Sanity check please before order

atomic7431

atomic7431

atomic7431

Soldato
Joined
18 Feb 2004
Posts
3,095
Location
Lincolnshire
Im about to water cool my pc whilst buying a 1080 from Evga.

Can someone with more knowledge than me check i have all i need please.

Do i need any more things for a drain?
will i have enough coolant/tubing?
Do i have the right fittings?

This is all going in a Thermaltake X5 Riing Edition green case as here.

I will fit both rads at the top of the case and i have these 120 mmm fans already but not sure they will be any good as dont know there static pressure https://www.overclockers.co.uk/noiseblocker-nb-eloop-fan-b12-ps-120mm-pwm-1500rpm-fg-056-nb.html

I also have a a NZXT grid v2

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,411.40
(includes shipping: £11.70)
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do i need something to mount the res/pump to the case?

thanks for looking
 
It is generally considered not a great idea to mix brands for fittings and tubing unless you know 100% they have absolutely identical measurements... just because they say so doesn't mean they are. I have heard Primochill are a bit off also, so I'd double check that if I were you... I've never used them myself however.

You have compression fittings which are wrong for hardline.

Also, you have compression fitting QDC. That won't work with hardline, and how are you going to use a QDC with hard tubing anyway?

The NZXT+ as far I'm aware does not have UV in its spectrum, so you would need a specific UV cathode or LED strip to see the UV effect of your coolant.
 
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Sorry ignore me, I thought that was hardline, it's not. I'm on my phone and couldn't see properly lol!

My point on the brands stands though.
 
3 Extra fittings: 2 required, 1 to use when draining.
1 Splitter: For adding drain into the loop.
1 Male / Male fitting: To connect tap to splitter.
1 Plug: Prevent accidents if drain is knocked.
1 Extra bottle of coolant: 1 might not be enough with 2 x 360mm rads.
5 Less tubing: That's waaaaay more tubing than you're going to need

Splitter, male-male and plug required:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £19.45
(includes shipping: £3.48)
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Hope this helps :)
 
ok many thanks for the advice :)

slightly edited basket, i see there is no ek 45 deg fittings so to keep things the same make what else could i use and which tubing if the primo chill isnt recommended ?

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,412.40
(includes shipping: £11.70)
​


​

would this be any better tubing? - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/xspc-highflex-hose-3-8-id-5-8-od-16-10mm-2m-clear-uv-wc-126-xs.html

i may have to rethink the uv side of it
 
I would say the best advice ref the tubing is just to find someone who's used it with those fittings. If you can do that you then know they go together no problem. Some people have had issues mixing brands where it's too tight or too loose.

I think UV is a nice way to go. I used it in my build and it's the best of both worlds in my opinion. No issue with staining but gives a very nice effect. Of course, you are then stuck with that colour, so a totally clear coolant and RGB lighting gives you more options of course, assuming the rest of your build is neutral.
 
ok many thanks again, i have changed the fluid to clear and will stick with normal RGB lighting for now.
Changed the tubing as well, seems it should be ok, also cheaper not that its an issue. Can always change it out in a few months if i decide i want something different.

Am i there now lol ?


My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,402.39
(includes shipping: £11.70)
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​
 
Don't forget the 3 extra "EK Water Blocks EK-ACF Fitting 10/16mm - Elox Black" as you're 2 short to complete the loop, and need an extra for when you want to drain it.

As Legend says tubing / fittings can be a bit hit and miss when mixing brands. As you qualify for free shipping I'd just order 1m of tubing and check if it's a decent fit, can always get more ordered :)
 
Thanks added those now :)

will fire off the order now.

Thanks for all the help and advice i will post pics once up and running, would be much easier if Ocuk were a lot closer to here so i could pop in if i needed anything .....

We need a second location down in this area, ever thought about opening a new premises hehe.
 
atomic7431 said:
Thanks added those now :)

will fire off the order now.

Thanks for all the help and advice i will post pics once up and running, would be much easier if Ocuk were a lot closer to here so i could pop in if i needed anything .....

We need a second location down in this area, ever thought about opening a new premises hehe.
Click to expand...

Good luck! Look forward to seeing how it turns out. The 1080 is a nice looking card. You could save yourself £100 buy getting an FE and block separately, performance difference will be negligible. You should get free postage with any order if you've linked your forum account, so that makes things a bit easier. Where in UK are you?
 
im lincolnshire, boston, its quite a drive to Ocuk :) and most bigger shops are not local to us, we have to travel for anything half decent.
 
So by 2pm you'll have arms like Popeye from all the radiator cleaning :D

Good luck, look forward to seeing some pictures once you've got it all built. Also be interested to see how the card performs as I was also tempted by the 1080 Hydro Copper. Currently using the 980Ti version and it's a beast :)
 
Yes and im doing a complete rebuild as moved home and now need the window of the case on the left not its right where i currently have it set up.
 
