Well as the title suggests I have a few questions. I put the thread here because most of them revolve around my goal of building a custom water-cooled computer (every other question I had I found answers for after some research).
Background: While I've never actually built a computer from the ground-up before (much less built a custom cooling loop), I've been enthusiastic about my interest in computer hardware for my whole life. A project of building a whole computer from parts has always been a little dream of mine, ever since I was what, five? Yeah that. So, while I admit I'm new, I'm not completely in the dark (and I don't think I'm biting-off more than I can chew). I won't be making any really stupid mistakes like running a machine without a CPU heatsink (because, you know, that'd be...well...really dumb), or not doing a test-build outside the case, or a leak test once it's all done.
So that said, I still have a few questions that I can't seem to find any really solid answers for.
Discrete GPU PCBs and Manufacturers
I'll preface this by saying that I'm going to get an nVidia card. (There's no debate on that. I have a pile of reasons built on personal experience with both AMD and nVidia GPUs and hell would have to freeze over before I got an AMD one.) My question is...how the hell do I make sure that the PCB used will be compatible with a particular block? I get that pretty much all water blocks are built around the reference design, and that from what I can tell variations are less of a problem with nVidia cards than they are with AMD ones, but is there any way to tell, with absolute certainty, that the PCB is the reference one? I know the risk of it being different is pretty low if you aren't dumb (like expecting ASUS' CU cards to work), and if the memory configuration is the same, but beyond that I'm at a loss. The best one could hope for is visual inspection, but that requires the card. Catch 22. Unless one can rely on EKWB's compatibility tool to be a good guide for whether or not cards will work, even for other water blocks (by making the assumption that EKWB's block is based on the reference design, and say XSPC's block is also based on the reference design, then if EKWB's block will work with a card, so will XSPC's). It's A=B=C then A=C logic but I just want to check that I'm not making a mistake here.
[Removed: Questions about manufacturing; bottom line is get cards that are overclocked already and the binning is going to have been much better, and they'll probably overclock much better as a result. Duh. Why did I ask this.]
Edit: Forgot about this, but, thermal pads. By their very nature they tend to have less thermal conductivity than thermal compound, at the very least because of the adhesive. Soooo, assuming one were happy to deal with the extra work, is there a reason it'd be a bad idea to also use a thermal compound on the other components that a block is going to come into contact with (the parts that the block manufacturer usually says to apply the pads they ship the block with)? The only reason I can think of is if the chips the pad needs to be in contact with rise to different heights above the PCB, though by the look of it, that's not entirely common. My goal here is to keep as many major components as cool as possible, to extend their life as long as possible, so if this is one way to squeeze a few extra degrees out of a card's components it'd be worth the effort.
Pumps and Controllers
So I'd like to use Koolance's CTR-CD1224 controller. Fan ramps? Pump RPM? Coolant temps and dynamic ramping based on it? YES PLEASE! My only question there is...do I need to use a Koolance pump, or could I toss-in any other 12V or 24V pump instead? This isn't such a big concern because I'll probably use a Koolance pump anyway (and yes I know they're mostly based on Laing pumps anyway and just rebranded as Koolance or Swiftech or what-have-you), but it'd be good to know for in future after the build is done when it comes to upgrades or replacements.
Koolance Temp and Flow Sensors
[Removed: I figured-out a way to do what I want.]
XSPC EX Radiators
Anyone know what the frack the fins-per-inch is on those things? I mean, it'd be fine and dandy to just get some high static pressure fans and be done with it, but their website has no info on this.
"Why the hell are you even bothering with all this?"
Star Citizen. 'Nuff said.
Background: While I've never actually built a computer from the ground-up before (much less built a custom cooling loop), I've been enthusiastic about my interest in computer hardware for my whole life. A project of building a whole computer from parts has always been a little dream of mine, ever since I was what, five? Yeah that. So, while I admit I'm new, I'm not completely in the dark (and I don't think I'm biting-off more than I can chew). I won't be making any really stupid mistakes like running a machine without a CPU heatsink (because, you know, that'd be...well...really dumb), or not doing a test-build outside the case, or a leak test once it's all done.
So that said, I still have a few questions that I can't seem to find any really solid answers for.
Discrete GPU PCBs and Manufacturers
I'll preface this by saying that I'm going to get an nVidia card. (There's no debate on that. I have a pile of reasons built on personal experience with both AMD and nVidia GPUs and hell would have to freeze over before I got an AMD one.) My question is...how the hell do I make sure that the PCB used will be compatible with a particular block? I get that pretty much all water blocks are built around the reference design, and that from what I can tell variations are less of a problem with nVidia cards than they are with AMD ones, but is there any way to tell, with absolute certainty, that the PCB is the reference one? I know the risk of it being different is pretty low if you aren't dumb (like expecting ASUS' CU cards to work), and if the memory configuration is the same, but beyond that I'm at a loss. The best one could hope for is visual inspection, but that requires the card. Catch 22. Unless one can rely on EKWB's compatibility tool to be a good guide for whether or not cards will work, even for other water blocks (by making the assumption that EKWB's block is based on the reference design, and say XSPC's block is also based on the reference design, then if EKWB's block will work with a card, so will XSPC's). It's A=B=C then A=C logic but I just want to check that I'm not making a mistake here.
[Removed: Questions about manufacturing; bottom line is get cards that are overclocked already and the binning is going to have been much better, and they'll probably overclock much better as a result. Duh. Why did I ask this.]
Edit: Forgot about this, but, thermal pads. By their very nature they tend to have less thermal conductivity than thermal compound, at the very least because of the adhesive. Soooo, assuming one were happy to deal with the extra work, is there a reason it'd be a bad idea to also use a thermal compound on the other components that a block is going to come into contact with (the parts that the block manufacturer usually says to apply the pads they ship the block with)? The only reason I can think of is if the chips the pad needs to be in contact with rise to different heights above the PCB, though by the look of it, that's not entirely common. My goal here is to keep as many major components as cool as possible, to extend their life as long as possible, so if this is one way to squeeze a few extra degrees out of a card's components it'd be worth the effort.
Pumps and Controllers
So I'd like to use Koolance's CTR-CD1224 controller. Fan ramps? Pump RPM? Coolant temps and dynamic ramping based on it? YES PLEASE! My only question there is...do I need to use a Koolance pump, or could I toss-in any other 12V or 24V pump instead? This isn't such a big concern because I'll probably use a Koolance pump anyway (and yes I know they're mostly based on Laing pumps anyway and just rebranded as Koolance or Swiftech or what-have-you), but it'd be good to know for in future after the build is done when it comes to upgrades or replacements.
Koolance Temp and Flow Sensors
[Removed: I figured-out a way to do what I want.]
XSPC EX Radiators
Anyone know what the frack the fins-per-inch is on those things? I mean, it'd be fine and dandy to just get some high static pressure fans and be done with it, but their website has no info on this.
"Why the hell are you even bothering with all this?"
Star Citizen. 'Nuff said.
Last edited: