Hello there,
Below's a post which was removed by Reddit filters; I hope I'm not breaking any rules here, either.
I'm trying to build a water-cooled system; below's the whole story.
Community-specific mention: I do not overclock. If anything, I consider underclocking to achieve 0db if possible.
In the OP in Reddit there were a few questions for the Hyte community, but I have others for this community.
Thank you.
I am considering a cheaper Mobo, as Rog Strix Z790 Gaming Wifi D4. This does not have a W_FLOW connector and only a 1A / 12W AIO_PUMP connector.
However, spending (much) more money on a ROG Maximus Z790 Formula or Extreme, they feature a 3A / 36W W_PUMP+ connector and a W_FLOW connector.
Is it worth it?
1) How relevant is the Motherboard's liquid cooling connector W_FLOW (and others?)?
In the long run, will I miss it, or will it be easily overlooked?
FYI, I'm the type of guy who always keeps a Task Manager always open.
2) How relevant is the Motherboard's Pump power connector?
Based on a brief search, I found out that most pumps are powered by a Molex connector.
In your builds, are you using the pump Mobo connectors at all?
Please see below; I'm keen to hear your comments and thoughts BEFORE I start spending money.
What
I recently decided to move back from my gaming laptop to a desktop PC. Browsing around, I stumbled upon Hyte70, and it was love at first sight. After a lot of second thoughts, I am now thinking of building a water-cooled system around this case.
Money
My wife is limiting my budget to a max of 3k
), so I need to be price-conscious while not compromising much.
For tax purposes, I am only considering new components on which I can get an (EU) invoice (in EUR). To be considered, a second-hand/private sale should be discounted by 40% or more.
Timeline
This is equally important as the money aspect. The timeline is that I order everything in the next 3 weeks, wait for delivery for another one or two and start building on 09-12/DEC. Then, I will use the winter vacation to build the new system and transition my apps from my laptop to the new desktop. For me, it is essential to have it ready by 20/DEC; otherwise, I only have a little back-to-back time to enjoy it, and it's concentrated during the winter breaks. If it's not done by then, I will likely scrap the whole project, return all components and carry on with my life as is, eventually buying another gaming laptop.
I realise the importance of the supply chain and components availability. I learned from personal experience and others that the late delivery of components can undermine or even kill projects.
Use cases
As a father of two and a busy executive, I don't have much time to play nowadays. And even when I do, the games I play are mostly strategy and low-end requirements. However, I'm an enthusiast, and I like high-performance overkill even when it's not required.
It's a balance between my toy, price and what I rationally need.
At the same time, I loathe noise, and ideally, I'd go with an under-voltage system that could be 0db / completely silent. I realise that's a mirage, but I aim for the lowest possible noise even when running fully loaded.
At times, I considered a remote system running in another room, with controls over 15-30m cables. Still, due to the high insulation in my house and concerns about drilling holes in walls, this crazy idea was abandoned.
Power consumption/efficiency is only relevant from the noise perspective.
Why Discuss this on the Hyte forum?
Well, I realised this beautiful case would actually be my limitation in many aspects, so I'd like to connect with fellow forumites to share experiences from this perspective. Also, people here share about the same level of enthusiasm, and I presume similar budgets and interests.
Platform
Considering the above, after dozens of hours of reading and watching YouTube videos, I decided to go with a Z790 platform and a 14900K processor. Also, I will opt for DDR4, not 5. [Asus ROG Strix Z790-A Gaming WiFi D4] matching the White theme or [ASUS ProArt Z790-Creator WiFi] a bit of a challenge on colour.
Video
I've been a long-time fan of Nvidia, and I have never considered AMDs. After closely examining the performance and prices, I am favouring the 4070 Ti Super.
Unless I discover a highly unlikely killer offer on a 4080, within a 100EUR range, I am pretty sure this will be my choice.
Water vs Air: Water!
This was a tough decision. About 10y ago, I built an air-cooled system based on an AM3 socket and Nvidia 980. It runs flawlessly today, putting up a decent fight even in modern games.
