Extreme watercooling build, help!

John7up

John7up

John7up

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Joined
7 Jul 2013
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109
Location
Newcastle
Hey guys.
I need some serious compatibility and tips help on my new extreme performance and watercooling build.

I have the following components:

CPU: Intel Skylake, Core i7 6700K 4.0GHz box
Motherboard: ASUS MAXIMUS VIII HERO
RAM: Avexir Core Series 64 GB DDR4 2400MHz CL15 Venom Green Led
GPU: 1x Nvidia GeForce GTX TITAN X Pascal 12GB DDR5X
SSD: 2x Samsung 850 Pro 256GB SATA-III - Raid 0
HDD: Seagate Desktop HDD 3TB 7200RPM 64MB SATA-III
HDD: Seagate Desktop HDD 4TB+5TB 5900RPM 64MB SATA-III
PSU: Corsair AXi Digital AX1200i
Soundcard: ASUS Xonar D2X
CASE: Phanteks Enthoo Primo Special Edition Black White

Monitor LED ASUS Gaming ROG Swift PG348Q Curved 34 inch G-sync 100hz
TV LED LG Smart 4k 3D curved 55UC970V

Fan controller Reeven SIX EYES II
FANS: 8x NoiseBlocker NB-eLoop B12-P
FANS: 8x NoiseBlocker NB-eLoop B14-PS
Cooler CPU Cooler Master Eisberg 240L Prestige
FAN Splitter Nanoxia 3-pi n Fan Female - 3x3-pin Fan Male
Radiator 480 Hardware Labs Black Ice GTX
Reservoir Phonya Ballancer 250

(Wall of text edited for reduced damage :D )

So i have a reservoir and a push pull 480 rad.

Could please you advise me on the loop, what other components i should buy for maximum performance, compatibility, and also relative price/performance.

I need fittings, tubing, another 480 rad (need a recommendation), 8x static pressure fans, a pump, pump top/adapter for my reservoir,please pay attention, cpu block , titan x pascal block.

Also, assist if in the near future i should go for a dual loop, and please draw a logical scheme on where everything should be.

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Wall of text hits you for 188 damage. You Die.


Hi John, looks like someone has some money to burn :)

First off I'd chop your first post into water cooling related items and the wheel, fan cables hdd that make it very hard to pick out what you are actually doing water cooling wise.


*Note* I am not saying anything you are doing is wrong I am asking questions to see if you have thought about your decisions, there are lots of ways to do water cooling and there are very few "wrong" ways as long as you get the result you are looking for.

Few questions:


Why did you decide on 10/13 size ?

No drain valve/spare connectors included?

Why a 120 Rad Fan? are we 100% sure that rad fits? dimensions etc.

Thought about temperature monitoring?

So your water cooling GPu but leaving cpu on air?

Do you really need a Titan x? could that money be better spent elsewhere on the ultimate pc build ?


With Kaby lake coming out any day now, is that the right CPU to be buying?

Do you need an I7 ?


Overall it looks like a good set up, I like the green theme idea, not seen many greens recently.
Hope the thoughts help!
 
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Ahh I do love the Primo in White, very classy when I purchased mine only the black existed sadly.

Looks nice thou.

That is one damn long res, you sure that's going to fit ? :)
My res is fitted at the back below the rear exhaust fan.
 
I'm a happy white Enthoo Primo owner. You might want to look at the thread I made a couple of years ago documenting my water-cooled build.

Off the top of my head, there are a few things you need to think about when using the Enthoo.

  • Measure up where you're going to put the reservoir. The mounting plate has a cutout for the GPU, but if the GPU is long enough it might mean that you can't fit the res on the mounting plate in the way you'd like. I haven't seen the Titan X Pascal in the flesh yet.
  • On the mounting side of things, although the Enthoo Primo has a lot of space in it, there's not actually a lot of options for mounting things in non-standard places. As VKleita mentioned, one other place for a res would be the back of the case, especially if you can get an adaptor for it that mounts it to 120mm fan spaced holes.
  • Dual loop? If you mean dual pump/res with two separate loops, then you will have to get creative about where to mount things. Or you could use a drive bay res for one of the loops.
  • For the love of God fit a drain port (or two). I recently drained and refilled my machine. I have a drain port, but it's at the inlet side of the pump so coolant on the outlet side doesn't come back through the pump to go out of the drain. I actually did my back in turning the case on its side and end several times to get the coolant out. Seriously, I was crippled for a week. It's a heavy case even before you put stuff in.
 
