Thread: Rush is jumping feet first into water

Here is my thaught process.
- I am now a home owner and can make mess's that I don't immediately have to cleanup.
- I am no longer traveling for work and can leave my desktop home to be enjoyed.
- I have not transported my desktop to my cousin's or friend's houses in a long time.


So for the first time I will be building a custom water cooling loop.
But as with most computer builds that I have done, I do not want to settle for mediocre. So I have purchased parts for what I think will be a nice build, but I also have a crazy idea to try based on my experience working on hydroelectric dams and the associated hydralic systems.






After doing a lot of research I determned I would stick with a single manufacturer instead of mixing and matching components. This meant I had to find who could supply all the parts I would need, and who had the best parts or the best service.


Thermaltake has a bad rep far as I could tell, also their parts seem to be low priced/cheap knock offs.


Alphacool apparently has the best radiators (for a pretty penny). So they caught my eye.


EKWB has the nicest looking website by far, and their reputation for part quality and service is very high.


BitsPower apparently has some of the nicest functional fittings, but slightly more expensive as well.


Monsoon also has nice fittings. Nice in this case being looks. But have had reports of leaking from multiple users on different forums.


There were other manufacturers that I looked at, but none that sold everything needed to do a full kit.




I also looked at who offered kits. Alphacool offered some, but most of theirs were with drive bay reservoirs, which I did not want to use. EKWB also sells kits, and their X360 kit intrigued me, but the lower end pump and small reservoir wouldn't allow me to test out my wicked experiment. So I wasn't happy with that either. But I did discover what I consider a super cool reservoir through this process. It has more than enough capacity as well as inlets and outlets. This all but settled which manufacturer I would go with.


So my search for who would get my business was completed. I would go with EKWB and buy all their parts to insure compatibility and have a consistent level of quality.




With all that said; I have the following parts coming to me, I think they should be here all next week, as long as no large delays occure:




PrimoChill PrimoFlex Advanced LRT Tubing (1/2" ID, 3/4" OD) - 6 meters
EK-Supremacy EVO White Edition CPU Block + AMD Socket AM4 brackets
EK-RES X4 250 (R2.0) Reservoir


EK-CoolStream XE 360 (Triple)
EK-Vardar F4-120ER (2200rpm) High Performance Liquid Cooling Fan - ALL WHITE - Qty 3


EK-XTOP Revo D5 PWM Pump
EK-UNI Pump Bracket (120mm Fan) Vertical


EK-ACF Compression Fitting (1/2 x 3/4") - White - Qty 12
EK-AF Angled 90° G1/4 Black - Qty 2
EK-AF Angled 90° 2F G1/4 - Black - Qty 2




I'll try to post photos of the parts later. Right now I am writing down my thoughts to share.






The astute may notice that I have the bracket for the AM4 socket coming. This reveals my plans. Pending the performance of Ryzen processors next month. I will be buying a mobo/ram/cpu. Before that however. This system will be installed into my Corsair 800D case where my i7-3770K processor resides. An older system, but one that I never pushed very hard at all. In fact, after my high end mobo died, the current motherboard it has is a mid-tier Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe. Nothing to write home about.




There is a slight theme going with the build. I want to go black and white with all the water cooling components. Using clear liquid, very classic. If Ryzen does pan out, there is motherboard I have seen photos of from Asus that is black/grey, which would fit in perfectly.


For now I only want to cool the processor, my Titan X will stay with the stock air cooler. I think I am going to skip the 10x nvidia generation and see what is next. Then perhaps incorporate them into the loop.




With all of that written down, any tips? Any parts that I am missing?


I will write down my crazy idea for the water loop at a later date.

One of these days I'm going to take the plunge also. Your list and plans sound intriguing. For now I still use AIO water loops. I live in fear of my making a mistake and water cooling my desk and all my components. LoL


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I've been teetering on the verge of doing a crazy custom loop for a while too, though haven't actually taken the plunge yet. I've spec'd out parts for a loop multiple times. For aesthetics, performance, and reputation, I feel like I'm likely going to go with EK parts when I do mine. Checking out the rigs at QuakeCon and seeing all they have to offer, I've been pretty impressed.

Are you gonna do rigid acrylic or metal tubing? Or rubber? Rubber is probably way easier, though I think rigid cooling loops look pretty sexy. If you're going to do rigid, make sure you get or borrow a heat gun and a good bending tool. Sexy tight bends in the acrylic/metal make all the difference.

I think Heavy might have some good input here given his previous few builds.

Well, I just got the pump delivered (amazon Prime FTW).

The bulk of the other parts are coming from Florida and should get to me by Monday (currently in transit).

The cpu block and tubing are coming straight from the manufacturer in Slovenia; it hasn't shipped yet. I feel like I will be waiting a while.

An update. The parts from Slovenia have shipped and the ETA is tuesday.

I also ordered some individually sleeved power supply cables from Corsair (in white). We shall see how long that takes to get to me.

Got some of my parts early. I think I might need more 90 degree fitting than I have coming.....

My plan to route behind the motherboard tray for the one run may be thwarted because the fans and radiator hang lower than I expected.

I managed to mount the pump attached to the middle by cutting a single peice of the honeycomb latticework.

My plan for a second loop sharing the same reservoir will have to wait until I can get the right fittings/funds.


I am concerned with the bend from the top of the reservoir hitting the fans, and I don't know how I am going to route from the pump to the radiator, unless I can sneak it through the top corner of the case.

I made this darn fitting fit.... Some serious elbow grease was used...


And as a bonus the back side panel closes without bulging

The only thing is I am going to have to modify the fan to fit back in that spot.

The filling process:


And we have no leaks....



But lots of micro bubbles to get rid of



Time to investigate how to get rid of those...

Its the Corsair 800D. An oldie, but a goodie. I plan on keeping it for many more years. (However I do have some touch up paint work to do on the outside, got scratched when I moved)


I let the pump run all night, the bubbles didn't move at all. So I added 2-3 drops of Dawn Dish Soap. Now the bubbles are releasing and leaving the loop.