Question 2080 Ti FE, i9-9900k, MSI MEG z390 Godlike...Best Liquid cooling ideas?

Apr 23, 2019
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Hello, My names Michael.
I have just purchased said components above. I'm having trouble trying to find something better than adequate for cooling options. Any advice would be appreciated. I' am very new to builds as this will be my first one. If anyone chooses to fill in anything else I should be looking at for this build...Please feel free to leave info. IE: Cases, Ram, Fans, 240hz Monitor, Power Supply etc.
Thank you for your time.
 
Do you HAVE a case, or are still deciding on one?

What is your FULL budget on this build, and are you looking only at AIO coolers or are you interested in doing a custom loop? Custom loop is a lot of time and expense investment, but worth it for obvious reasons. Still, that's more like it's own project, so a large AIO might be a better choice unless investing that time is something you are willing to do and shell out the dollars for.
 

guskline

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Michael, just built an Asrock Z390 Taichi with a 9900k and used a Kraken X72 AIO cooler. Does an outstanding job of cooling the 9900k. I also am using an EVGA GTX 2080 TI Black edition gpu. The air cooler does an adequate job but EVGA has a hybrid cooling kit for this gpu which I intend to install when it becomes available.
 

Karadjgne

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9900k and 2080ti FE. The hottest running cpu and the easiest gpu to find a waterblock for. You have the makings of an excellent start for a full custom loop. Question is, is that a plausible possibility. Do you have the time and money to invest in the research and development of such a project, and the patience and ability to do it right. Rush it and do it wrong = leaks.
Or, are you looking to get it done. It's a 9900k and 2080ti sitting in boxes and you are already drooling over which games to blow away. Want to forgo all the research and just toss in an AIO, some RGB and maybe a hybrid cooler for the gpu?

Or keep it all stock, no OC, and try and cram it all into a tiny mITX case?

As Darkbreeze pointed out, just what direction do you see yourself going in, and do you have the resources to get it there?
 
Apr 23, 2019
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Thanks y 'all! I would prefer to bye the cooling system as I don't want to take on the nightmare of a custom loop. I have a true love for this and have been planning for months, and a custom loop would be amazing if the time and finances were there for an excursion as such, however, that is not the case as I'm far to busy with my own company, family, children etc. Yes my parts are just sitting here in box lol. My original CPU was the i9-9980xe...However after a full 3 weeks of digging into articles by folks who know much more than myself, I chose the 9900k for ease of understanding and a thousand plus little reasons still sitting in my wallet. As far as the build itself, power, ease of use, ease of PROPERLY putting it all together and piece of mind trumped anything thereafter.
Guskline, the Kraken looks amazing for what I'm thinking. I need to do more research on it though as I' am a very OCD/Precise individual. Thank you for the info on that product.
Darkbreeze, my budget is accommodating for whatsoever my brain can dream up...…I do however have my limits as to how far I will go. 2000 USD for a i9980xe or 500 USD for i9-9900k. You catch my point I'm sure DB. Thank you for your time as well.
Karadjgne, I may dip my toes into the OC waters just not anytime soon. I want to build adequately and efficiently without absolutely frying my investment. RGB is no biggie to me as I'm more about the lesson and the progress of the build and not how pretty it looks. As far as my case I've become King of the North ( In my own opinion) as i chose overkill as my best solution for space...inside the case not out and gone with the CORSAIR OBSIDIAN 1000D. Please forgive my sentence structure and mile long paragraph as I wrote this far too quickly and outside in my garage while prepping for a jobsite tomorrow. Again thank you all for taking time out of your day to respond to my question. Any further advice would be helpful.
 
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Karadjgne

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I'd be headed in this direction. Of course there are cheaper options, 2Tb HDD vrs SSD etc, but dunno why you'd take top shelf platform and hamstring it with slow storage.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - MasterLiquid ML360R RGB 66.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($150.87 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI - MPG Z390 GAMING PRO CARBON AC ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($214.67 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($107.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($126.63 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Samsung - 860 Evo 2 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($316.75 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design - Meshify C White TG ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.98 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Platinum 850 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($143.42 @ Newegg Business)
Total: $1150.31
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-04-25 22:49 EDT-0400
 
So, if it was MY money, and I was looking to run the CPU you are looking to run, this is what I'd probably do.

Regarding the motherboard, the 9900k is going to be an extremely HIGH TDP component, especially when under boosted conditions at full loads. Lesser boards, while they might support it technically, are likely to have issues. And they do. We've seen it in many threads already. So my first thought was "best of the lower-high end boards", which is probably the Phantom gaming 9 by ASRock, however, that board has issues with overclocking. It's not a good overclocking board, even with a lower core count processor than the 9900k, based on TH and other reviews.

