First time build, should I bother?

[Caiuse]

Hi Everyone,

I'm looking into building a custom rig for the first time, I'm going to take is very slow and research as much as possible because I can't afford to get it wrong!

I want to overclock my components from the outset, with this I know its extremely important to nail the cooling. I've read the introduction to cooling post and it talks about a choice with water cooling, either buying a kit or designing a custom loop.

For a first time builder is it worth designing and installing a custom loop? Or should I just pay the extra and get an easy(ier) WC kit?

 

[Avenged7Fold]

I would say, if your just after a moderate overclock and a decent temperature drop, a good air cooler is the way to go. If you like the aesthetics and going to push your clock particularly hard, go for a custom loop. Forget AIO coolers, recently there has been a number of people saying that their Corsair AIO loops are failing them, they also dont provide as good temps as a custom loop and are more expensive than a decent air cooler.


As for whether you should go custom kit or choose components yourself, i say first research what you want cooled and whether your going to expand your loop later. Building a custom loop is easy, even for a first timer. There is also almost nothing that can go wrong if your careful, and if you select decent coolant, your components wont be at risk even if you happened to get a leak after your leak test when you first switch on your computer.

OCuk offers amazing kits, the only thing i would have changed in their kit before was the barb fittings, which they have changed to compression's now anyway. After your research, you can use one of those kits as reference and if there is a component or two you would prefer having instead, you can always make up a shopping basket of the items separately with the components swapped out.

 

[AMG]

As above said really, I m not trying to turn you against the idea, just get a decent air cooler setup first.
Since you have already just built the system if you get any faults ( you can do) its better to find them now rather than having to drain the loop.

Watercooling does not take too much knowledge its more believing in your abilities. Research really does help, I m planning to do so in the next few months but I ve already got what sort of spec I want and picked it..Just gotta buy it.

If you don't have the time to "reinvent the wheel" there are some good kits around from XSPC or EK, there are a few others too but they are the main to. Than of course you got the bundled kits which OCuk pick themselfs which they know is the best value and performance.

I hope this helped
GL

 

[alex_123_fra]

Hi Kaiuse,

I had built several air cooled systems previously and also overclocked. I had wanted to try watercooling for a while but it felt too hard and lots of possibility for things to go wrong. In fact, I was wrong. After asking around on this forum, these helpful people reassured me that it was ok if one is careful and does research. I mainly wanted a system that was quiet but that I could also overclock/bench if I wanted to.

I debated long and hard whether to go custom premade kit and in the end I picked my components from a variety of vendors and went custom. I have my GPU and CPU in the loop but no motherboard components. I would thoroughly recommend it as building a loop and fitting the waterblocks was actually great fun and it looks awesome. Fitting a drain valve was also useful in case I want to drain the loop/expand it.

In terms of temps, I'd actually say there is a 5-10 C improvement over my previous CPU cooler (which was a corsair AIO H110 with a 280mm rad). CPU now gets to around 71C at load at 5GHz. My GPU has gone from 80C load to max 32C at load (incredible!). This is despite me only using a fairly small rad setup of an XSPC AX240 and a Phobya 200mm in the loop (both superb rads).

It is expensive (around £500 for all the components for me) in comparison to air cooling/AIOs but completely worth it. I would just go ahead and do your research and do it.

 

[Caiuse]

Thanks for all the replies, extremely useful hearing other experiences and opinions. In short seems custom loop is not at all risky ( with correct research ) and actually extremely beneficial

My GPU has gone from 80C load to max 32C at load (incredible!)

just shows!

So price wise I'm looking at around £500 for a decent loop? I hope I can tie that into my ~£2k budget.

Cheers.

 

[Bluntwrapped]

£500 or less will definitely be enough to build yourself a decent loop.

Would be a bit tight if you wanted to cool more than 2 GPU's but I'm assuming you don't

 

[Kaynar]

You will have to check that your new system works and is stable by using air cooling first, as other said above. Then yeah £500 for a good custom loop without any angled fittings (those may raise the price a lot) is what you will have to pay. You may choose to buy a CPU+rad+pump+res kit offer from XSPC or EK and then add more radiators,fans, tubing and GPU block to that. Buying the kit is MUCH cheaper than buying individual components but locks your choices (eg. i wanted HWlabs SR1 radiators so I had to buy individually).

You can look at ocUK kit offers that are actually flexible with rad choice like this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-038-TL&groupid=962&catid=1532

or go for a one-brand kit like this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-144-XS&groupid=962&catid=1532

 

[Caiuse]

You will have to check that your new system works and is stable by using air cooling first, as other said above.

So would you say it's not a good idea to overclock whilst on a air cooling setup. Or shall I overclock test with air cooling then think about WC?

You can look at ocUK kit offers that are actually flexible with rad choice like this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-038-TL&groupid=962&catid=1532
or go for a one-brand kit like this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-144-XS&groupid=962&catid=1532

Thanks for this, I like the prices of the ocUK Kit very good value.

Cheers, C.

 

[Avenged7Fold]

So would you say it's not a good idea to overclock whilst on a air cooling setup. Or shall I overclock test with air cooling then think about WC?

I don't see any reason why you cant go straight to water. I have done in my last couple of builds and upgrades. With a custom loop, you will achieve lower temperatures and therefore more stability at higher clocks, so its best to pretty much re-clock your build if you were to get it air stable and then change to water straight after. If your system wont work with a custom loop, your system wont work with an air cooler, so i am not sure what you are checking.