EK Fluid Gaming loop and its upgrade path

[Chaoz-Theory]

Hey guys, i got an EK fluid loop in my build, and i prob messed up by diving into the water cooling side head first before actually researching. 

 

So now im thinking of swapping to the hard tubes, but from what ive seen ek fluid is legit cut off from the rest of the water cooling world since its aluminium and not nickel like the parent side so nothing is interchangeable. 

 

As of this point i feel like i really only have 2 options:

 

1. Either keep with ek fluid and make do with hard tubes that way

 

OR

 

2. Replace my whole loop with either the original ek and or i was think bitspower (sorry i cant remeber the exact name) 

 

What do you guys think, also if i do have to swap out my loop, what should i do with it, sell it off? 

[Cereal5]

https://www.ekfluidgaming.com/parts/

 

Here you can buy parts made specifically for the Fluid gaming kits (there's a lot, just like on the normal EKWB site). That said, PETG is PETG. Buying it from EKWB or EKFG won't change the fact that it's just plastic.

[Chaoz-Theory]

17 minutes ago, Cereal5 said:

https://www.ekfluidgaming.com/parts/

 

Here you can buy parts made specifically for the Fluid gaming kits (there's a lot, just like on the normal EKWB site). That said, PETG is PETG. Buying it from EKWB or EKFG won't change the fact that it's just plastic.

Yea apart from pipes and the coolant, thats pretty much all i can get, getting a valve for draining wont be possible as no one does aluminium and only EKFG does

[H20Burner]

3 minutes ago, Chaoz-Theory said:

Yea apart from pipes and the coolant, thats pretty much all i can get, getting a valve for draining wont be possible as no one does aluminium and only EKFG does

Thermal take does aluminum radiators. They have mixed metal or aluminum kits i think. 

[Cereal5]

16 minutes ago, Chaoz-Theory said:

Yea apart from pipes and the coolant, thats pretty much all i can get, getting a valve for draining wont be possible as no one does aluminium and only EKFG does

What is all you can get? They have a decent selection. Is all you're looking for a drain plug? You can just throw a regular one in, or a 3 piece splitter with a cap, and unscrew the cap as a drain.

[MaratM]

the only "problem" with Fluid gaming kits is the GPU waterblock which is only avaliable for FE cards and it takes a little while for waterblocks for be produced for new cards. such as there is no waterblocks for rtx series cards yet. But it is the same for most of non reference cards. It started with soft tubing only, but now they have hard tubing fittings, angle adapters not as complex as bitspower fittings, but enogh to make a loop of any complexity.

[Chaoz-Theory]

39 minutes ago, H20Burner said:

Thermal take does aluminum radiators. They have mixed metal or aluminum kits i think. 

if thats the case i may probably take a look at thermal take, at least for the valve

[Chaoz-Theory]

28 minutes ago, Cereal5 said:

What is all you can get? They have a decent selection. Is all you're looking for a drain plug? You can just throw a regular one in, or a 3 piece splitter with a cap, and unscrew the cap as a drain.

atm moment im picking up a bunch of fittings and pipes and the DIY kit for the hard tubing stuff along with the t splitter, it sucks EKFG didnt make a valve to go with their product as draining looks annoying as is and without the valve it pretty much just remains annoying and messy

[Cereal5]

8 minutes ago, Chaoz-Theory said:

atm moment im picking up a bunch of fittings and pipes and the DIY kit for the hard tubing stuff along with the t splitter, it sucks EKFG didnt make a valve to go with their product as draining looks annoying as is and without the valve it pretty much just remains annoying and messy

Welcome to custom loops.

[Chaoz-Theory]

28 minutes ago, Cereal5 said:

Welcome to custom loops.

yea, to be honest if i actually read into it and joined the LTT forums before doing all this, it wouldve been better. i couldve asked the community for help and suggestions before doing all of this and making this mistake, but hey now i know.