See below. I have plenty of experience with air builds, but this is my first time building a water-cooled system. After careful consideration, I decided to go with the Water-Cooled platform due to noise considerations and because it is heavily influenced by Hyte Design.
I realise this build won't have the same endurance: I'm satisfied if it runs for 4 years. After that, I aim to complete the upgrade.
Design
1) Personal Considerations
Because I literally spend my life in front of my computer, either business or personal, my workspace is in the middle of the living room. This allows me to still have significant social interactions with my family, which otherwise would've been missing if I'd lay in a man cave. This socializing is so important that we have an empty office currently serving as a storage room/guest bedroom, so I chose this central position instead.
However, this also has profound implications. My house is a minimalistic design. Bright wood, dark grey/black occasionally, and primarily white are favoured in the living room. My monitors are all white, and I compromised performance and specs not to see a black monitor back when I am on the other side of my workspace. The same will apply to the desktop.
I was a bit conflicted here, as Hyte's strength is in a corner, and my workspace faces no corners. But I still decided on it, considering that I could pimp it with a fancy (anime?) theme afterwards or leave it white.
2) Colour
This also has profound implications. As mentioned, a black case is not considered. With the Hyte70's glass panels, I will need to go white in the interior as well. This will make me compromise on components and price.
I've seen black/white combos, and while I moderately like them, I'm not sure I have enough aesthetic sense to create a good one. If you have great advice, I'm all ears.
My complementary colour is lavender static. Even my car's interior lighting colour is lavender. My laptop also. I do not imagine anything else. I really hate rainbow colours, and I find flashing/colour circling really distracting.
From this perspective, I also consider ordering a lavender case, but I'm unsure of the actual lavender colour.
On the other hand, I'm concerned about the variation of the white in time. My living room is brightly lit with sunlight, and I'm worried that after 2-3y, the beautiful white will go yellowish. What's even more concerning is that I'm guessing components will turn yellow at different rates, given their different materials (white paint over metal and white paint over plastic), ending up with a not-that-attractive case pretty soon. In contrast, the green/black case I built 10y ago resists beautifully in terms of decolouring, even if it was also exposed to direct sunlight for a long time.
In case you're asking, the black case is in a different home now, so it's not disrupting the design described above.
This was one of the main reasons I chose 5y a gaming laptop and not a desktop, as I wanted a minimal impact on my living room design and space. However, I'm now fed up with the high noise, low performance, high temps and frequent cleaning of my fans, so I'm prepared to switch back to desktop.
In extreme cases, I consider painting some components:
3) Theme
One of the things attracting me to Hyte is the possibility of highly customizing the theme of your build. This is a beautiful example of what one can create:
I find anime themes moderately attractive, and I look forward to further customising the case and overall design. Please share any links/ideas you might have on a white/lavender theme.
Sometimes, a dash of colour (bright red, bright cyan or bright orange) may look beautiful, especially in such a minimalistic [dull] house as mine. However, this will be carefully considered and discussed with the whole family.
4) Water
After careful consideration, I will opt for straight-corner acrylic tubes. They simply look much better. This also impacts overall price, build quality and effort.
Noise
As explained before, I'm in the middle of my living room. My house and neighbourhood are rather quiet. Any db counts, especially at night, when most gaming takes place. However, environmental noise is still present from other sources, such as TV, open-space kitchen at the other end of the house, family members walking by or talking around, etc. From this perspective, Water was chosen as a cooling solution.
Fans
Over the past almost 20y, I remained impressed by Noctua's performance both in terms of noise performance and reliability. I intend to replace ALL fans with Noctua ones. The visible they will be on their "silver" line: https://noctua.at/en/products/fan/redux
Radiators
After careful reading, I understand there's no significant performance/cooling difference between 280mm and 360mm radiators. However, I imagine 2x140mm fans would be slightly more silent than 3x120mm fans.
