Watercooling components for new computer

[Labmonkey398]

I just got a new computer with an i5-4690k, 2 evga gtx 970's superclocked acx 2.0, msi z97 krait mobo, 8gb hyperx memory all in an NZXT Phantom 530 case. I would like to water cool the cpu and gpus. I have watched a few videos on watercooling and feel that I am capable to water cool it myself. It doesn't seem too hard. The problem is that I have no idea what components to buy, I looked at ek because they look awesome. So could someone enlighten me on the difference between copper, nickle, acetyl and gold. Also, I need a little guidance on tubing and fittings, I saw that compression fittings were the best. Is that true? Could you please make some recommendations on pumps and reservoirs? My case can support 2 240 rads and a 360 rad. Is there a need to have more than one radiator? What is the benefit in using specific cooling liquid as opposed to distilled water? What about color vs non colored liquid? Thanks for your help in advance. I have no interest in watercooling the memory and motherboard. I want to watercool mainly because i am looking for the best possible overclock, but also because it looks sweet.

Edit: I have a lot of left over car radiator fluid. Could that work for a cooling liquid or is it too thick?

 

[Itachiii]

hey LabMonkey! The components that you buy depend on the heat dicipation u're looking at and the total outcome that u want from your loop. First things first, Nickel,copper etc are all metals with different heat conductivity, the higher the better! (Silver 247.87, Copper 231, Gold 183 etc). EK has some of the best blocks out there and they are pretty good looking as well, like those sold for your GPUs. Tubing is pretty much one choise among everyone in this forum, Primochill Advanced LRT tubing. It comes to all sizes and all colours for you to choose and this is where the subject of coloured coolants vs distilled water kicks in:

TRY TO AVOID COLOURED COOLANTS AND DYES. Why?

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums...Confirmed-Feser-1-Blue-Premix-GTZ-do-NOT-want

Take a look at that. 99% you go Distilled water + PT nuke or Silver coil (biocides). Coloured coolants are more likely to glock your blocks and stain your reservoir. Some of them used to lead to plasticize leaching of the tubing as well.

For reservoirs, you can pick whatever suits your space in the case, could it be Bay res or even pump/res combo.Your pump choises are a bit more focused to D5 or DDC.

The reason you go for more than one rad is the need to dicipate as much heat as possible (especially when you got 3 blocks in your system). The more you overclock, the more heat you produce thus the more heat dicipation you need from ur loop. More rad= more heat dicipation.

About the car radiator fluid, you'd better wait till some1 more experienced can answer to that, but I don't think it would help much since the heat loads of a PC system can't compare to the heat loads of a car engine.

 

[Labmonkey398]

hey LabMonkey! The components that you buy depend on the heat dicipation u're looking at and the total outcome that u want from your loop. First things first, Nickel,copper etc are all metals with different heat conductivity, the higher the better! (Silver 247.87, Copper 231, Gold 183 etc). EK has some of the best blocks out there and they are pretty good looking as well, like those sold for your GPUs. Tubing is pretty much one choise among everyone in this forum, Primochill Advanced LRT tubing. It comes to all sizes and all colours for you to choose and this is where the subject of coloured coolants vs distilled water kicks in:

TRY TO AVOID COLOURED COOLANTS AND DYES. Why?

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums...Confirmed-Feser-1-Blue-Premix-GTZ-do-NOT-want

Take a look at that. 99% you go Distilled water + PT nuke or Silver coil (biocides). Coloured coolants are more likely to glock your blocks and stain your reservoir. Some of them used to lead to plasticize leaching of the tubing as well.

For reservoirs, you can pick whatever suits your space in the case, could it be Bay res or even pump/res combo.Your pump choises are a bit more focused to D5 or DDC.

The reason you go for more than one rad is the need to dicipate as much heat as possible (especially when you got 3 blocks in your system). The more you overclock, the more heat you produce thus the more heat dicipation you need from ur loop. More rad= more heat dicipation.

About the car radiator fluid, you'd better wait till some1 more experienced can answer to that, but I don't think it would help much since the heat loads of a PC system can't compare to the heat loads of a car engine.

Thanks for your reply! So I will go with copper blocks. For the tubing, does the size matter? Maybe with restriction of water flow or will the pump compensate with higher pressures? Wow thats terrible. Okay so I'll just stick with distilled water. I have no interest in using the radiator fluid if distilled water works just as well. For reservoirs what companies are good? Is EK a good reservoir company? I am going to be doing some heavy overclocking so with three blocks would you recommend 2 or three radiators? One would be a 360mm and any extras will be 240mm. Thanks again!

 

[Itachiii]

The tubing size doesn't affect your flow or pressure that much, is more of how much space you got to work with. For example, I'll be using 3/8 id 5/8 od tubing for my Prodigy since I'm really restricted space-wise. EKs res are pretty good, I'll be using one of their pump/res combo. Assuming you will be doing some serious overclock I would deffinetely go for 2x240mm XSPC RX series rads. I personally like XSPC rads but ,any rad from any company, that thick will work.

 

[Labmonkey398]

The tubing size doesn't affect your flow or pressure that much, is more of how much space you got to work with. For example, I'll be using 3/8 id 5/8 od tubing for my Prodigy since I'm really restricted space-wise. EKs res are pretty good, I'll be using one of their pump/res combo. Assuming you will be doing some serious overclock I would deffinetely go for 2x240mm XSPC RX series rads. I personally like XSPC rads but ,any rad from any company, that thick will work.

Thank you very much. Youve been a great help.