[Cereal5]

11 minutes ago, Chaoz-Theory said:

yea, to be honest if i actually read into it and joined the LTT forums before doing all this, it wouldve been better. i couldve asked the community for help and suggestions before doing all of this and making this mistake, but hey now i know.

I wouldn't consider it a mistake... If all you're missing is a ball valve lol you can probably order an aluminum ball valve online. If I was ok with buying used water cooling parts I'd offer to buy your kit. /shrug

[Chaoz-Theory]

1 minute ago, Cereal5 said:

I wouldn't consider it a mistake... If all you're missing is a ball valve lol you can probably order an aluminum ball valve online. If I was ok with buying used water cooling parts I'd offer to buy your kit. /shrug

thanks, atm im getting stuff to:

 

- swap to hard tubing (this is my first time doing any of this so im probably going to order another 6 tubes)

- incorporate my Asus Maximus X Formula into the loop (i figured i should since its there)

- put my rad in the front for pulling vs the top where its pulling

 

is my d5 res/pump going to be sufficient for this as im running a full tower case (CM Cosmos c700m)?

[Cereal5]

2 minutes ago, Chaoz-Theory said:

thanks, atm im getting stuff to:

 

- swap to hard tubing (this is my first time doing any of this so im probably going to order another 6 tubes)

- incorporate my Asus Maximus X Formula into the loop (i figured i should since its there)

- put my rad in the front for pulling vs the top where its pulling

 

is my d5 res/pump going to be sufficient for this as im running a full tower case (CM Cosmos c700m)?

Yeah you should be fine. Unless you're running like a huge caselabs case with a crap done of rads I wouldn't worry about it (like jayztwocents crap ton)

[Chaoz-Theory]

1 minute ago, Cereal5 said:

Yeah you should be fine. Unless you're running like a huge caselabs case with a crap done of rads I wouldn't worry about it (like jayztwocents crap ton)

nah not like jayz skunkworks one, also should i get one of those bending aid things (i saw a post about some stuff to help bends at different angles). Again its my first time so maybe i should

[For Science!]

1 hour ago, Chaoz-Theory said:

-

Nope, don't incoorporate the motherboard, it is a copper plate which would be the start of the end for your aluminium system.

[MaratM]

2 minutes ago, For Science! said:

Nope, don't incoorporate the motherboard, it is a copper plate which would be the start of the end for your aluminium system.

As far as i heard the waterblock on asus maximus x formula is anodised aluminium, it is fine with both aluminium and cupper loops cause anodizing makes aluminium surface chemically inactive. But i might be mistaken, it is best to take it off and check how heavy it is cupper is heavy, aluminium is light

[Chaoz-Theory]

5 minutes ago, For Science! said:

Nope, don't incoorporate the motherboard, it is a copper plate which would be the start of the end for your aluminium system.

oh fk it is, so id have to incorporate a copper loop rather than the alu loop, wtf is with EK, theres so much incompatibility between their products man. like whats the point of it all if its just fkn all different metals which ruins everything

[For Science!]

1 minute ago, Chaoz-Theory said:

oh fk it is, so id have to incorporate a copper loop rather than the alu loop, wtf is with EK, theres so much incompatibility between their products man. like whats the point of it all if its just fkn all different metals which ruins everything

Well, it allows users to get into custom water cooling at a budget price. I agree that lack of a ball valve makes it very hard to do any reasonable hardline systems, but the soft tubing caters well for what it is.

 

There are clear warnings that you will be locked into the aluminium environment, and so I don't think there is really anything to complain about with regards to the product per se.

 

As with most things the saying goes: Buy cheap, and you will buy twice.

[MaratM]

My mistake. The waterblock base is aluminium with a cupper insert

do not add motherboard block to the loop

[Chaoz-Theory]

5 minutes ago, For Science! said:

Well, it allows users to get into custom water cooling at a budget price. I agree that lack of a ball valve makes it very hard to do any reasonable hardline systems, but the soft tubing caters well for what it is.

