hardline watercooling help

[pipps17]

im looking to do water cooling with my pc (preferably hardline) but i dont reely know anything about it

im from the uk(£gbp) 

the use for my pc is mainly gaming but some coding on the side

im using 2 monitors when i finish building it but when i have my extras im going to upgrade to 3 

Im making my first pc and when i have everything and im happy i want to do hardline water cooling but i dont reely know anything about it other than you need a pump, resavware (idk how to spell it sorry) and a radiator i am getting a aio for when i get my pc to start with because i think hardline is a bit expensive and i want to make sure i can do it before trying and make sure its not going to be too much of a hastle to maintain. im looking to upgrade my pc over time and keep upgrading it to enthusiest build

 

What i want to know:

what liquid should i use for water cooling

did i miss anything

How do you bend the tube

How do you cut the tube

What do you do for maintenance

What would you say the advises sizes would be for all the water cooling components

Is there anything i shouldent do (e.g. Blow in the tube, use certain liquid)

What would you recomend watercooling (i think it should just be gpu and cpu but i dont reely know)

anything else

my case has a wierd design if im planning to watercool because there all big fans(200/240mm) and theres only the top of the case where theres 2 fans next to each other so would cooling work ok with a intake of 2 200mm fans(where the rad is) then outtake the air at the bottom of the case where theres a 200mm and a 240mm fan(200mm fan at bottom left of side panel and 240mm on front of the case) or should i choose a different case

 

Specs:

Link for part picker: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/7m48J8 

Intel i5 8600k

Asrock z370 extreme 4

Crucial ballistix sport lt 8gb(ik im going to have to change the ram if im going to watercool it)

Seagate barracooda 2tb 7200 rpm hdd

Pny geforce gtx 1060 6gb

Cooler master hafx full tower

Corsair 650w 80+gold modular

Tp link wifi adapter

 

im going for a more red and black build but the liquid colour can be clear or a diferant colour if it involves less maintenance or better cooling or something like that

sorry for any grammer mistakes or anything im dyslexic so if you dont understand anything i said ask what i meant

Thanks for anyone willing to help

 

[Enderman]

1) First of all, don't attempt to build a watercooling loop if you have no idea how to in the first place.

Based on the dozen questions you are asking at the same time, you either need to spend a few months doing research on watercooling or just stick to an AIO or heatsink.

 

2) If you want to upgrade parts often, definitely do not do hardline.

 

3) If you think it is a hassle to maintain, watch this video. And this isn't even hardline, this is just easy flexible tubing.

 

[pipps17]

1 minute ago, Enderman said:

1) First of all, don't attempt to build a watercooling loop if you have no idea how to in the first place.

Based on the dozen questions you are asking at the same time, you either need to spend a few months doing research on watercooling or just stick to an AIO or heatsink.

 

2) If you want to upgrade parts often, definitely do not do hardline.

 

3) If you think it is a hassle to maintain, watch this video. And this isn't even hardline, this is just easy flexible tubing.

 

ik how to do a watercooling loop but i dint know if there was anything diferant you needed to do hardline

ok thanks for letting me know but isnt just upgrading the gpu/ adding more and updating the cpu not that hard to do even with hardline watercooling

ik theres maintenance to do liquid cooling but i wanted to know if there was anything i could do to make it where i had to do it less often or make it easier thanks for the vid though

sorry if i didnt put what i ment 

[Enderman]

6 minutes ago, pipps17 said:

ik how to do a watercooling loop but i dint know if there was anything diferant you needed to do hardline

ok thanks for letting me know but isnt just upgrading the gpu/ adding more and updating the cpu not that hard to do even with hardline watercooling

ik theres maintenance to do liquid cooling but i wanted to know if there was anything i could do to make it where i had to do it less often or make it easier thanks for the vid though

sorry if i didnt put what i ment 

You need to drain the loop every time you want to upgrade a component, because it's hard tubing.

You cannot just bend it and remove the waterblock.

The tubing needs to be detatched from the fittings.

You should definitely spend a few months reading tutorials or watching videos on youtube about watercooling because it seems like you have a lot to learn...

[pipps17]

3 minutes ago, Enderman said:

You need to drain the loop every time you want to upgrade a component, because it's hard tubing.

You cannot just bend it and remove the waterblock.

The tubing needs to be detatched from the fittings.

You should definitely spend a few months reading tutorials or watching videos on youtube about watercooling because it seems like you have a lot to learn...

ok thanks anyway pal

[For Science!]

6 hours ago, pipps17 said:

-

I wouldn't necessarily be discouraged from "learning on the job" but being familiar at least theoretically will help a lot. Having said that I also took a dive in the deep end with a hardlined watercooled PC as my first build PC so wouldn't rule it out.

 

Having that said that there are definitely a few things to consider, and an answer to your queries instead of being "go read up on it": 

 

what liquid should i use for water cooling

Fluid for a cooling system should at least contain a biocide which keeps microbials at bay, and anti-corrosives since even the best liquid cooled systems have mixed metals (such as nickel + brass + steel). Tradiationally people used to add additives to distilled water to achieve this, but there are now very affordable pre-mixes and concentrates that you can use for the fluid. EK-CryoFuel is a good example of a fluid that has everything that needs to be put into a fluid and comes either "read-to-go" or "just-add-water" solutions.

