Rough inventory and budget for watercooling?

[Quartz]

I'm thinking about turning to the dark side and watercooling my next build. But while I've read a lot, I've never actually done it. I've yet to decide whether to go for Ryzen 59xx, Threadripper 3945 or 55, or Intel 12xxx.

I'm not particularly interested in overclocking, just running cool and quiet.

For the bits, I really like the look of the Fractal Torrent, so I'll be going with that. So I'll need a 360x180mm radiator. Will I need an extra set of fans for a push+pull arrangement? I'll need a pump and reservoir - which one? - and front and back blocks for my 3090. I'll need a CPU block. A drain port. Tube fittings, including 45 degree and 90 degree fittings. I may need pass-through parts (see below). I'll start with soft tubing. Have I missed off anything?

It would be nice to have an intelligent CPU block: one that displays the flow rate, the temperature, and so on. Better still if it reports it to the computer too.

How about tools? I'll need a fill bottle, a cutter, something to shape the tubing, and a pressure tester. Anything else?

One thing I will want to do if I go the watercooling route is to hide the tubing as much as possible. I don't mind drilling holes, but my first thought there is to route the tubes from the CPU and GPU to the rear of the case then down above the slots and along the bottom. Would it be useful to have quick disconnect joints there? The reservoir will have the entry and exit ports at the bottom. I'll use cable ties to clamp them together neatly. Unless you have better suggestions!

Roughly how much will this cost? Are my thoughts correct? I think it's going to be well over £500, probably near £1000, but the only parts that will not be reusable will be the GPU blocks.

This is a research thread; I'm probably not going to act on it for some time.

 

[MikeTimbers]

bear in mind that if you start with soft tubing and then want to change to hardline you will need to replace all the fittings. I see that EK do an appropriate radiator and they also do good blocks and pump/res combos so I would maybe start with looking at them for the components. Their fittings are arguably over-priced though.

As for the layout, get a decent high-res image or two of the case and check all the dimensions. Hiding tubing is quite an advanced art. I recommend looking up "Declassified Systems" on Youtube to see some amazing tube runs that sometimes hide them but always make a statement with them.

 

[Quartz]

bear in mind that if you start with soft tubing and then want to change to hardline you will need to replace all the fittings.

Really? Do tell! None of the Youtubers I watch seem to change them. Or maybe they have plenty of stock and just don't mention it. Or are you referring to usingbarbs vs compression fittings?

Hiding tubing is quite an advanced art.

J2C did a video where he passed a lot of tubing to the back of the case; I don't think I'm going to do that as there's probably not going to be room. I might do it with the fill port tube simply to provide additional stability to the reservoir.

I recommend looking up "Declassified Systems" on Youtube to see some amazing tube runs that sometimes hide them but always make a statement with them.

I may be gone some time...

 

[Chris Beard]

This is a good watch if you haven't already:

If you're buying all new watercooling kit and doing it for the first time maybe consider going with a single brand. EK have fantastic customer service and may be a good bet.

So I'll need a 360x180mm radiator. Will I need an extra set of fans for a push+pull arrangement?

180mm wide radiators are somewhat of an unusual size. 180mm fans can sometimes not be well optimised for radiators, they are often very focused on airflow rather than static pressure. I haven't looked at the fans on the torrent. I would guess that push/pull may help to overcome this, but I would not say it is 'needed'

Have you considered having multiple radiators? I don't know how this might work with your 'hide the tubing' approach: https://support.fractal-design.com/support/solutions/articles/4000174902-torrent-radiator-support

I'll need a pump and reservoir - which one?

Get a D5 pump - possibly this one: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ek-w...nertia-d5-pwm-d-rgb-pump-plexi-wc-9z7-ek.html. Also, as an aside - damn new Watercooling kit is expensive, I had in my mind that a new D5 was around £50!

front and back blocks for my 3090.

Is the back block due to the memory on the back of the 3090? First time I've read about watercooling the backside of a gfx card.

Tube fittings, including 45 degree and 90 degree fittings.

Consider getting some extensions as well - I've found them to be instrumental in making the tube runs easier. Some 20mm and a few 50mm (for right angles to reach over fans) can be very useful in my experience.

something to shape the tubing

If you're going with soft tubing (which I would recommend, especially if this is your first time and you're intending to hide the tubing) then you won't need a shaping tool. You may need some spingy things to stop the tubing kinking, depending on the tubing you select - not sure how this fits with your wanting to hide the tubing. Otherwise your tool list looks complete to me.

One thing I will want to do if I go the watercooling route is to hide the tubing as much as possible. I don't mind drilling holes, but my first thought there is to route the tubes from the CPU and GPU to the rear of the case then down above the slots and along the bottom. Would it be useful to have quick disconnect joints there? The reservoir will have the entry and exit ports at the bottom. I'll use cable ties to clamp them together neatly. Unless you have better suggestions!

