Watercooling inside my Phanteks Enthoo Primo.

Dear Overclockers ,

First of all i would like to give a little intro about myself.

My name is Peter-Jan
I am from the Netherlands
My age is 22 years young
I do like to play simulation games and also fixing computers is one of the things i like to do (Mostly for family though haha )
In the summer days i go out to enjoy the nature and also for fishing.

Oke that's enough about myself haha.

I am in need of your help.
I would like to watercool my cpu and my gpu.
A silent pc is important for me but a cool system is also very important.
Now i do not have any components for the watercooling and i do hope you can advise me what components to pick.

I am sure it is important for you to know what hardware i do have at this moment.
Here we go..

Case: Phanteks Enthoo Primo
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H
CPU: Intel Core I5 4670K
Ram: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (DDR3 1600Mhz)
PSU: Seasonic Platinum Series 760W
GPU: Asus GTX 780 TI

I think that´s enough information

Now my wishes for the watercooling components:

I would like to have clear tubing hoses so white coolance can flood trough.
The fittings i would like to get in a chrome color.
Not to large fittings so the tubing isn't to big as well.
A full cover waterblock for the gpu would be great.

I do hope you have enough information from my side so you can advice me what to get and what not

Greetings from MetalGovy (Peter-Jan)

Silence, look at the XSPC RX radiators and some Gentle Typhoon AP-15 fans.

Fluid, don't use dye. It causes issues and inhibits performance. Get some white Primochill Advanced LRT instead.

EK has a water block compatibility list, check there for the GPU block.

Definitely chose the right case for this!

3/8" or 7/16" ID tubing is probably going to be the way to go, good compromise between size, flexibility, and performance imo.

As ATMINSIDE said, get white tubing instead of using dyed coolant. Dyed coolant requires a lot more maintanance and you'll have to break down the loop and clean everything thoroughly every 3-6 months. Using plain distilled water with a biocide (silver kill coil, ptnuke, deadwater, etc) will last a lot longer before requiring maintenance and will generally provide slightly better temps.

Tons of options for fittings out there.. You can do standard barbs and clamps or you can get compression fittings. This is mostly going to come down to taste, whatever you feel comfortable with and that you think looks good.

There are tons of options for CPU blocks that are good. XSPC, EK, Koolance, Heatkiller, the list goes on. Check out http://martinsliquidlab.org and http://skinneelabs.com for info on performance for various components.

GPU blocks have fewer options, but there are still Aquacomputer, Heatkiller, EK, XSPC, and a few others that all make good gpu blocks. Check with the manufacturer to see if they make a block that fits your specific 780 Ti. (should be pretty easy if its a reference card)

Check the stickies here in the watercooling forum as well. Tons of good info to help you learn and understand what it is you really need for a good setup that performs within your expectations.

Spend a lot of time reading and learning before you buy anything, and make sure you know 100% exactly what you're getting yourself into. If you find that you're still wanting to move forward, you'll know how to do it right. And then, you'll be hooked with the rest of us! lol

Thank you very much for your reply's guys !
So far this has been really helpfull.

What about the Alphacool NexXxoS ST30 360 radiator?
At martinsliquidlab i found out that they are great for low rpm fans.
I forget to mention i already got these fans: Noiseblocker eLoop B12-2 (Got 6 of them).
These should be good enough for watercooling right?
In my air build they are very silent @ 800rpm.
Related to waterblocks i did found this cpu block: Alphacool NexXxoS XP³ Light - Acetal Edition
I didn't find alot of reviews about it but it seems a good block as far as i can see.
Would this be a good choice over a EKWB for example?
It also depends on the rest of the setup alot right?

heres how it could look lol

That looks nice S_I_N !
I do not want to get into a push-pull config but just a push config.
From what i've seen so far including your pictures i do find a slim sized radiator nicer.

those are UT60's top is 420mm or 3x 140mm and bottom is 280mm or 2x140mm I'm using 7/16 x 5/8 tubing and Monsoon free center compression fittings. The rez is a Monsoon V2 dual bay rez with a single D5 its capable of single or dual loops I went single this time for cleaner tubing.

