Radeon vii first time watercooling! Advice please

Phlash · 9 May 2019 at 12:17

Looking to water cool my new Radeon vii when it comes but have no experience with water cooling other than buying pre filled kits.

Current setup:
Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX cube case
Corsair H115i cpu cooler pumping out the roof!
Radeon fury x pumping out the rear
2 280mm fans pumping in the front

I have room for a 280mm radiator in the front and going to keep the H115i.

Going to go with:
EK GPU block (Black)
EK-CoolStream CE 280 or 360
EK-XRES 140 Revo D5 RGB PWM Res/pump - is this enough if I choose to cool the CPU?
Fans TBD

What is a good solution for fuss/leak free connection pipe for an absolute beginner!?

Air flow would be:

280 fan blowing in from the rear
Corsair H115i blowing out the roof
EK cooler blowing in or out?

Thanks for any advice!

MikeTimbers · 9 May 2019 at 12:46

For a beginner the easiest option is soft tubing with barbs and clamps. It's cheap to do, easy to do, but looks "ugly" according to some. You could fit a block to the GPU and do the whole thing in a few hours.

If you don't like the idea of barbs and clamps, go with soft tubing and compression fittings. I would argue that you need to leak-test compression fittings for much longer than with barbs and clamps.

Avoid hardline unless you're a masochist who likes their machine to be in pieces for a long time while you learn.

Phlash · 9 May 2019 at 12:53

MikeTimbers said:
For a beginner the easiest option is soft tubing with barbs and clamps. It's cheap to do, easy to do, but looks "ugly" according to some. You could fit a block to the GPU and do the whole thing in a few hours.

If you don't like the idea of barbs and clamps, go with soft tubing and compression fittings. I would argue that you need to leak-test compression fittings for much longer than with barbs and clamps.

Avoid hardline unless you're a masochist who likes their machine to be in pieces for a long time while you learn.

"Avoid being a masocist" ... duly noted... Thanks for the advice!

I think I will skip the barb fitting too and go for compression.

MeddlE · 9 May 2019 at 14:51

Draw a plan of the layout so that you can work out which and how many connectors you need.

Definitely fit a drain valve, you'll wish you had if you don't.

Use premixed coolant, buy enough to do 2 fills.

Have a water temperature sensor in the loop somewhere, you only need one.

Leak test.

Phlash · 9 May 2019 at 15:07

MeddlE said:
Draw a plan of the layout so that you can work out which and how many connectors you need.

Definitely fit a drain valve, you'll wish you had if you don't.

Use premixed coolant, buy enough to do 2 fills.

Have a water temperature sensor in the loop somewhere, you only need one.

Leak test.

Excellent advice! Thanks!

I could use a quick release fitting at the "low" point to act as a drain?

Daunting this is!

area51 · 9 May 2019 at 16:55

Phlash said:
Excellent advice! Thanks!

I could use a quick release fitting at the "low" point to act as a drain?

Daunting this is!

Hardest part i found when first did was cutting rad into the roof and grill! getting it in best place for max room

you can get a 280 in the roof and a 360 in the front. you can mount res in other side of case. you could put H115i in the front of case(put fans pushing from front side)then either put a rad in roof or a 120/140 in the rear exhaust port either on inside or outside with fan on inside! one like an EK140 EX would be good

MeddlE · 9 May 2019 at 17:27

Phlash said:
Excellent advice! Thanks!

I could use a quick release fitting at the "low" point to act as a drain?

Daunting this is!

Also buy a tube cutter, so much easier.

Other than that take your time and enjoy the process.

MikeTimbers · 9 May 2019 at 19:24

Don't bother with a quick release, get a 3-way fitting aka a T-piece and a ball valve.

You also really benefit from a fill-port in the top of the case. Honestly it makes filling and draining so much easier.

ilc72 · 9 May 2019 at 21:15

I am thinking of doing this too, one question I have is whether you can get AIO like sleeving to put over the soft tubes to give an AIO look. Mad as it sounds I have a ASUS Ryujin 360 AIO so would like to keep the aesthetic!

TangoEchoAlpha · 9 May 2019 at 21:32

ilc72 said:
I am thinking of doing this too, one question I have is whether you can get AIO like sleeving to put over the soft tubes to give an AIO look. Mad as it sounds I have a ASUS Ryujin 360 AIO so would like to keep the aesthetic!

Not that I am aware of, but you can get black flexi tubing which should help give the aesthetic you are after - I'm assuming you are looking at 16/10 tubing.....

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x EK Water Blocks EK-Tube ZMT Matte Black 16/10 mm - 1m= £4.49

Total: £9.15 (includes shipping: £4.66)

ilc72 · 9 May 2019 at 21:36

TangoEchoAlpha said:
Not that I am aware of, but you can get black flexi tubing which should help give the aesthetic you are after - I'm assuming you are looking at 16/10 tubing.....

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x EK Water Blocks EK-Tube ZMT Matte Black 16/10 mm - 1m= £4.49

Total: £9.15 (includes shipping: £4.66)

Thanks I’ll take a look, need to choose a new GPU though that’s another post!

Safetytrousers · 9 May 2019 at 21:42

MeddlE said:
Also buy a tube cutter, so much easier.

My Victorionix scissors melt through tubing as well as any tube cutter could. And they double up as scissors.

Compression fittings are easy. I think you can guarantee no leakage if you fit the tubes on the barbs fully all the way round (got to dip the ends in boiled water).
I've fitted tube connections about 10 times and never had a drop of leak. They are what I begun on and have continued with.