This is somewhat unusual. I've also tried to do this with just my fill port and a pipe running behind the motherboard and ran into some difficulty with tubing kinking. I don't think this would be impossible, just not seen it done before. Quick Disconnects can really limit flow (and so pump has to work harder = more noise) so maybe having fewer in your loop may be better for your use case. I'd be interested to see the results of this.




Finally I think your choice of tubing will be very important for what you want to do. The only advice I feel qualified to offer is that you should go with thicker walled tubing and go with something PVC based to be able to make tighter bends - defiantly do not go with silicone (speaking from experience!).

 

[Quartz]

This is a good watch if you haven't already:

Yup. Watched a few times.

Is the back block due to the memory on the back of the 3090?

Yes.

Consider getting some extensions as well

Ooh!

This is somewhat unusual.

I view plumbing in the same way I view cabling.

Quick Disconnects can really limit flow (and so pump has to work harder = more noise)

Ah, that's useful.

The only advice I feel qualified to offer is that you should go with thicker walled tubing and go with something PVC based to be able to make tighter bends - defiantly do not go with silicone (speaking from experience!).

Noted. With regards to bends, where it's going to be tight, I think I'll go for a 90 degree fitting.

 

[MikeTimbers]

Hardline fittings are compression fittings but they are different compression fittings than the ones used for soft tubing. They are not interchangeable.

 

[Quartz]

Hardline fittings are compression fittings but they are different compression fittings than the ones used for soft tubing. They are not interchangeable.

I'm glad I now know that! Learning that's half the point of this thread.

 

[Quartz]

180mm wide radiators are somewhat of an unusual size.

A 360x180mm radiator has the same surface area as four and a half 120x120mm radiators. Probably slightly more given the smaller area covered by the fan hubs.

 

[therealdippy]

I'm not particularly interested in overclocking, just running cool and quiet.

You don't necessarily get BOTH cool and quiet just because you choose to watercool. The water is just an extra medium to remove heat from the devices, you still need to get that heat out of the case. The system will only run cooler than a PC which uses internal fansinks if the radiator/fan combination is more efficient, and only quieter if the net combination of fans make less noise. The easiest way to ensure it is more efficient is to spread the heat, i.e. have a high fin surface area and/or high airflow. But high airflow means noise so to be both efficient and quiet it needs to rely on having more fans running at lower rpm. Even then temperature and noise are in opposition - you need to have a compromise.

 

[Quartz]

You don't necessarily get BOTH cool and quiet just because you choose to watercool.

Absolutely, but watercooling will give me the opportunity for that vastly increased fin surface area. And 180mm fans will mean - hopefully - high air volume at low speed and low noise.

 

[im4gine3]

A 360x180mm radiator has the same surface area as four and a half 120x120mm radiators. Probably slightly more given the smaller area covered by the fan hubs.

only radiator i know which support that size are the Alphacool Nexxos ones.. I don't think there are many 180mm fans out there optimised for these so can't help on that end. You will only see the benefit of push/pull typically on thick radiators... so don't bother with a <40mm rad.

If you want to hide the tubing as much as possible, then i'd go for soft tubing specifically ZMT black. Whats the point going hard tubing if it's not gonna' be displayed.

I don't know the full on dimensions of the case you want to get, but as others have mentioned, it would be idela to get the case first and measure out every nook and cranny to best determine how the loop should/would look prior purchase of the watercooling components.

Tools for soft tubing.. nothing special is needed. You can get away with a pair of kitchen scissors for cutting the tubing. Doesn't need to be exactly smooth cut as it will be covered by the compression fitting anyway. I don't use a fill bottle.. i have a small funnel with a spare piece of tubing zip tied to the end, which will do the same thing.

 

[MikeTimbers]

I never used a fill bottle for nearly two decades and then eventually got one and now wouldn't use anything else. Unlike a funnel, a fill bottle can also be used to suck the fluid out.

 

[alexkyriak]

Can you recommend a good fill bottle? I got some online but they’re cheap and leak. Cheers

 

[im4gine3]

you can make your own.

Get a bottle.. however big you want. Drill a hole into the cap just big enough to fit a straw.. perhap 8mm give or take, then use either a glue gun or superglue to create a seal... otherwise EK have a couple types of fill bottles for around a tenner

 

[delvey]

You don't necessarily get BOTH cool and quiet just because you choose to watercool. The water is just an extra medium to remove heat from the devices, you still need to get that heat out of the case. The system will only run cooler than a PC which uses internal fansinks if the radiator/fan combination is more efficient, and only quieter if the net combination of fans make less noise. The easiest way to ensure it is more efficient is to spread the heat, i.e. have a high fin surface area and/or high airflow. But high airflow means noise so to be both efficient and quiet it needs to rely on having more fans running at lower rpm. Even then temperature and noise are in opposition - you need to have a compromise.