Another point: the case manual doesn't specify how deep a radiator may be. I'm considering this
https://shop.alphacool.com/en/shop/...l-copper-360mm-radiator-white-special-edition
and this
https://shop.alphacool.com/en/shop/...l-copper-360mm-radiator-white-special-edition
with a default on this
https://www.thermaltake.com/pacific-sr360-radiator-snow-edition.html
And they're thick. [60mm vs 45mm vs 30mm]. I am also imagining that a 60/45mm radiator will cool better than a 30mm one, but I'm not sure by how much. Again, my goal is to be fully silent if possible.
I'd be interested in learning from your experience. As mentioned, I have no experience with water cooling, and I always considered it an overkill and a liability in terms of the component's safety and system lifetime.
Pump
I'm looking for the quietest, highest-efficiency (white) pump possible. I admit I still need to reach this part of the analysis.
Power
I intend to go with the most oversized power supply I can afford. Even if, reading here https://www.techpowerup.com/review/?category=Power Supplies
I realised some of the very high-capacity power supplies are actually a compromise due to limited space. E.g. the review clarifies that a 2000W PS is not better than a 1600W one. 1400-1700 (1600 being the best, I think) is the optimal PS capacity, on which I expect it to run silently, at 0db, even on high workloads.
Vendors
I was a longtime fan of Supermicro, but this changed when my PC became a centrepiece in my living room. Now it is "function follows form", no longer "form follows function".
I am at peace with the shortcomings of Asus, and I am considering their components as a basis for my build. In the perspective of simplifying things, I'm looking for as few RGB monitoring software as possible, so if anything can be AuraSync compatible, I'll instead choose that, if not for a significant price or performance gap.
---
About me
A few things about me that might be relevant moving forward: I started using PCs in 1992, and in my early years, I was active in IT, having many hundreds of builds on my belt. All air-cooled, no experience with water.
However, I slowly transitioned to sales & management, so for the past 15 years, there has not been much hands-on experience.
I'm an English-speaking expat living in Germany.
Below's a post which was removed by Reddit filters; I hope I'm not breaking any rules here, either.
I'm trying to build a water-cooled system; below's the whole story.
Community-specific mention: I do not overclock. If anything, I consider underclocking to achieve 0db if possible.
In the OP in Reddit there were a few questions for the Hyte community, but I have others for this community.
Thank you.
--- Quick Questions ---
I am considering a cheaper Mobo, as Rog Strix Z790 Gaming Wifi D4. This does not have a W_FLOW connector and only a 1A / 12W AIO_PUMP connector.
However, spending (much) more money on a ROG Maximus Z790 Formula or Extreme, they feature a 3A / 36W W_PUMP+ connector and a W_FLOW connector.
Is it worth it?
1) How relevant is the Motherboard's liquid cooling connector W_FLOW (and others?)?
In the long run, will I miss it, or will it be easily overlooked?
FYI, I'm the type of guy who always keeps a Task Manager always open.
2) How relevant is the Motherboard's Pump power connector?
Based on a brief search, I found out that most pumps are powered by a Molex connector.
In your builds, are you using the pump Mobo connectors at all?
Please see below; I'm keen to hear your comments and thoughts BEFORE I start spending money.
--- Deep dive ---
During the next 2 months, I invite you to join me in my journey of creating a new gaming PC, built around the Hyte70 Case.What
I recently decided to move back from my gaming laptop to a desktop PC. Browsing around, I stumbled upon Hyte70, and it was love at first sight. After a lot of second thoughts, I am now thinking of building a water-cooled system around this case.
Money
My wife is limiting my budget to a max of 3k
), so I need to be price-conscious while not compromising much.For tax purposes, I am only considering new components on which I can get an (EU) invoice (in EUR). To be considered, a second-hand/private sale should be discounted by 40% or more.
Timeline
This is equally important as the money aspect. The timeline is that I order everything in the next 3 weeks, wait for delivery for another one or two and start building on 09-12/DEC. Then, I will use the winter vacation to build the new system and transition my apps from my laptop to the new desktop. For me, it is essential to have it ready by 20/DEC; otherwise, I only have a little back-to-back time to enjoy it, and it's concentrated during the winter breaks. If it's not done by then, I will likely scrap the whole project, return all components and carry on with my life as is, eventually buying another gaming laptop.
