Help finding a good water block

[FatCamel]

Let my preface this by saying I have never done water cooling before, I've always just loaded my case down with mini skyscrapers with fans attached.

So with that out of the way I am soon going to be building a threadripper system and I want to put a water setup on that and the Vega-56 GPU but I', having a hard time finding a water block that I like.

I was wanting to go with a thermaltake setup simply because the RGB is compatible with Razer synapse software and it looks sweet but their water block for the TR4 is either truly sold out everywhere or it's not fully released yet.

Also I saw somewhere that if I get one brand block then I should stay within that company for the rest of the system, is this true?


Here is the list that I've created with the components I'm starting with, I'm hoping to keep the total build cost below $2500.

Edit: I forgot to mention I already have the HAFX full tower case to put all this in.

 

[godevskii]

No, you can have as many brands as you like, usually it's good to have the same brand on fittings and tube to ensure a good fit free of leaks, but there are many reputable WC companies that have standard measurements and should be fine.
My suggestion if i was on the market for a TR WB would be the watercool heatkiller IV:


i just love the industrial look and quality of it, they have also acrylic versions if you like.

 

[Zerileous]

Looks cool. The one thing to consider with the TR is the size of the IHS. It is massive. Some companies initially sold water blocks sly where the cold plate did not fully contact the IHS. There are still waterblocks sold where the water does not contact the entire area of the coldplate that covers the IHS. I never fully researched the performance impact of this, but I would suggest you do so, as well as which products employ this strategy, prior to purchasing a block.

 

[FatCamel]

I've been looking at hundreds of reviews on the water blocks and the watercool seems to consistently come out on top but with the high price I'm afraid I might have to find areas to cut corners to get it all setup within my budget. I already went from the Vega 64 to the 56 to save a few hundred bucks.

Liquid cooling is much more complicated than I originally planned so I'm sure this will take a few months to go from concept to completion so there may be a few more true TR blocks out by the point. I wanted to do the RGB setup with everything and mod the side of my case to make it all acrylic or plate glass, if I can't find a good RGB block then I'll just run some LED strip lighting and do it all manually eventually.

If the water blocks is made from copper should I try to get a rad that's also copper or does that matter? I saw that some of the anti-corrosive additives work well on one but corrode the other.

 

[godevskii]

Any good water block is made of cooper and then nickel plated or not, and any good radiator is made of cooper fins with cooper chambers or brass so corrosion is unlikely, just be sure not to mix any aluminium (lower end WC stuff) parts with cooper. Also you can buy a pre-mix WC fluid that have already all the anti-corrosive and anti-bacteria/algae, or you can go with distilled water and biocide concentrate mix it in a 1/10 ratio.

Alphacool double protect ultra was very good liquid and it lasted long, don't know about the their new CKC fluid but if it is the same quality is a good choice, i can also vouch for Mayhems x1 clear very good also. Now i'm using distilled water with the ek-cryofuel concentrate so far so good.

 

[Witchdoctor]

I pretty much have used EK exclusively for the last ten or so years

I have been very pleased with the high quality of all there products from fittings to pumps to blocks & fans


I have never regretted any EK purchase, not something I can say for some other brands I have given an opportunity to earn my business

Here is a 5.2 gb CB run on a 8c16t

 

[FatCamel]

I haven't built a new system in a long time so I'm not sure what's safe temperature wise anymore, I see 93° and I imagine a dead CPU lol.

 

[Witchdoctor]

look at the voltage to temp

I am happy with it

 

[FatCamel]

I saw those high voltages as well, I think it's simply because I haven't built anything since I bought my 8 core socket AM4 that I'm running now. The most I've been comfortable with on it is 65° and that still made me nervous. So my max OC has been 4.5ghz from 4.0ghz.

 

[godevskii]

Well the 9900k is a hot chip, but i believe he is using that profile for bench only, because using those temps and voltages daily even on a low workload will degrade the chip far more quickly then otherwise.

This is my example 8700k, granted a cooler chip and with delid done, 5.1 at 1.44v on bios (bad chip) but still on low 60'sº and the fans profile was not even at full speed.

 

[Witchdoctor]

Apples and oranges

I am sure the Heat killer is very good, just advocating for a product I have had success with

There is a lot of good stuff out, you just have to choose

 

[godevskii]

Exactly, blocks from EK, Koolance, XSPC and now Watercool and Bitspower are all very good performers and have great quality.

 

[FatCamel]

What site do you guys recommend to compare and purchase them from? I was gonna go with sidewinder but their site is only loading a single block.

 

[godevskii]

Im in Europe, so i dont know much about NA market other then newegg and amazon...

 

[FatCamel]

It looks like I might need to hold off for about 5 months to get this thing started with the news I read today.

https://wccftech.com/amd-ryzen-3000...errer=https://www.google.com&amp_tf=From %1$s

 

[DaPoets]

It looks like I might need to hold off for about 5 months to get this thing started with the news I read today.

https://wccftech.com/amd-ryzen-3000...referrer=https://www.google.com&_tf=From %1$s

Yeah the downside of upgrading your tech these days is that when start to plan out your upgrade there is something newer right around the corner. This will always happen so when that comes out later this year you will see even newer items on the way as well. At some point you have to just bit the bullet and get what is out now... I got the 8700k when the 9900k was out but couldn't be found. I'm glad I have the 8700k over the 9900k because I was able to delid it with ease, gaming is the same, it runs cooler, and it saved me a couple hundred bucks.

 

[Zerileous]

Of the brands godevskii listed I would pick the one that fits your budget and looks best to you tbh, as long as it was designed specifically for TR (I believe both the watercool and EK's EVO blocks are).

Newer CPUs are much better about not burning up. For example I know my CPU with throttle itself at 95c.