Planning my first loop, need some feedback.

Hi all,

I'm starting to plan out my first loop and I was looking for some advice/opinions. I plan to watercool my CPU & GPU. I've been reading over the sticky "beginner's guide to watercooling", and I feel like I'm finally ready to make the jump. Below are my current system specs. I'm hoping to keep this loop within a $500 budget if possible.

Case: HAF 932 Advanced (thought this would be important to include)
CPU: Intel i7-3930k OC'd @ 4.1 GHz
GPU: EVGA GTX 1080
Mobo: Asus Rampage IV Extreme
Ram: 16 GB Trident X
PSU: Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 1200w

Here's what I'm thinking so far.

Reservoir/Pump: EK-DBAY D5 PWM MX ($140)

CPU Block: XSPC RayStorm ($60)

GPU Block: EK-FC1080 GTX ($125)

Radiators: I'm totally lost as to which radiators I should use/how many I should use. I've been searching around here to see what others have been doing inside their HAF 932s.

Tubing/Fittings: Again, now totally sure about this. The tubing/fitting makes me more nervous than anything else with this build. I don't want any leaks. I'm strongly leaning towards compression fittings as they seem (from my very limited experience) to provide the most secure fitting. I've been reading and I think I'll be going with 3/8" or 1/2"; I'd love some feedback on this & recommended fittings if you guys have any.

Coolant: I'm planning on just using distilled water with a kill coil.

Thanks for the help guys. Sorry for the noob questions, I'm brand new to this and would like to do it properly.

Kas

1/2"ID x 3/4"OD seems to have the largest selections of both tubing and fittings. As far as whether compression fittings or barbs and clamps are more reliable, I'd honestly say that the barbs and clamps are. Bitspower makes some pretty good looking clamps, too. The problem with compression fittings (in my likewise limited experience) is that it's difficult to get the compression ring all the way onto the barb, where as clamps can be easily tightened (the Bitspower ones I was talking about are tightened with an allen bolt). They're also considerably more expensive.

For tubing, Primochill Advanced LRT in the same diameters as the fittings you choose and in whatever color you want pretty much.

As far as radiators, I would recommend at least 4x120mm worth of radiator. From memory, I think you can mod a 240 (2x120mm) into the top, and another 240 should fit in the front in the HAF 932, or you could get an external mount and have it/them on top or in the back or pretty much wherever. I'd recommend some of either Alphacool, EK or Watercool brand, though there are plenty of other quality manufacturers.

Something else you will need to consider is fans. Fans designed for water cooling are just as important as the other components in your loop, and many of them aren't cheap.

Dlaw,

Thanks for the feedback m8. I'll look into barb+clamp fittings and see what I can turn up. I have a fairly large case, I'm going to take a look and try to map out how I'd mount these radiators & fans before I continue. Any/all advice is welcomed and appreciated guys!

Kas

Barbs/clamps should end up being cheaper than compression fittings, but that depends on what specific ones you're looking at.

Dlaw said:

Barbs/clamps should end up being cheaper than compression fittings, but that depends on what specific ones you're looking at.

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Do you think having a budget of $500 is doable?

I can't say for sure, I can see about pricing things out after the holiday.

With a 360mm rad + rear rad hanger + budget fans like the Helix120s + PWM splitter, that including the rest of your main parts should add up roughly to $500. I just didn't include the tubing and fittings or taxes, dues and or shipping.

Yeah a 480 rad should do you well i would recommend the HWL Black Ice SR2 480 MP or the 560 variant. I went with a 360 monsta rad but it didnt cool that well for my cpu and gpu (i7 920 + gtx 570 sc) just ok temps. This did not happen with a XSPX RX 480 great temps rad was cool to the touch even with heavy gaming sessions approx 4 hours. With the 360 monsta it was warm to the touch. HWL and XSPC make good rads and are imo one of the cleanest rads out there always flush your rads proper before use.

Tubing it depends if you want bling bling or performance ie no plasticizer issues then have a look at EK-ZMT tubing or Tygon Norprene they are rubber based tubing and i highly recommend using barbs plus worm drives or spring clamps and not compression fittings. My next build will be EK-ZMT tubing with Koolance 1/2 barbs with 1/2 koolance spring clamps. Primochill Advanced LRT is also a good choice depending on your temps some had plastisizer issues even with that tubing but happened with high room temps all the time people who live in hot places. If not then it a good choice and you can use it with good quality compression fittings and they wont leak if you take it easy and make sure your cuts are straight ive used:

Bitspower Black compression fittings excellent quality
Enzotech silver compression fittings excellent quality(but hard to get)
Koolance Black compression excellent quality a bit cheaper then the above brands used them for years and no problems
Also many people are starting to use Barrow compression fittings they are like one third of the price of bitspower but look damn near the same as bitspower check for feedback on google regarding barrow fittings if your on a tighter budget. People tell they are great fittings on par with bitspower.


and they all are excellent no problems whatsoever with Advanced LTR tubing. Make sure IF you use 90 degree or 45 degree fittings that you dont have to much torque on those angled fittings this may lead to leaks. I would use straight fittings specialy on your cpu and no angled fittings on the cpu block but thats my opinion....

