Looking to do custom loop for my rig

[razorseal]

Hey guys,

 

I recently got a computer that is in need of some serious cooling... The case is overstuffed, but I really want to use this case, so I have to make the best of it.

 

Little bit of challenges, but I think that's the fun part....

 

So let me give you what I have - 

 

• NZXT S340 Case (It's the snowblind from ibuypower with the LCD side)
• Samsung 49" Ultrawide Monitor (3840x1080)
• 2x 1080ti MSI Gaming X in SLI
• i7 8700k
• EVGA Gold 850 PSU
• 16GB ram
• Kraken X52 for the CPU (w 2x ML120 fans as intake)
• Top 140 intake ML140
• Rear ML120 Exhaust

Here is a picture of the rig - 

 

 

Now the situation is that I got this built from ibuypower. When I bought this setup, the cards were crazy expensive (they still sorta are, but now you can find them on ebay for good prices). It would have cost me 400-500 more to build it myself and that doesn't include this proprietary case. When I built it, I wasn't aware open air GPUs don't work well in smaller cases AND in SLI... right now, this computer is a furnace. upper GPU hits 84c undervolted. It's at 91-92 if it's running stock settings. It's too late to switch these out ot a blower style unless I go on ebay and sell them and buy blower ones...

 

So here comes idea of a custom loop.

 

I went on ekwb's website to build a custom loop and it came in at around 900 dollars.... That's alot of money... Are there any other places you guys can recommend?

 

I have space to put a 240 or a 280 on the front, I got room for a 140 on top and a 120 on the rear. I've seen some people put a reservoir horizontal on my case which would take out the spot for a radiator top... so I'm thinking 240 on front, and 120 on the rear, giving me 360 to cool 2 1080tis and 8700k. Probably not enough radiator space, but that's all I can fit in this case.

 

My only thing is, I have to use this case. I really like the case and want to make it work in this case that wasn't really designed for water cooling

 

so looking for some ideas and websites/companies that I can check out to buy this kit.

 

oh, I'm thinking 10/12mm PETG, but I've never done bending. I've used soft tubes in he past (when water cooling was very new which is like 10 years ago lol)

 

 

Here is what EKWB reccomended. This is with soft tubing and I would take the fans out as I don't need them.

 

https://www.ekwb.com/custom-loop-configurator/shared/oW5ac636d348d5a

 

[Crunchy Dragon]

Honestly, EK's configurator would probably be one of the best places to look. Other than that, Newegg and Amazon.

Don't mix metals, that'll cause serious problems for your loop.

 

Custom watercooling, when done right, isn't cheap.

[jnkokseby]

A cheaper alternative (if you have the tools and skills) would maybe be to mod the case have more airflow in the front and an extra fan mount in the top, put the radiator up top and some good 140mm fans in the front to really move some air.

[Crunchy Dragon]

1 minute ago, jnkokseby said:

A cheaper alternative (if you have the tools and skills) would maybe be to mod the case have more airflow in the front and an extra fan mount in the top, put the radiator up top and some good 140mm fans in the front to really move some air.

Honestly, that wouldn't solve the problem of his GPU temps. Those cards are way too close to have adequate cooling.

[RollinLower]

if you are going for only 360mm space then i can not really recommend it. i am cooling a Titan X and a Xeon on 360mm total and things tend to get pretty toasty. under full load i have to keep the fans running at 65% to keep the pascal card under it's 60C temp. (which is kinda critical for pascal to maintain boost clocks)

so putting in a theoretical second card, i don't think i could push it very far

 

you could ofcourse do it, and the results should look pretty nice. what you need to know tough is that for the LCD effect of that case to work, you need light/white things inside the case. so white pastel liquid and nickel blocks would be best i think.

 

if you can do it, i would still very much recommend putting in the 140mm rad on top aswell. or maybe even modding the case so you can fit a 240 up top. you have a very hot configuration of hardware, and keeping it nice and cool under just 360mm is going to be a challange. especially in such a closed off case.

[jnkokseby]

1 minute ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Honestly, that wouldn't solve the problem of his GPU temps. Those cards are way too close to have adequate cooling.

It might not help a whole lot, but it would help a bit, I did something a little bit like it back when I had 770 SLI, it helped a little bit, what about a static optimized fan right next to the cards? it won't look good, but help with moving away the hot air

[razorseal]

Yeah, I thought about cutting out another 140mm spot up top which would effectively give me 240 on front and 240 on top. I don't think it would be hard to do with a dremel. I would need to find a magnetic dust cover or something to cover up the hole and make it look nice (I can cut the hole, but I'm not perfectionist and probably won't look nice, so I'd have to hide it lol)

 

Man, that means I'd have to take out the whole case/computer apart to work on the case. So much work. LOL you sure 360 won't be enough? LOL

[razorseal]

15 minutes ago, RollinLower said:

if you are going for only 360mm space then i can not really recommend it. i am cooling a Titan X and a Xeon on 360mm total and things tend to get pretty toasty. under full load i have to keep the fans running at 65% to keep the pascal card under it's 60C temp. (which is kinda critical for pascal to maintain boost clocks)

so putting in a theoretical second card, i don't think i could push it very far

 

you could ofcourse do it, and the results should look pretty nice. what you need to know tough is that for the LCD effect of that case to work, you need light/white things inside the case. so white pastel liquid and nickel blocks would be best i think.

