External Rad Question

[teejay73]

So I've been toying with the idea of using an external rad setup, which will be positioned on my my window bay. Unlike the conventional way using the MO-RA 420, I'm going to be using a Liquid Haus stand, that can support a twin or triple rad setup (with some basic modding).
I ideally want to keep it as cheap as possible, so will be using some exisiting 360 rads. Currently I have the V1 011d XL, along with the EK distro plate using the D5 pump and two 360 rads for the cpu (currently the 5900x) and the GFX (Red Devil 6950xt with EK block).

My questions are;

1. as I'll be running the rads externally, I'll be using 6 fans in push. I was thinking of using the powered splitty 9 to hook up the fans, and then run SATA power cables daisy chained back to the case. I'm assuming the SATA Power can do this (run length will be approx 1.2 - 1.5m)
2. For now, I plan on using the distro plate as the res/pump combo, though in the future I'd like to upgrade and get a pump/res combo for the external setup when funds allow. What is the best way to do this for power? I'm assuming that I can do just the same with the above and get 60cm SATA power extensons?
3. Given that i'm using the D5 pump, will the D5 pump be ok to run an external set up like this? I'll be using Koolance QD3 disconnects (2 female/2 male).
4. Finally, I'm going to be likely moving to either a 14700k or 7900x3d - would I still be ok with decent temps with 2 x 360 rads, and low fan noise, or would I be better off getting a 240 or another 360?

Thanks in advance for all replies

 

[teejay73]

One key question will be where the location of the case is to the radiator? Is it at a similar height, or is the case on the floor? If it's on the floor, that will put additional work on the pump, which you are already asking a lot, with two or possibly more rads, two blocks and the restrictive disconnects.

If you want to run all this outside of the case on one loop, you really need to be looking at that MO-RA 420.
Alternatively, run two loops (one for CPU, one for GPU), which means an additional pump, reservoir and tube and fittings.

Trying to do this on the cheap is just going to cause additional problems.

To be honest, I haven't really made up my mind on ideal location, though desk space is at slight premium. I have two D5's, one brand new and the other in my system, so I could look into utilising two pumps, however, I was under the impression that the head pressure for D5's was over 3 metres, though I could be wrong on that?

The MO-RA 420 is still a possibility, and I've not ruled it out as a possibility, but surely using the MO-RA would make it no different with regards to a restricted loop? I have also thought about two loops, but that adds extra costs with res/pump tops.

 

[teejay73]

Have used 2 feet (60cm)
Sata extensions before with no issues
Believe I even daisy chained 2 of them

Have run 3 rads,2 blocks and using
4 koolance quick disconnects
With a d5 before
Though rads were internal

I would add the third 360mm rad
More radiator is always better
And usually easiest to just do it to start with
Rather than add one later

That's good to know with regards to the SATA power extensions. That's def my go to option, as running a seperate power brick to power an external set up just adds something else to the potential problem of forgetting to turn it on. I'm also thinking that 3 rads would be optimum, though I need to determine if going the MO-RA 420 would be the best option or not before then.

 

[teejay73]

Yeah d5 head is approx 11--12 feet
Though would guess that's in test situation
With absolutely no components
Involved to reduce things

If you already have a second d5
Using 2 in case of pump failure is something
I used to do before changed to a distro
Assuming you have enough space to fit the 2nd
I did like having the redundancy of 2 pumps just in case

The more i'm thinking about the more I think that actually using two pumps might be a better solution, and maybe look at something like the MO-RA 420/Alphacool Nova. Just seeing whats possible at this stage, and what gives the best bang for buck.

 

[teejay73]

I run an external setup with alpha cool rads 1 x 420mm and 1 x 280mm.
I would try and run 2 D5s, although 1 should do I have 2 and run both of them at level 1 completely silent through a dual D5 top res combo setup.
Also no issue with flow through a Aquacomputer Filter, fair few angled rotarys and Koolance QD3s which just to add are the best things I ever bought.

That's good to know - thanks Shilz! Tbh I did wonder if a D5 would be an issue with head pressure, so I'm looking at dual pump solutions going forward.

 

[teejay73]

2 x D5's minimum, with everything im running at the moment i can tell you my flow rate isn't anywhere near as good as it should be due to the QD's i have in the loop.

If you can get yourself one of those dual D5 pump tops and mount that to the rad stand, that would be ideal.

How many QD's have you got in your system, Jay? I was personally only going to go for 2 female, and two male (with the males on a g 1/4 thread for the pass through. I'm def leaning more and more to dual pumps - makes sense as I have two D5's anyway.

