Full Water Cooling Build parts needed. First timer

[shankly1985]

Hello guys can you spec me a full water cooling setup for RX VEGA and soon to own i7 8700k

The new case I going to buy with be Lian Li Alpha 550
Since this is my first try at water cooling loop I would like to use flexible tubing and solid Red and Black colour.

Also would be really helpful for an easy to drain tap or something. Budget around £400 enough?

Thanks

 

[shankly1985]

Here you go comes in over your budget so you may decide to change fans or something but this should be all you need. Also I haven't included any fan splitters in case your case comes with a hub or whatever.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 
  
  
  • 2 x MagiCool Copper Radiator III - 360 mm= £36.95
  • 1 x Mayhems Ultra Clear Watercooling Tubing (38 - 12) 13/10mm - 1m= £1.99
  • 1 x EK Water Blocks EK-XRES 140 Revo D5 PWM (incl. pump)= £124.99
  • 1 x EK Water Blocks EK-Supremacy EVO - Acetal+Nickel= £51.95
  • 15 x EK Water Blocks EK-ACF Fitting 10/13mm - Elox Black= £4.99
  • 1 x EK Water Blocks EK-AF Ball Valve (10mm) G14 - Black= £14.99
  • 1 x EK Water Blocks EK-AF T-Splitter 3F G14 - Nickel= £7.49
  • 2 x Three Fan Bundle - EK Water Blocks EK-Vardar EVO 120ER Black (2200rpm)= £42.95
  • 1 x Mayhems X1 UV Red Premixed Watercooling Fluid 1L= £7.99
  • 1 x XSPC G1/4" Stop Plug - (Black Chrome) V2= £1.49
  • 2 x XSPC 360mm Radiator Gasket= £2.99
  • 1 x EK Water Blocks EK-FC Radeon Vega - Acetal + Nickel= £89.99

Total: £552.61
(includes shipping: £11.10)



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Thanks a lot for taking your time doing this. Would 1x thicker 360 Rad be enough for both GPU and CPU? Dont really want to install a Rad at the front of the case.

 

[shankly1985]

Thanks a lot guys all being taken into account.
Tubing I wasn't planning on using a coloured liquid for my first time and was just going to buy coloured tubing?

Didn't realise the case supports 420mm Rad think I will go with that and see how it performs.
Tbh guys am not looking at keeping really low temperature am just wanting stable GPU and Cpu clocks if that means I can do this at 40c 50c 60c am happy.

 

[shankly1985]

I'm basing that on the website, if you scroll to the bottom:
http://www.lian-li.com/en/dt_portfolio/pc-a550/

not sure if that's top or front.

If you're going coloured tubing instead of liquid (which is what I'd probably do) then maybe not having transparent blocks is better. Although I do like the transparent blocks (and it's nice to be able to see if there are air bubbles).

Going by the image at the bottom of this link it supports 3x 140 at the top
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DlGa8BLx0Yo17Ue7qLaxdnfqHXAX9fQp/view

 

[shankly1985]

@GoogalyMoogaly would air bubbles be easy to see if I just use the res/pump?

I might just go with clear tubing and red colour water.
The case also allows a GPU to be mounted front facing.

 

[shankly1985]

Hi guys Tubing thickness and fitting size do these all fit CPU and GPU blocks?

 

[shankly1985]

Yes, tubing size only depends on fitting size. While the size of the tubing they fit is different they all use 1/4" connectors to blocks and rads, etc.

Thanks
So is 10/13 tubing and fitting a good starting point? Am going all out here Bought i7 8700k comes monday, just need to wait for the case I want to come in stock. So motherboard, case and Ram and storage will be bought first followed by all the water cooling stuff.

 

[shankly1985]

1 radiator of 360mm will be fine. my itz case has 1 240mm radiator and its fine. temps dont go over 60 with a decent fan curve. with bigger rad comes lower temps.

Thanks
seeing the 420mm Rad isn't that much a jump in price the case I buying supports it I think why not just buy that.

 

[shankly1985]

Yeah, that's what I'd do. My understanding is that 16/10 is a little harder to bend due to it having 3mm thick walls instead of 1.5mm thick walls.

Also, I plan to order a 8700K soon (hoping the prices go down a bit as stock goes up).
I'm struggling to pick a motherboard, what one are you going for?

Got my 8700k for £395, going to get Asus strix E

 

[shankly1985]

Is that the one with or without WiFi? I was looking at the non-WiFi one of those.

Yeah, I'm hoping they'll get a bit cheaper. I realise OcUK seem particularly expensive, so I hope they'll drop their prices a decent amount when lots of places have stock.

Be nice to finally upgrade my 3930K.

With WiFi and Bluetooth. It's the highest end of strix series. Up from that is maximus line up

 

[shankly1985]

Hello guys sorry if this is a stupid question, expect more from me leading up to doing the build lol

On rads, blocks etc they is a in and out am I correct I should match all in and out? For example in from GPU should go to In on Cpu

 

[shankly1985]

No, you don't match In to In. Water always flows into In and out of Out. So if your loop goes Res > Pump > CPU > GPU > Rad > Res, then Pump Out goes to CPU In, and CPU out goes to GPU In, and GPU Out goes to Rad. I'll add that for bleeding purposes if your rad will have one port higher than the other, that should be the Out port.

Thanks So how about if I was to do something like this "please dont Laugh" lol
is it ok to Y-split the tubes?

Or am I just over thinking things here?

 

[shankly1985]

Please ignore its a stupid idea Loll

 

[shankly1985]

Just route the tubing in what ever way looks the best, make sure that you use the correct port into the cpu and the correct port out. Same as the pump/res.

The gpu and the rads do not matter.

Looking at your pic the easiest way to me would be from your gpu exit as in the top port straight into the cpu inlet, then from the outlet to your rad, then from the other port on the rad to your pump inlet and then pump outlet to your t-piece and back into the gpu block.

go from reservoir/pump > Rad > CPU > GPU >Res/pump. that is the easiest layout to think about. i have been told you can split the flow so it goes into both gpu and cpu with a Y splitter and have them meet up after the blocks. but it just makes it more likely to result in a mistake.

you will definitely want a drain port in there. between gpu and res/pump is a good idea.

Thanks guys I going to keep in simple, don't need extra confusion. From all the videos I seen people seem to just go from the GPU to the CPU. Also been told so long you have cool water from the rad going back into the pump I doing it correct.

 

[shankly1985]

Hello guys, didn't want to create a new thread to ask this question. On the new Asus ROG Maximus X Hero Intel Z370 they is Water Cooling Flow and In and Out. I would like to use this feature, what pumps support this?
From the manual
Water in, water out, and water flow connectors (2-pin W_IN; 2-pin W_OUT; 3-pin W_FLOW) These connectors allow you to connect sensors to monitor the temperature and flow rate of your liquid cooling system. You can manually adjust the fans and water pump to optimize the thermal efficiency of your liquid cooling system.

 

[shankly1985]

Use the T_SENSOR 2-pin connector at the bottom right of your motherboard. You need to plug a water temperature sensor into that and then you can plug your radiator fans into the PWM chassis headers and set them to react to T_SENSOR in bios.

Set the pump to a speed that suits you in terms of noise, and just leave it at that constant setting... Maybe around 1500RPM

That's how I had my Gene VIII setup before I bought an Aquaero LT6.

Thanks I understand abit better now, so I need to buy these
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/monsoon-premium-g-1-4-temp-plug-chrome-wc-137-mo.html

and something else for flow?

For monitoring water temp where would be best to place these for in and out in a loop? And I guess I would need to Y-split the cable?

Maybe I adding to much onto a first time build!