First time custom loop

[PaulCa]

My latest built (1 month old) I bought with an NZXT x73 360mm CPU cooler. I added an Alphacool Eiswolf GPU AIO cooler. In short I am seriously impressed with the Eiswolf, but completely unimpressed with the x73. I mean it feels like if I filled the radiator with sawdust it still wouldn't make a difference. The radiator doesn't get hot, the CPU does. Prime95 will take it to thermal throttle pretty quickly. Checked the pump, it works, checked the radiator temp, it does sod all. Prime95 thermal throttled for an hour and the radiator temp is barely above ambient. Turning the pump down just makes it thermal throttle faster, so it is working. Leaving the machine in idle after that test and it takes ages for the radiator temp or coolant temp to come down at all. I feel there are just too many rubbish thermal junctions, not least the aluminium radiator and block, poor built in pump, thin tubing, etc. etc. and they all add up to "Satisfactory, just not great " performance.

Time to go custom, full copper (ex. tubing).

My first (actually about my 12th) run through to create a cart ended up with the following, roughly.

Alphacool XPX Aurora CPU block.
Alphacool STS30 Full Cooper 280mm (It's easier to fit than a 360 and more than enough).
Alphacool Res+Pump+pump top combo with a VPP pump
EDPM (or ZMT) matte black 16/10mm hose 3 meters.
6 pack of alpha cool deep black 16/10mm compression fittings (Straight).

That should be the basics right? To get started?

I added a bunch of nice to haves too.
Male/male converter + ballvalue + barbed fitting - as a reservoir drain.
2x 10k Temp sensor blanking caps (my mobo has water TempIN TempOUT headers)
A squeezy fill bottle.
1 litre of clear coolant.


First step is custom looping the CPU to replace the NZXT. Then I can consider cross feeding the two loops or joining them. The Eiswolf is an AIO, but it's built from custom loop parts. So I want to keep the pump and res capable of driving both if combined, although the Eiswolf pump will need to remain in the loop too. Later options include replacing the pump block on the GPU block with a standard distributor block.

 

[PaulCa]

Also. The X570 chipset needs cooling. It's probably fine for most people with airflow air-cooled rigs, but my fully water cooled rig has to maintain quite a lot of airflow JUST to keep the chipset from overheating. The GPU and CPU (in gaming) barely run much fans, so the chipset can and does overheat at 75*C and it does throttle. Creates a nasty lumpy experience. Mouse freezing stuff. So I now run 1 intake and 1 exhaust case fans, far more than I would like just to stop that and keep it under 70*C. Thats noise I don't want.

I believe you can use a small adhoc block to cool it, it's just finding the right parts to mount it.

 

[Drumroll]

Which CPU/GPU/Motherboard/Case?
From experience, a single loop with CPU + GPU would result on the CPU running slightly hotter than it would on its own loop.
If you're happy with the GPU AIO, I would get an AIO from Alphacool for the CPU and call it a day, as long as you can place the radiators in optimum positions.
For an O11D EVO based system, for example, I would run the CPU AIO on top as exhaust, and the GPU AIO on the side as exhaust, bottom intake.
But without more details about your hardware, hard to give a more detailed advice.

 

[Drumroll]

Also. The X570 chipset needs cooling. It's probably fine for most people with airflow air-cooled rigs, but my fully water cooled rig has to maintain quite a lot of airflow JUST to keep the chipset from overheating. The GPU and CPU (in gaming) barely run much fans, so the chipset can and does overheat at 75*C and it does throttle. Creates a nasty lumpy experience. Mouse freezing stuff. So I now run 1 intake and 1 exhaust case fans, far more than I would like just to stop that and keep it under 70*C. Thats noise I don't want.

I believe you can use a small adhoc block to cool it, it's just finding the right parts to mount it.

Which motherboard?
75C is way too much. Owned an Asus X570-F and an Asus X570-E Gaming WiFi II. The X570-F would be at its worst high 50s. The X570-E, which uses passive cooling, wouldn't go past 50C.
The main issue with the chipset and also the NVME is because they are located right next to the GPU which blows hot air straight over them.
The easiest/cheaper solution, depending on your case would be using a vertical GPU bracket, as long the GPU doesn't seat too close to the side panel, and you have some bottom intake to avoid the GPU from choking.
Some MSI boards, according to quite a lot of users, had one of the pins from the chipset fan bent, being unable to control its speed, and in some cases, not working. Worth checking if that is the case.
If all is as how it should be, maybe the case doesn't have enough airflow.
Some airflow focused cases can do with fans at very low rpm, keeping the noise levels under control.

 

[PaulCa]

Asus Crosshair Hero VIII, 5800X, 32Gb 3600 TeamGroup C16 16x2, Gigabyte 3080 Eagle, Firecuda Gen4 500Gb mv.2 (2 addition SSDs)

Buying an Alpha cool or EK AIO for the CPU is an interesting option. It would certainly place me closer to custom as I believe EK and AC kits are made from normal custom components. However, even EK and AC cheap out on components in there AIO. Things like pumps and reservoirs are the cheapest out of their line up.

On pumps and reservoirs, this is where I end up getting confuddled. To get a 150mm radiator that fits a standard pump like a D5 is seemingly very, very expensive at the moment. You can get an all in one, pump/res for £50. However, if you want a D6, it's £60+ for the pump and £100 for the reservoir! Da fu?

On the X570 chipset. It has a fan, but having seen the tear down it's really just a token fan. My GPU is water cooled, so no hot air for it. Except heat soak from the main board.

Sitting here at idle, not done much except web browser since I booted 30 mins ago and the chipset is at 62*C.

Idle airflow is limited. 3x120mm NZXT radiator intake fans at 600rpm and one intake case fan at 50%. Almost everything, including CPU and GPU settle down to about 40*C at idle. Except the chipset at 62C and the VRMs at 47*C. There is air exiting the top and back of the case, it feels fairly cool to the hand. If I ramp all the fans up to 50% the chipset comes down to about 55*C eventually. 48*C with all fans on 100%. That's idle. Gaming it's 15-20*C hotter. Maybe the cooler isn't fitted properly, maybe I disturbed it fitting the mv2 drive.

Anyway, if I go custom loop, it's a block + 2 fittings + 20cm of tubing to cool it. Assuming the block (I have found a few) fits under the GPU.

Oh. The 5800X is overclocked. Single core boost to 5Ghz, all cores 4.8Ghz. A curve optimized PBO tune.

 

[Haz123]

If you are worried about chipset cooling then go for a different mobo with X570s. It is just 7w chipset and not 15w like the standard X570, afaik it is passively cooled on all mobos that have it.

Do not forget a drain valve and plan where to put it.

 

[PaulCa]

Do not forget a drain valve and plan where to put it.

Aye! The plan was a male-male adapter + ball valve + barbed fitting. I can probably remove the barbed fitting and replace it with a blanking cap 99% of the time. Aiming for bottom of the res. As long as I can get a bit of hose on the barbed fitting, it will be good. I might even be able to reuse the barbed fitting for a fill hose. My case (Define 7) has a fill hole for this purpose.

Radiator mounting. As I have an AIO I have the radiator hoses at the bottom, so any air will float to the top of the radiator.

In a custom loop I have seen information suggesting you want to put the hoses at the top to make it easier to push that air into the reservoir.

Any confirmation on this? I suppose it means rotating the case and jiggling a little could dislodge air bubbles, as opposed to tubes at the bottom which would require you turn the rad completely upside down to remove air.