 

[teejay73]

Currently have 2 as well as the rest of the rig is hardlined. Just with the 2 installed, cpu and gpu block plus the MORA360 its slowing down quite abit. I now have to run 1 pump at 80% and the other is still okay at 60%. If you have distro's etc in the loop too you will probably be running close to 80/90% on both pumps.

Im speaking entirely from experience here, it may differ slightly for you due to tube length and how restrictive your rads are etc. Generally my MORA360 isn't particularly restrictive but the QD's definitely are.

Something like this would be good for you if you kinda find the TOP only without the pumps.

EK Water Blocks EK-XTOP Revo Dual D5 PWM Serial - (incl. 2x pump)

Order EK Water Blocks EK-XTOP Revo Dual D5 PWM Serial - (incl. 2x pump) now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

I take your word as gospel, as I've been an admirer of your builds for a good while. I'll def look at 2 x D5's. I'm thinking that I'll probaly ditch the idea to run straight to the distro, as it was only a short term option anyway, but it's def looking more costly as I move forward with ideas, etc. I've actually been looking at that EK dual D5 top literally 20 mins ago - haha. Edit: I actually think it comes as a bare unit too which is handy

 

[teejay73]

It's never cheap watercooling, you think it is and make a budget then start buying parts and realise you don't have enough plus contingency planning and you can run up quite a bill .

Yeah i had a look, OCUK doesn't sell it but i think another place i use does have the unit in stock thats currently doing 15% off BF offer so well worth picking one up now if you're mind is set.

Edit: the Aqua Computer Dual D5 unit is gorgeous but it costs way too much for what it is.

Ahh mate tell me about it! I started years ago with dual 360 Monsta rads that are still in the garage somewhere. I'm loathed to get rid of the distroplate, as that was over £300, but I'm bored of that now, and ideally want to downsize in the future to a sff, but to do that means to go with an external set up if I want to keep my rig under water. I have noted the other place, and I agree about the Aquacomputer one - lovely, but pricey!

 

[teejay73]

I have an alphacool 1080. My pump is externally mounted as well as I don't have fancy distro plates.
I have 9 fans on it. The fans are controlled via a simple 9 10way fan splitter and powered using an external multivolt power brick..I set the voltage to 4.5v and it works perfectly for me.

I only have a 5900x and a 1080ti but I do plan on cooling my router as well at some point.
It works really well.

I've looked at this option of using a power brick, but I'm totally not sure what I should be looking at - can you link to one if it's not an OCUK competitior?

 

[teejay73]

Nope its something else...sorry if they are a competitor I'll remove this

Yeah I'd say they're a competitior, as they do ship to the UK.

 

[teejay73]

If you're downsizing anyway then this is definitely the right path to go about it. I made the transition years ago and have never gone back. I just find the whole build process much cleaner and easier now and the Rad and pump is always there ready to go, just connect them up and bam you're up and running.

I love how there is zero faff.

Yeah I def want to downsize, but right now it creates a problem, as I've not long bought a new PSU...The rather large, and costly ROG Thor II 1000w - at the time I didn't give it a second thought that I'd be wanting to downsize. I use my system for both gaming and as a workstation too, so I'm having to figure out pro's and cons of how I intergrate 8tb's of NVME drives into a sff build (will probaly be thunderbolt external solutions), as well as the PSU situation, and then of course how I go about cooling the system, as there is no way I'll be doing it on air. I'm probably earmarking a £2k spend once I factor in a new cpu/mobo/ram as well. However, the prospect of going external seems like a no brainer if I want to downsize.

 

[teejay73]

Ah yeah rather expensive... i mean if you're still within your return period . The Asus Loki 1000w is a good psu, i have the 850w version and having run it now, its not exhibiting anymore coilwhine.

My first 2 samples all had really bad coil whine which were all returned unfortunately.

Err yeah, about 14 months out . Is coil whine a issue with the Loki then, or were you just unlucky? I'd personally go for at least 1000w as I'm just a little OCD on having overhead on my PSU.

 

[teejay73]

About to do this as well... worried I'll have to add another D5 (I have one but I prefer to keep using my leakshield which is 1 D5 only)

What external set up are you planning on using? I'm probably going to go with two D5's if anything at least for redundancy.

 

[teejay73]

I've somehow convinced myself that i need the Aquacomputer dual pump mount, i looked at my build then looked at the dual pump and found the perfect place for it to sit. Now imagine with 2 x smart pumps attached....