Somewhat true. The greatest heat source is normally the GPU, and as such had the faster (and noiser) fan. A 240mm AIO will adequately cool a CPU with little noise. If you watercool the GPU, you add the most heat but remove the loudest component. As long as you have sufficient radiators (EK recommend 1 360mm for a 3090 and 5600x) then it should be quieter, and maybe cooler. The biggest thing you missed is that water takes 4 times as much heat to raise 1kg by 1°C than that of air. The equation itself to compare the 2 would be to complicated to calculate (you could do it), but is one of the reasons it will run cooler

 

[delvey]

To give you a rough idea, my recent build cost me £350. This was with about £50 off the waterblock and active backplate (rear waterblock) from overclockers. I already had radiator, pump and CPU block so these will probably cost another £2-300 depending on how many rads and which pump/block you go for

 

[Quartz]

Thanks @delvey.

 

[Jay85]

I'm thinking about turning to the dark side and watercooling my next build. But while I've read a lot, I've never actually done it. I've yet to decide whether to go for Ryzen 59xx, Threadripper 3945 or 55, or Intel 12xxx.

I'm not particularly interested in overclocking, just running cool and quiet.

For the bits, I really like the look of the Fractal Torrent, so I'll be going with that. So I'll need a 360x180mm radiator. Will I need an extra set of fans for a push+pull arrangement? I'll need a pump and reservoir - which one? - and front and back blocks for my 3090. I'll need a CPU block. A drain port. Tube fittings, including 45 degree and 90 degree fittings. I may need pass-through parts (see below). I'll start with soft tubing. Have I missed off anything?

It would be nice to have an intelligent CPU block: one that displays the flow rate, the temperature, and so on. Better still if it reports it to the computer too.

How about tools? I'll need a fill bottle, a cutter, something to shape the tubing, and a pressure tester. Anything else?

One thing I will want to do if I go the watercooling route is to hide the tubing as much as possible. I don't mind drilling holes, but my first thought there is to route the tubes from the CPU and GPU to the rear of the case then down above the slots and along the bottom. Would it be useful to have quick disconnect joints there? The reservoir will have the entry and exit ports at the bottom. I'll use cable ties to clamp them together neatly. Unless you have better suggestions!

Roughly how much will this cost? Are my thoughts correct? I think it's going to be well over £500, probably near £1000, but the only parts that will not be reusable will be the GPU blocks.

This is a research thread; I'm probably not going to act on it for some time.

Okay so first off which 3090 card do you have? It will determine which blocks are available to you as there's only a few vendors that do active backplates currently and some universal ones that are pretty low profile.

Push pull isn't always necessary as it can add unnecessary noise for little to no improvement. I've personally only ever done push or pull configs to keep fan noise down to a minimum.

Pump and res combo's are a god send if you're limited on space however in the Fractal Torrent i don't think this is an issue so you could broaden your horizons BUT i think most people these days just go with Combo units. They can be fan mounted, case mounted or distro mounted. Best thing to do is to have a look at the case and plan your routes, see where you want things to go and use your imagination to try and visualise the build. Even jot things down on paper and see how it would roughly look.

If you're using pass throughs, planning is a MUST! Depending on where the passthrough(s) will be it's important to make sure where the tubing runs out the back, runs clean and you still have space for cable management.

Intelligent cpu block you say? Aquacomputer blocks are probably the ones for you then, they're Cuplex Kryos NEXT blocks will show temp and flow rates as far as im aware and their aquasuite software is one of the best too. You may need some other bits for it to work properly if you're to integrate it into your system though via internal usb headers and a breakout board like a splitty.

Tools? Tube cutters for a nice straight cut if you're using soft tubing, ruler to measure a set of screwdrivers and allen key set. Fill bottle yes 100%, i can't live without one now. If you're using pass throughs to hide tubing then shaping tubing isn't necessary really as you won't see it. Pressure tester i would advise but its not necessary provided you make sure everything is tightly sealed and you're confident you haven't missed anything.

I started using QD's this year and tbh i would use them from now on where i can just for convenience to remove components without having to drain the whole loop.


Whatever you think you're gonna spend £500, double it as that's how much it will actually cost. Watercooling is never 100% accurate when it comes to cost, you'll do a run and find it's not quite run and redo it buying more parts, fittings, flow meters, more drain ports, changing coolant, changing coloured tubing etc etc the list goes on.

 

[Quartz]

Okay so first off which 3090 card do you have?

Good question: it's a 3090FE.

(Lots of good stuff snipped; thank you.)

Whatever you think you're gonna spend £500, double it as that's how much it will actually cost.

Isn't that always the case?

 

[MikeTimbers]

Fill bottle

https://store.overclockers.co.uk/ek-water-blocks-filling-bottle-1000ml-wc-9ej-ek.html