After years, I'm back in the game

agnes

agnes

agnes

Soldato
Joined
1 Dec 2006
Posts
16,906
Location
Amsterdam, NL
Decided to start 2020 off with a bang and get my self back into WC'ing after talking about doing it for the past got knows how many years.

I've decided to stick with EKWB parts for continuity and a simple buying process for now.

I'm going to replace my case, I got a Lian Li O11 D XL, full parts list:

EK-Supremacy Classic RGB - Nickel + Plexi
EK-FC RTX 2080 +Ti Classic RGB - Nickel + Plexi
EK-Quantum Kinetic FLT 360 D5 PWM D-RGB - Plexi
EK-HD PETG Tube 12/16mm 1000mm (2pcs)
EK-HTC Classic 16mm - Black
EK-CoolStream Classic PE 360 x2
Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM x7

As you can see, I didn't go for the standard distro plate everyone seems to be using with the case, rather instead I went for their flat res which I think personally looks nicer. It's a very basic setup, I didn't feel the need to cool the mobo or ram because... Well, no need.

The GPU is a EVGA 2080 ti XC Ultra which thankfully supports the reference block, CPU is a delid 8700k @5Ghz. So very little, if any modding needed. I've ordered a bunch of tubing to practice before all the main parts from EK arrive as that will be the biggest challenge. I'll put up progress pics here, but any advice on both hard tubing and compression fittings will be very welcome! The last time I WC'd was before compression fittings were the norm, I'm from the days of big ol' brass barbs and clamps!

I'll be OC'ing the GPU to +150 on the core and +1000 on the memory, which is stable but just runs a little too warm for my liking on air so I don't have it currently applied. I'm hoping the 2 PE 360's will be enough to allow me in order to run the fans at a lower speed (800-1000rpm when gaming, 500 at idle). Of which, I'll be custom spraying the bodies black (not the inside nor fan blades, just the outer edges).
 
Welcome back to the world of watercooling :)

Never tried hard tubing so pretty useless to you lol
Other than practice bends which you already know
Main reason really was no one had answered you
So didn't want you to feel ignored :)

Look forward to pics
 
Mcnumpty2323 said:
Welcome back to the world of watercooling :)

Never tried hard tubing so pretty useless to you lol
Other than practice bends which you already know
Main reason really was no one had answered you
So didn't want you to feel ignored :)

Look forward to pics
Click to expand...

Haha, thanks! I've got 2 meters to mess up, and 2 meters for the build. I imagine it will be easy to get into it, but there will be some fails thats for sure!
 
agnes said:
Haha, thanks! I've got 2 meters to mess up, and 2 meters for the build. I imagine it will be easy to get into it, but there will be some fails thats for sure!
Click to expand...
I understand petg is a bit easier than acrylic
Guessing the compression fittings may differ from soft tube ones
So may have to check if it's necessary to chamfer the ends of petg to avoid slicing the o rings
Though petg is softer than acrylic so might not need to chamfer it
If don't get the hang of it with 2m to practice on
Then guess you're in trouble lol
Of course it depends if you are OCD on your bends or not
You will more than likely be perfectly fine as any one building a custom loop is usually decent at practical DIY stuff
 
Mcnumpty2323 said:
I understand petg is a bit easier than acrylic
Guessing the compression fittings may differ from soft tube ones
So may have to check if it's necessary to chamfer the ends of petg to avoid slicing the o rings
Though petg is softer than acrylic so might not need to chamfer it
If don't get the hang of it with 2m to practice on
Then guess you're in trouble lol
Of course it depends if you are OCD on your bends or not
You will more than likely be perfectly fine as any one building a custom loop is usually decent at practical DIY stuff
Click to expand...

This is my main concern, I am VERY OCD when it comes to PC builds, I'm not to the show case level of perfection, but if a tube is slightly off angle in other peoples builds it bugs me.

Excited!
 
agnes said:
This is my main concern, I am VERY OCD when it comes to PC builds, I'm not to the show case level of perfection, but if a tube is slightly off angle in other peoples builds it bugs me.

