Noob custom loop spec check

Goose

Goose

Goose

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I've decided to go for a custom loop for the first time and as such i'm a bit lost in regards to actually choosing the parts. For budget reasons i'll only be cooling my CPU for now (see sig) and everything needs to be crammed in to my Phanteks Evolv case (see spoiler).


My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £258.46
(includes shipping: £10.50)
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I've spec'd a 240mm rad for the simple reason that i already have two unused Noctua NF F12 120mm fans. I've no idea if XSPC rads are the ones to go for or if EK or someone else are better. I'm also wondering if i should go for a 360mm rad instead and then add another 360mm rad in the future when i add my graphics card to the loop.

I've put two blocks in the basket because they both look good but dont know which one performs better.

Since my case is a mid tower i've gona for a fairly compact pump/res combo.

I haven't specd any tubing or fittings or any other bits and bobs because frankly I dont really know what to go for. I've read in other thread that Barrow fittings are good quality and more affordable.

Any and all advice is much appreciated.
 
The rad you picked is fine,i actually i have that exact one in my loop with Noctua F12's on it.I would go for a 360mm rad just now as your case would support it and excess rad space is never a bad thing.If your looking to keep the costs down for now and dont want to spend the extra for a bigger rad and another fan the 240mm would still be sufficient or the cpu.

I havent seen any reviews of the V3 of the raystorm block,the EVO does slightly out perform the V2 revision tho.And IIRC the raystorm hasnt got the best mounting mechanism(this may be fixed in V3 to be fair ).If you prefer the aesthetics of the raystorm block its still good enough to buy.

For fittings,the Barrow fittings are the same as Bitspower fittings but without the Logo/branding and are cheaper.EKWB/Monsoon fittings work out about the same price as the barrow ones,and are of equal quality. Just find compression fittings that you like the look of at a reasonable price and get those.For sizes 16/10 or 16/11 are pretty standard and easy to work with


You would need 6 fitting's for your components,and it would be worth looking at a drain port solution aswell as a couple of angled fittings
 
I used the same case for a recent build and to get a 360mm in the front you need to remove the HDD cage, so only plan on a 360 in the front if you don't need HDD's (SSD's mount either behind MoBo or bottom right of the pic above). If you want to start with the 240 for budget reasons then personally I'd recommend placing it in the roof so you can add a 360 in the front later on, but if you need to keep the HDD cage then put the 240 in the front now and add a 360 in the roof at a later date if needed.
 
MrMD said:
The rad you picked is fine,i actually i have that exact one in my loop with Noctua F12's on it.I would go for a 360mm rad just now as your case would support it and excess rad space is never a bad thing.If your looking to keep the costs down for now and dont want to spend the extra for a bigger rad and another fan the 240mm would still be sufficient or the cpu.

I havent seen any reviews of the V3 of the raystorm block,the EVO does slightly out perform the V2 revision tho.And IIRC the raystorm hasnt got the best mounting mechanism(this may be fixed in V3 to be fair ).If you prefer the aesthetics of the raystorm block its still good enough to buy.

For fittings,the Barrow fittings are the same as Bitspower fittings but without the Logo/branding and are cheaper.EKWB/Monsoon fittings work out about the same price as the barrow ones,and are of equal quality. Just find compression fittings that you like the look of at a reasonable price and get those.For sizes 16/10 or 16/11 are pretty standard and easy to work with


You would need 6 fitting's for your components,and it would be worth looking at a drain port solution aswell as a couple of angled fittings
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. Which tubing would you recomend I get and do you know of any guides I can read on how to add a drain port?

OJ46 said:
I used the same case for a recent build and to get a 360mm in the front you need to remove the HDD cage, so only plan on a 360 in the front if you don't need HDD's (SSD's mount either behind MoBo or bottom right of the pic above). If you want to start with the 240 for budget reasons then personally I'd recommend placing it in the roof so you can add a 360 in the front later on, but if you need to keep the HDD cage then put the 240 in the front now and add a 360 in the roof at a later date if needed.
Click to expand...

I was intending to locate the radiator in the roof and will probably go for a 360 now for future proofing. I only have one HDD in the cage but its just a 2.5in laptop drive for a bit of extra storage so I should be able to bung it somewhere else.
 
