soooo AIO or DIY Bundle

Admiral Huddy · 3 Feb 2017 at 10:15

Legend said:
Quite simply you are doing custom loops wrong if you are finding AIOs just as effective in performance. ...

Ok, maybe wrong choice of words.. My point is that as TDP's are coming down, there just isn't the need for a custom loops.. AIO's are fine for even the most moderate overclocked systems.

Thekwango · 3 Feb 2017 at 10:42

VKleita said:
The problem with Watercooling is;

1) Its very subjective, what you consider "Good enough" can be very diffrent from someones else's budget plays a massive factor in this

2) Some people really care what their pc looks like, others dont care and just want it to "Work"

3) Skill level; Is the person willing to start cutting holes in their case etc.

As such I find watercooling very personal and always find it extremely difficult to ever give anyone any advice on what to get...

fair statement. so what I might do then, is pull a list together myself of what I want/like and maybe chuck it up here for advise as to whether it all fits!

VKleita · 3 Feb 2017 at 11:08

Sounds like a plan

We can then spot any issues that we have seen ourselves etc

Thekwango · 3 Feb 2017 at 13:13

so can't link everything as it's not all available at OcUK

so bearing in mind this is going to be a simply cpu only loop here goes with the list thus far - please don't laugh if I make a ridiculous list that is nowhere near compatible!

Black Ice Nemesis 360 GTS

EK-Xres 140 Revo D5 PWM (incl pump)
*note - I had looked at separate D5 pumps and reservoirs as I liked the look of some of the seperate reservoirs (eg the phobya balancer 150 - but I can't for the life of me work out what stand alone pump goes with what! if some one felt like taking the time to explain to me what i should be looking at for separate pump & res it would be appreciated but if not the combo should do)

EK-Supremacy MX - assume this would fit an i7 7700k

Mayhems Ultra Clear 16/10 Tubbing - probably couple of metres to allow me to play about with and make mistakes, is this enough?

Coolant & fans - those are easy, coolant wise something from the Mayhems UV range - not decided yet. same with the fans, haven't settled on any just yet but even i can work that out!

Fittings - oh my, where do you begin.
i think i need 2 x EK-ACF Fitting 10/16 for the water block but I'm a bit lost as to what i need to fit to the res/pump! would 2 more of these attach to the pump or possibly a couple of 90 degrees fittings?

Bluntwrapped · 3 Feb 2017 at 13:19

Thekwango said:
fair statement. so what I might do then, is pull a list together myself of what I want/like and maybe chuck it up here for advise as to whether it all fits!

OCUK don't seem to have everything you'll need so it becomes quite difficult to provide links for everything (would be against the rules of the forum).

Rad - Black Ice Nemesis GTS 360

Fans x 3 - Would recommend digging online for the Scythe GT1850's, even if you need to order them from America they're worth the wait. Sure there are similar alternatives but the GT's are silent even at full speed (no annoying tone) and push much more air than others. The static pressure rating is excellent also.

Tube pump/res combo - The EK one you linked or similar

Tubing (you'll need 2m to be on the safe side) - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ek-water-blocks-ek-duraclear-tubing-16-10-clear-1m-wc-9dk-ek.html

Fittings (you'll need 6 if you're going for a pump/res combo) - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ek-water-blocks-ek-acf-fitting-10-16mm-elox-black-wc-781-ek.html

Fluid (if you want a clear fluid) - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ek-water-blocks-ek-ekoolant-evo-clear-premix-1l-wc-752-ek.html

If you want to use a coloured fluid I would go with the coloured EK premix 1L, or a Mayhems Pastel 1L premix.

That should be pretty much you good to go.

Thekwango · 3 Feb 2017 at 13:29

Bluntwrapped said:
OCUK don't seem to have everything you'll need so it becomes quite difficult to provide links for everything (would be against the rules of the forum).

Rad - Black Ice Nemesis GTS 360

Fans x 3 - Would recommend digging online for the Scythe GT1850's, even if you need to order them from America they're worth the wait. Sure there are similar alternatives but the GT's are silent even at full speed (no annoying tone) and push much more air than others. The static pressure rating is excellent also.

Tube pump/res combo - The EK one you linked or similar

Tubing (you'll need 2m to be on the safe side) - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ek-water-blocks-ek-duraclear-tubing-16-10-clear-1m-wc-9dk-ek.html

Fittings (you'll need 6 if you're going for a pump/res combo) - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ek-water-blocks-ek-acf-fitting-10-16mm-elox-black-wc-781-ek.html

Fluid (if you want a clear fluid) - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ek-water-blocks-ek-ekoolant-evo-clear-premix-1l-wc-752-ek.html

If you want to use a coloured fluid I would go with the coloured EK premix 1L, or a Mayhems Pastel 1L premix.

That should be pretty much you good to go.

excellent - so for the most part what i listed wasn't too far away. is the cpu block ok?

Bluntwrapped · 3 Feb 2017 at 13:40

Yep you were pretty much there man. The CPU block you've linked is fine, you're going for a 7700k?

Thekwango · 3 Feb 2017 at 13:52

Bluntwrapped said:
Yep you were pretty much there man. The CPU block you've linked is fine, you're going for a 7700k?

aye, was going to wait and see what ryzen brought to the table but getting bored of the wait. had originally planned a rebuild around Christmas time but dealing with morons caused a change of plans!

Legend · 3 Feb 2017 at 14:23

Is there a reason you don't want to go hardline? It does look WAYYYY better, and you also won't have the issue of plasticizer gunking up your blocks over time. Also, having done CPU only loops before, you will be far more aware of GPU fan noise when you do this, so it's something to keep in mind if you value silence.

