N00B for Watercooling with Fractal Design R4

[snartroad]

I am looking to get into watercooling before I upgrade my system (want to practise before playing with expensive stuff!)

So I was thinking of getting:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ek-w...0-performance-watercooling-kit-wc-9ac-ek.html
as a starting point. Currently it would connect to an i5 2500k, but eventually it will be running a new i5 (or i7 if I can spring for it) and a GTX1080.

The thing I am having a little problem figuring out is how to work out if that radiator is enough to cool both the processor and the 1080?

Also has anyone done water cooling with the Fractal Design R4? There is a small chance I might need to mount the rad on the outside of the case - due to the 8PIN ATX/CPU connector at the top of my current motherboard. As the R4 doesn't have any ports for water cooling hoses, anyone have a suggestion on the best way to get the tubes outside if I really have to?

 

[Blame]

IF you are going for this kit i would get a additional radiator. That 240mm rad is too thin to cool the CPU and GPU.

For the R4 i reckon you could fit the ek rad at the top. and you can get another 240mm rad for the front. The thicker the rad the better.

 

[Smffy]

I wouldn't say its not adequate, remember its all subject to how far you push things and what some people are happy with in temps others are not. The general rule of thumb so to speak is roughly 120mm per component cooled, but again this doesnt take in to account what you personally think is acceptable.

Will you get better than air temps with the 240mm? Yes. Will it sufficiently allow you to overclock and push CPU/GPU limits? Not massively. Will it work? Yes. Will it be better with fans working to aggressively cool the radiator? Yes. Doesn't that defeat the object? Sort of...

So its all relative really... But the key thing is pretty much, it will work fine to cool it for normal use but I would personally (though I think im backed by others) advise strongly against the EK slim rads. That is coming from someone with 2 x 360mm EK slims, my suggestion would be to find a good slim radiator (Hardwarelabs aces the category really) and buy the other components in isolation, I dont think it costs much more. The airflow is something you work a bit hard for in that case so the HWlabs with its nice and low FPI (fins per inch) count allows you to succeed much more easily, the EK slims are frankly awful at airflow. Sorry EK but they are.

 

[Doobedoo]

I've recently done one mate you could have searched.

240 up top 240 in front and a 120 at the rear. Temps have yet to go over 45oc on the GPU. Will hopefully be a bit better once I get the Aquaero all set up and finished.