Help with water cooling setup

[StopShoe]

Okay so I am new to water cooling. I have a swifttech H220x because I planned to improve on my whole water cooling setup. I do not understand the fittings and what size tubing to use whatsoever. I have read the guides and tried to understand it but i keep coming up short.

With that being said, my plan is to buy the Thermaltake Core P5 Open air Wall mount case. I want to watercool the CPU and GPU. I can buy a new pump and reservoir simply because it would make the custom loop look a lot better in my opinion. I definitely want to do hardline tubing, but instead of bending the tubes, I would just use 90 degree fittings wherever needed. My budget is around $200 (not including the waterblock for the GPU) but i can spend more if I needed to.

So in short I need a waterblock for my GPU, fittings, tubing, Pumps, reservoir, radiator, and fans.

I would really like to understand why you guys pick certain parts, because it will definitely help me learn more about water cooling.

Here are my PC specs:

CPU: AMD Fx-9590
MB: Gigabyte 990fx-ud5
GPU: Gigabyte 970 Windforce Gaming
PSU: Corsair 750m
Ram: 16gb Corsair Ballistix
SSD: 250gb Samsung 840, 500gb samsung 840, 1 TB western Digital

 

[EarthDog]

Not sure that would work in the first place... if it did, IMO, it would look hideous with those in the middle of the acrylic.

What are you not understanding on the fittings, etc? Perhaps we can help.

 

[StopShoe]

Not sure that would work in the first place... if it did, IMO, it would look hideous with those in the middle of the acrylic.

What are you not understanding on the fittings, etc? Perhaps we can help.

What do you think would not work in the first place?

I dont understand the sizing part of the fittings. If i got a waterblock with 1/4" openings, would I get an 1/4" fitting to go on 1/4" tubing? Also, how do I know what to use in terms of how it goes,
IE Tubing>Fitting>90 degree connector>Fitting>Tubing

If that makes any sense lol

 

[EarthDog]

placing fittings in the middle of the acrylic bends... if it works, it would look terrible.

G 1/4 is 'base'. What the fitting screws into (doesnt really change.. that is standard). You can still have different sizes on the other end.



I dont think acrylic is the way to go for a beginner honestly...I would stick with soft tubing and try to better understand the information. Its akin to jumping into an erector set without using legos.

 

[StopShoe]

placing fittings in the middle of the acrylic bends... if it works, it would look terrible.

G 1/4 is 'base'. What the fitting screws into (doesnt really change.. that is standard). You can still have different sizes on the other end.



I dont think acrylic is the way to go for a beginner honestly...I would stick with soft tubing and try to better understand the information. Its akin to jumping into an erector set without using legos.

I meant that I would not be doing any bending on the hard line tubing. It would look something along the lines of this:

https://imgur.com/EX6GlQe

So if I bought a waterblock, radiator, pump and res, I could just buy G 1/4 fittings and that would work for everything?

 

[EarthDog]

Not a look I personally like... but its not for me.

I could just buy G 1/4 fittings and that would work for everything?

No. As I said, that is what standard for what the barbs screw into. Its the OTHER end that has varying sizes that the tubing goes into.

 

[StopShoe]

Not a look I personally like... but its not for me.

No. As I said, that is what standard for what the barbs screw into. Its the OTHER end that has varying sizes that the tubing goes into.

So how do I determine what size barbs to get?

 

[Llyndis]

I considered doing what you are wanting. I received a lot of replies on my thread and decided to slow down alot. Go soft tubing first. It will cost you about $16 to get it done and is good to learn on. I called Jay at outletpc.Com to help me understand fitting sizes. He's awesome to talk to. When buying parts for the loop do not mix metals. I'm going full copper. I have the core p5 and unless you get the thermal take pump and res combo you will have to make your own mounting solution for the setup. Should be relatively easy and for liquid just use distilled water and no dye. If you want color get colored tubbing. Good luck!

 

[GTXJackBauer]

First and foremost, to OCFs!

I would also like to say that I agree with both previous commentators.

OP, I think you need to slow done and not try to build a show rig on your first dive. Get familiar with water cooling first before taking the plunge to show rigging. I'm sure the next thing you want to do is add colored fluid or dyes as we say. There's lots to learn, take your time and enjoy this special hobby. Also, I highly doubt $200 will get you what you need as that might just be a assortment of fittings if you go through with your plans.

Here's a nice video that helps break down things for beginners.

