Beginner Watercooler

[MstaR35]

So guys here is the basic jist, I have yet another system coming up.

Now to be fairly honest I'm probably not building this at all until volta, that's the most likely way I am going with this.

However, I have a number of watercooling concerns I want to address. For the first 3 months I am only

going to be cooling the cpu in a custom loop and later adding the gpu as I quite like the look of AIB

coolers, but I will eventually take the leap with that too. I wanted you guys to take a look at this parts list,

I can assume its probably absolutely terrible and some of you are probably laughing incredibly hard.

However I have never so much as touched watercooling before and I'm jumping right in at the deep end. (The case I am going to be using is the CM H500P)

My main questions are:

Are these parts compatible?

I want to use red aurora coolant, opinions?

Mounting, I have no idea how to mount any of these, or if mounts are included etc.

How many fittings would I need? I just slapped on what ever really.

I'm using the ROG board that comes with the mono-block, so no need to advise me to get a CPU block unless the rog one is terrible then please do so?

I've heard you need to clean and flush all the parts first? how would I do this?

The reservoir says the top should only be used as a fill port, does that mean I can not use it as an inlet? what are the problems with that?

Finally advise me on if my mounting order/path is possible if/and/or needs to be corrected

 

The mounting order is as follows.

First I want the pump just next to the motherboard, probably about 6cm from the sata ports,

underneath it the pump, and the radiator at the top of the case. How would I manage this?

Oh and of course the bay reservoir would be fitted in the 5.25" bay,

but I'm not sure if I'm going ahead with that 100% yet all depends on your guys advice.

[Damascus]

6 minutes ago, MstaR35 said:

want to use red aurora coolant, opinions?

Don't do it, there are so many issues with the stuff.  Check out primochill VUE

[MstaR35]

18 hours ago, Damascus said:

Don't do it, there are so many issues with the stuff.  Check out primochill VUE

Ok cool, does it look as good? The images on the internet don't seem as good. And what about the rest of the stuff?

[Damascus]

22 minutes ago, MstaR35 said:

Ok cool, does it look as good? The images on the internet don't seem as good. And what about the rest of the stuff?

The rest looks good but I'm a bit of a bitspower/heatkiller fanboy so I recomended you check em out.

[For Science!]

19 hours ago, MstaR35 said:

-snip-

A few comments:

 

-Mayhems Aurora is not a coolant that is designed for anything more than a couple of days. I would recommend waiting to see if Primochill Vue stands up to the test (it is still being tested at the moment) or consider other coolants such as EK-CryoFuel.

 

- I cannot fathom why you have put in both a cylindrical reservoir and a bay reservoir, unless that is a specific look you are going for. You only need 1 reservoir (debatable, you actually don't need any, technically) to be right before the pump.

 

- The D5 mount is excessive, the EK-XTOP pump comes with that exact mount. If your case doesn't have support for the mounting, you may consider adding the accessotres allowing you to mount the pump on a fan mount. Alternatievely look in my build log in my signature, where you can use EK-Uniholders to make custom little feet.

 

- You need way more tubing if its your first attempt. I would grab 6~8 of those. If you don't have one, I would recommend you grab the EK bending kit that comes with the silicon insert that works well with EK tubes so that they don't collase during bending

 

- You need 2 fittings per component in the loop. So for a reservoir + cpu block + pump + rad, you only need 8.

 

- Clean with hot tap water, followed by a good rinse with distilled water would be a minimum clean for EK parts in my experience. For radiators you can consider an acid wash, but I personally stick to just hot tap water followed by distilled water.

 

- If you use the top port of the cylindrical reservoir as an inlet, you will have no way to actually fill the reservoir without some wacky system involving a ball valve. If you want to use a top port as an inlet for the cylindrical reservoirs, you will need to purchase the addition multi-port top.

 

- You have no drain system planned out. With hardline tubing, it is quite essential to plumb in a ball-valve so that you can drain the liquid for maintenance. This is typically done by the means of a T-splitter.

 

 

[MstaR35]

On ‎14‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 12:30 AM, For Science! said:

A few comments:

 

-Mayhems Aurora is not a coolant that is designed for anything more than a couple of days. I would recommend waiting to see if Primochill Vue stands up to the test (it is still being tested at the moment) or consider other coolants such as EK-CryoFuel.

 

- I cannot fathom why you have put in both a cylindrical reservoir and a bay reservoir, unless that is a specific look you are going for. You only need 1 reservoir (debatable, you actually don't need any, technically) to be right before the pump.

 

- The D5 mount is excessive, the EK-XTOP pump comes with that exact mount. If your case doesn't have support for the mounting, you may consider adding the accessotres allowing you to mount the pump on a fan mount. Alternatievely look in my build log in my signature, where you can use EK-Uniholders to make custom little feet.

 

- You need way more tubing if its your first attempt. I would grab 6~8 of those. If you don't have one, I would recommend you grab the EK bending kit that comes with the silicon insert that works well with EK tubes so that they don't collase during bending

 

- You need 2 fittings per component in the loop. So for a reservoir + cpu block + pump + rad, you only need 8.

