New loop for a wc noob

SiDeards73

SiDeards73

SiDeards73

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Joined
19 Feb 2011
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Hey guys im nearing the point where im about to order my new pc bits n pieces. I want a full custom lool, im going to be housing it in a Phantek Enthoo Primo.

Hardware wise it will either be a 4770K or an 8350, leaning towards the 4770k. I have a 290 that I want to put in the loop.

So im basically looking at cooling a gpu and a cpu. Would ideally like a rad in the top for cpu and one in the bottom for the gpu. Also like the idea of a bay res but im not opposed to the idea of a cylinder res inside the case.

So I basically need a parts list, as cheap as possible ideally. As I can swap bits out later for more expensive bits as the wife allows me lol
 
I would go for a supremacy block to start off as it has mounts for both platforms. 290x blocks dont come cheap but make a world of difference. As for radiators, you want about 360-480 worth in the whole loop depending on how much you are clocking but the more the merrier if you think about overclocking room. All the rads can be connected in one loop and order does not matter, as long as the reservoir can feed the pump well enough. To ensure this a pump res combo or a reservoir placed higher than a pump and jsut before it in a loop, is the way to do it.

Will come up with the spec in two shakes, just need to have a look at the case you are using :)
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-DCP 4.0 X-RES (Incl. Pump) £79.99
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-FC R9-290X - Acetal £79.99
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-CoolStream PE 480 (Quad) £59.99
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-Supremacy Clean CSQ - Nickel £52.99
2 x Primochill Primoflex Advanced Tubing 13/10 - Clear £5.99 (£11.98)
8 x EK Water Blocks EK-CSQ Fitting 10/13mm G1/4 - Black £2.99 (£23.92)
Total : £308.84 (includes shipping : FREE).



This pump can take an extra GPU block ro two if you want to Xfire in the future. If you want a bay version, there are a few by XSPC available or you can get a seperate bay reservoir and the same pump for £40.

I have both blocks and they are absolutely brilliant. The fittings are EK because they are among the cheaper compressions from good brands and they match the build. If you dont like them, pretty much any OCuk stocked compression will do. The tubing is my favourite out of the ones i have tried out too.

As for the radiator...:D

OCuk forums are probably getting pretty sick of my raving on about how awesome value it is. It features split fins in a similar fashion to xspc AX series which is their premium range. An impressive split fin FPI of 38 with a thickness of 38mm it is meant to be the best performance as far as ~40mm thick radiators go. The outer casing of the radiator is of a better quality than their older XT radiators (not that they are bad at all, i own 900mm worth myself!) and though core casing it isn't an advantage on the performance front, they look really nice if that is a plus.

Radiator fits on the roof and the extra few quid for a 480 over a 360 will be well appreciated by the 290x, trust me.
 
Thanks for the info Avenged, much appreciated. I was thinking of 2 x 360 rads myself, one in top and one in the bottom. Will modify your spec to fit that I think :)
 
If you can get away with it and wife agrees, then do it!

Two 360's is a hell of a lot, i have an 8350 @ 5.1 and a 290x on 240 + 360 and it is hitting no more than 50 degrees overclocked to 1241/1500. When i flash it to an asus bios, will be going higher and most definitely will appreciate the extra radiator then. Probably will hit 55-60 when the CPU and GPU are both stressed in intensive games.
 
Carbide 540D, project log is in my signature, although it is badly written and its layout is terrible for the moment. Will be updating it soon to make it an entertaining read.
 
While I can't really talk, as empty as mine is - 2x360 rads sounds like a pretty inefficient use of the Enthoo Primo to me. Likewise bay reservoirs, hidden behind the door.

I'd go with 1 or 2 480 rads, one on top, one on bottom; and a cylinder res.
 
Going for a single 480 on top will make draining the loop easier as the drain will be the lowest component.

It will also look totally baller when you get addictive to WCing and you fill up the rest of the case :cool:
 
I dunno, i just dont like having to hack things around to fit stuff, i know the case has a massive ton of options for fitting rads etc but i just dont think i want a 480 especially not in the bottom.

360 in top and bottom then add a 240 later on the side perhaps? or even the font. Seen someone put a 480 in the bottom and they had to hack part of the case to do it, thats not for me unfortunately, i dont want to get into dremel territory, not my cup of tea.

an inefficient use of the Enthoo Primo would be to buy it and only ever put air cooling in it imo lol.

Anyhow im sure once its all fitted out with the colour scheme i want it will look kickass, and as pointed out a cylinder res inside the case will look better than hiding a bay res behind the cases front door.
 
So ive settled for the 4770k, just putting my list together now for WC loop, going to go with that Heatkiller 290 block as it looks sublime, other than that the build posted above is pretty much what im going to go for, however i would like to add a drain point and also a temp sensor into the loop. My other question is the pump / res combo, do they do any of those with a bigger res? or do i just need to buy an addtional res and swap it over?
 
The spare tubes are available only from EKs website. They come in different sizes if you want a larger one.

The temp sensor would probably best be used to measure the temperature of the water in the reservoir, as that will be the most consistent read out. This can be done via a standard 1/4" temp sensor plug inserted into the reservoir input that you are not using.
 
Fan control not really an issue as my Phantek case has a built in Fan controller that can take 11 fans and control from a PWM header, so i was going to slap that on the CPU Header and let the whole thing be PWM controlled.
 
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