Suggestions to change my custom water loop

[Simon771]

Well it has been long time since I last updated my water loop, and it's time I get back to it.

As you can see on picture below, it's far from perfect  

 

Connection from one rad to another is just stupid, but if I wanted to make it any shorter, tube would bend, so I just used that one at to hell with it.

Well after few months of watching it, I decided it's time to fix it.

 

So I would like to ask for some suggestions, how to make it look better, and also how to get rid of all the extra tube lenght.

Should I move my pump + res combo 120mm higher on my 360mm front rad? What angle adapters from EKWB should I order?

Any other suggestion how to connect my devices with tubes?

 

I basicly hate 2 things here: connection from one rad to another, and connection from res to rad. Those 2 connections must be changed, but I'm out of ideas.

 

Any suggestion will be great!

 

I'm also tagging @done12many2 because he is like a mentor to my water loop  

 

[iRileyx]

You could try hard piping it, might take a while to get it perfect but it'd probably look alot cleaner and imo nicer when its finished

[atomicus]

Hardline tubing all the way! That will necessitate a change in fittings of course, but ultimately it will transform the look of your system by many orders of magnitude to the positive!  You could look at making a PSU shroud also, and I'd suggest looking at some custom cables, maybe adding some colour in there, or just making them a bit straighter with cable combs... I know what you have are custom at present, but they are perhaps a bit 'loose'.

[Simon771]

4 minutes ago, RKRiley said:

You could try hard piping it, might take a while to get it perfect but it'd probably look alot cleaner and imo nicer when its finished

Do you mean like hard tubes?

Because that's not an option for me. I don't have heat gun, I'm bad at those things, I would need whole new fittings and tubes, and I also tend to change my hardware often so with soft tubes it's easy to change anything. With hard tubes not so much.

I can acctually change my CPU + motherboard without having to drain entire loop and re-do all connections etc.

 

I'm looking for best solution with soft tubing

 

I will go with hard tubes when I win lottery, so I can buy i7 6950X and I won't have to replace it for 5 years.

Meanwhile my i7 4790k will be long gone replaced in 5 year period ^^

[atomicus]

Well if hardline is off the table then you need to shorten those two lengths you don't like (which I agree don't look great)... that's easily done. PSU shroud as I mention would look really nice, especially if you vinyl wrapped it. Some really nice custom cables also would set it off. Maybe UV coolant (and some UV light strips of course), although your tubes aren't clear so you'd have to change those.

[QBtech]

Hi @Simon771 I had a very similar setup.

 

I would go pump --> GPU Gives a cleaner run from GPU to CPU

 

To connect the two rads together I would grab a 90 degree, something like this, Which would enable you to do a straight run.

 

Then I would grab the multiport top, with this thing so you can go rad --> top of the res cleanly

 

resulting in Pump --> GPU --> CPU --> 240 --> 360 --> Res

[Mick Naughty]

Get rid of the 240 rad and run it in parallel, problem solved. 

[dmoney1942]

nvm it was in the signature. 

[QBtech]

Just now, dmoney1942 said:

If you dont mind me asking and not trying to hijack this thread but what kind of case do you have your system in. Planning on building my first custom loop but do not know what case that is easy to build in and has a nice window like yours. my current build is in a HAF 922 case. 

That is a define S. Great "compact" case with dual 360 support. 

[dmoney1942]

thanks, I thinking on going 360 + 120/140 but might run into the same problem as OP. I was planning on a 120/240 back rad and a 360 top rad. 

[QBtech]

1 minute ago, dmoney1942 said:

thanks, I thinking on going 360 + 120/140 but might run into the same problem as OP. I was planning on a 120/240 back rad and a 360 top rad. 

Just throw in some angled adapters and you will be fine...

 

I also change my hardware to often to go hardline, and angled adapters will allow you to make tight turns you wouldnt be able to get with mere soft tubes

[Mick Naughty]

Figured using 3/8 hose you could sneak some behind the board. 

 

Also so running a rad in the rear will be very tight. Don't see many cases pull it off. Especially with a top rad. I have an ek140 rad I could sell you though. As mine can't fit. 

[done12many2]

Hey bud, I think the rig is really starting to look good.

 

If you can order a few rotary fittings and some small extensions for the rad ports, I think you can reroute stuff to clean it up a bit more.

 

- If you were to use my proposal, you'll need to rotate the top rad so the ports are towards the back of the case.

 

- You'll need to remove the water block clear top and rotate it 180 degrees on the base.  Normally you'd only need to rotate the whole water block assemembly, but I remembered that you had to shave one side of the base in order for it to clear the capacitors.  No biggie though.  Just rotate the water block top alone.

 

- You'll also need to rotate the res inward so that "IN" port aligns with the tube coming off of the bottom of the GPU for a cleaner run.  This will also align your res "OUT" with the run straight up to the front res port.