VKleita

Thanks, I've just returned from Turkey safe and sound, no bombing but quite tense atmosphere there.

Now. I've got all I've mentioned in the first post, just bought my PG348Q monitor today.

I'm thinking of ordering titan x block and backplate really soon... still need the whole pump/top/res thing, although I've got that 250mm reservoir.

You actually think it might be too big for this case, to fit it all in front near the ram and gpu?

Now:

I didn't decide on 10/13 size, but I supposed it woul;d be the most popular size and best to find fitings and tubing and everything.
If you guys have a better recommendation, please assist with soft tubing and compression fittings. either black or green, preferably.
drain valve, would be a good addition, just never implemented it in my past watercooling build which was only cpu watercooling.
temperature monitoring? I've got the reveen six eyes with 6x temperature sensors, per se, just not really familiar with where to put them and how to "stick them so they remain at the desired places to monitor temps....
maybe you have a different thing in mind with temperature monitoring?
I'm watercooling both cpu and gpu, ram is too sexy and doesn't require watercooling, first will be both 6700k 4.8ghz and titan x oc'ed past 2ghz on a single 480mm reservoir
in the future will add another 480mm rad on bottom, just don't know what kind of rad will fit there, had an identical HWlabs 480 GTX ice and it was too thick and it didnt fit in the space between the psu shroud and the margin of the case
I've already bought it before christmas (the Titan X Pascal, wanted to remove screen tearing issues so bought the best gaming monitor worldwide, and wanted to remove microstuttering and heat and everything and bought the most poweful single gpu on the planet to go along with the monitor at 100fps
6700k , have had it for almost an year now, and yes, i've had i7's since 2011, can't see myself going back to i5's.

And quite importantly, I'm a green /nature lover kind of guy, so I'd love a change from the black or red builds, it's a pity i'll have to give up the GTX green logo from titan x, just the ram will be green then. but maybe with fittings and the extensions and maybe some green liquid or led's.. we'll see.

PS my Eisberg 240L prestige pump in the block/res just died after I've come back, no wonder I was seeing 80C on my cpu, water wouldn't move, so I got a 120k maelstorm cooler temporarely, till i sort CPU/GPU block, pump+top+cilinder reservooir that all fit together. I want specifics please, need them all to go along together, and fittings as well.

FOOP:
Thanks a lot for the input, mate, You've got a 480 rad, same case, and eloops!

TITAN X PASCAL IS one long mofo. GTX 970 fit in there just perfect without the need to remove the black plate over the reservoir place, so ... please tell me more before buying unnecesary and more obsolete things for my system. please look at the pictures in the links I think i've given a photo of the reservoir i have, do i need to try to sell or throw that?
Reservoir back of the case? I can't really imagine what you mean by adapter and fitting a reservoir on (Which) 120mm fan spaced holes).

Yeah might just go with single loop, dual loop will mean quite a mess in terms of tubing, dual pump dual res, indeed dual loop meant having dual pumps and res in the 5.25 bays... I actually wanted to put a cilinder reservoir to make it aesthetic and eye pleasing.
Ok, please help me with links, and why do you suggest two, and where? I'd love a drain port! last time i had to remove everything in one piece in order not to spill everything on my computer.
You're sooo right! even empty it kills you, not to mention I could barely lift it with everything mounted + push pull 480mm 60mm rad... I'll need your help on that matter as well. I really want to do this right from the first time, I don't have any more finances tbh, cards are topped out, so want a quality, pretty eye pleasing in terms of aesthetics and relatively affordable, but don't want to cheap out on pump combo things, and ofc minimum cpu block will be ek supreme hf.

