help with liquid cooling loop

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Cupidsrage

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Jul 12, 2012
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Hello all this is my first time doing a water loop and i was hoping for some feed back and thoughts on if what i have bought is going to be good enough.


koolanceRP-452X2 Dual 5.25in Reservoir for 1-2 PMP-450/S Pumps, Rev.1.2

koolance Radiator/Fans/Shroud Assembly Kit, 4x120mm, Copper "this is a drop in assembly from koolance 20fpi'

Koolance VID-NX680 (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Video Card) Blockx2

Koolance PMP-450S Pump. x2

im also going to buy a block for the cpu as well. correct me if im wrong but the 2 pumps are to much for just the cpu and sli gpu's but i got a good deal on them and intend on cooling the mother board chipset and ram later on.

I that rad going to be big enough its raated for 1300watt cooling power. any help thoughts are ideas would be great thanks.
 
Two pumps are overkill for your planned loop. Especially since that is the extra high-power PMP-450s, which is a stronger pump than the regular PMP-450, also known as the Laing D5 and MCP655. Even if you add the motherboard and RAM, it will still be overkill.

I would not add RAM. RAM blocks are tricky to install, and there's no logical reason to watercool them. The only easy way to watercool them is to use the Corsair Dominator RAM with the waterblocks designed specifically for them.

Motherboard is meh. It depends on how far you will be overclocking, but most motherboards do not need watercooling.
 
Agreed with Tsumi. The parts that benefit most from watercooling are (in order of how much they benefit):

1) GPU
2) CPU
100) Motherboard
1241345) RAM
 
well my intentions for adding those is simply for appearance honestly my true concern my rads ability to properly dissipate heat to keep my system nice and cool.
 
Yes, that rad will be just fine for your 680s and CPU. What are the specs on the fans you plan on using BTW?
 
currently im looking for fittings tubing and a cpu block to finish it up. so far everything is koolance.
 
Cupidsrage said:
currently im looking for fittings tubing and a cpu block to finish it up. so far everything is koolance.
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I like the new DT Sniper for the CPU.

Other decent blocks that I would consider for your loop are EK Supremacy and XSPC Raystorm.

Parallel tube run from CPU to each gpu would work out with Apogee HD if you want to try something different.
 
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If you like good looks, but hate your fingers and your wallet, go with bitspower compression fittings. For compressions, get the same size ID/OD as your tubing. As for tubing...well, tubing is tubing. It's basically all crap. Some is a little better than others, but not much. Treat it like an oil filter; replace it when it gets dirty. Get something with walls thicker than 1/16" or you're going to have a hell of a time making bends that don't kink - 7/16"ID x 5/8"OD or 1/2"ID x 3/4"OD
 
Don't use 1/2"ID x 5/8"OD - that has a 1/16" thick wall and takes nothing to kink. Srsly, you're looking at 4-6" radius on your bends or else you'll need anti-kink coils. Get something with either a smaller ID or a larger OD.
 
Tygon would work, but I find them to be fairly expensive.

I have had good luck with my Primochill tubing. They're ~$2 per foot. Sidewinder computers, jab-tech, and koolertek are several good alternatives to the big two (frozenCPU and performance-pcs).
 
I would personally try my hand with the revision 2 version of that resevoir. I have the v1.2 and its a PITA to bleed it out. I have to twist my case all different directions to work bubbles to the top and front of the case where the upper fill ports are at. The V2 face appears to simplify the situation...though I honestly can't say if its any easier. I understand that the v1.2 looks better though. I didn't see for sure but do you plan on running two seperate loops or just a single loop? I imagine a single pump would be perfectly fine and having that second one there would work well as a redundancy pump in case one fails. In case your interested, here's a the post of my build when I finished it, got a couple shots of the pump there and how I have it configured. http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1038483301&postcount=53
 
The plan is to run a single loop. I am also considering going with copper pipe rather than tubing I experiance with copper pipe as well. I'm thinking it would look pretty nice.
 
Cupidsrage said:
The plan is to run a single loop. I am also considering going with copper pipe rather than tubing I experiance with copper pipe as well. I'm thinking it would look pretty nice.
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I've seen this done somewhere and while it did look cool in a cyberpunk kind of way, it really limits the flexibility that regular tubing provides...you gonna bend the pipe out of the way to change cards/motherboard....how many times could you bend that copper before a hole pops open? I've broken my loop open numerous times over the past 8-9 months and if it were made of coppy I probably woulda broken a pipe open. Not to mention the economics of it...that tubing is probably a ton cheaper to buy than the copper.
 