Excited!
Click to expand...
The watercooling gallery sub forum may also provide some help to you
If looking for perfect angles
Then a mandrel would be a good idea
If you haven't already got one
 
There are some good guides on The Youtube for hardline bending tips. PETG is defiantly better to work with than acrylic but can look a bit cloudier
 
There's few tools around to help with the angles. Not sure how helpful they're, as I'm old school and decided to go with soft tubing as always. Safe bet, I'm afraid.
 
Soft tubing here too
Though that's down to my character lol
Or lack of character... Before some one else gets that one in lol
More of a function over form person
Stuff I do always works~not just with pc any diy
But may not be the prettiest
Would love to find a hard tubing perfectionist member near me who could do mine for me
If you get hard tubing right it really does look amazing
 
So, new case, fans etc all showed up except the stuff from EKWB, which could be another week or 2 as UPS hasn't even picked the packages up and it's going from Slovenia to California...

Anyway, update on the fans, the Noctua NF A12x25's break the laws of physics.
 
Oh, I also got to practising some bends, it's a LOT easier than I thought, not made any mistakes yet, common sense is enough to do this. Not sure why so many videos on how to do it really. After watching them, I thought it would be a lot more difficult than it actually is.

x0avlGa.jpg


mxaysWU.jpg
 
One day will try noctua fans
If they ever stop that awful brown and cream colour or just black
Change the colours slap some argb leds on them
And I am in lol
Nice first bending
Use anything for the angles?
Or just freehand?
 
Mcnumpty2323 said:
One day will try noctua fans
If they ever stop that awful brown and cream colour or just black
Change the colours slap some argb leds on them
And I am in lol
Nice first bending
Use anything for the angles?
Or just freehand?
Click to expand...

I don't mind the colours, I moved away from them a while ago as they started to slip behind in performance. But these new ones are insane.

As for bends, the top left one (next to the cutter) was entirely by hand. As was the bend on the left in the bottom pic. The others used those bend help thingies from one of those kits. I prefer the assisted bends but I can see them not being required. But as mentioned, I'm only using straight compression fittings from the blocks as I don't want any angled barbs at all. So I need my tube bents to be perfect everytime and I don't trust my ability to free hand that.
 
Ouch
Those nf a12 are £25 each
Got 12 fans in my set up
£300 to replace them with those
Think ear plugs is a cheaper option lol
Think you did very well with your bends
A 90 degree sounds relatively easy
Use anything to check it
Motherboard box etc
But the ones with 2 bends is obviously harder
Going to enjoy seeing your build pictures
 
Welp, hard tubing is... Hard. I seriously underestimated the challenge I put my self under by not using any angled barbs and only going to pipe bends.

BUT, it's finished, and looks like arse haha. But I'm going to leave the front tube in for a while as it makes me laugh at how ugly it is. I'm going to strip them all out again this week and redo the pipes that need to be redone as well as fit the temp sensor and flow meter, both of which I forgot...

Either way, HUGE success, no leaks, GPU running at 25C idle (ambient around 20C), CPU at 30C idle. Under heavy loads, this is what I was averaging after 1 hour stress test:

8700k CPU @ 4.8Ghz - 1.275 vcore = 58C
EVGA 2080 ti XC Ultra GPU @ 190+ on the core, 1000+ on the memory with power target to max= 55C

I am very impressed with the cooling potential, pump RPM is static at 2,270 rpm which is just before it's audible but gives decent flow from what I can tell.

I'll get better pics once I'm happy with the new tubing. And I've managed to work out how to wire up the res, cpu and gpu block RGB's.

opXSDDT.jpg

VS2rOK4.jpg
 
I did wonder about no angled fittings
But am only used to soft tubing where they make life easier
But you live and learn
Main thing is your loops achieving desired temps
At good noise levels
The tubing can be redone
And over a certain pump rpm there's not much gained from it anyway
 
For a first attempt
It's not exactly a disaster
Probably do worse than that myself
RGB splitter possibly for res, cpu, gpu block?
Assuming they all use same connector
Having proprietory led connectors is
Just a pain in the butt
 
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