As for coolant personally i would go with pre mix it has all the corrosion blockers and algae blockers ive heard good stuff about Innovatek Protect concentrate 1 part for 9 part distilled water. Most companies are against the use of a silver kill coil in your water loop specialy with nickel plated blocks.

Make sure your clamps are of good quality if you go the route of barbs look at this link:

http://www.lamptron.com/2013/01/21/lamptron-liquid-hose-clamps-ii-released/

I know why they released the version 2 because version 1 (and i can confirm this) had a chance of not gripping anymore after some time this is why they released version 2 if you buy clamps like these and they look like version 1 regardless of brand i would not buy it.

A 360mm rad for your setup is more than enough. If you're ever thinking of going SLI down the road, than a 480mm min. would be recommended but in the meantime, you don't need that much rad for your setup unless you're going for the lowest delta-Ts and want the lowest fan RPMs for silence.

LawShadow said:

Yeah a 480 rad should do you well i would recommend the HWL Black Ice SR2 480 MP or the 560 variant. I went with a 360 monsta rad but it didnt cool that well for my cpu and gpu (i7 920 + gtx 570 sc) just ok temps. This did not happen with a XSPX RX 480 great temps rad was cool to the touch even with heavy gaming sessions approx 4 hours. With the 360 monsta it was warm to the touch. HWL and XSPC make good rads and are imo one of the cleanest rads out there always flush your rads proper before use.

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Can I ask if that Monsta was in P/P configuration? Most people do that mistake and I advise anyone touching any rad size monsta to go P/P otherwise you're not really utilizing such a beast of a rad. Great rads btw as well as XSPC, Alphacool and the likes. My personal favorites are still HWLs. Got the SR1s.

LawShadow said:

Primochill Advanced LRT is also a good choice depending on your temps some had plastisizer issues even with that tubing but happened with high room temps all the time people who live in hot places.

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You sure it wasn't the ol' PrimoChill PRO LRT? They had issues with that tubing. Till this day I've not heard anything negative about the Advanced LRTs and I've been using them for a few years now.

GTXJackBauer said:

A 360mm rad for your setup is more than enough. If you're ever thinking of going SLI down the road, than a 480mm min. would be recommended but in the meantime, you don't need that much rad for your setup unless you're going for the lowest delta-Ts and want the lowest fan RPMs for silence.



Can I ask if that Monsta was in P/P configuration? Most people do that mistake and I advise anyone touching any rad size monsta to go P/P otherwise you're not really utilizing such a beast of a rad. Great rads btw as well as XSPC, Alphacool and the likes. My personal favorites are still HWLs. Got the SR1s.




You sure it wasn't the ol' PrimoChill PRO LRT? They had issues with that tubing. Till this day I've not heard anything negative about the Advanced LRTs and I've been using them for a few years now.

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My Alphacool 360 Monsta rad was using 5 fans of which 2 x p/p fans where running at 1100rpm. or less even maybe 900rpm. But even then my temps where "ok" i did flushed the rad properly before use warm/hot tap water connected to mains tap let it run for 30 min. Then 6 times doing the rad dance with distilled water and check for gunk. My temps on a stock i7 920 plus gtx 570 sc where for the cpu around 37 to 42c idle gpu was at 30c or lower at prime it went to i cant recall i think it was 50c or a bit higher running prime for 20 min. I can check tomorrow to do Prime again to make sure. With my XSPC RX480 my i7 920 idle was at 29 to 31c a rather big difference i had to buy another rad the monsta since im using my xspc rad for another system using FX-9590 and also wc the vrm and NB temps are great even with a hot head like the FX-9590 (220TDP) sits idle at 31c prime was 55c as well as my vrm 54 to 55c NB i didnt bother checking.... And yes you are correct next upgrade will be very low rpm fans 500rpm and using a Aquacomputer AMS 840 copper rad its a beast and weighs a ton (not yet tested still waiting for that damn gtx 1070 sc to be in stock as well as i7 6800k and new MB).

Regarding the LTR advanced tubing yes correct it was LTR advanced tubing people have reported having plasticizer issues and some of them have been using their rigs in hot climates without AC for prolonged times. When they maintained their loop and checked their tubing they found plasticizer and it did end up in the blocks this is due to what others said above a certain treshold ie above 40c (room temp) at prolonged usage it might start to leech even with LTR advanced. It was not just one case there where people having the same issues hence they now move on to hard tubing or rubber tubing. There is a thread dedicated to plasticizer issues on overclock.net thats one of the places ive read these issues. There are more places but can't recall exactly where. I myself am using LTR advanced i will check once i have my new rig but i dont think i will have leeching since Europe ie The Netherlands isnt what i call a hot climate rather cool even in summer.