Help & Feedback -- First Water Cooled Build

[iRon_Man22]

I'm water cooling my i7-7700k and GTX 1080 TI. This is my first time water cooling and I think I may need a bit of help with the layout I'm using, plus I have a couple of other questions.

First off, I already attempted to bend and install my PETG 1/2 - 5/8 primochill tubing, and it was basically a disaster. Way too many mistakes and when I went to fill it realized that I had way too many leaks. Luckily, nothing leaked on any hardware. I bought double the tubing I initially had and I am going to try again, this time a little wiser.

Anyway, my tube layout is below. Will this work? Is the pump/res to tube res okay? When I tried to fill my loop previously, the water was not pumping to the upper left tube sections (the cpu and gpu). Maybe I was filling it wrong? What would be the best way to fill this loop? I tried to fill the photon as much as possible, then I turned the case on its front and filled the bay res as much as I could. Then I jumped the psu with a paper clip and tried to run the pump, which it did. But, like I said the pump was having trouble going up. Here are my questions:

1) Should I use the top fill port on the 270 photon as an inlet instead of having both the inlet and outlet on the bottom? How would I fill the loop if I have tubing going to the top?
2) Do I need another D5 pump?
3) Do you have any tips on how to accurately measure and bend PETG tubing?
4) Should I make any other changes to my proposed layout?

 

[kanewolf]

You generally want the pump to be gravity fed so that it doesn't run dry. Having the pump below the 270 photon would be my recommendation. Why do you think you need a second reservoir? For a single GPU and CPU you don't need a 360 radiator and a 480. I think you have this WAY TOO complicated for a first water cooled build.

 

[the nerd 389]

That will take a long time to fill. Overall, the design is solid, especially if you're going for a silent build. The pump should be fine where it is.

The only change I'd make is to the routing/flow order.

Bay Res/Pump->Large Res->GPU->480->CPU->360->Bay Res/Pump

If you can turn the 480 around, and run that order, it will greatly simplify the bending that needs to be done. The bending you'd need would also be more tolerant of mistakes.

I would recommend sticking with soft tubing for your first build, though, especially with one this complicated. Also, the second res just complicates things. Unless you absolutely must have it for aesthetics, you should really take it out.

 

[n0ns3ns3]

well ... here comes my IMHO
I'm assuming that you already have all the parts in the picture.
1. If there is a single port on top of Photon res - you can not use it as inlet. the main practical function of the res is to trap the air and ease the bleeding process. if you don't have spare top port, there is no way to remove this trapped air from the loop.
2. you don't need additional components for this loop. you actually have to many.
3. you can roughly measure the required length as the bend will introduce some changes. so you actually bending a longer tube and then cut/file to precise length.
now the long part:
when planning a loop for a home use, the best practice is to avoid zigzags as much as possible. that make both filling and draining the loop much easier.
So in your loop, the bay res/pump combo is clearly unnecessary. there are other downsides related to bay reservoirs as well. so i'd simply remove it and use the tube res only.
1. the pump can be attached directly to the tube res like this http://www.xs-pc.com/reservoirs/d5-photon-170-reservoir-v2
not sure that the pump top (lower part of res) is sold separately. and i'm not sure about compatibility with other companies. i mean the thread of the tube might differ - EK for sure will be not compatible. others might be.
2. you can place the pump beside the lower rad using any pump top like this http://www.xs-pc.com/pump-accessories/acrylic-top-for-laing-d5-v2
One important thing that is missing in the picture is a drain port. it should be placed on the lowest part of the loop and usually created using t-fitting and ball valve:
http://www.xs-pc.com/hose-fittings/g14-t-fitting-black-chrome
or
http://www.xs-pc.com/hose-fittings/g14-4-way-fitting-black-chrome
and
http://www.xs-pc.com/hose-fittings/ball-valve-black-chrome
also, when you want to drain the loop it is handy to have a flex tube of 50-100cm to connect to the ball valve (i'm using simple barb fitting for this)
the tube can also be used to fill the loop by connecting it to the top port of the res - it is easier and safer to pour the liquid outside the case.