 

[Llyndis]

I agree with Gtx! I have spent over $450 and still need to buy blocks for my set up when I decide what I'm running. I did overkill my radiator but I have huge plans for my system. Custom loops are not cheap but perform amazingly. And the visual is mesmorizing.

 

[ProgramGuy]

I built my first water cooled rig and personally I didn't think that bending acrylic was that big of a deal. If you choose to go this route, buy some extra tubes because there is a slight learning curve as to when the tube is "ready" to be bent... trying to bend it before its ready will cause a kink. I purchased the Monsoon Pro Bending kit and it was money well spent, as it made the bending a piece of cake... having the Monsoon measuring kit also helped. Doing simple 90 degree bends is very simple... its the complex multi bend runs that take a bit of though.

I had the same worries/concerns about the fittings and you can not mix up fitting for soft tubing and rigid tubing. The best way that I found was to go to performance-pcs.com and look at the fittings. Click on the "Additional Information" tab for the fitting and it will let you know if its for rigid or soft.

I've seen a lot of builds that don't bend their acrylic at all... using fittings for the bends. If done right, this could look very good but at a cost, all those fittings will run the final cost up. If you take your time and think out what you're doing, your build will look just fine.

 

[dylskee]

My shopping cart is over $400. right now and I'm just cooling my CPU and I already have a radiator. Especially if you're going to hard line the setup, the fittings are very expensive as I'm finding out myself. If you're going flexible tubing you can buy all your tubing and fittings for about $40.00 I've done about 4 water cooling setups over the years and I still might ditch the rigid setup idea!

Here's an example, this is what I'm planning on buying for my next build. I'm using 3/8x1/2 tubing and fittings.
http://www.performance-pcs.com/new-primochill-1-2in-rigid-acrylic-tubing-36in-white.html#Details
http://www.performance-pcs.com/rigi...3-8-x-1-2-diamond-knurled-anodized-white.html

So these fittings are G 1/4" thread with a 3/8" ID and 1/2" OD. So just make sure you buy the tubing to match your fittings.

And if I were going to go flexible tubing I usually use 7/16 ID tubing with 1/2 OD barbed fittings, heat them up with a heat gun and push them on and you almost don't even need to use clamps, but I do anyway.
http://www.performance-pcs.com/modmytoys-7-16-id-x-5-8-id-pvc-clear-water-tubing.html
http://www.performance-pcs.com/bitspower-premium-g1-4-high-flow-1-2-fitting.html

 

[ProgramGuy]

I went with the Monsoon line of fitting... on sale, I got 6 of the economy chrome compression fittings for $19.98. I also went with 3/8" ID by 1/2" OD. They look nice but to each their own on the style of fitting they choose.

 

[caseyboy43]

I too have the Thermaltake Core P5 and I dove head first into hardline watercooling the Motherboard & GPU. I tried to bend the acrylic but I was not happy with the look of my bends. So I then went the route of using 90 degree & 45 degree fittings to make the necessary turns, and with the exception of the run from my pump to my GPU, I don't think the outcome was "hideous" as previously suggested. I used 12mm Bitspower Crystal Link tubing & assortment of fittings, adapters, extenders, EK waterblocks for MB & GPU, Radiator, DDC pump, reservoir, and Gentle Typhoon fans. It may not be "show quality", but I like it and I will continue to tweek as I see fit and my OCD kicks in. I do not think $200 is nearly enough to do what you suggest.


- - - Updated - - -

...and FWIW, this was my very 1st time attempting this type of setup.

Doing some quick math on my setup:
EK MB Block - $137
EK GPU Block - $126
EK DDC 3.2 Pump/Res combo - $150
EK PE 480 Radiator - $100
Gentle Typhoon Fans - $80
Bitspower 90 degree Rotary adapter x 7 = $98
Bitspower 90 dual multi-link adapters x 3 = $30
Bitspower 45 degree rotary adapters x 3 = $42
Bitspower 25mm & 30mm extender = $13
500mm lengths Bitspower Crystal Link tubing x 12 = $40
Bitspower Stop plugs x 3 = $10
Bitspower "Y" fitting = $20

So far I'm in over $800, but I knew that going in and that's what I wanted

Just know that all of these builds that have 2, 3 sometimes 4 $1k+ video cards are not going cheap on the cooling solution. It is an expensive hobby for sure.

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Very nice and thanks for sharing caseboy.

 

[EarthDog]

That looks a lot better than I thought, actually... nice job!