Will up pictures of hue and it's accessories etc as well then. Plus a small story of today's events so far. I'm out at present but have already flushed the rads.
 
Ok yesterday i received all the parts i ordered and i checked them off the list which i ordered online and the list in the box.
To my surprise i had some 16 gb ddr3 ram which i never ordered any ram at all. I also had 2 pump res combos in the box as well. Now me being me it didnt sit well that i had additional parts i didnt pay for so i called Ocuk and asked if i had qualified for some free stuff other than the Haribos lol.
The gentleman on the phone checked and said no, so i explained what i had extra and he was surprised and for my honesty gave me a copy of Gears of War free download code which most of the gpus have attached to them except the one i ordered.
Now he didnt have to do that and i told the gentleman he was a star and i thought it would be nice to show him some respect on here too, so a big thank you to who ever you were in the sales team :)

Maybe im mad but i cant keep something which aint mine.
I have sent the item back to Ocuk this morning in a pre paid dpd box :)

Build delayed slightly as had to order one of these to fit the pump and res -

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £17.69
(includes shipping: £8.70)
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Had to re think the rads at the top as the thickness with fan attached made one of the rads touch the gpu and i couldnt sit in place properly. Now one rad is attached to the floor at the front of the case blowing air through the rad and out the bottom.

The other rad remains at the top, will need to think where to put rgb lighting as the thickness of the rad and fan will obstruct where i was originally going to put the led strips.

Still routing cables etc as i have had to move a lot of stuff and place hdd etc in another location to facilitate the lower rad and fans. Im not sure what the build will end up looking like but i will learn a fair bit from getting in there and doing my first custom water cooled loop/build.

i have taken some pics along the way but no doubt the pros will look far better lol, still its interesting and i cant thank my wife enough for the parts etc :)

Delivery for pump/res fitting will be here tomorrow, fingers crossed.
 
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So everything arrived over a couple of days due to me needing the extra mounting bracket and at the same time i ordered a temp sensor for the loop.




here is one of the rads all flushed out and ready for the fans to be fitted


These are the fans i will be using for the rads, i already had some from previous build
Noiseblocker NB-eLoop Fan B12-PS - 120mm PWM (1500rpm)

Now rads were going in the top of the case but because of the depth of them with the fans connected, they hit the top of the gpu and i wouldnt have been able to put them in place so i had to move to plan B and placed one in the top and one in the bottom.
I didnt take a pic of this so here is the bottom rad in place with a fitting and one pipe showing as fitted from further in the build.


Now the water block, very shiny :)


I have never used this thermal paste before but have to say im impressed with the thickness for spreading and the applicator it comes with


The paste applied to the cpu, looks thicker on the pic than it is


Block fitted



The gpu looks nice and lots of options for tubing inlet/outlet


fitted the pump holder to the stand on top of a 120mm fan



i changed out the broken rubber for a new one.

Now i have gone for clear/uv liquid and decided to go the route of RGB HUE led lighting with the extension kit so i have plenty of scope cable wise etc and it gives 2 extra led strips






extension kit



So now i started fitting it all together with the tubing and making sure the ins and outs were where i needed them and the loop would work once complete.
Pushing the tubes onto the fittings wasnt too difficult but at the same time i could tell they were secure/tight.




Now to fill the loop up with the fluid i created this



Works like a charm and ive kept it for future use.

At this point i started to fill the loop and was careful not to let the pump run out of fluid from the res. Now this is where i learned a lesson i wasnt aware of.
I had connected the pump pwm to the fan header on the motherboard and the loop wasnt flowing well at all. I couldnt get the loop to fill with water only half tubing full etc.
A quick search on the net and i found that you needed the pwm connection not connected while filling the loop as it only runs at 10% of its pumping capacity.
Disconnected the pwm and wham the fluid was soon racing around the tubes and rads etc. After a fair bit of case shaking etc to remove the bubbles everything was full :)






apologies for the reflections.

I have fitted a drain port to the out on the pump via a y piece but no pics of that silly me.
All in all would i do it again if monies permitted, dam right i would, after having to rejig hdd positions, rad placements, wires wires and did i mention more wires. It was a challenge for my first venture into a true custom water loop and its been a very rewarding experience.

now i have the rgb lighting setup to a flame flicker and the colour, well you will see that in the pic :)




its a deep red
and a subtle blue

Thoughts and questions welcomed im very happy with it hope others like it too.
 
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Well as long as you're happy, that's all that really matters. Personally I would have gone with hardline tubing, just because looks so much better IMO, especially with that amount of visibility through a window, but it presents a whole new challenge of course. As you've touched upon, you would certainly benefit from some better cable management, trying to run the wires a bit more discreetly, and also cable extensions or even a full set of replacement cables would work well given the visibility of the PSU. Apart from that, good job. How are the temps and noise levels?
 
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