And if it doesn't have good overclocking on other CPUs, it's not the right board for the 9900k. And sorry Karadjgne, but the Pro carbon is even worse. Since you don't know for sure if or when you MIGHT decide to try your hand at overclocking, I can't really justify one of the very high end boards like the ASUS Code, Formula and Extreme, some of which are primarily intended for extreme overclocking or those planning to run custom loops anyhow. That pretty much leaves the XI Hero in my book. Since we know the Hero models have ALWAYS been outstanding boards, it's not surprising that this board has good features AND good overclocking, with any compatible CPU, and that makes it a great choice ESPECIALLY if you don't plan to overclock but even if you do because it's highly unlikely to have thermal issues with the VRM configuration that it has. CPU cooling is rarely the biggest problem with very high TDP processors on lesser boards, although without the right cooling it certainly can be.

Of greater concern is getting a board where the power phase and VRMs are going to easily handle whatever it is you want it to, rather than find out later there's a weakness there. Aside from basic systems or budget builds I think that going slightly overkill on board selection where VRMs are concerned is or at least should be a given. Again, especially with these high core high boost systems. So, I think the Hero is the right board and it has a lot of other features that I'm not going to get into that make it a good choice as well.

Obviously, if you don't mind paying more there are better choices out there like I mentioned, but if you don't plan to do some serious full time overclocking OR run a custom loop, these higher end boards really have nothing much to offer in terms of features that less expensive boards don't also have. What they offer, that these lesser boards don't, are primarily all overclocking and loop centric features. That includes boards like the Godlike (Which doesn't have the best reputation anyhow after showing signs of throttling in some testing, on both Z370 and Z390 reviews) and the higher end ASUS and Gigabyte boards. ASRock really doesn't even have an offering that's comparable to those, as the Taichi Ultimate seems to be the top offering on this chipset for them, at least as far as what's available at this time.

If you want to spend an extra hundred bucks, put it into a larger fast M.2 storage device or lower latency memory. Those will at least offer some sort of appreciable benefit for the money. Certainly there are other areas such as peripherals, monitors or case accessories where that money might make you happier as well. Maybe go with 32GB of memory instead of 16GB, if you think your usage for this machine might benefit from it. If this is a gaming only system that doesn't ever run professional applications, do a LOT of HEAVY multitasking or run VMs, then 16GB is likely more than enough. But it's an option.

These 3200mhz CL14 (CAS 14) modules using Samsung B-die ICs (Memory chips) are the cream of the crop and it's hard to imagine, aside from RGB aesthetics) that there are a better choice out there. Maybe some CL14 Corsair Dominator Platinum sticks, but honestly, I'd rather have the CL14 Trident Z's.

Fans are easy. Go with the Noctua Chromax.black.swap or Noctua iPPC industrial 2000 rpm fans in any location where you desire to put a fan, with model based on what size you prefer to put there and how critical noise is to you versus performance. If you want good performance with what I believe to be the highest quality, lowest noise per CFM fans on the market, then go with the Chromax.black.swap (Because, black, rather than baby poop brown like the standard Noctua fans). If you want really good noise levels, although not AS good as the standard Noctua fans, but still superb for the amount of air they move, which by the way is comparatively probably more and with a higher static pressure than just about any other fan on the market, then the Noctua Industrial 2000rpm fans are a no brainer.

You might even want to, if you go this route, replace the fans on the Eisbar cooler with three of those same fans. Again, it's an option. The industrial fans have massive static pressure and will do a great job. You could even do a push pull configuration and eliminate any dead spots or reversion leaks.

I've used, and USE, both, and I've used a hell of a lot of different fans over the years, but nothing compares to these fans hands down. Either one of them. Doesn't really matter whether it's the 140mm or 120mm models, they are all outstanding. I would however recommend putting the 140mm models wherever they will fit including the rear exhaust location. The fans that come in pretty much ALL cases, suck. Some of them are "ok". The ones that come in the FD Define R6 for example are really good, compared to your mainstream fans, but compared to these they are simply not comparable.

For a build using these caliber of parts, my first recommendation would easily be the Seasonic Prime Ultra platinum 750w, but it's easy for me to spend somebody else's money so while that is certainly my first choice, I've included a different but still very good unit. You can make up your own mind, obviously.