 

did i miss anything

How do you bend the tube & How do you cut the tube

PETG & Acrylic tubing can be cut with a hand saw, bent using a silicon insert and a heat gun. This takes practice and is what sets the noobs apart from more experienced watercoolers.

 

What do you do for maintenance

Personally, once a year I completely drain the fluid, remove all waterblocks and radiators from my system. Rinse well with water, and scrub off any build up. Then re-assemble, re-bend any tubes that do not suit your fancy, and the re-fill. Doing this once a year is recommended and is known as a full tear-down maintenance, but you could probably just get away with just a fluid swap (i.e. drain the old fluid, and add new fluid) since it is mainly the biocide/anticorrosives that "go off".

 

You can see my first watercooled build log here

and the 1-year maintenance log here for more info.

 

What would you say the advises sizes would be for all the water cooling components

If you are talking about radiators -More the better, It largely depends on the components in the loop. Typically people quote 120 mm radiator space per component, but this also depends on the radiator thickness (the above applies for 45 mm radiators imo). If using slim radiators, to cool an 8700K and a 1080Ti in my experience, 360 mm slim radiator is an absolute minimum.

 

Is there anything i shouldent do (e.g. Blow in the tube, use certain liquid)

There are many things that you shouldn't do in a loop, so I don't think it is sensible to list things that you shouldn't do.

 

What would you recomend watercooling (i think it should just be gpu and cpu but i dont reely know)

Honestly, watercooling (and in particular hardline cooling) is very expensive. With the money you need to put in for good blocks, fittings, pump etc. Then cooling a 1060 is definitely questionable return of investment. 8600K is slightly "more worth it" if its delidded. But if you want watercool for anything other than "looks" you will be dissappointed.

 

Furthermore, your 1060 is non-reference card, so even finding a waterblock that will fit will be difficult. 

 

Having said that, yes, watercooling CPU and GPU, perhaps the motherboard VRMs are the 3 things that I would consider watercooling. No point watercooling RAM, PSU, HDDs - all find.

[pipps17]

2 hours ago, For Science! said:

I wouldn't necessarily be discouraged from "learning on the job" but being familiar at least theoretically will help a lot. Having said that I also took a dive in the deep end with a hardlined watercooled PC as my first build PC so wouldn't rule it out.

 

Having that said that there are definitely a few things to consider, and an answer to your queries instead of being "go read up on it": 

 

what liquid should i use for water cooling

Fluid for a cooling system should at least contain a biocide which keeps microbials at bay, and anti-corrosives since even the best liquid cooled systems have mixed metals (such as nickel + brass + steel). Tradiationally people used to add additives to distilled water to achieve this, but there are now very affordable pre-mixes and concentrates that you can use for the fluid. EK-CryoFuel is a good example of a fluid that has everything that needs to be put into a fluid and comes either "read-to-go" or "just-add-water" solutions.

 

did i miss anything

How do you bend the tube & How do you cut the tube

PETG & Acrylic tubing can be cut with a hand saw, bent using a silicon insert and a heat gun. This takes practice and is what sets the noobs apart from more experienced watercoolers.

 

What do you do for maintenance

Personally, once a year I completely drain the fluid, remove all waterblocks and radiators from my system. Rinse well with water, and scrub off any build up. Then re-assemble, re-bend any tubes that do not suit your fancy, and the re-fill. Doing this once a year is recommended and is known as a full tear-down maintenance, but you could probably just get away with just a fluid swap (i.e. drain the old fluid, and add new fluid) since it is mainly the biocide/anticorrosives that "go off".

 

You can see my first watercooled build log here

and the 1-year maintenance log here for more info.

 

What would you say the advises sizes would be for all the water cooling components

If you are talking about radiators -More the better, It largely depends on the components in the loop. Typically people quote 120 mm radiator space per component, but this also depends on the radiator thickness (the above applies for 45 mm radiators imo). If using slim radiators, to cool an 8700K and a 1080Ti in my experience, 360 mm slim radiator is an absolute minimum.

 

Is there anything i shouldent do (e.g. Blow in the tube, use certain liquid)

There are many things that you shouldn't do in a loop, so I don't think it is sensible to list things that you shouldn't do.

 

What would you recomend watercooling (i think it should just be gpu and cpu but i dont reely know)

Honestly, watercooling (and in particular hardline cooling) is very expensive. With the money you need to put in for good blocks, fittings, pump etc. Then cooling a 1060 is definitely questionable return of investment. 8600K is slightly "more worth it" if its delidded. But if you want watercool for anything other than "looks" you will be dissappointed.

 

Furthermore, your 1060 is non-reference card, so even finding a waterblock that will fit will be difficult. 

 

Having said that, yes, watercooling CPU and GPU, perhaps the motherboard VRMs are the 3 things that I would consider watercooling. No point watercooling RAM, PSU, HDDs - all find.

thanks for all the advice and btw your build is sexy, i did want to do watercooling for the looks and because my room gets hot in summer and i didnt think air would cool as well as a liquid cooling loop and when i said what sizes for the components i meant everything because cant yu get diferant sized reservoir, pump, tube, radiators, cooling blocks 

and thank you for letting me know that you do it once a year and a easyer draining solution i think im going to do it now