One radiator enough for new loop?

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bud1974

Weaksauce
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Sep 12, 2015
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I ended up ordering a EK kit P360 to cool my new delidded i7-8700k and ordered a ek gpu water block and back plate for strix 1080ti. I was wondering if you guys think the one pe 360 radiator will be enough or should I add another rad? If I have to get another radiator, would a ek pe240 work ok or should I throw in another 360? I just don't want to build everything just to have to tear it down again because of high temps or to much fan noise. This is my first attempt at a full loop so I'm learing on the go! Both cpu and gpu will be overclocked but not extreme. Hardocp has been great for me since the early 2000's as I have learned so much valuable information. Wish I hadn't lost my login info a couple of years ago because I'm not really a noob on here!:( Thanks, Ryan
 
If you plan to oc, no; however, it's not impossible. I think you'll be fine. Just don't have unreasonable expectations on temps, or invest in some beefy fans. :)

I like the rule of a 120mm radiator per device on the loop and 1 more for each you plan to oc. So for that you're on the edge.
 
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yeah it will be fine but maybe a little warmer than some around here might like. you'll probably end up with ~60Cish Temps which is still perfectly fine.
who's Ryan? :)
 
I'm Ryan. Bud is knickname ive had forever! So i guess I will add another radiator then. Is a 240 ok or should I just add the same pe 360 up front? I was going to have the original pe 360 up top so that leaves room up front for the other radiator and D5 res/pump combo.
 
I guess that depends on how cool/quiet you want it. 360 will be good, 360+240 will be better, 360+360 will be best but maybe a little overkill. but this is [H] so...
 
Thanks. I just ordered another EK pe360 from Performance PC's with some 45 and 90 degree fittings, fans, and a 3 to 1 pwm extension. Should be good now I hope!!!:)
 
I didn't factor in draining the loop for maintenance. Is a t-fittng what I would need to get the job done? What fittings would I need for that connection? I'm assuming the best place would be at the lowest point coming out of the D5 pump/res. Some extra tubing and a plug of some kind at the end? Thanks
 
I have the l360 kit for my 5820k and 1080ti. The CPU hits around 60c during gaming and the GPU around 50c. Fans are in pull on the front of the case.

*edit* I guess I should mention my case sides are off and therefore I am not doing any intake and exhausting with any other fans.
 
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Interested to see temps with that much radiator in there. Should be able to run the fans pretty quiet too.
 
I hope so. I have a ek pe 240 coming tomorrow from Performance PC's though just in case. I think I may have trouble in the top as far as length goes. The electrical components coming from the front look to be in the way. Have to wait and see. Can't start the build until Saturday unfortunately.
 
It should work fine. But honestly, give it a try and keep an eye on your temps. You have nothing to lose at this point.
 
It should be fine, you might have to crank the fans up for decent overclocking but if you want it quiet you should add a 240.
 
I had to postpone until today as this past weekend consisted of running to kids soccer and basketball. I guess maybe I confused a little bit as far as radiators are concerned. I can get the one 360 rad in the front of the case. I will no better tomorrow if I can get the other 360 rad up top or have to go with a 240 rad up top. I will for sure have two radiators! Just don't know for sure what size the second one will be. I did throw the new motherboard and cpu in today just for a power up test and to play around real quick. I punched in multiplier of 50x and manual voltage of 1.35v and ran quick cinebench r15. The cpu's max temp was 61c! Hopefully after I get the build done I can do proper stress testing and get the voltage down. Pretty happy for a quick boot up and shut down though.:)
 
Getting closer. Have to use the 360 rad up front and the 240 rad up top. I did play around a little more this more with the cpu and was able to get the vcore down to 1.28 stable aida64 for 30 minutes. Didn't try any lower but very satisfied so far as I normally get very average chips.
 
Finally done with the loop!!! How can I upload pictures for you guys? I will also talk about temps and performance as I am testing now. Had problems with the Aura software on the new Hero X motherboard but it is resolved now. Thanks again for all your help!
 
All done finally!!!
Still testing but so far I have the cpu at 5ghz. Haven't tried to go any higher!
manual vcore bios= 1.24 llc=6
cpuz and hwinfo64= 1.232 and 1.248 when stressed

8700k's highest temp was 59c after running realbench for an hour. I ran AIDA64 "cpu,fpu,cache" for 2 hours and reached 58c.
GPU=1080ti Strix settles in at 2050mhz after being heat soaked at 42c and that was after playing bf1 and crysis3 for an hour. Crysis3 only to test system stability as it stills hammers the pc pretty hard!
Water temp in the loop holds at around 36c after both gpu and cpu are worked for an hour.
I am overall very happy and will probably switch to hard tubing after I have to flush the loop in 6 months or so.
I used Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut for the gpu block. I also used it between the cpu's ihs and ek water block. Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut was used on the cpu die.

Pictures to follow!
 
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Before and after. Thanks again for being here [H]ardOCP folks!!!
 
Ended up not being completely game stable at 1.24vcore. Had to settle on 1.26vcore with vccio and system agent set to 1.17. All is good now!:)
 
just played bf1 for about an hour and the max temp on cpu was 62c. The max temp of the gpu ended up being 43c. Water temp held at 37c. Are the temps ok "pendragon1"?
 
ok Thanks! I was kind of wondering how my temps compared to other full loops. Just curious.
 
you'd need to use something like prime95(per 26.6) or maybe Aida to give it a good consistent load to give you the idea of what the absolute max is, cause thats what people compare usually, but those temps are good. thing is that temp/noise is subjective. if you're happy with the noise/temp ratio is what really matters and of course that its within the safe limits. consider the normal/max operating Temps of the cpu and gpu, they are 20-40c lower than normal. so depending on what you want you could lower fan speed to make it quieter or up fan speed if you want it cooler for some reason, its personal preference.
 
