MIG's Custom water loop build!
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MIG's Custom water loop build!
So recently about 2 weeks ago i upgraded once again to a custom cpu water loop build, this is the 3rd upgrade in 7 months! After researching for a good few weeks and planning the build, choosing components i decided to go with an EK setup such as EK-supremacy EVO CSQ water block, EK-Coolstream 280x60mm Radiator with four G/1/4 ports, EK-ACF compression fittings (blue),
along with 45' angled fittings, EK- XRES CSQ DDC 100 3.2 PWM res/pump combo mounted to a anti vibration mounting kit on top of a uni holder at the bottom of my obsidian 750D case.
Initially i was going to choose acrylic tubing (clear tubing) but opted in the end for soft tubing because it was my first custom loop and just wanted to play it safe but the acrylic option will be a future upgrade i guess.
16/10 (OD/ID) clear tubing was used from primochill 2 meters was enough in my case being a Obsidian 750D aswell and still had just enough left for spare as a drain tube when i need to do maintenance. its advisable to use hose cutters aswell to get an even straight cut but i just used a sharp stanley knife and carefully cut it as straight as i could if using compression fittings like i did then its got to be a straight cut supposedly for the compression ring to make a uniform seal on the single barbed 1/4 fitting, makes sense really!
Recommended 6 months fluid change and flush system with preferably pure de-ionized water. Only down side i have is not having a T-drain valve installed to the back end of my res/pump, but doesn't really matter as i will have to drain it the harder way by using the fill port and turning the case upside down or to the side to drain, but as it comes to maintenance time a "T" valve will be installed along with anything else that i may fancy upgrading or swapping components for that matter.
I used XSPC uv coolant, by the way the uv coolant option isnt all that great as it only emits uv colour (blue in my case) along with the uv cold cathode tubes x2 for a few days then it started emitting a tinge of purple later, not sure if it was the uv cathode tubes or the coolant, but i did read up about uv coolants not being that great anyway, so instead i took the uv cathode lights out and fitted NZXT blue 12 led sleeved cable with expansion slot controller and personally think it looks better. Next coolant i think i will use some bluberry pastel coolant like the mayhems range or might use a different colour scheme such as blood red, but red tends to stain alot from what ive seen and researched.
Radiator fans, i used two corsair sp 120 fans in push configuration at the top of the 750D, corsair 140 AF Quiet editon at rear for exhaust, x2 corsair 140 AF fans for intake and i do have the option for a 120 fan underside of the res/pump but not yet installed.
I was using a H80I closed loop cooler from corsair before this upgrade, all i can say is what a massive difference in lower temps from what it was and lower noise levels aswell, infact a lot of lower noise, pump noise from the H80i was kind of annoying and the fans on the radiator (push/pull) config where quite loud under load, e.g bf3, bf4, gta5 temps with the H80I were around 65>75 degrees celsius which is ok, but now with the new custom loop those demanding games are more like 40>50 degrees celsius and the cpu currently clocked @ 4.2ghz and with 1.120
voltage. TF2 is at 40 degrees max For any of you that do overclock then i recommend a custom water loop as you can probably see it give's so much overclocking headroom and the increase in higher voltages if required.
Prime 95 used with small FFTs maximum FPU stress, data fits in L2 cache, temp wise no more than 55 degrees within a 15 minute test and one hour also seems to be around the same maybe just a couple of degrees more, not like before on the H80I cooler it was hitting 80+ within a couple of minutes testing!
Idle temps now are between 22>26 degrees.
If you planning on doing a waterloop build lots of retailers do a bundled kit ranging from alphacool, EKWB, XSPC etc ranging from £200+ depending on the spec they provide. This is what i was opting for in the first place but for aesthetic purposes i chose my own components resulting in a higher payout, altogether for this setup your looking at around £450 thats not including my 750D case of course! Highly recommended for any one wanting to upgrade to custom loop, overclocking, lower noise levels, better cooling, aesthetic purposes and future upgrades to the loop.
Here's a few pictures:
along with 45' angled fittings, EK- XRES CSQ DDC 100 3.2 PWM res/pump combo mounted to a anti vibration mounting kit on top of a uni holder at the bottom of my obsidian 750D case.
Initially i was going to choose acrylic tubing (clear tubing) but opted in the end for soft tubing because it was my first custom loop and just wanted to play it safe but the acrylic option will be a future upgrade i guess.
16/10 (OD/ID) clear tubing was used from primochill 2 meters was enough in my case being a Obsidian 750D aswell and still had just enough left for spare as a drain tube when i need to do maintenance. its advisable to use hose cutters aswell to get an even straight cut but i just used a sharp stanley knife and carefully cut it as straight as i could if using compression fittings like i did then its got to be a straight cut supposedly for the compression ring to make a uniform seal on the single barbed 1/4 fitting, makes sense really!
Recommended 6 months fluid change and flush system with preferably pure de-ionized water. Only down side i have is not having a T-drain valve installed to the back end of my res/pump, but doesn't really matter as i will have to drain it the harder way by using the fill port and turning the case upside down or to the side to drain, but as it comes to maintenance time a "T" valve will be installed along with anything else that i may fancy upgrading or swapping components for that matter.
I used XSPC uv coolant, by the way the uv coolant option isnt all that great as it only emits uv colour (blue in my case) along with the uv cold cathode tubes x2 for a few days then it started emitting a tinge of purple later, not sure if it was the uv cathode tubes or the coolant, but i did read up about uv coolants not being that great anyway, so instead i took the uv cathode lights out and fitted NZXT blue 12 led sleeved cable with expansion slot controller and personally think it looks better. Next coolant i think i will use some bluberry pastel coolant like the mayhems range or might use a different colour scheme such as blood red, but red tends to stain alot from what ive seen and researched.