Unfortunately won't be buying anything like that till after Xmas simply cos its gonna cost a bomb .

Haha! Is that the nice shiny brass one!? It does look really nice, and I've not ruled it out either! I'm just going through a host of potential permatations for my external build. Why is there never a goldilocks system where you can just say...Take my money!

 

[teejay73]

I used my 2 old 360mm rads outside my case about 1m of pipe and cable. I used molex cables and had a little fan hub sit on top of the rads with a switch for slow, fast and off. The rads I used were not especially good, mayhem havoc 60mm thick. It ran my system at temps only increasing to 50 or 60c on cpu and below 70c on the gpu. I replaced my rads with a nexxxos 1080mm later and the temps are even better. The mora is supposed to be a lot better than the nexxxos. 1 single rad looks a lot tidier than multiple rads.

2m tubing
Gpu block
Cpu block
Corsair XD3 pump res combo
Ekwb quick disconnects 2 sets
Atleast 4 angled fittings

They are working fine with no problems after atleast 9 months, rad under my desk and pc case on top of it. Apparently DDC pumps have less problems with head pressure according to the stat sheets.

I was all set to get the MO-RA, but the UK place that sells them decided that my payment via paypal wasn't authorised, and even though paypal says the payment is pending awaiting authorisation, the company isn't responding to my messages. I wish OCUK sold external rads, like the MO-RA, Nexxxos, etc. Glad to hear how well the cooling is doing on your setup though.

 

[teejay73]

I cant remember where i got mine, it wasn't from here and its the same place I tend to get all my parts not available at ocuk. And I've never had a problem with them. Unless you hunted for the cheapest price and got scammed somehow, I imagine you ended up on the same website I did to get my stuff, I recall it was mostly watercooling stuff they sold so it's likely.

Yeah I'm convinced it was the same place as yourself. I've got it sorted now - was a payment glitch at their end, however, they didn't have all the specific MO-RA parts in stock, so I've had to opt for the 1080 Nexxxos, along with the box cover for it too. It's been an expensive journey haha!

 

[teejay73]

Yea but with quality quick disconnects it should be future proof. The QDCs have to be the weak point because they will be the parts used most. The rad will be perfect just left where it is don't even need to move it when you get a completely new system.

I didnt go for the box, I just got the feet. I even went for cheap fans but I beleive they are pretty good. 2x 5 packs of arctic fans I think. 35 quid for each pack and they are daisy chained. Daisy chaining is a must otherwise them fan cables will be overwhelming. I have my fans plugged into the little hub I bought and on the low setting, but being under my desk even on the fast setting they are barely noticeable.

Yeah I bought the qd3's from ocuk yesterday. I've also ordered a powered splitty 9 for the fans, as well as some 30cm pwm 3 fan splitter cables. I'm re-using 9 noctua fans from a previous build, so that was handy in keeping costs down. I've opted to go for pump redundancy, so using two D5's via a watercool dual d5 pump housing, along with a watercool res and fittings. I'm going to run the pumps and res seperate from the pc case I think. What are your temps you are getting - do you notice a big difference?

 

[teejay73]

So just a little update and further questions. After going around the block with various choices, ordering the alphacool 1080 Nexxxos Nova and then realising that it was going to be a hassle to do what I want, I decided on going back to the drawing board and spending copious amounts of money on
a MO-RA 420 Noctua NF-A20 edition. I bought the NF-A20 fans from Overclockers. Here's what I've bought as well >> MO-RA 420 Noctua NF-A20 with deep cover grill, 4 way watercool noctua NF-A20 splitter, MO-RA3 420 D5-Dualtop module, Heatkiller Res & a splitty 9 active. I've also bought some EK compression fittings, 16/10 tubing.

I'm pretty much ready to go as soon as the MO-RA and other watercool bits get here, but I have a problem that I'm trying to solve. So basically I want to power everything via the pc PSU. The setup will be like this 4 x 200mm fans into the 4 way fan splitter, one pwm cable into the splitty 9 active, which will be on the MO-RA, extension power sata from splitty to case. Ok first part no problem, but then I'm thinking that I'll still have 2 x EK D5 pumps, both with sata power each, and PWM cable each, so I'm wondering if I can plug the pump PWM cables into the splitty 9 active, and just run the two sata power cables back to the pc, so basically only having to run 3 x sata cables back in total? Is this possible to do? If not how could I do what I plan to do with the PWM cables? I want to minimise the amount of cables, but at the same time I don't want to run an external psu or powerbrick, as I want everything to start up when I power on the pc.

​