Help & Feedback -- First Water Cooled Build

[DR. MAD]

I'm water cooling my i7-7700k and GTX 1080 TI. This is my first time water cooling and I think I may need a bit of help with the layout I'm using, plus I have a couple of other questions.

First off, I already attempted to bend and install my PETG 1/2 - 5/8 primochill tubing, and it was basically a disaster. Way too many mistakes and when I went to fill it realized that I had way too many leaks. Luckily, nothing leaked on any hardware. I bought double the tubing I initially had and I am going to try again, this time a little wiser.

Anyway, my tube layout is below. Will this work? Is the pump/res to tube res okay? When I tried to fill my loop previously, the water was not pumping to the upper left tube sections (the cpu and gpu). Maybe I was filling it wrong? What would be the best way to fill this loop? I tried to fill the photon as much as possible, then I turned the case on its front and filled the bay res as much as I could. Then I jumped the psu with a paper clip and tried to run the pump, which it did. But, like I said the pump was having trouble going up. Here are my questions:

1) Should I use the top fill port on the 270 photon as an inlet instead of having both the inlet and outlet on the bottom? How would I fill the loop if I have tubing going to the top?
2) Do I need another D5 pump?
3) Do you have any tips on how to accurately measure and bend PETG tubing?
4) Should I make any other changes to my proposed layout?

 

[caddi daddi]

this will work, give us a link to your bay reservoir pump combo please.
we kind of need to fill from above the pump, your going to struggle a bit getting this one filled, but we'll work it out.

 

[DR. MAD]

this will work, give us a link to your bay reservoir pump combo please.
we kind of need to fill from above the pump, your going to struggle a bit getting this one filled, but we'll work it out.

Here is the Bay Res/Pump I have: XSPC http://www.xs-pc.com/discontinued-eol/x2o-750-dual-bayrespump-black-v4

 

[caddi daddi]

ok, that makes it easier, you are going to fill the system from the top of the pump/res.
fill the photon first then start filling from the pump/res.

 

[DR. MAD]

See, that's what I figured and that's what I did on my first attempt, but I still wasn't getting water up to the upper left tubes for the cpu and video card. Is the one pump enough to push it through? Should I use an M20 to G1/4 adapter on the photon to use the fill port as in inlet instead? Or is it okay to have the inlet and outlet on the bottom?

 

[Nebulous]

Honestly that is the worse bay res ever made. Your best bet is to use just a D5 and have it fed by the tube res. Eliminate the bay res all together.

 

[DR. MAD]

Honestly that is the worse bay res ever made. Your best bet is to use just a D5 and have it fed by the tube res. Eliminate the bay res all together.

Yeah that's what I would like to do to be honest, my funds are just low and I got it for free from a friend. Only reason I have it and I was hoping to make it work. It still has a D5 in it tho, right?

 

[Nebulous]

Actually it's far from a D5. Doesn't have the same performance. It's weaker and pushing 2 rads and 2 blocks will make it overheat eventually fail. That pump isn't designed to push that type of load. if your funds are low, just hold out till you get the right pump for the proper flow needed.

 

[DR. MAD]

You're totally right, not sure why I thought it was a D5...just looked it up and I couldn't be more wrong haha. I found this D5 on ebay, is this all I need? Or do I need a pump top? I'm not sure what a pump top even does to be honest haha

 

[Nebulous]

Yep, that'll do it. You'll need to move that tube res a bit higher so the pump is mounted in a way that it will be fed through the front (intake) port. Then route the tubing from the top (output) port to where you want it. Order doesn't matter so long as the res feeds the pump first.

 

[DR. MAD]

So I can't mount the pump in the bottom section of the case where the psu is and run a tube from the pump to the res? From what you're saying I need to mount the pump directly under the res with no tubing in between?

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Honestly that is the worse bay res ever made. Your best bet is to use just a D5 and have it fed by the tube res. Eliminate the bay res all together.

Actually it's far from a D5. Doesn't have the same performance. It's weaker and pushing 2 rads and 2 blocks will make it overheat eventually fail. That pump isn't designed to push that type of load. if your funds are low, just hold out till you get the right pump for the proper flow needed.

My thoughts exactly. Way too weak of a pump for a setup like this. I think those are equivalent to AIO pumps.