I realise the importance of the supply chain and components availability. I learned from personal experience and others that the late delivery of components can undermine or even kill projects.
Use cases
As a father of two and a busy executive, I don't have much time to play nowadays. And even when I do, the games I play are mostly strategy and low-end requirements. However, I'm an enthusiast, and I like high-performance overkill even when it's not required.
It's a balance between my toy, price and what I rationally need.
At the same time, I loathe noise, and ideally, I'd go with an under-voltage system that could be 0db / completely silent. I realise that's a mirage, but I aim for the lowest possible noise even when running fully loaded.
At times, I considered a remote system running in another room, with controls over 15-30m cables. Still, due to the high insulation in my house and concerns about drilling holes in walls, this crazy idea was abandoned.
Power consumption/efficiency is only relevant from the noise perspective.
Why Discuss this on the Hyte forum?
Well, I realised this beautiful case would actually be my limitation in many aspects, so I'd like to connect with fellow forumites to share experiences from this perspective. Also, people here share about the same level of enthusiasm, and I presume similar budgets and interests.
Platform
Considering the above, after dozens of hours of reading and watching YouTube videos, I decided to go with a Z790 platform and a 14900K processor. Also, I will opt for DDR4, not 5. [Asus ROG Strix Z790-A Gaming WiFi D4] matching the White theme or [ASUS ProArt Z790-Creator WiFi] a bit of a challenge on colour.
Video
I've been a long-time fan of Nvidia, and I have never considered AMDs. After closely examining the performance and prices, I am favouring the 4070 Ti Super.
Unless I discover a highly unlikely killer offer on a 4080, within a 100EUR range, I am pretty sure this will be my choice.
Water vs Air: Water!
This was a tough decision. About 10y ago, I built an air-cooled system based on an AM3 socket and Nvidia 980. It runs flawlessly today, putting up a decent fight even in modern games.
See below. I have plenty of experience with air builds, but this is my first time building a water-cooled system. After careful consideration, I decided to go with the Water-Cooled platform due to noise considerations and because it is heavily influenced by Hyte Design.
I realise this build won't have the same endurance: I'm satisfied if it runs for 4 years. After that, I aim to complete the upgrade.
Design
1) Personal Considerations
Because I literally spend my life in front of my computer, either business or personal, my workspace is in the middle of the living room. This allows me to still have significant social interactions with my family, which otherwise would've been missing if I'd lay in a man cave. This socializing is so important that we have an empty office currently serving as a storage room/guest bedroom, so I chose this central position instead.
However, this also has profound implications. My house is a minimalistic design. Bright wood, dark grey/black occasionally, and primarily white are favoured in the living room. My monitors are all white, and I compromised performance and specs not to see a black monitor back when I am on the other side of my workspace. The same will apply to the desktop.
I was a bit conflicted here, as Hyte's strength is in a corner, and my workspace faces no corners. But I still decided on it, considering that I could pimp it with a fancy (anime?) theme afterwards or leave it white.
2) Colour
This also has profound implications. As mentioned, a black case is not considered. With the Hyte70's glass panels, I will need to go white in the interior as well. This will make me compromise on components and price.
I've seen black/white combos, and while I moderately like them, I'm not sure I have enough aesthetic sense to create a good one. If you have great advice, I'm all ears.
My complementary colour is lavender static. Even my car's interior lighting colour is lavender. My laptop also. I do not imagine anything else. I really hate rainbow colours, and I find flashing/colour circling really distracting.
From this perspective, I also consider ordering a lavender case, but I'm unsure of the actual lavender colour.