FOOP! By GOD, it works! haha.
So I've got that reservoir which I think I will be able to mount eventually just as you did, right? do I need to drill (i don't have the tools to do it) some other holes in order to mount it? so instead of putting pump/top/reservoir cilinder 250mm in the front just as you did, i might be able to put the pump in the back and leave the reservoir if i can mount it for that matter. need links with examples on what to buy please. and as you bought the 45degrees rotary, maybe I can get the green monsoon ones, and some green compression fittings. what tubing would be best for performance etc, and for finding affordable compression fittings?

What do you mean coolant on the outlet side doesn't come back oh. i saw some pictures and I guess you either get water off the reservoir port (but i don't have any on the top... so please tell me if my reservoir is good or i need to buy soemthing else, and if I can just buy a d5 pump and some cheapo top to put in the back, and what should my loop be? PS: I've got a 240mm radiator from eisberg 240l Prestige , so i can use that temporarely if it helps dissipate moar heat and make pc less noisy :)

You guys are quite pro's in here and I'd love some proper feedback, really want this project to be successful.
 
OK so i took a few pictures... need pump/pump top suggestion, fittings , and loop order and 2 blocks.
9YxHubW.jpg
GVIo2Op.jpg
 
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John7up said:
TITAN X PASCAL IS one long mofo. GTX 970 fit in there just perfect without the need to remove the black plate over the reservoir place, so ... please tell me more before buying unnecesary and more obsolete things for my system. please look at the pictures in the links I think i've given a photo of the reservoir i have, do i need to try to sell or throw that?

FOOP! By GOD, it works! haha.
So I've got that reservoir which I think I will be able to mount eventually just as you did, right? do I need to drill (i don't have the tools to do it) some other holes in order to mount it? so instead of putting pump/top/reservoir cilinder 250mm in the front just as you did, i might be able to put the pump in the back and leave the reservoir if i can mount it for that matter. need links with examples on what to buy please. and as you bought the 45degrees rotary, maybe I can get the green monsoon ones, and some green compression fittings. what tubing would be best for performance etc, and for finding affordable compression fittings?
Click to expand...

If the reservoir mounting plate fits next to your Titan X ok, then that reservoir should be fine. You may need to drill some extra holes - I did.

cDHcEv6.jpg

But looking at your reservoir, it seems that those mounting brackets can slide up an down. If you're lucky you should be able to slide them to where there are already mounting holes - or they might even be there already.

As for fittings, I've always used monsoon compression fittings so I can't really comment on the others. Never had problems with Monsoon.

Tubing is also a matter of preference. I've used 16/10 and 13/10 in the past. 13/10 is less rigid and forms curves more easily, but it easier to put kinks in if you make too tight a bend. 16/10 is stiff and harder to work with, but also harder to kink. I used 16/10 in the Enthoo Primo build and because it's a nice big case it was easy to fit it in.

What do you mean coolant on the outlet side doesn't come back oh. i saw some pictures and I guess you either get water off the reservoir port (but i don't have any on the top... so please tell me if my reservoir is good or i need to buy soemthing else,
Click to expand...

Coolant doesn't flow backwards through my pump. The drain is on the inlet to the pump, so all the coolant on that side will flow out of the drain. The stuff that has gone through the pump onto the other side just sits there, so I have to tip the case to get it up through the rad and back into the reservoir.

and if I can just buy a d5 pump and some cheapo top to put in the back, and what should my loop be? PS: I've got a 240mm radiator from eisberg 240l Prestige , so i can use that temporarely if it helps dissipate moar heat and make pc less noisy :)

You guys are quite pro's in here and I'd love some proper feedback, really want this project to be successful.
Click to expand...

Putting the pump in the back is fine, I seem to remember that the mounting plate in the back works well for several different types of pump. The loop should be whatever works easiest - the order of things in the loop doesn't really matter, although you want your pump to be fed from the reservoir. This is fine with the reservoir on the mounting plate and the pump in the back.

What I did with my first build was buy the tubing and some fittings first, then use the tubing to work out what the easiest way to build the loop was. That way I could see if I was going to need right-angle or 45 degree fittings anywhere to avoid tight bends or get into corners. It's much easier to plan things when you know how easily the tubing bends and you can actually hold bits of tubing inside the case.
 
