Full loop on a budget?

Jony27

Jony27

Jony27

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Hi, watercooling has always intrigued me in a way, so have been thinking whether I can come up with a full loop for my system for a decent budget
I was wondering how cheap you can get a "decent" full loop if you buy second hand?
My case can support 2xdual rads, slim at top and thick at the front, not sure if those are the right terms :p
I expect that it will be the CPU/GPU blocks that will bring up the cost?
 
Not really on a set budget as I was wondering how cheap you can get a decent loop if buying 2nd hand :)

Maybe the tile was a bit misleading, should have been something like
"How cheap can you get a full loop" :D
 
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If you dont really have a budget then the only person you really have to ask is yourself. Personally if I were you I would just do it as the peace off mind knowing your temps will always be safe is totally worth it
 
Do you think that £150-£200 could get me some decent kit if I were to buy everything 2nd hand?

I thinki of it more as a little project/experience :)
 
It might be possible.
2x240mm @ £20 each
CPU Block @ £30
GPU Block @ £40/50
Res @ £20
Pump @ £40

Add another £20/30 for fittings, tubing + cooling

Hmm ... more like £250?

Will need more effort in flushing components to ensure previous coolant stuff is all washed out, plus need to be mindful of o-rings and making sure they're not degraded or broken.

Personally, going 2nd hand is more hassle than its worth but if you want to treat it like a project, go for it :)
 
my first loop cost me well under £200
if you are prepared to be creative (and do some research) you can bend all sorts of items to service - radiators and pumps are often 2 of the most expensive single items and you can often pick these up for under £20 each instead of the £80+ each that "PC Watercooling" ones are
 
I wouldn't be too confident going that route since I won't know which ones are compatible for PC watercooling, knowing myself, I may end up with a completely different radiator :p

Thanks murah, I was looking at those, but after you add another rad and GPU block it costs around £350 :(
also, how well would those pump/res combo cope with 2x240mm rads?
 
Flow restriction of rads isn't massive either, although most definitely more than fittings! Your blocks are the biggest restriction. More than 2 blocks and I would start considering getting a 2nd pump in line
 
I'm building a loop at the moment which consists of parts from a shop in China, and listed on AliExpress (kinda like ebay merchant stores?)

So far I've got:

CPU Block - £10
Pump and Res - £25
GPU Block - £30

Postage was around £25.

There's a thread on Hexus forums if you're interested.
 
There are a few other things you can do to keep the cost down as well:

- Buy a universal GPU cooler (i.e. not full cover), for example the Alphacool HF 14 GPU, this is usually around £20
- Use a pond pump, like the Eheim Compact or Hydor L20, these are cheap but usually run off mains
- Don't buy a reservoir and use a fill port/t-line instead
 
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