On the other hand, I'm concerned about the variation of the white in time. My living room is brightly lit with sunlight, and I'm worried that after 2-3y, the beautiful white will go yellowish. What's even more concerning is that I'm guessing components will turn yellow at different rates, given their different materials (white paint over metal and white paint over plastic), ending up with a not-that-attractive case pretty soon. In contrast, the green/black case I built 10y ago resists beautifully in terms of decolouring, even if it was also exposed to direct sunlight for a long time.
In case you're asking, the black case is in a different home now, so it's not disrupting the design described above.
This was one of the main reasons I chose 5y a gaming laptop and not a desktop, as I wanted a minimal impact on my living room design and space. However, I'm now fed up with the high noise, low performance, high temps and frequent cleaning of my fans, so I'm prepared to switch back to desktop.
In extreme cases, I consider painting some components:
3) Theme
One of the things attracting me to Hyte is the possibility of highly customizing the theme of your build. This is a beautiful example of what one can create:
I find anime themes moderately attractive, and I look forward to further customising the case and overall design. Please share any links/ideas you might have on a white/lavender theme.
Sometimes, a dash of colour (bright red, bright cyan or bright orange) may look beautiful, especially in such a minimalistic [dull] house as mine. However, this will be carefully considered and discussed with the whole family.
4) Water
After careful consideration, I will opt for straight-corner acrylic tubes. They simply look much better. This also impacts overall price, build quality and effort.
Noise
As explained before, I'm in the middle of my living room. My house and neighbourhood are rather quiet. Any db counts, especially at night, when most gaming takes place. However, environmental noise is still present from other sources, such as TV, open-space kitchen at the other end of the house, family members walking by or talking around, etc. From this perspective, Water was chosen as a cooling solution.
Fans
Over the past almost 20y, I remained impressed by Noctua's performance both in terms of noise performance and reliability. I intend to replace ALL fans with Noctua ones. The visible they will be on their "silver" line: https://noctua.at/en/products/fan/redux
Radiators
After careful reading, I understand there's no significant performance/cooling difference between 280mm and 360mm radiators. However, I imagine 2x140mm fans would be slightly more silent than 3x120mm fans.
Another point: the case manual doesn't specify how deep a radiator may be. I'm considering this
https://shop.alphacool.com/en/shop/...l-copper-360mm-radiator-white-special-edition
and this
https://shop.alphacool.com/en/shop/...l-copper-360mm-radiator-white-special-edition
with a default on this
https://www.thermaltake.com/pacific-sr360-radiator-snow-edition.html
And they're thick. [60mm vs 45mm vs 30mm]. I am also imagining that a 60/45mm radiator will cool better than a 30mm one, but I'm not sure by how much. Again, my goal is to be fully silent if possible.
I'd be interested in learning from your experience. As mentioned, I have no experience with water cooling, and I always considered it an overkill and a liability in terms of the component's safety and system lifetime.
Pump
I'm looking for the quietest, highest-efficiency (white) pump possible. I admit I still need to reach this part of the analysis.
Power
I intend to go with the most oversized power supply I can afford. Even if, reading here https://www.techpowerup.com/review/?category=Power Supplies
I realised some of the very high-capacity power supplies are actually a compromise due to limited space. E.g. the review clarifies that a 2000W PS is not better than a 1600W one. 1400-1700 (1600 being the best, I think) is the optimal PS capacity, on which I expect it to run silently, at 0db, even on high workloads.
Vendors
I was a longtime fan of Supermicro, but this changed when my PC became a centrepiece in my living room. Now it is "function follows form", no longer "form follows function".
I am at peace with the shortcomings of Asus, and I am considering their components as a basis for my build. In the perspective of simplifying things, I'm looking for as few RGB monitoring software as possible, so if anything can be AuraSync compatible, I'll instead choose that, if not for a significant price or performance gap.
---
About me
A few things about me that might be relevant moving forward: I started using PCs in 1992, and in my early years, I was active in IT, having many hundreds of builds on my belt. All air-cooled, no experience with water.
However, I slowly transitioned to sales & management, so for the past 15 years, there has not been much hands-on experience.
I'm an English-speaking expat living in Germany.