Not sure why ANYBODY wants a 240hz monitor, because both scientifically and IN REALITY, anything over 100hz is pretty questionable and anything over 144hz is literally impossible for you to discern any difference visually. I agree that plenty of people can (I am one) tell the difference between a 60 or 75hz display visually when compared to a 144hz unit, but beyond that, anybody that says they can is flat out lying. There is only ONE reason AFAIK for wanting one of these and that's eSports type games where you are likely to be hitting 200+fps. So if that's you, then maybe in some way it makes sense. If not, ¯\(ツ)/¯ . But it's your money, and if that's what you know you want then the only other questions are how much are you willing to spend on the display and what size of panel are you interested in. You realize this won't be available in anything higher than a 1080p resolution due to limitations, so that could be a factor when determining size but for myself I prefer a 27" panel at 1080p.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU Cooler: Alphacool - Eisbaer 420 62.31 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($175.25 @ ModMyMods)
Motherboard: Asus - ROG MAXIMUS XI HERO (WI-FI) ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($285.37 @ Newegg Business)
Memory: G.Skill - Trident Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($160.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial - MX500 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial - MX500 2 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($249.89 @ OutletPC)
Case: Fractal Design - Design Define R6 USB-C - TG ATX Mid Tower Case ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Noctua - NF-A14 PWM chromax.black.swap 82.52 CFM 140mm Fan ($24.90 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Noctua - NF-A14 PWM chromax.black.swap 82.52 CFM 140mm Fan ($24.90 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Noctua - NF-A14 PWM chromax.black.swap 82.52 CFM 140mm Fan ($24.90 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Noctua - NF-A14 PWM chromax.black.swap 82.52 CFM 140mm Fan ($24.90 @ Amazon)
Total: $1361.06
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-04-26 00:40 EDT-0400
 
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Karadjgne

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My arm is my general rule of thumb in monitor sizes at 1080p. If you can easily touch the monitor from where you normally sit, @ 21". If the monitor is fingertips or just out of reach, 24". It it's got a decent distance out of reach @ 27/28". And so on. Anything closer and the pixel size gets larger and more visible, which takes away clarity as things get fuzzy. Which ruins the point of having 1080p. For me to go larger than my dual 24's, I'd be moving to 1440p.

No point in a 240Hz monitor for sure, it's really a sales gimmick. If it did something, plasma would be the monitor of choice as they'll go upto 600MHz or so. As long as minimums are above the monitors refresh, you really get the same results.
 

Karadjgne

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Hmm.
In all fairness, darkbreeze cannot stand MSI, so you gotta admit a considerable bias there.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/msi-mpg-z390-gaming-pro-carbon-9900k-atx-motherboard,5856.html
Currently MSI has the best VRM's in either AM4 or Z390 platforms, and while it doesn't have the same power phases as the high end asus boards, like the Hero, even a mediocre priced pro carbon is still pretty solid in performance for OC. And power phases aren't everything. You may be pushing your luck trying for 5.2GHz+ on the MSI, you'd have a better chance with the Asus Hero, no doubts on that, but for a more normal 5.0 across all cores, the performance will be similar.

Noctua fans. Anyone trying to argue that is a fool. They've made the best fans for just over 20 years, there are competitors like Phanteks who have some models slightly better, but across the board Noctua is untouchable.

I'd go NVMe for C drive, and Sata for storage, but that's just me. Nothing at all wrong with the MX500 series, better value vs the Samsungs since performance is similar enough not to be any sort of issue.

The Tridents are my favorite goto ram, for the Cas 14's, as they are Samsung B-die, the Cas 15 is iffy as they can be B-die or D-die, and the cheaper Cas 16 is D-die, but at $160 its a little over-priced.

Seasonic Prime Platinum. Oof, now that's a psu to dream about, but the Focus is very good too, but for possible OC, I'd be happier with 850w on a 9900k/2080ti as combined they'll draw @ 530w at stock values under punishment. Add in @ 150w worth of OC, plus @ 75w for everything else and you can top that 750w. Too close for me, I prefer at least a little guaranteed headroom.

Darkbreeze and I have both been building pc's for many years, but just like any 2 old timers, one likes Fords, and one likes Chevys. Personal choices, opinions, experiences, they all vary to some degree. I personally have a lot of respect for darkbreeze and his advice is solid.
 
Pretty doubtful anybody would be unhappy with either of these builds, or any build that used a fair portion of either/both of them. Everything suggested on this page is strictly quality parts, except for the MSI motherboard (Ha!!), so hard to go wrong with any of it.