First Watercooling Build! What have I got wrong?

tornado

tornado

tornado

Associate
Joined
17 Oct 2015
Posts
29
Hi all,

I am about to purchase my first WC build, and would greatly appreciate advice on what I have gone for. I'll take any advice/criticism on board, so please let me know - have I forgotten anything? Have I got anything wrong? Have I just made some bad choices?

Thanks very much in advance :)

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £2,413.32
(includes shipping: £38.16)
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Thanks a lot for the replies! In order...

Thanks for the reminder about fans - I put them under "cosmetics" which I'm adding later - mainly wanted to make sure I had the essential wc bits and they would all fit together and have the cooling ability for the gpu and cpu. The PSU, I have had brilliant experience with corsair before and so would like to stick with them as a brand, unless anyone has bad things to say?

Distilled water! Yes, thanks! I can get that locally though :-)

The monitor I thought was the best 4K at that sort of price bracket, I can't see a decent IPS without spending an extra couple of hundred?

CPU block, would this one work for the x99? https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ek-water-blocks-ek-supremacy-evo-nickel-original-csq-wc-645-ek.html

Pump, I am guessing that this works? Please let me know if I'm wrong! https://www.overclockers.co.uk/xspc-d5-vario-body-screwring-wc-141-xs.html as the pump with this top https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ek-water-blocks-ek-xtop-revo-d5-plexi-wc-889-ek.html

Thanks again for all the help! Have I got enough/correct fixtures, fittings etc to shape, install and run this fresh wc setup?
 
That's what I read too... Apparently the dedicated 2011-3 offers 2-3% improved cooling but as it isn't in stock... Glad to hear someone else has used that configuration with success though :-)

Thanks a lot for the feedback and help. I have about 5 hours to sort anything else before I order for delivery tomorrow! Are build logs still a done thing?
 
Oh I forgot to mention also - seems the coolant colour I want doesn't come in a premix so I'll have to make it up myself, distilled water, dye, and a biocide? Thanks again all!
 
Ah yes, sorry I misunderstood. Last things I'm worrying about then, I'm pretty sure I have the fixing matched to the tube diameter ok, and I think I have enough equipment for the pipe bending (I have a saw that will work fine already)?
 
Ah, temptation ;-) I do know what you mean though, that red light on the ROG is going to annoy the carp out of me in a green/purple rig. If I'm attaching a waterblock shouldn't I just go for the reference 980ti and some thing like this https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ek-water-blocks-ek-fc980-gtx-acetal-wc-652-ek.html (I need to check the compatibility). Good spot with the fittings, thanks!

The budget is... Flexible (unlike the tubing!) and aesthetics are pretty high on the list ;-)
 
Ace, that sorts that then :-) I'm just not exactly sure how the fitting work, seems like you can potentially connect them on any side. I may get a few right angle connectors anyway (I need to work out the exact layout in my head). At the moment it's going to be pump front middle, bay res above that, top mounted radiator. So I'm thinking right angle from res to pump, not sure if I'd need any anywhere else?

I'm having another look at screens too, sorta defaulted to the asus based on reviews but they were several months ago now!
 
Petey that looks fantastic! What 90s are you using there? I can't seem to find them, probably looking in the wrong place.

I've just seen I can get Sunday delivery as well, so I think I'll take a little more time and order tomorrow - hard doing all this on a smartphone!
 
Right, much easier looking into all of this on the laptop! Here is the new basket (I am still looking at the screens, and will decide on connectors etc once I sort the rest). My current decision is around the loop order - I have seen much arguing about whether it does or doesn't matter. As I'm using a bay res and planning to mount my pump front and centre the most direct order would be Res > Pump > GPU > CPU > Rad > Res. That feels wrong to me though, with the coolest liquid being pushed straight into the res. I could potentially run a long pipe from the pump on the floor to the rad on the roof and then cascade down through the components back to the res, but I worry on the pressure impact of having to push the fluid straight up the height of the PC. I'm also contemplating adding another small 120.1 rad on the back, which could help? I;d be grateful for any opinions or examples :) once again, thank you everyone so much for your help.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £2,515.16
(includes shipping: £28.02)
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ED: Although that said, this, if I am reading correctly, means I can mount fans on top of the 60mm rad and still have nearly 10mm clearance before I hit the mobo... pretty much restricting me to a pull-only config. Does anyone else concur? :)
 
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I think the link failed Petey? I'm not too worried about push pull really, as long as I can get the rad and one set of fans in I think I'll be happy. I'll almost certainly be using too many bays to put a rad up front, as I say, I could put a small one at the back but that would be at the expense of case airflow for the MB mainly.

Aesthetically I love the idea of the pump feeding straight up to the rad at the top, are my concerns about the pressure valid though?
 
Noxvayl said:
Like others have said I'd change the power supply. No need for 850W unless you want multiple graphics cards. 500-600W should be plenty.
Click to expand...

Thanks, as a few people have mentioned it I'll definitely review it :). The reason for the 850 is to give me the opportunity to SLI when I need to in the future without the need to replace the PSU...
 
Oooo yes that looks good! Not sure how the LEDs would react with the dyed fluid though? I'm pretty happy I could make that work, I guess the pump mounts straight into the back of the res in the drive bay? I like! :)
 
Excellent! Now for fans and aesthetics, I think I'll get and additional Phantek lighting strip to go inside. It'll be a purple ambience/green fluid build so I may add a UV light inside as well. I think a two fan arrangement should take care of the air cooling requirements. I'm guessing the fans should be configured to push through the rad from the outside?

ED: Although, with a bay res and hard tubing, where will I fill from...? Hmm.
 
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Haha, and I was thinking of a front bay fan controller too! Although I think the PWM connection on the Luxe should manage that for me. That fill option sounds good to me, I'll grab a bit of flexi tubing and a funnel :)

Its a shame the Corsair Air Series stats seem so terrible, they're the only decent purple I can find. I may go with uncoloured rad fans but I did like the idea of them glimmering through the top shroud on the case.
 
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Almost there then! 5 of those, one front, one back, three for the rad. One set of Phantek lights for the inside, one UV strip... I think that takes care of it? :)
 
The general rule of thumb I read was 120.1 per component being cooled + an extra 120.1 for the pot. With a pretty beefy CPU and GPU though I do share your concern... would an extra 120.1 on the back end make a significant difference? Would knacker my airflow though as I imagine the fan would need to pull cool air from outside through the rad to the inside? Gah...
 
Right, I'm reviewing the Screen and the PSU still, but other than that, here we go!

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £2,649.00
(includes shipping: £28.02)
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ED: I've run through a few piping diagrams and most will require a few right-angles, so I've stuck 5 in so that I can assess properly once I have all the components in
 
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