Radiator fans, i used two corsair sp 120 fans in push configuration at the top of the 750D, corsair 140 AF Quiet editon at rear for exhaust, x2 corsair 140 AF fans for intake and i do have the option for a 120 fan underside of the res/pump but not yet installed.
I was using a H80I closed loop cooler from corsair before this upgrade, all i can say is what a massive difference in lower temps from what it was and lower noise levels aswell, infact a lot of lower noise, pump noise from the H80i was kind of annoying and the fans on the radiator (push/pull) config where quite loud under load, e.g bf3, bf4, gta5 temps with the H80I were around 65>75 degrees celsius which is ok, but now with the new custom loop those demanding games are more like 40>50 degrees celsius and the cpu currently clocked @ 4.2ghz and with 1.120
voltage. TF2 is at 40 degrees max For any of you that do overclock then i recommend a custom water loop as you can probably see it give's so much overclocking headroom and the increase in higher voltages if required.
Prime 95 used with small FFTs maximum FPU stress, data fits in L2 cache, temp wise no more than 55 degrees within a 15 minute test and one hour also seems to be around the same maybe just a couple of degrees more, not like before on the H80I cooler it was hitting 80+ within a couple of minutes testing!
Idle temps now are between 22>26 degrees.
If you planning on doing a waterloop build lots of retailers do a bundled kit ranging from alphacool, EKWB, XSPC etc ranging from £200+ depending on the spec they provide. This is what i was opting for in the first place but for aesthetic purposes i chose my own components resulting in a higher payout, altogether for this setup your looking at around £450 thats not including my 750D case of course! Highly recommended for any one wanting to upgrade to custom loop, overclocking, lower noise levels, better cooling, aesthetic purposes and future upgrades to the loop.
Here's a few pictures:
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- Regular@THG
- Posts: 110
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- Location: England
Re: MIG's Custom water loop build!
Post by Scoutgeek144 »
Oooh, very nice.Something like this I want to do with my future setup(once I buy it) but maybe not this extreme.
Also where did you get the Colouring for your loop from,I want to see if anyone does an orange dye for a upcoming build i want to do.
Also where did you get the Colouring for your loop from,I want to see if anyone does an orange dye for a upcoming build i want to do.
Re: MIG's Custom water loop build!
Hey rax the coolant is uv blue from xspc from https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ pre-mixed, but as mentioned the uv doesnt work so well in my opinion!
Look on you tube for custom waterloop builds, like jaystwocents channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEO1ZZTA0d4 skunkworks!!
Look on you tube for custom waterloop builds, like jaystwocents channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEO1ZZTA0d4 skunkworks!!
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- Regular@THG
- Posts: 110
- Joined: Thu Jan 23, 2014 12:00 am
- Location: England
Re: MIG's Custom water loop build!
Post by Scoutgeek144 »
Ahh, thanks MIG,I will have a look at both later
Edit:Do you know if it is possible to replace the pipes on a corsair H100i or would it be better to go for a full loop?
Edit:Do you know if it is possible to replace the pipes on a corsair H100i or would it be better to go for a full loop?
Last edited by Scoutgeek144 on Sun Jul 26, 2015 6:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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- Regular@THG
- Posts: 110
- Joined: Thu Jan 23, 2014 12:00 am
- Location: England
Re: MIG's Custom water loop build!
Post by Scoutgeek144 »
I missed you replying by 2 minutes :oops: , please check my edit.
Re: MIG's Custom water loop build!
I wouldn't advise doing it as theres unknown coolant grade more than likely premixed anyway being a closed loop and maintenance free being used by corsair for the radiator and the OD/ID diameter of the tubing is not a standard fit like say 16/10mm, 13/10mm OD etc. tubing on the corsair hydro series are something like 14.2mm OD, i just checked my h80i tubing with vernier calipers :lol:
So yeah its better with a custom loop if im honest rax
So yeah its better with a custom loop if im honest rax
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- Regular@THG
- Posts: 110
- Joined: Thu Jan 23, 2014 12:00 am
- Location: England
Re: MIG's Custom water loop build!
I know the tube routeing is a little strange especially the inlet port tube, when maintenance is due i will re-route that one to the back of the pump so it creeps up the back along side the HDD bays but will require a 90' angled fitting for that one, i want to do a loop for the gpu soon but when that comes nearer the time i was thinking about going acrylic tubing for both cpu loop and gpu loop.
Re: MIG's Custom water loop build!
[quote=Derfy post_id=48690]Default theme, and using Opera which does have some idiosyncrasies. Did you add them using the img tags?[/quote]
Nope i added them as copied link from my photobucket, try chrome or firefox browser. :)
Nope i added them as copied link from my photobucket, try chrome or firefox browser. :)
Re: MIG's Custom water loop build!
Thank you so much Mig for the feedback and pictures !!!
Do you have any idea how far you could overclock your cpu and still have "acceptable" temperatures?
You say TF2 is 40 deg max, this is great taking into account that the game is very cpu intensive (if you want constant 120fps for example).
Just to make sure i understand correctly, when you say uv coolant, you mean that whether you want shiny light in your case or not, you don't have a choice and you actually need that uv light permanently for cooling reasons?
It's clear that your post makes me want to convert to watercoolling, do you have any experience in overclocking?
Do you have any idea how far you could overclock your cpu and still have "acceptable" temperatures?
You say TF2 is 40 deg max, this is great taking into account that the game is very cpu intensive (if you want constant 120fps for example).
Just to make sure i understand correctly, when you say uv coolant, you mean that whether you want shiny light in your case or not, you don't have a choice and you actually need that uv light permanently for cooling reasons?
It's clear that your post makes me want to convert to watercoolling, do you have any experience in overclocking?