So I can't mount the pump in the bottom section of the case where the psu is and run a tube from the pump to the res? From what you're saying I need to mount the pump directly under the res with no tubing in between?

There's a Photon and D5 res/pump combo that they sell but since you purchased the reservoir already, you'll want to get in contract with XSPC and see if you can get a res/pump adapter from them to turn that into the combo that they sell. As Neb already stated, get rid of the bay/pump combo. Put it in a box and have it for a smaller loop or sell it for funds needed to upgrade your loop.

 

[caddi daddi]

is that pump/res combo really that poor?
my xspc 720 will cool my titan and 9590 if I don't lean on the too hard.

 

[lovan6]

Just to give you an idea.

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I use a 360 rad on top, 480 Xflow 30mm radiator and 240 30mm radiator and a EKWB Dual D5 on the bottom chamber.

 

[Flat-6]

As others have stated - Ditch the bay res.

Keep the Photon res where it is and simply mount a D5 with corresponding pump top directly underneath it in the lower chamber.

My old 900D build has a very similar layout - so I have attached a couple of pics for you. Note that in my case I used a Swiftech MCP35X2 pump but the principle is exactly the same....

I used flexible tubing for that build but kept tubing runs fairly clean.

I fill the loop directly from the top of the Photon res.

You might want to also flip the lower rad so it's ports are at the rear of the case. That way you can run a near vertical run up from the lower rad to your top rad - Makes for a cleaner tubing run.

 

[DR. MAD]

Hey thanks everyone for the replies! I have this forum on other websites as well, OCN was by far the best for responses. Here's what I've gathered:

I know 480 + 360 is kinda over kill for a cpu and gpu only. I only did these because I wanted room for expansion in the future. I will add a 2nd 1080 ti and might want to cool the mobo as well.

Only reason I have the bay res/pump is because I got it for free from a friend. I was hoping to save some money. I see now that it is not worth it. I asked around on Tom's as well and everyone has told me that my bay res/pump is one of the worst ones out there and that it's not even a D5 pump. I have already ordered a photon 270 res/pump combo to fix this issue so I can remove the bay res altogether. Then I'll just sell my normal 270 photon.

Also, to make my bending experience easier, I bought 5x 90 degree fittings to put strategically to make the ends of my bends much straighter. That way I will use a piece of string to roughly measure, bend, and then cut/file to precision.

Only reason I don't want to flip my 480 rad was because I like having access to the drain port easily at the front and I don't want to buy pass-thru fittings or cut holes in my midplate. Plus, there's less room with the PSU at that end. I know the tubing will be longer, but if I get the runs right, I think it will look pretty cool as well.

Lastly, I didn't include this in the picture but I do have a drain valve and t-fitting on the bottom most port of my 480 rad. I've tested it and it works pretty great! So no worries there!

Again, thanks for all of the opinions and help! It's helped me solidify the course I needed to take to make this thing my dream machine.

 

[DR. MAD]

My thoughts exactly. Way too weak of a pump for a setup like this. I think those are equivalent to AIO pumps.



There's a Photon and D5 res/pump combo that they sell but since you purchased the reservoir already, you'll want to get in contract with XSPC and see if you can get a res/pump adapter from them to turn that into the combo that they sell.

And just an fyi, I contacted XSPC and they do not make the pump attachment to a regular 270, here is their response:

"Sorry,we don't sell this part.
You can buy a D5 pump top,and install the D5 pump to the D5 pump top,then connect this combo to photon 270 res with tubing.

http://www.xs-pc.com/pump-accessories/acrylic-top-for-laing-d5-v2 "

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Hey thanks everyone for the replies! I have this forum on other websites as well, OCN was by far the best for responses.

You mean OCF right? J/K, they are helpful as well.

I have already ordered a photon 270 res/pump combo to fix this issue so I can remove the bay res altogether. Then I'll just sell my normal 270 photon.

And just an fyi, I contacted XSPC and they do not make the pump attachment to a regular 270, here is their response:

"Sorry,we don't sell this part.
You can buy a D5 pump top,and install the D5 pump to the D5 pump top,then connect this combo to photon 270 res with tubing.

http://www.xs-pc.com/pump-accessories/acrylic-top-for-laing-d5-v2 "

Sounds like you've figured it out and you're on your way. Just make sure you post some images of the rig when all is said and done.