I will run Aida64 for a couple of hours. If I run the fans low, the water temp wants to climb to 40c or more. If that is ok or normal, I would be good with that. 40+ celcius just seemed a little high but I don't really know.
 
I shoot to keep water temp at ~40c or below so that seems good to me but again that's preference. you should check the tubing/pumps max liquid temp and keep 5-10c below as your max water temp. then its up to you for noise/temp balance. just be realistic, its nice to brag about temp but bottom line is you have to sit next to it. and when cpu/gpu max Temps are like 100/85c and its running at ~60/50c you got a LOT of room to spare. it takes some fiddling, ill often speed hours tuning the temp/noise ratio on a system and each varies based on use/environment. never go full auto! :)
 
SticKx911 said:
I like the rule of a 120mm radiator per device on the loop and 1 more for each you plan to oc. So for that you're on the edge.
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That rule is ancient, from way back. i don't know about rule of thumb these days but if ones want quiet one should dedicate 240mm per block. Hell some testers like Martin from martinslab, takes this as far as running 360mm per block. This is on top of any particulars like ambient, room size, etc.
 
thesmokingman said:
That rule is ancient, from way back. i don't know about rule of thumb these days but if ones want quiet one should dedicate 240mm per block. Hell some testers like Martin from martinslab, takes this as far as running 360mm per block. This is on top of any particulars like ambient, room size, etc.
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I prefer the rule of coming up with whatever you feel is a good, safe minimum and then doubling it. :D

Unless you go way overboard, having too much water cooling isn’t necessarily a bad thing... but not having enough is.

I tend to lean more toward having a plenty of reserve capacity for future upgrades, overclocking, etc. In other words, build and invest in a loop that will last and one that you don’t have to continually monkey with.
 
Supercharged_Z06 said:
I prefer the rule of coming up with whatever you feel is a good, safe minimum and then doubling it. :D

Unless you go way overboard, having too much water cooling isn’t necessarily a bad thing... but not having enough is.

I tend to lean more toward having a plenty of reserve capacity for future upgrades, overclocking, etc. In other words, build and invest in a loop that will last and one that you don’t have to continually monkey with.
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Yea hehe basically. More is better holds true w/o getting into obscene overage. Atm I'll a bit over that even at 320mm per block for three blocks.
 
pendragon1. I have a very big difference in temps if I just open the front case door. GPU never hits 40c and the water temp max is 30c. I think the hot air in the case is recirculating inside the case and the radiator fans don't have enough of a cold air supply. I don't think I can do much except close off air between the radiators and fans inside the case but that will be tuff to do! I have a couple of 120mm noise blocker eloop fans that I could add to the 240 rad for a push/pull. What do you think?
 
bud1974 said:
pendragon1. I have a very big difference in temps if I just open the front case door. GPU never hits 40c and the water temp max is 30c. I think the hot air in the case is recirculating inside the case and the radiator fans don't have enough of a cold air supply. I don't think I can do much except close off air between the radiators and fans inside the case but that will be tuff to do! I have a couple of 120mm noise blocker eloop fans that I could add to the 240 rad for a push/pull. What do you think?
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You're pushing air into the case which is causing it to hotbox. This setup only works if you have enough exhaust fans which you sorely are missing. Easy fix is to switch to radiator fans from intake to exhaust. In this setup you won't have enough intake fans to balance the rad fans, but it sure as heck beats hotboxing the whole rig.
 
^ yup what he said :) need more exhaust. I would have the front rad as intake and the top as exhaust, leave the back fan as is. or do you mean there is a fron door panel checking off the fans? if so I'd take it off or leave it open.
 
yep. Front door chocking off the fans. Runs nice and cold with the front door open. Also runs cool if the fans are ramped up pretty high including the exhaust fan but noise is the issue then..
 
Hey looks good, delidding really helps on these cpus. I think that might be my next project on mine.
 
Well the EK kit comes in in a couple days, and just for the hell of it..thinking of hooking up 2nd 30mm thick 240mm rad to it. Just an ok Rad kinda cheap lame one though, one of those ones with fixed brazed in fittings or something and like only one Barb....I contemplated something really redneck, with an old Dehumidifier that has this HUGE Rad in it, thought about pulling that out and either using that pump or something a little more ergonomic, would be cool though could be fanless and some nice 120v unit.. Lol
 
This has been a learning experience for sure!!! I did what you guys said and I made the top radiator an exhaust. Now the gpu is running in the upper 30's after 100% load in Heaven for an hour. CPU is running cooler also! Water temp hit 30c with fans running at low rpm for an hour of bf1. Thanks!
 
Batboy88 said:
Well the EK kit comes in in a couple days, and just for the hell of it..thinking of hooking up 2nd 30mm thick 240mm rad to it. Just an ok Rad kinda cheap lame one though, one of those ones with fixed brazed in fittings or something and like only one Barb....I contemplated something really redneck, with an old Dehumidifier that has this HUGE Rad in it, thought about pulling that out and either using that pump or something a little more ergonomic, would be cool though could be fanless and some nice 120v unit.. Lol
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Hey, that EK kit isn't one of those aluminum ones, is it? And/or your other 30mm rad is also aluminum? Make sure you're not mixing metals. Not trying to be condescending here, just don't wanna see you have a bad day! =)
 
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