New custom loop

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vdragonlance

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 8, 2005
Messages
485
Decided to build a custom loop for my rig even though it's probably a waste of money:D

Anyways here's the list, you guys see anything wrong with it or maybe have suggestions for better parts? I have a Enthoo Luxe so almost anything fits inside it and I'll be using my Corsair SP120 fans for the rad. Down the road I'll be adding a GPU block for my 980 Ti.


CPU Block : HEATKILLER IV PRO ACETAL CLEAN $68.95

CPU Backplate: HEATKILLER IV $9.95

Radiator: Alphacool NexXxoS UT60 $106.99

Pump Res combo: EK-D5 Vario XRES 140 $147.95

Compression Fittings: EK 10/16mm Red 6 $47.94

Tubing: PrimoFlex Advanced LRT Tubing 3/8 X 5/8 Clear 5ft $12.50

Coolant: EK-Ekoolant EVO 2 liters $33.98

Total : $437.17 after discount and shipping/insurance
 
There's no need for Ekoolant, especially clear Ekoolant. If you were going for colored coolant it might be useful, though you will find a parade of posters who will swear in every direction that any premixed coolant is Evil. Use distilled water ($1 at grocery store) and a drop or two of biocide, like PT Nuke, $4. It will cost way less, be much easier to get, and probably perform a little better, too. A bottle of PT Nuke will also last you essentially forever. The clear Ekoolant won't hurt (though some might disagree) but there's no real advantage to it.

I see the Luxe claims to have an "innovative reservoir bracket". Does that EK XRES fit there, is that why you chose it?

Why "down the road" for the GPU block? Do you not have the 980 Ti yet? It will be much easier to do it all at once now than to drain and reroute and replumb and refill later. Oh wait, it looks like Heatkiller hasn't released a block for it yet, is that why?
 
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I'll double what he said. I use distilled water + pt nuke and it works great. Other will recommend distilled water + kill coil. If you try to ask around, you won't get a solid answer. If you decide to go pre-mixed, just check your pump's instructions to make sure it won't mess up anything.

Also, you don't think you're going to need any 45 or 90 angle fittings? You might want to check out Monsoon fittings as well. Their compression fitting look great, the color combos are endless, and the tool keeps you from tearing up your fingers. Of course this is just a personal preference.

One more thing, what kind of fans do you plan on using?
 
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rsquared said:
There's no need for Ekoolant, especially clear Ekoolant. If you were going for colored coolant it might be useful, though you will find a parade of posters who will swear in every direction that any premixed coolant is Evil. Use distilled water ($1 at grocery store) and a drop or two of biocide, like PT Nuke, $4. It will cost way less, be much easier to get, and probably perform a little better, too. A bottle of PT Nuke will last you essentially forever, too. The clear Ekoolant won't hurt (though some might disagree) but there's no real advantage to it.

I see the Luxe claims to have an "innovative reservoir bracket". Does that EK XRES fit there, is that why you chose it?

Why "down the road" for the GPU block? Do you not have the 980 Ti yet? It will be much easier to do it all at once now than to drain and reroute and replumb and refill later. Oh wait, it looks like Heatkiller hasn't released a block for it yet, is that why?
Click to expand...
I completely forgot about PT Nuke. I will definitely get that instead of the EK coolant.

Yeah, it will fit there. I picked it because I like the look of tube/pump combo. Is there a better setup? The case comes with a couple mounting brackets that fit most types of pumps/res, plus there's a few locations to mount them around the case.

Couple of reasons why I want to get a GPU block later. First there isn't any official blocks for the 980 Ti and second I just painted it to match the rest of my build :D
http://imgur.com/a/vyvUy


doug_7506 said:
I'll double what he said. I use distilled water + pt nuke and it works great. Other will recommend distilled water + kill coil. If you try to ask around, you won't get a solid answer. If you decide to go pre-mixed, just check your pump's instructions to make sure it won't mess up anything.

Also, you don't think you're going to need any 45 or 90 angle fittings? You might want to check out Monsoon fittings as well. Their compression fitting look great, the color combos are endless, and the tool keeps you from tearing up your fingers. Of course this is just a personal preference.

One more thing, what kind of fans do you plan on using?
Click to expand...
I tried visualing the build and couldn't picture needing angled fittings, but it's probably be safer to get a couple just in case. I was actually looking at them, I'll go back and check them out again.

I'll be using these fans:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181027

Thanks for the help guys, keep it coming. :D
 
Looks sharp.

Few other things just based off of aesthetics.

I would go with black tubing instead of clear. Or if you go clear, go for a red premix, but be wary of staining.

