I've been running on air happily for a while now, but I'm toying with the idea of building a custom loop. I think it would be a fun project, but my hope is it will be quieter than my air-cooled setup while keeping my GPU significantly cooler and letting me wring a little more performance out of it.
My build is in an NCASE, so space is at a premium. I'd like to go D5 pump over DDC due to less noise and better reliability, but that means I'll have to mount the pump/reservoir on the back of the case. Not a huge deal for me as long as it's nice and secure and could survive an occasional accidental bump.
Here's the parts list I've come up with so far:
Pump/res: Optimus D5 Absolute 5.75"
CPU block: Optimus Foundation
GPU Block: Heatkiller IV (this is one of the blocks known to fit in NCASE m1)
GPU Backplate: Heatkiller IV (would any manufacturer work?)
Side rad: Black Ice Nemesis GTS 240mm
Side fans: Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM
Bottom rad: XSPC TX240 Ultrathin Radiator
Bottom fans: NF-A12x15 PWM
I'm limited by vertical space under my graphics card, so a thin radiator and 15mm fans are almost certainly necessary there.
I'm leaning toward brass or copper tubing as I don't care if it's transparent. Given the space constraints, a few extra mm over plastic tubing could be welcome. I'd like to be able to buy white or black tubing, and it looks like Bitspower would be my only option, so I think I'd have to use their fittings as well?
I'd like to make assembly/disassembly as easy as possible, so any tips on making the loop easy to fill, drain, and pull apart as possible are much appreciated. I'm also limited to two fan headers, and one of them needs to control my PSU fan. PSU fan could share a fan curve with the side fans. Do I need one fan header exclusively for the pump?
Thanks!
My build is in an NCASE, so space is at a premium. I'd like to go D5 pump over DDC due to less noise and better reliability, but that means I'll have to mount the pump/reservoir on the back of the case. Not a huge deal for me as long as it's nice and secure and could survive an occasional accidental bump.
Here's the parts list I've come up with so far:
Pump/res: Optimus D5 Absolute 5.75"
CPU block: Optimus Foundation
GPU Block: Heatkiller IV (this is one of the blocks known to fit in NCASE m1)
GPU Backplate: Heatkiller IV (would any manufacturer work?)
Side rad: Black Ice Nemesis GTS 240mm
Side fans: Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM
Bottom rad: XSPC TX240 Ultrathin Radiator
Bottom fans: NF-A12x15 PWM
I'm limited by vertical space under my graphics card, so a thin radiator and 15mm fans are almost certainly necessary there.
I'm leaning toward brass or copper tubing as I don't care if it's transparent. Given the space constraints, a few extra mm over plastic tubing could be welcome. I'd like to be able to buy white or black tubing, and it looks like Bitspower would be my only option, so I think I'd have to use their fittings as well?
I'd like to make assembly/disassembly as easy as possible, so any tips on making the loop easy to fill, drain, and pull apart as possible are much appreciated. I'm also limited to two fan headers, and one of them needs to control my PSU fan. PSU fan could share a fan curve with the side fans. Do I need one fan header exclusively for the pump?
Thanks!