 

You will more than likely be able to use all of your existing pieces of tubing since they are all too long anyways, so other than some rotary fitting (maybe 1 or 2 x 90 degrees and a few 45 degrees) you shouldn't have any other expenses.

 

Wrap those multi color wires from the water pump as well.  Use sleeving, black wire loom, or just simple electric tape if you have to.  Anything is better than leaving them visible and unmanaged.

 

That should free up about 17 feet of extra tubing and clean the look up a bit.  

 

 

 

[Simon771]

3 hours ago, done12many2 said:

Hey bud, I think the rig is really starting to look good.

 

If you can order a few rotary fittings and some small extensions for the rad ports, I think you can reroute stuff to clean it up a bit more.

 

- If you were to use my proposal, you'll need to rotate the top rad so the ports are towards the back of the case.

 

- You'll need to remove the water block clear top and rotate it 180 degrees on the base.  Normally you'd only need to rotate the whole water block assemembly, but I remembered that you had to shave one side of the base in order for it to clear the capacitors.  No biggie though.  Just rotate the water block top alone.

 

- You'll also need to rotate the res inward so that "IN" port aligns with the tube coming off of the bottom of the GPU for a cleaner run.  This will also align your res "OUT" with the run straight up to the front res port.

 

You will more than likely be able to use all of your existing pieces of tubing since they are all too long anyways, so other than some rotary fitting (maybe 1 or 2 x 90 degrees and a few 45 degrees) you shouldn't have any other expenses.

 

Wrap those multi color wires from the water pump as well.  Use sleeving, black wire loom, or just simple electric tape if you have to.  Anything is better than leaving them visible and unmanaged.

 

That should free up about 17 feet of extra tubing and clean the look up a bit.  

I like your idea and I might acctually do it like this.

But I would just like to ask about CPU block.

Why would I need to rotate it?

 

I noticed there is IN and OUT on CPU block, but why is that so? Would it matter if I use "OUT" for input?

[done12many2]

5 hours ago, Simon771 said:

I like your idea and I might acctually do it like this.

But I would just like to ask about CPU block.

Why would I need to rotate it?

 

I noticed there is IN and OUT on CPU block, but why is that so? Would it matter if I use "OUT" for input?

 

You need to rotate it because it is actually designed for one port to function as "in" while the other functions as "out".  There's an insert inside of the block's top cover that is configured differently for each port.

 

When and if you decide to do this, it is very simple.  Just turn the block upside down so that it's laying on it's top with the ports facing down.  Take the appropriate size allen wrench and remove the 4 screws holding on the copper/nickle plated base.  Separate the copper/nickle plated base from the mounting plate and rote either 180 degrees.  Screw them back together and you're done.

 

Like I said earlier, the only reason you have to do it this way is because your copper/nickle plated base has been customized to fit one way on your motherboard. Otherwise you would just rotate the whole block instead of taking it apart and rotating. 

 

 

[Simon771]

 @done12many2

 

Thanks for explanation

I know why I can't simply rotate it, so I will have to do it like you said. And when I'm looking at that picture it realy looks that simple. I'm just not sure if I can still unscrew those screws, because if I remember correctly they were pealed off a bit. Will have to make sure about that. Otherwise I will just have to use like I'm using it now

 

Didn't know that it can affect that much which of those 2 holes is input and which one is output. But I guess EKWB wrote that for some reason.

Will have to make sure if my waterblock for GPU and connection on rads are also labeled with IN and OUT.

 

[done12many2]

1 minute ago, Simon771 said:

Will have to make sure if my waterblock for GPU and connection on rads are also labeled with IN and OUT.

 

You're welcome man.

 

The flow direction on the GPU block and radiators doesn't matter.  As long as either is "in" and the other is "out", you're fine.

[Simon771]

25 minutes ago, done12many2 said:

 

You're welcome man.

 

The flow direction on the GPU block and radiators doesn't matter.  As long as either is "in" and the other is "out", you're fine.

Okay great

Will order 2x 90° rotations and 3x 45°

I hope that will be enough.

 

And I noticed that EKWB is selling this tingy for removing screws from GTX 10xx series. You know those small screws on the back that took you 1 hours to remove them with forceps  

So that will go in my order just so I won't be killing myself next time I have to do something with those screws lol

 

And I will also order clear tubes this time + white pastel liquid. It will be more like black/white themed PC.

White fittings, black rotarity fittings, black bakplate, Krait motherboard is black and white, case is black, some cables are white others are black etc.

 

And ofc. lighting on HUE+ will be changed to white.

 

After that I hope that I will be happy with my build for next year at least lol

[Napalm360]

Sorry im a tad late but the best thing would be tidy up that tubing. And get custom cables and perhaps change colour theme