OP, the RX360 outperformed the ST30 360.
The RX is made for low-RPM fans, its only an 8fpi radiator.
That said, if you like slim radiators better, the ST30 is pretty awesome!

Those fans will do just fine, a lot of people choose them.

I would check at Martinsliquidlab for CPU block reviews.

@ ATMINSIDE

Thanks for clearing that out !
Would a 360 and a 240 rad be enough?
What pump would you guys advice?

I found this reservoir/pump combo: http://www.xs-pc.com/water-pumps/d5-photon-170-reservoirpump-combo
Would this be a good choice?

MetalGovy said:

@ ATMINSIDE

Thanks for clearing that out !
Would a 360 and a 240 rad be enough?
What pump would you guys advice?

I found this reservoir/pump combo: http://www.xs-pc.com/water-pumps/d5-photon-170-reservoirpump-combo
Would this be a good choice?

Click to expand...

I would get a single 480 rad for your setup, since you have an Enthoo Primo.
It fits, it'll give the necessary cooling, so why not?

For silence check out the MCP35X from Swiftech. Its PWM controlled, so you can control the pump speed from the OS as long as its plugged in to a 4-pin header.

Hm you are not making it me easy eh hahaha
At martinsliquidlab i can't find 480 rad reviews.
At a few sites i did read that the XSPC RX480 is a good one.
But it seems a thick one to me.

MetalGovy said:

Hm you are not making it me easy eh hahaha
At martinsliquidlab i can't find 480 rad reviews.
At a few sites i did read that the XSPC RX480 is a good one.
But it seems a thick one to me.

Click to expand...

Just compare the 360 rads, then add ~30% heat dissipated for their 480 counterpart

The RX line is fairly thick, but this case has PLENTY of room for them. Has room even for the Monsta radiators, which are absolutely massive lol.

Here's an example for a push config:


This is an XSPC AX360 in the top, XSPC AX240 in the bottom, the pump is where the bottom hard drive cage was, and the reservoir is mounted on the reservoir bracket with the plastic cover removed.

CPU block is an XSPC Raystorm, and the GPU block is an EK full cover block for my R9-290X.

Like I said earlier, read, read, read lol.
The more you can learn before you get started, the better!

That is a nice setup there
The thickness is ok but i don't want the fans to be at full speed;
The waterblock for the cpu i know now for sure
Alphacool NexXxoS XP3 Light - Acetal
And for the gpu i will get the fullcover ekwb waterblock acetal
The pump i will get the Swiftech MCP35X
The reservoir you got i do like alot but does it fit just in there?

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=741804 my Primo,

I have 480 monsta in the bottom, and 420 in the top.

MetalGovy said:

That is a nice setup there
The thickness is ok but i don't want the fans to be at full speed;
The waterblock for the cpu i know now for sure
Alphacool NexXxoS XP3 Light - Acetal
And for the gpu i will get the fullcover ekwb waterblock acetal
The pump i will get the Swiftech MCP35X
The reservoir you got i do like alot but does it fit just in there?

Click to expand...

Like I say, the RX series is 8fpi, its made for low-speed fans as long as they have a halfway decent static pressure (yours do).

MetalGovy said:

That is a nice setup there
The thickness is ok but i don't want the fans to be at full speed;
The waterblock for the cpu i know now for sure
Alphacool NexXxoS XP3 Light - Acetal
And for the gpu i will get the fullcover ekwb waterblock acetal
The pump i will get the Swiftech MCP35X
The reservoir you got i do like alot but does it fit just in there?

Click to expand...

There are multiple places you can mount a reservoir in this case. That's just one of the options.

Thanks guys
Just ordered the fittings, tubing, reservoir, and the cpu block

What about this renewed rx radiator guys?
http://shop.xs-pc.com/xsp/XSPC-RX360-Triple-Fan-Radiator-V3-Black_44242.html
This one does have 13fpi and the older brother did have 8fpi
Is this still oke for running my fans at 800-1000 rpm or does more fpi mean a need of higher rpm speed?

Higher static pressure for higher fpi