Well I already have about 10feet of copper laying around and once this is done I don't intend on opening my system for some time I have already spent ell past enough on my build lol
 
Cupidsrage said:
Well I already have about 10feet of copper laying around and once this is done I don't intend on opening my system for some time I have already spent ell past enough on my build lol
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I think its a good idea to open it up flush and change the water every 3 months at least.
 
Don't buy all matching water cooling gear just for the sake of having everything matching. You are at a point where you can get the best stuff you want.
 
honestly i wasnt just turned out koolance was the items i got a decent deal on.... and they seem to be the only ones i can find that carries compression fittings for copper tubing, and i did end up going with an EK water block
 
It is but I am well aware of them being accused of flaking and corrosion under circumstances with distilled water silver and copper sulfate additives. but as with most PC components there are a few cases that didn't turn out well it happens and I am willing to give them a chance. While keeping a close eye on them ofcourse
 
Cupidsrage said:
It is but I am well aware of them being accused of flaking and corrosion under circumstances with distilled water silver and copper sulfate additives. but as with most PC components there are a few cases that didn't turn out well it happens and I am willing to give them a chance. While keeping a close eye on them ofcourse
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They weren't just "accused" of flaking... And it wasn't just the faulty products - it was the company's actions and position during and after the incident (and from what I've seen it may not be completely resolved).

But anyway.........
 
sure there was some cases and sure the company had a bad stand as 90% of companies do when a product doesn't work out right. and im sure its not resolved but if you read the incidents there are always a ton of ppl complaining under it about how theirs is 100% OK but it better not happen to them because ek sucks so forth and so on. Its all subjective if my block does turn out to flake i will do what i do when i get a bad processor or ram stick or a pci goes out on a motherboard. I will rma it
 
Cupidsrage said:
It is but I am well aware of them being accused of flaking and corrosion under circumstances with distilled water silver and copper sulfate additives. but as with most PC components there are a few cases that didn't turn out well it happens and I am willing to give them a chance. While keeping a close eye on them ofcourse
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Good luck with that.
 
Cupidsrage said:
the company had a bad stand as 90% of companies do when a product doesn't work out right
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Pretty sure it's not 90%.

Cupidsrage said:
if my block does turn out to flake i will do what i do when i get a bad processor or ram stick or a pci goes out on a motherboard. I will rma it
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And then they might refuse it because you didn't use their approved coolant or some other bullshit excuse.

GL with your setup regardless.
 
Did you get the Eletroco-less plated blocks? I also have EK blocks that are nickel plated but I guess they're the newer ones that use a different plating process. Going on 8-9 months and no flaking so...they've probably fixed whatever it was they were doing that caused so much bad PR.

I guess just plan ahead on a proper way to drain the system completely so you can properly flush it and don't forget to post a build log as it will be interesting to see it take shape.
 
There's a huge thread over on OCN where even the EN blocks are flaking.

There's a reason why Sidewinder Computers chose to no longer carry EK blocks.
 
Tsumi said:
There's a reason why Sidewinder Computers chose to no longer carry EK blocks.
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Sidewinder Computers is a great shop. Great customer service and great prices.


Instead of the EK block I would much rather have a HeatKiller block and Sidewinder computers sells Heatkiller blocks.
 
Cupidsrage said:
i like heatkiller but not the price.
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I hear ya. The extra $30 or so to get the Heatkiller hurts up front but I think the block looks better and probably performs better. Also I think the Heatkiller block will hold its price better when you want to sell it later on. EK really has a bad reputation right now but they do offer some of the best performing blocks and pricing.
 
yea i like the look of the block pretty well and as far as reselling im not to worried about i normally rotate older things to my younger brother. he get the hand me downs lol. i have 2 main factors that comes into play for me price and performance. Short of their bad name now for the flaking incident i have heard ek had pretty good blocks.
 
Heatkillers did perform better than EK's in the recent 7970 block test I think. I believe XSPC performed the worst, followed by Swiftech.

As for fluid, get a gallon of distilled water from your grocery market. ~$1-2.
 
I read somewhere online in a distilled water review that Walmart/Sams club has the best distilled water for cooling.
 
Cupidsrage said:
i had intended on using a pre mix with anti corrosion and stuff is that a bad idea?
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Which one?



There are many mixed ideas out there on what is best for a loop. Much depends on what metals in your loop are being mixed.

I have read that boiling the oxygen out of distilled water is the best fluid for a loop with a silver coil when running a mainly copper based loop.


Only problem that I ever had with bad oxidation was on a Koolance VRM block right around the connectors and I think the problem was caused by poor water flow in that area and possible trapped air. I caught the problem before it effected the rest of my loop. I break down my loop often trying different tube configurations or different blocks.

I think putting a pre-mix in a loop and thinking you will not have to check it for a year could be a big mistake.
 
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