Water Cooling Build Ideas

[mattias1172]

Hello, I'm looking to do my first custom loop and am looking for ideas/opinions on layouts to make the aesthetics and performance of the build as efficient as possible. 

 

I'm planning on buying the white Phanteks Enthoo Primo case to build in. I will be adding a 7700k on the Asus Strix z270e board and an EVGA SC2 1080ti to the loop. 

 

I have attached a rough diagram of the case and my current plan for the loop.

• I am looking to do a quad fan radiator on the bottom in a pull config, 2 case fans on the front for intake (that come preinstalled), and a quad radiator on top with 8 fans in a push and pull config. Because the bottom radiator only has a pull config, i'm looking to have a thicker radiator as long is it fits in the case. Likewise, as there are more fans on top, i'm looking to do a thinner radiator to give extra clearance to the motherboard while still providing an efficient heat transfer. 
• The flow goes from the reservoir on the side up to the gpu, then cpu, then top rad, out the back to the pump mounted behind the case, back to the front to the bottom rad, and back to the pump. 

 

Since this is my first attempt at a custom loop (I've built PC's before so that's a non issue), I'm thinking soft tubing might be better. Once I have it all setup and I like the layout, I would likely switch to rigid tubing soon after. 

 

Lastly, the theme of the build is white/black. I'm looking to do either white coolant or tubing (i know a lot of people are against dyed coolant) and black compression fittings. 

 

If anyone has an idea for a better layout, id be more than happy to hear/see it. I'm also very much open to thoughts and ideas for specific parts such as reservoirs, radiators, gpu blocks, cpu blocks, pumps, etc. I've seen good things about EK gear, so currently, that's what id probably be looking at. If anyone knows of a quad radiator that for sure fits in the bottom of this case, please let me know. 

 

Thank you for any help, it is greatly appreciated!

[unknownmiscreant]

Take a look at the kits from EK. I'm not saying you need them to pick the parts for you, but they are substantially cheaper than buying everything separately for some reason.

 

I picked out all the parts I wanted, looked at the basket and thought "damn thats alot of $$" Then I found the kit, and it had the exact same components as I had picked out, plus some extra stuff, all for less $$. All the parts in the kits are individually packed, as you would get them if they were bought separately.

 

The video by JayzTwoCents about them is very accurate.

[For Science!]

50 minutes ago, mattias1172 said:

-snip-

A few comments:

 

-If you are planning to switch to hardline tubing at some point, I would recommend going for it in the first place. Doing a soft tubing loop does not prepare you for a hardline build as it is comletely different game all together. Also you will need to swap all the fittings, which is costly.

 

-To me it seems a bit illogical to use a thin radiator just to do push/pull. Thin radiators do not really benefit from having push/pull (assuming ~20 fpi). So if you can fit a thicker radiator in push or pull, I would say that is a better choice than a thin radiator in push/pull. 

 

-At the moment, to complete your loop, you need a long tube going from the top rad to the bottom rad, might be difficult. How about

 

Pump --> bottom rad --> gpu --> cpu --> top rad --> reservoir --> pump

[mattias1172]

54 minutes ago, For Science! said:

A few comments:

 

-If you are planning to switch to hardline tubing at some point, I would recommend going for it in the first place. Doing a soft tubing loop does not prepare you for a hardline build as it is comletely different game all together. Also you will need to swap all the fittings, which is costly.

 

-To me it seems a bit illogical to use a thin radiator just to do push/pull. Thin radiators do not really benefit from having push/pull (assuming ~20 fpi). So if you can fit a thicker radiator in push or pull, I would say that is a better choice than a thin radiator in push/pull. 

 

-At the moment, to complete your loop, you need a long tube going from the top rad to the bottom rad, might be difficult. How about

 

Pump --> bottom rad --> gpu --> cpu --> top rad --> reservoir --> pump

I'd probably run soft tubing from the top rad through the grommet hole in the top left and mount it down the back of the case to the pump. Then with soft tubing, run it from the pump into the bottom rad on the left side through that bottom left grommet hole. 

 

Going from the top rad to the reservoir seems nearly impossible with rigid tubing with my reservoir's current location. Unless you were implying relocating the reservoir? 

 

As a side note, I see your point with soft vs rigid tubing. I was not aware the fittings would need to be swapped so thats a good thing to keep in mind. If a thin rad is illogical, would I be better off getting a thick rad and mounting "pull" fans in the top of the case inside that hidden mount location?

 

1 hour ago, unknownmiscreant said:

Take a look at the kits from EK. I'm not saying you need them to pick the parts for you, but they are substantially cheaper than buying everything separately for some reason.

 

I picked out all the parts I wanted, looked at the basket and thought "damn thats alot of $$" Then I found the kit, and it had the exact same components as I had picked out, plus some extra stuff, all for less $$. All the parts in the kits are individually packed, as you would get them if they were bought separately.

 

The video by JayzTwoCents about them is very accurate.

 

Thank you, ill be sure to look up the EK kits.