 

if you can do it, i would still very much recommend putting in the 140mm rad on top aswell. or maybe even modding the case so you can fit a 240 up top. you have a very hot configuration of hardware, and keeping it nice and cool under just 360mm is going to be a challange. especially in such a closed off case.

Yeah, It would be pastel or clear... I would like pastel white. I think that would look awesome. All fittings etc would be white. I would have to spray paint the backplate white if it comes with one. If not, I already have a backplate for it that's white (GPU). I would like to attempt the hard PETG tubes, but soft tubes just sound so much easier. lol

 

 

[razorseal]

27 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Honestly, EK's configurator would probably be one of the best places to look. Other than that, Newegg and Amazon.

Don't mix metals, that'll cause serious problems for your loop.

 

Custom watercooling, when done right, isn't cheap.

Yeah... Looks like it... It wasn't easy trying to justify to wife why I needed a 3500 dollar computer with a 1,000 dollar monitor. I certainly won't be able to justify another 1,000 LOL... Sounds like I'll have to work overtime to cover this 1,000 extra for the water loop lol.

 

In the end, if done right, I think I will truly have one of a kind case. I've seen the snowblind around on the internet, but never seen a custom loop with a see through LCD screen side panel

 

[Crunchy Dragon]

1 minute ago, razorseal said:

Yeah... Looks like it... It wasn't easy trying to justify to wife why I needed a 3500 dollar computer with a 1,000 dollar monitor. I certainly won't be able to justify another 1,000 LOL... Sounds like I'll have to work overtime to cover this 1,000 extra for the water loop lol.

 

In the end, if done right, I think I will truly have one of a kind case. I've seen the snowblind around on the internet, but never seen a custom loop with a see through LCD screen side panel

Yeah, that would look great. Make sure to document your journey in Build Logs for all of us plebs.

[razorseal]

4 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Yeah, that would look great. Make sure to document your journey in Build Logs for all of us plebs.

 

Once I get the funds I sure will...

 

The other thing is, EKWB is in europe... If there is a problem with a part, or something doesn't fit, it won't be easy trying to get it replaced. 

[razorseal]

48 minutes ago, RollinLower said:

if you are going for only 360mm space then i can not really recommend it. i am cooling a Titan X and a Xeon on 360mm total and things tend to get pretty toasty. under full load i have to keep the fans running at 65% to keep the pascal card under it's 60C temp. (which is kinda critical for pascal to maintain boost clocks)

so putting in a theoretical second card, i don't think i could push it very far

 

you could ofcourse do it, and the results should look pretty nice. what you need to know tough is that for the LCD effect of that case to work, you need light/white things inside the case. so white pastel liquid and nickel blocks would be best i think.

 

if you can do it, i would still very much recommend putting in the 140mm rad on top aswell. or maybe even modding the case so you can fit a 240 up top. you have a very hot configuration of hardware, and keeping it nice and cool under just 360mm is going to be a challange. especially in such a closed off case.

Just took a peek at the case. I don't think there is enough room to cutout another 140x140 spot up top. It will run too close to the buttons from the inside. Maybe I can do 3 radiator setup. 240 upfront, 140 uptop (or 120) and 120 at the back. sounds like a tubing disaster (especially if I want to run PETG).

 

I'd also have to run those slim fans for the back and top otherwise, they're going to stick out a good amount and look very ugly. That being said, I could run push pull on the front. I'd have 2x ML120s on push, and 2x slim 120s on pull. That's alot of fans as well. lol

 

I honestly don't mind the sound of fans, I just want to keep the temps reasonable. (reasonable being, maybe comparable to a good air setup in a big case)

[RollinLower]

12 minutes ago, razorseal said:

Just took a peek at the case. I don't think there is enough room to cutout another 140x140 spot up top. It will run too close to the buttons from the inside. Maybe I can do 3 radiator setup. 240 upfront, 140 uptop (or 120) and 120 at the back. sounds like a tubing disaster (especially if I want to run PETG).

 

I'd also have to run those slim fans for the back and top otherwise, they're going to stick out a good amount and look very ugly. That being said, I could run push pull on the front. I'd have 2x ML120s on push, and 2x slim 120s on pull. That's alot of fans as well. lol

 

I honestly don't mind the sound of fans, I just want to keep the temps reasonable. (reasonable being, maybe comparable to a good air setup in a big case)

Well, if fan noise doesn't concern you you could get away with a 360 setup (240 front 120 back)

You'll just have to run the fans louder is all.

 

The thing with custom loops is that they are usually made for silence, so people go overkill on rad space to getenough surface area for slow fans. But if your okay with running the fans at 70%+ most of the time under load 360 should be doable.

[razorseal]

1 minute ago, RollinLower said:

Well, if fan noise doesn't concern you you could get away with a 360 setup (240 front 120 back)

You'll just have to run the fans louder is all.

My fans run at 100% and It never bothers me. I guess I'm not used to a silent setup, so it has never been an issue LOL.

 

It might honestly be my only choice... I don't know about fitting a 240 top.

 

current situation to keep temps at normal LOL

 

 

Here is the bottom, not sure if I can fit another 140 in there. or 120

 

[MaratM]

Do you have any hdd? If not you can probbably mount a 360 rad in the front

with some dremmel work

and a 240 in the top (280 might also fit but  you might have some ram clearance issues

you will defenetly have to mod the case or get bigger case and install the screen inside it