago, kittenmetal said:

Hi,

Ok I have always gone with all in one options for liquid cooling out of ease of use, but I am looking to build my own custom loop now,

I am looking to build it as cheaply as possible, so to emphasize what I have available already,

I have 3 Radiators
One double 120mm
One Single 120mm
One Double 180mm

What I am  wishing to be cooling in my next build

CPU - AMD Vishira 8320
GPU - 2 x Nvidia GTX 1080 / 1060

Bearing in mind That I am next year going to be rebuilding my Machine from the ground up and probably looking at a new motherboard CPU and RAM (AMD Zen) (ANd then contacting microsoft to get my license unlocked to the new hardware!)

what advice can you give me on building this custom loop

Naturally - when I build it Take of the old tubes empty the radiators and clean them out!

Also I am wondering If it is possible to add my old GTX 750 TI into the Build and use it as a capture card - seperately to the SLI'd 1080 / 1060 GPU's In which case I want that included in the custom loop

 

Is it 2x 1060's or 2x 1080's? That's a really big difference in hardware/cost.  honestly, watercooling 1060's is pointless and you'll gain nothing performance wise, but you'll spend the same amount as cooling 2x 1080's.  Get the best hardware you possibly can, then watercool if it is worth it.

 

I would rather use 1x 1080  than 2x1060's for watercooling. 

 

Also I don't think that is how capture cards work, but I don't record gameplay so I'm really not sure. Either way, you'll spend more on the water block than the card is worth so I wouldn't.

 

It's kinda like fitting a turbo to an economy sedan from the 80's... you'll spend more than the thing is worth, just in parts, and you'll end up with something that isn't really any faster than before. 

[kittenmetal]

7 minutes ago, 0ld_Chicken said:

Is it 2x 1060's or 2x 1080's? That's a really big difference in hardware/cost.  honestly, watercooling 1060's is pointless and you'll gain nothing performance wise, but you'll spend the same amount as cooling 2x 1080's.  Get the best hardware you possibly can, then watercool if it is worth it.

 

I would rather use 1x 1080  than 2x1060's for watercooling. 

 

Also I don't think that is how capture cards work, but I don't record gameplay so I'm really not sure. Either way, you'll spend more on the water block than the card is worth so I wouldn't.

 

It's kinda like fitting a turbo to an economy sedan from the 80's... you'll spend more than the thing is worth, just in parts, and you'll end up with something that isn't really any faster than before. 

On that advice I will go with 2 1080's

I wanted to use the 750 TI for streaming the gameplay, whilst playing games on the SLI'd Cards but from what you are saying I might not need to water cool it, though the 750 TI I have is currently overclocked and reaches about 70 degrees with the twin fans on it, I was hoping to reduce the noise however more than anything with that card.

 

As for the custom loop system, where can I get good parts that are required, IE:
pumps (I can always salvage the Heatsync and pumps off the old water cooling units) but will still need something to push it around
Resovior
piping.



 

[0ld_Chicken]

5 hours ago, kittenmetal said:

On that advice I will go with 2 1080's

I wanted to use the 750 TI for streaming the gameplay, whilst playing games on the SLI'd Cards but from what you are saying I might not need to water cool it, though the 750 TI I have is currently overclocked and reaches about 70 degrees with the twin fans on it, I was hoping to reduce the noise however more than anything with that card.

 

As for the custom loop system, where can I get good parts that are required, IE:
pumps (I can always salvage the Heatsync and pumps off the old water cooling units) but will still need something to push it around
Resovior
piping.
 

I don't know if the 750ti will do you any good at all, I'm not a streaming guy. You could lower the fan speed a bit and let it get to 80°c and it'll still be fine.

 

As far as parts, it depends on where you're located. For the UK, I'm not very familiar. I believe aquatuning and ekwb are available but I'm sure there is better info somewhere for the UK.

 

I'd avoid reusing aio parts if your making a custom loop with 2x 1080's. Just more likely it'll leak or die

[kittenmetal]

The only thing i will possibly use is the radiators - after cleaning them out.

 

[W-L]

3 minutes ago, kittenmetal said:

The only thing i will possibly use is the radiators - after cleaning them out.

 

What radiators are they first, if they are from AIO's you don't want those since they would be aluminum making your loop a mixed metal loop is never a good thing. 

[kittenmetal]

the radiator I was thinking of re-using is from the NZXT Kraken X61 - newish - had it for 4 months. and is still in pristine condition. it is probably the only radiator I need to be fair it is a dual Radiator.  
 

[W-L]

2 minutes ago, kittenmetal said:

the radiator I was thinking of re-using is from the NZXT Kraken X61 - newish - had it for 4 months. and is still in pristine condition. it is probably the only radiator I need to be fair it is a dual Radiator.  

Don't use them and get proper rads for a custom loop as they are all aluminium, ideally it's best to just stick with copper and brass based rads as they don't have issues with galvanic corrosion within a loop. For dual GPU's and a single CPU you will want 120mm per component plus an extra 120mm rad ideally so a total of 480mm of rad space would be a good rule of thumb and more if you want dead silence with the system at full load. 

[kittenmetal]

well I have at the front of my case space for a dual 180mm radiator and at the top i have space for a another dual 180 or dual 120mm radiator with a single 120mm Fan currently at the rear of my case. So space for the radiators is not an issue.

I was thinking about the pump and Reservoir but was wondering if there was a good solution for that whereby the pump and reservoir were contained in a single unit and what recommendations there are because I have heard both good and bad things about these types of solutions and am a little confused.

Tubing I have no idea what I am going to need but I am not doing some fancy show rig so plain jane piping is good, was wondering about the pro's and cons of solid tubes vs Flexible tubing.



 

[W-L]

10 minutes ago, kittenmetal said:

well I have at the front of my case space for a dual 180mm radiator and at the top i have space for a another dual 180 or dual 120mm radiator with a single 120mm Fan currently at the rear of my case. So space for the radiators is not an issue.
I was thinking about the pump and Reservoir but was wondering if there was a good solution for that whereby the pump and reservoir were contained in a single unit and what recommendations there are because I have heard both good and bad things about these types of solutions and am a little confused.
Tubing I have no idea what I am going to need but I am not doing some fancy show rig so plain jane piping is good, was wondering about the pro's and cons of solid tubes vs Flexible tubing.

For a pump/res combo unit that's mainly up to you as it does clean things up nicely and make it more comapct, only downside really with that is the vibration form the pump can get a little amplified from the tube res to make some noise. For options EKWB makes some really good res units, I would recommend to get the D5 pump it's regarded to be one of the best ones out there.

 

As for tubing it's mainly aesthetics in terms of hardline vs soft tube, the hardline tubing however does last longer than soft tube since all soft tube does degrade and need to be changed after so long.