I would probably go with a different block to better match the build. The Apoge XL is black and comes with a red insert for red leds. Or the dragon version to match the moterboard. :D

All my personal preference, but that black/red build will look sharp.
 
doug_7506 said:
Looks sharp.

Few other things just based off of aesthetics.

I would go with black tubing instead of clear. Or if you go clear, go for a red premix, but be wary of staining.

I would probably go with a different block to better match the build. The Apoge XL is black and comes with a red insert for red leds. Or the dragon version to match the moterboard. :D

All my personal preference, but that black/red build will look sharp.
Click to expand...
Thanks!

I like how clear tubing with clear coolant looks.

I personally don't like how the Apogee blocks look. I like the heaterkiller block's simpler design and with red compression fittings should look really good. :D

but thanks for the tips!
 
vdragonlance said:
First there isn't any official blocks for the 980 Ti and second I just painted it to match the rest of my build :D
http://imgur.com/a/vyvUy
Click to expand...
Sure there are, just not from Heatkiller (yet?). The reference 980 Ti uses the same blocks as a reference Titan X. Performance-PCs has eleven such blocks.

Also, I am totally in favor of red and black builds, as seen then (that Apogee GTX block looked awesome) and now... though I haven't been arsed to put the side/top/front panels back on yet (and it remains to be seen if I will before my next rebuild, into a Lian-Li PC-O5S or O6S).

I did clear tubing with premixed-red Primochill PC Ice way back when, and it worked okay. Then I did clear tubing with dye-bomb-your-own-red PC Ice, and it quickly gunked up my blocks. Then I did red tubing with distilled for a few builds. I missed the look of the clear tubing and red fluid, though. Then I did clear tubing with distilled and Mayhem's red dye. The dye precipitated out of the water, leaving a little gunk at the edges of my blocks and a lot of gunk in my reservoir. Supposedly this was an acidity problem? So I drained and cleaned and refilled and am using a silver coil now instead of the acidic PT Nuke, but like the panels I haven't been arsed to check the pH and see if it's okay for dye yet.
 
rsquared said:
Sure there are, just not from Heatkiller (yet?). The reference 980 Ti uses the same blocks as a reference Titan X. Performance-PCs has eleven such blocks.

Also, I am totally in favor of red and black builds, as seen then (that Apogee GTX block looked awesome) and now... though I haven't been arsed to put the side/top/front panels back on yet (and it remains to be seen if I will before my next rebuild, into a Lian-Li PC-O5S or O6S).

I did clear tubing with premixed-red Primochill PC Ice way back when, and it worked okay. Then I did clear tubing with dye-bomb-your-own-red PC Ice, and it quickly gunked up my blocks. Then I did red tubing with distilled for a few builds. I missed the look of the clear tubing and red fluid, though. Then I did clear tubing with distilled and Mayhem's red dye. The dye precipitated out of the water, leaving a little gunk at the edges of my blocks and a lot of gunk in my reservoir. Supposedly this was an acidity problem? So I drained and cleaned and refilled and am using a silver coil now instead of the acidic PT Nuke, but like the panels I haven't been arsed to check the pH and see if it's okay for dye yet.
Click to expand...

These 2 would be prefect, but I'm not paying $200+ for blocks that say Titan X on them:D
http://www.performance-pcs.com/ek-fc-titan-x-gtx980-ti-waterblock-acetal.html

http://www.performance-pcs.com/ek-fc-titan-x-gtx980-ti-backplate-red.html

I'm about to hit the buy button! I swapped out the EK coolant for some Mayhems biocide Extreme and I kept the red EK fittings, the monsoon's were too shiny chrome red and added a few 90/45 degree fittings for good measure.
 
I would use PHN Nuke instead if your going straight distilled. I also highly recommend going for it all and getting the gpu block now. That paint job is very nice but if your planning on water colling the gpu you might as well do it now.
 
Killerxp100 said:
I would use PHN Nuke instead if your going straight distilled. I also highly recommend going for it all and getting the gpu block now. That paint job is very nice but if your planning on water colling the gpu you might as well do it now.
Click to expand...

I already placed the order! They didn't have any, the Mayhems should work fine? I really want actual 980 Ti blocks that say 980 Ti on them. I know it's just aesthetics, but I can wait a little bit longer and go through the hassle of adding it to the loop. :D
 
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vdragonlance said:
I already placed the order! They didn't have any, the Mayhems should work fine? I really want actual 980 Ti blocks that say 980 Ti on them. I know it's just aesthetics, but I can wait a little bit longer and go through the hassle of adding it to the loop. :D
Click to expand...