Cheers! in the future I'm planning to buy another 480mm radiator that fits in the bottom, so would a d5 pump suffice for those two? and as for the pump top, i need one that will fit a different reservoir in the future so that I have the whole setup out front. I'm still waiting for my titan x P block so there's a bit of time.. i know 90 degree fittings affect performance, restrict flow, but do the 45 ones restrict at all? is there a limit as to how many 90 i should use and how many 45?
 
This was my machine in the Enthoo before I moved to the Thermaltake case I'm using now:

WrN6t3I.jpg

Excuse the taller res, air made it not so clear at first.

I mounted a smaller res at the top right for CPU loop, then made a bracket to keep the D5 for that loop above the bottom rad hidden out of the way, then used 360mm rads top and bottom, and a 240mm rad at the back.

I also for a while ran a hexa extreme external radiator on the GPU loop too.

The EK 250 res fits in front of the graphics cards but not beyond them, so that bracket for res was not usable for me.
 
Here's the Mrs hard lined pink in my old case. My camera really sucks. Shows this way brighter than it is IRL lol.

M5fcG3o.png

That's an XSPC Photon D5 (170) res / pump combo. Still fits in front of the 980 in there.

Just giving you some ideas.

(excuse the pipe having air in - still needs some bleeding action.. gotta do the funky radiator dance when I have a spare hour.. she's cheesed her PC is out of commission til then LOL)
 
Amazing job DWTech! I would love to go your way, but I'm trying to stick with 2x 480 MM RADS , tho yours look really clean, neat n tidy! plus you've got a 240 rad vertically which is quite unique!
Can you tell me where can i get that combo, can you give me some links? I was thinking about d5 + green rez but dunno the top, and that combo might proove really expensive!

Hey guys!

Some items on offsale and not only. do you reckopn any of those fittings might be good for my rig/loop? and should i get the green rez and get a d5 pump for it (ps what top will i need for that, because I'd like to stick to my green setup :)
Green fittings seem expensive, I can go for white/black/green fittings if need be, still don't know what fittings size to get.



My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £91.40
(includes shipping: £10.50)
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I don't want to sound harsh but I literally can't be bothered to read all that text in this thread to comment on fittings... that list is just random fittings for all sorts of applications so not much help.

Maybe list what tube and size you want to use and go from there, if they aren't green then paint them green... The Monsoon modular D5 housing in green looks tidy and it's cheap.
 
Go for the fittings you want. I'd try keep it clean if your going for a coloured liquid then get plain black fittings as it can get a little over powering. Same with things like case LED's, get white.

I'd also go hardline 13 or 16mm. Flex tube can go cloudy after a few weeks. My hard line stuff looks as good as the day i first put it in.

13/16mm is down to preference. I went with 16mm in mine due to how large my case and board is. 13mm just looks too thin for me.

Either way it looks like it's going to be a pain in that case :D
 
tyler_jrb said:
I'd try keep it clean if your going for a coloured liquid then get plain black fittings as it can get a little over powering. Same with things like case LED's, get white.
Click to expand...

Totally agree, I think a bit of spot colour in the case like matching coolant, fan and heatsink colours but with white lighting is much more effective than having everything just one shade.
 
tyler_jrb said:
Flex tube can go cloudy after a few weeks. My hard line stuff looks as good as the day i first put it in.
Click to expand...

Not being funny but if well looked after/ Ph balenced there is absolutly no reason Flex tubing should go cloudly.
Mines been fine for the last 12 months.
 
VKleita said:
Not being funny but if well looked after/ Ph balenced there is absolutly no reason Flex tubing should go cloudly.
Mines been fine for the last 12 months.
Click to expand...

It wasn't anything hugely bad but it would make my red coolant look pink under my white LED stip lights. When removing the tubes after a few months you could see the difference between that and a new crystal clear one.

And yes I have tried several different coolants pre-mixed to mixed by myself with the same result.
 
tyler_jrb said:
It wasn't anything hugely bad but it would make my red coolant look pink under my white LED stip lights. When removing the tubes after a few months you could see the difference between that and a new crystal clear one.

And yes I have tried several different coolants pre-mixed to mixed by myself with the same result.
Click to expand...

That sounds more like UV damage on the tubing itself, UV LED's per chance?
In which case yes it will go milky, not water related but I see what you mean.

hmm
 
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