Basic WC Questions

[iterator]

I was looking to buy an AIO CPU cooler for the PC I'm currently building. I've wanted for a long time a custom LC'd system, and so I thought I would price it out for comparison.

I've read the Beginners Guide to Water-cooling, and I still have just a couple questions.

I plan on WC'ing the CPU and GPU most definitely. Motherboard LC'ing I am not opposed to, I'm just not sure what fits my MOBO at this time since I can't see it (Asus Z97-PRO). Here in the next 6 months or so I plan on getting another 980 for SLI (to consider with my following loop question). Aside from that, I'm sure there isn't a huge benefit to LC the RAM and HDD's. But that would be a possibility, if not just for the "cool factor".

Years ago when I was looking into this, I liked the look of Koolance's offerings, and somehow ended up there. I had begun pricing out components from their website, opting for their 450 pump, 30 FPI 4 120mm radiator, and this controller. After reading the Guide, I'm not sure that Koolance is the brand to go with.

As far as separate loops are concerned, is this an entirely separate loop complete with reservoir, pump, radiator, and electronic controller (if you go that route)? Or, do you only need a separate pump and radiator? For some reason this wasn't entirely clear to me.

Swiftech's radiator and pump combo seemed interesting, but I instinctively assume that is not as good as two separate parts. ..?

As far as water blocks are concerned, is there one brand that is relatively good across the board, or would most people be mis-matching CPU block from one manufacturer, GPU from another, etc? For simplicity and uniformity I'd like to stick with one brand if it's not too detrimental to the cooling.

Any advice is appreciated!

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Cooling outside of the CPU and GPU is not much more than a waste of money.
It causes unnecessary loop restriction and doesn't make a difference for performance.

EK and Swiftech are the typical "go-to" brands. I prefer Swiftech, personally.
Just because it's a combo pump/rad doesn't mean it's bad by any means. I'd be comfortable running an extra rad and a GPU block in addition to what comes in the H220-X.

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Cooling outside of the CPU and GPU is not much more than a waste of money.
It causes unnecessary loop restriction and doesn't make a difference for performance.

EK and Swiftech are the typical "go-to" brands. I prefer Swiftech, personally.
Just because it's a combo pump/rad doesn't mean it's bad by any means. I'd be comfortable running an extra rad and a GPU block in addition to what comes in the H220-X.

+1

XSPC, Swiftech, or EK for CPU blocks.

Swiftech and EK for GPU blocks.

Black Ice, Alpha Cool, Swiftech, EK for radiators.

Swiftech has D5, DDC pumps for sale to make it simpler and so do others. Its just rebranded with said company.

All these are examples in random order. That's just most of the companies people deal with and there are a few more including Koolance.

 

[mudajama]

A loop would be a block rad pump and or res. So if your running two loops you'll need double. Each loop is completely separate from the other