Thekwango · 3 Feb 2017 at 14:29

Legend said:
Is there a reason you don't want to go hardline? It does look WAYYYY better, and you also won't have the issue of plasticizer gunking up your blocks over time. Also, having done CPU only loops before, you will be far more aware of GPU fan noise when you do this, so it's something to keep in mind if you value silence.

time is my main constraint. i imagine hardline tubing involves a lot more time to get right? i assume you have to heat it to bend etc

to be honest noise isn't an issue - it's mainly though not solely for the aesthetics. that probably sounds a bit 'vain'! I'm planning on mounting the inwin 303 on a wall shelf so don't want to be looking at fugly air coolers. also i'll likely change out the gpu in a couple of months

Bluntwrapped · 3 Feb 2017 at 14:47

The wait for AMD feels like it could go on forever

You'll maybe also need some 3 pin fan extensions, or a 3 way 3 pin splitter to molex.

Depending on the fans, you may get away without a controller and run them at full 12v.

The EK tubing I linked must be quite new, like LRT the inside wall is resistant to leeching so you shouldn't have to worry about anything gunking up over time. I ran the LRT for about a year and a half with no problems.

Thekwango · 3 Feb 2017 at 17:09

i was thinking pwm fans. i'll probably just source UK stock - i know the fans you are talking about and while they are/were awesome think it'll be too much of a flaff sourcing.

i'll most likely stick with the flexible tubing but out of curiosity how do you go about bending/shaping the hardline stuff (it does look much tidier!) is it heat gun and patience or am i missing something?!

Thekwango · 3 Feb 2017 at 18:43

god damn it, should have just bought the Thermaltake AIO I linked in OP.

just spent the past hour and a bit watching videos on how to bend PETG. I vowed when I posted this thread I wouldn't get carried away. that I was just looking for a visually pleasing cooling solution that was NOT a time sink and here I am now trying to figure out how to bend plastic tubing. I hate these forums sometimes :mad:

Legend · 3 Feb 2017 at 19:05

Thekwango said:
god damn it, should have just bought the Thermaltake AIO I linked in OP.

just spent the past hour and a bit watching videos on how to bend PETG. I vowed when I posted this thread I wouldn't get carried away. that I was just looking for a visually pleasing cooling solution that was NOT a time sink and here I am now trying to figure out how to bend plastic tubing. I hate these forums sometimes

It's actually not THAT hard, but if you are in this for aesthetics as much as any other reason, it's really the only way to go.

Thekwango · 3 Feb 2017 at 19:33

Legend said:
It's actually not THAT hard, but if you are in this for aesthetics as much as any other reason, it's really the only way to go.

think I might put you on ignore!

edit: yea once you have the 'kit' bending and shaping seems relatively easy - if a little time consuming (the one damn thing i'm a little tight on!)

actually got a question for you, the darkside uv strips - how many did you need to illuminate your build, I was thinking 2 as that's usually enough for normal led lighting but never having used UV before thought i'd maybe ask someone who uses them

Legend · 3 Feb 2017 at 21:08

Thekwango said:
think I might put you on ignore!

edit: yea once you have the 'kit' bending and shaping seems relatively easy - if a little time consuming (the one damn thing i'm a little tight on!)

actually got a question for you, the darkside uv strips - how many did you need to illuminate your build, I was thinking 2 as that's usually enough for normal led lighting but never having used UV before thought i'd maybe ask someone who uses them

Yes two strips would be fine.

new boy · 3 Feb 2017 at 21:46

The main benefit of custom loop is watercooling the GPU IMO

If you are not going to bother with the cost and effort of watercooling the GPU, then I think an AIO makes more sense to be honest.

Thekwango · 3 Feb 2017 at 22:01

new boy said:
The main benefit of custom loop is watercooling the GPU IMO

If you are not going to bother with the cost and effort of watercooling the GPU, then I think an AIO makes more sense to be honest.

You're probably quite right. I may well expand the loop to the gpu at a later date when I upgrade my current gpu. But I'm not going to the hassle and expense just now of water cooling a 380x when I'll likely be replacing it in a few months time.
This has turned out to be more than I ever planned, time wise, so I'm going to treat it as a little project and take small steps, so to speak. Next time round, in about a years time if I don't fry the rig or burn the house down I may well go all out on the cpu and gpu.

new boy · 3 Feb 2017 at 22:10

I went all used parts when I did my custom water cooled loop (mostly from the mm) the only new bit bit was the tubing + like 2 fittings I was missing.

I think it cost me about £120 all in for a DDC pump + bitspower top and mini res, 2 x 280mm rads, an EK supremacy CPU block + an EK full cover block for my 290x + enough fittings to do the job. I then spent a stupid amount on posh fans which kinda ruined my budget thing lol. Oh, and I had a aquarous 5 lt kicking around from a failed project, so that was put to use.

So that's another option, though yeah, you take a risk I guess by going used.

Some things like blocks, especially full cover GPU blocks defiantly make sense going used IMO as significant savings can be had

It depends what you goals are really. I did it for fun and doing it as cheap as possible added to the fun for me, and the results were fantastic which was a bonus lol.

Thekwango · 3 Feb 2017 at 22:18

Damn, got all your bits for a nice price. Think I'm in excess of 300 quid already! I think I could probably get the pump and res costs down a bit by going separate but the combo unit will just make things that bit easier for me. I hope!