 

- Clean with hot tap water, followed by a good rinse with distilled water would be a minimum clean for EK parts in my experience. For radiators you can consider an acid wash, but I personally stick to just hot tap water followed by distilled water.

 

- If you use the top port of the cylindrical reservoir as an inlet, you will have no way to actually fill the reservoir without some wacky system involving a ball valve. If you want to use a top port as an inlet for the cylindrical reservoirs, you will need to purchase the addition multi-port top.

 

- You have no drain system planned out. With hardline tubing, it is quite essential to plumb in a ball-valve so that you can drain the liquid for maintenance. This is typically done by the means of a T-splitter.

 

 

Damn, a fully comprehensive answer. Really appreciate the time and effort you put into this dude. and yeah the bay res is just a look I'm going for really. can you link me the top port? and tbh I don't even have the tubing planned, I have no idea what needs to be plugged into what and water flow etc etc...anyone care to explain or link a good video for it? also I like the sleeve on the pump lmaoooo. The cleaning erm. so hot tap water and good rinse should be fine? how would I do an acid wash? and it sounds dangerous / bad in the long run or is that just my naivety talking.

[MstaR35]

On ‎14‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 12:30 AM, For Science! said:

A few comments:

 

-Mayhems Aurora is not a coolant that is designed for anything more than a couple of days. I would recommend waiting to see if Primochill Vue stands up to the test (it is still being tested at the moment) or consider other coolants such as EK-CryoFuel.

 

- I cannot fathom why you have put in both a cylindrical reservoir and a bay reservoir, unless that is a specific look you are going for. You only need 1 reservoir (debatable, you actually don't need any, technically) to be right before the pump.

 

- The D5 mount is excessive, the EK-XTOP pump comes with that exact mount. If your case doesn't have support for the mounting, you may consider adding the accessotres allowing you to mount the pump on a fan mount. Alternatievely look in my build log in my signature, where you can use EK-Uniholders to make custom little feet.

 

- You need way more tubing if its your first attempt. I would grab 6~8 of those. If you don't have one, I would recommend you grab the EK bending kit that comes with the silicon insert that works well with EK tubes so that they don't collase during bending

 

- You need 2 fittings per component in the loop. So for a reservoir + cpu block + pump + rad, you only need 8.

 

- Clean with hot tap water, followed by a good rinse with distilled water would be a minimum clean for EK parts in my experience. For radiators you can consider an acid wash, but I personally stick to just hot tap water followed by distilled water.

 

- If you use the top port of the cylindrical reservoir as an inlet, you will have no way to actually fill the reservoir without some wacky system involving a ball valve. If you want to use a top port as an inlet for the cylindrical reservoirs, you will need to purchase the addition multi-port top.

 

- You have no drain system planned out. With hardline tubing, it is quite essential to plumb in a ball-valve so that you can drain the liquid for maintenance. This is typically done by the means of a T-splitter.

 

 

Just realised what you said about the pump and the mount. I didn't realise it came with a mount, sorry. thanks for that. will remove it from the list,

[For Science!]

11 hours ago, MstaR35 said:

Damn, a fully comprehensive answer. Really appreciate the time and effort you put into this dude. and yeah the bay res is just a look I'm going for really. can you link me the top port? and tbh I don't even have the tubing planned, I have no idea what needs to be plugged into what and water flow etc etc...anyone care to explain or link a good video for it? also I like the sleeve on the pump lmaoooo. The cleaning erm. so hot tap water and good rinse should be fine? how would I do an acid wash? and it sounds dangerous / bad in the long run or is that just my naivety talking.

- Multiport top: https://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-res-x3-top-v2-multiport. I also just realized that if you are using both the bay res and the cylindrical res, technically you can use the original top and use an inlet on the bayres to fill the system.

 

- Apart from the fact that a reservoir should be immediately before the pump, loop order does not matter (provided you use the correct inlet/outlet ports). If you want to use the bay res, you don't have to get a cylindrical res, but thats up to you.

 

- My recommendations: Jayztwocents has many tutorial videos on youtube - his earlier videos are better than the more recent ones in my opinion. Singularity Computers produces some very awesome looking builds so you can go there for ideas, although they don't do so many tutorials. Science Studio is not an "expert" in my opininon, but he shows some progression from his earlier videos, showing some pretty bad examples, and now has progressed to quite decent and so if may be a good learning examples. 

 

- Hot tap water will be sufficient in most cases, but it is incredibly important to rinse the components with distilled water afterwards. Tap water contains salt ions such as magnesium and calcium, which if left in can cause issues with the other metals in the system; so after cleaning with hot water, you must rinse with distilled water to get rid of these metal ions.

 

- Acid wash is only necessary for really dirty radiators, and I believe EKWB should be fine without it. Here is a link for such a cleaning kit though: https://mayhems.co.uk/cleaning/mayhems-blitz-cleaning-system/ . If instructions are followed and proper personal safety is observed, nothing should go wrong.