I don't blame you. I downgradded to wait on pascal, and my 970 has a 670 block on it. Driving me a little bonckers... :eek:
 
doug_7506 said:
I'll double what he said. I use distilled water + pt nuke and it works great. Other will recommend distilled water + kill coil. If you try to ask around, you won't get a solid answer. If you decide to go pre-mixed, just check your pump's instructions to make sure it won't mess up anything.
Click to expand...

It's 2015 and we still rely on anecdotes for water cooling additives. :D
 
I used Primochill's concentrated Liquid Utopia with distilled water, no issues so far (though can't really see the liquid through my black tubes. XD ) 3 months in. Also, if you need really low-profile 90-degree swivel fittings, Koolance makes some nice ones, but your barbs (or compression fittings, if that's your cup-o-tea) need to have short (<6mm or so) threads, and you almost need to put the barb on before you install them. Had to hack my barb's threads to make'em fit. lol

 
Nobu said:
Also, if you need really low-profile 90-degree swivel fittings, Koolance makes some nice ones, but your barbs (or compression fittings, if that's your cup-o-tea) need to have short (<6mm or so) threads, and you almost need to put the barb on before you install them. Had to hack my barb's threads to make'em fit. lol
Click to expand...

The model numbers are NZL-LXG2 / NZL-LXG2-BK if anyone's interested. They're really low profile and it looks like the mechanism to tighten it is a slot/flat-head drive (or something like a coin). The two o-rings are critical to the water-tightness of this fitting, but if space is a premium it'll work wonders I think - but yeah, you want your barbs or compression fittings on and secured to the tubing first.

Performance PCs has them:
http://www.performance-pcs.com/koolance-swiveling-elbow-fitting-low-profile-single-black.html
http://www.performance-pcs.com/fitt...iveling-elbow-fitting-low-profile-single.html
 
A coin, US 1 cent works perfect, quarters work okay. A slotted driver wouldn't work so well, because of the curve. ;)
You can click on the image to go to koolance's product description, sorry if that wasn't clear.
 
doug_7506 said:
I don't blame you. I downgradded to wait on pascal, and my 970 has a 670 block on it. Driving me a little bonckers... :eek:
Click to expand...

Just don't look inside the case :p

Performancepcs emailed saying they sold out on backplate for the waterblock. Luckily it's not needed to install it.
 
I Pm'd you a list of things I have:

If your in the market for water cooling equipment, I have everything you basically need. (I am getting out of watercooling as I change hardware too much, it gets tiring after a while).

I have:
2 x 360 Copper Aquacomputer Radiators
2 x 240 Copper Aquacomputer Radiators
4 x D5 Vario Pumps
2 x EK Bay Res (Accepts a D5 pump)
2 x AlphaCool Bay Res (Accepts D5 Pump)
1 x XSPC Photon 270 Glass Res (With D5 Pump)
Any and all 3/8 x 5/8 Bitspower fittings you would ever need.
I have some primochill and Tygon tubing laying around (Clear and Black)
10 x Bottles of Aquacomputer DP Ultra Coolant (Clear)



I forgot to mention I also have 115X CPU waterblocks from Aquacomputer as well. I have 2 x, one nickel and one copper.

Damn, just noticed you bought yesterday. Well, if you found out you forgot anything, let me know. All is either BNIB on in like new condition.
 
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cybrnook said:
I Pm'd you a list of things I have:

If your in the market for water cooling equipment, I have everything you basically need. (I am getting out of watercooling as I change hardware too much, it gets tiring after a while).

I have:
2 x 360 Copper Aquacomputer Radiators
2 x 240 Copper Aquacomputer Radiators
4 x D5 Vario Pumps
2 x EK Bay Res (Accepts a D5 pump)
2 x AlphaCool Bay Res (Accepts D5 Pump)
1 x XSPC Photon 270 Glass Res (With D5 Pump)
Any and all 3/8 x 5/8 Bitspower fittings you would ever need.
I have some primochill and Tygon tubing laying around (Clear and Black)
10 x Bottles of Aquacomputer DP Ultra Coolant (Clear)



I forgot to mention I also have 115X CPU waterblocks from Aquacomputer as well. I have 2 x, one nickel and one copper.

Damn, just noticed you bought yesterday. Well, if you found out you forgot anything, let me know. All is either BNIB on in like new condition.
Click to expand...

Sent you a PM
 
In case it gets lost in PM, here is a picture I have on hand of the 360 Radiator:

20150404_122316.jpg
 
Couple of quick dirty pics showing off the new loop! About a 25 degree difference between the Cooler Master Seidon 120V and this. :D:D

HzTiTNIl.jpg
]
78Y4Xgdl.jpg


Now the 980ti is the loudest thing in the rig, I ordered an EVGA backplate for it, gonna paint it black then wait for actual water blocks for it.

Thanks everybody for the help, I really appreciate it!
 
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