 

There are clear warnings that you will be locked into the aluminium environment, and so I don't think there is really anything to complain about with regards to the product per se.

 

As with most things the saying goes: Buy cheap, and you will buy twice.

i wish the EKFG was cheap, about 400aud isnt cheap for me at least, but still they shouldve made better compatibility between their products.

 

based on other products, they all seem to be using nickel from what ive seen (bitspower, ekwb, cant remember the other, and not too sure on thermaltake as i didnt find the metals specified)

[Chaoz-Theory]

2 minutes ago, MaratM said:

My mistake. The waterblock base is aluminium with a cupper insert

do not add motherboard block to the loop

so much for that idea then.

[For Science!]

Just now, Chaoz-Theory said:

-

Yes, most of the "standard" watercooling components are either bare-copper or nickel plated copper. These are both compatible with eachother and other typical metals such as brass (found in radiators and fittings). There will always be a small amount of steel as well found in the form of the CPU/GPU block jetplate and components in a pump, while not ideal, this is why even in a "compatible" loop it is always advisable to have anti-corrosives as well as biocides in a coolant to minimize issues. This is why its always good to run a pre-mix coolant such as EK-CryoFuel or Mayhems X1.

 

Thermaltake you have to watch out with their RL-series radiators since they are actually aluminium coated with zinc, which doesn't do anybody any good. So I personally tend to avoid their radiators and coolants. I don't personally have any issues with their other products but I generally gravitate towards other vendors.

 

Bitspower makes some very nice fittings, but are definitely more costly, in my opinion other vendors produce good enough quality fittings, but if you want the best Bitspower is definitely a rank up. They also produce GPU waterblocks that can sometimes be harder to find from other vendors.

 

EKWB have wide range of products and are of decent quality, also easy to obtain from me. However, I don't think they produce anything that's "outstanding" in anyway. It's a go to safe option, except for their slim radiators which are objectively worse than other vendors.

 

Other quick opinions:

Watercool - Great looking waterblocks and reservoirs, slightly more costly

Alphacool - Like EKWB? I don't really like their products personally

Hardware Labs - Great radiators

Primochill - No opinion, stay away from the Vue fluid

Mayhems - If you have to have an opaque fluid, Mayhems Pastel, no aluminium though, never

[Chaoz-Theory]

9 minutes ago, For Science! said:

Yes, most of the "standard" watercooling components are either bare-copper or nickel plated copper. These are both compatible with eachother and other typical metals such as brass (found in radiators and fittings). There will always be a small amount of steel as well found in the form of the CPU/GPU block jetplate and components in a pump, while not ideal, this is why even in a "compatible" loop it is always advisable to have anti-corrosives as well as biocides in a coolant to minimize issues. This is why its always good to run a pre-mix coolant such as EK-CryoFuel or Mayhems X1.

 

Thermaltake you have to watch out with their RL-series radiators since they are actually aluminium coated with zinc, which doesn't do anybody any good. So I personally tend to avoid their radiators and coolants. I don't personally have any issues with their other products but I generally gravitate towards other vendors.

 

Bitspower makes some very nice fittings, but are definitely more costly, in my opinion other vendors produce good enough quality fittings, but if you want the best Bitspower is definitely a rank up. They also produce GPU waterblocks that can sometimes be harder to find from other vendors.

 

EKWB have wide range of products and are of decent quality, also easy to obtain from me. However, I don't think they produce anything that's "outstanding" in anyway. It's a go to safe option, except for their slim radiators which are objectively worse than other vendors.

 

Other quick opinions:

Watercool - Great looking waterblocks and reservoirs, slightly more costly

Alphacool - Like EKWB? I don't really like their products personally

Hardware Labs - Great radiators

Primochill - No opinion, stay away from the Vue fluid

Mayhems - If you have to have an opaque fluid, Mayhems Pastel, no aluminium though, never

thanks for the info, maybe ill go with bitspower further down the track, for now ill just have to stick with what i got and figure out a way to get this set first