Probably a better idea tbh, should give that bit of extra headroom and hopefully won't require another rad in the future unless you're aiming for silence. Yeah, there's 2 mounts behind the MoBo for 2.5in drives if you don't want it on show in the window :)

For a drain port you just need to add a y-splitter to the loop (the lower down in the case the better), then put a ball valve on the extra outlet. Would also recommend putting a plug in the tap to prevent it from being opened accidentally. When draining just remove plug, screw in a barb and use some spare tubing to route the water into a bucket & open the flood gates! Just remember that you'll need a 3 extra fittings for the split in the loop and ball valve.

Tubing I'd personally say PrimoChill (originally bought XSPC and it was waaaaay too loose) as it's a very tight fit compared to some others.
 
OJ46 said:
For a drain port you just need to add a y-splitter to the loop (the lower down in the case the better), then put a ball valve on the extra outlet. Would also recommend putting a plug in the tap to prevent it from being opened accidentally. When draining just remove plug, screw in a barb and use some spare tubing to route the water into a bucket & open the flood gates! Just remember that you'll need a 3 extra fittings for the split in the loop and ball valve.
Click to expand...

It's like you're speaking Chinese :) I think I might delay my build whilst I do more research. I just finished reading through your build log it seems like the size of the Evolv case makes fitting everything in quite a challenge. I also hadn't considered the need for monitoring water temps which is another added cost.

My head hurts just thinking about all this :)
 
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Haha sorry! This is all you need for the drain port if you run it straight off a low down port such as pump outlet. Simply screw the rotary in, continue the loop straight through as normal and use the extra outlet from the rotary fitting to connect to the ball valve. Plug is just to prevent any accidents if the tap is knocked :)

My basket at [url=https://www.overclockers.co.uk]Overclockers UK:
Total: £32.39 (includes shipping: £3.48)​
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It's a brilliant case tbh, a pleasure to build in as it's great quality and is very well thought out. Think I made it look more difficult as it was my first attempt at watercooling, so definitely a case of learning as I went! A lot of people don't bother monitoring the water temp so definitely not a must have, I only really wanted it so I could control the fans off water temp rather than going off either CPU or GPU.

Once you get started on the build it will soon click into place, becomes a lot more logical once you've got it all laid out in front of you.
Good luck with the build, hopefully we'll see a build log with an awesome PC at the end of it :)
 
Would anyone be able to help me out spec up some tubing and fittings? As i've never done this before i'm really not sure what fittings and connectors i'm actually going to need.
 
No problem, first question is what size / colour tubing you want and what style of fittings? Tubing size makes no difference to cooling so it's merely a style preference.
 
OJ46 said:
No problem, first question is what size / colour tubing you want and what style of fittings? Tubing size makes no difference to cooling so it's merely a style preference.
Click to expand...

Would you recommend getting a coloured tubing rather than clear tubing + coloured fluids? If so then I think white would match my motherboard and as for fittings then whichever compression fittings you recommend will be fine with me.

Thanks
 
I'd definitely go with Primochill tubing regardless of what colour you fancy, and when it comes to fittings I don't think there's much difference in quality between any of them tbh, so just go with whatever you think looks best. For coolant you'll need a 1l bottle of whichever make you choose (I'm just using distilled water, a silver bullet and some biocide).
My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £60.20
(includes shipping: £9.90)
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Don't know if you've bought any of your gear yet but I would go for the EK block over the Raystorm.

I haven't tried the V3 Raystorm but the earlier versions mounting system sucks. IMO the aesthetics of the EK block has the edge either way.
 
Bluntwrapped said:
Don't know if you've bought any of your gear yet but I would go for the EK block over the Raystorm.

I haven't tried the V3 Raystorm but the earlier versions mounting system sucks. IMO the aesthetics of the EK block has the edge either way.
Click to expand...

The mounting of the Raystorm block differs to which socket you have. I have the Raystorm and it's much easier to mount onto a 2011 socket than other sockets.

Having said that i would like to know the differences with the v3 model.
 
Thanks to all who have contributed. I think im gonna put my Watercooling catastrophe adventure on hold for now, i'd underestimated the cost involved when picking fittings and extra gubbins for drain ports etc. I think my money might be better spent on upgrading my 980 to a 1070 but i'll definitely revisit watercooling again in the future.

Thanks again.
 
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