 

[iRon_Man22]

well ... here comes my IMHO
I'm assuming that you already have all the parts in the picture.
1. If there is a single port on top of Photon res - you can not use it as inlet. the main practical function of the res is to trap the air and ease the bleeding process. if you don't have spare top port, there is no way to remove this trapped air from the loop.
2. you don't need additional components for this loop. you actually have to many.
3. you can roughly measure the required length as the bend will introduce some changes. so you actually bending a longer tube and then cut/file to precise length.
now the long part:
when planning a loop for a home use, the best practice is to avoid zigzags as much as possible. that make both filling and draining the loop much easier.
So in your loop, the bay res/pump combo is clearly unnecessary. there are other downsides related to bay reservoirs as well. so i'd simply remove it and use the tube res only.
1. the pump can be attached directly to the tube res like this http://www.xs-pc.com/reservoirs/d5-photon-170-reservoir-v2
not sure that the pump top (lower part of res) is sold separately. and i'm not sure about compatibility with other companies. i mean the thread of the tube might differ - EK for sure will be not compatible. others might be.
2. you can place the pump beside the lower rad using any pump top like this http://www.xs-pc.com/pump-accessories/acrylic-top-for-laing-d5-v2
One important thing that is missing in the picture is a drain port. it should be placed on the lowest part of the loop and usually created using t-fitting and ball valve:
http://www.xs-pc.com/hose-fittings/g14-t-fitting-black-chrome
or
http://www.xs-pc.com/hose-fittings/g14-4-way-fitting-black-chrome
and
http://www.xs-pc.com/hose-fittings/ball-valve-black-chrome
also, when you want to drain the loop it is handy to have a flex tube of 50-100cm to connect to the ball valve (i'm using simple barb fitting for this)
the tube can also be used to fill the loop by connecting it to the top port of the res - it is easier and safer to pour the liquid outside the case.

Hey thanks everyone for the replies! Let me try and answer a few things:

I know 480 + 360 is kinda over kill for a cpu and gpu only. I only did these because I wanted room for expansion in the future. I will add a 2nd 1080 ti and might want to cool the mobo as well.

Only reason I have the bay res/pump is because I got it for free from a friend. I was hoping to save some money. I see now that it is not worth it. I ased around on OCN as well and everyone has told me that my bay res/pump is one of the worst ones out there and that it's not even a D5 pump. I have already ordered a photon 270 res/pump combo to fix this issue so I can remove the bay res altogether. Then I'll just sell my normal 270 photon.

Also, to make my bending experience easier, I bought 5x 90 degree fittings to put strategically to make the ends of my bends much straighter. That way I will use a piece of string to roughly measure, bend, and then cut/file to precision.

Lastly, I didn't include this in the picture but I do have a drain valve and t-fitting on the bottom most port of my 480 rad. I've tested it and it works pretty great! So no worries there!

Again, thanks for all of the opinions and help! It's helped me solidify the course I needed to take to make this thing my dream machine.

 

[n0ns3ns3]

there is nothing wrong with 480 + 360 rads for your system. it will allow you to set the fans to low RPM - practically silent.
for example I can not go below 1100-1200 RPM under load with 25-30C ambient. In my system it's only 480 rad surface and less power hungry GPU.
P.S.
SLI is bad idea for gaming these days as you have a single card that can handle any available monitor.
SLI and CF introduce issues like stuttering, freezes and more important, the one that can not be fixed, is higher input lag.

 

[iRon_Man22]

there is nothing wrong with 480 + 360 rads for your system. it will allow you to set the fans to low RPM - practically silent.
for example I can not go below 1100-1200 RPM under load with 25-30C ambient. In my system it's only 480 rad surface and less power hungry GPU.
P.S.
SLI is bad idea for gaming these days as you have a single card that can handle any available monitor.
SLI and CF introduce issues like stuttering, freezes and more important, the one that can not be fixed, is higher input lag.

Yeah, the silence was another big reason for going with that much rad space. A lot of people on other forums were asking "why so overkill?" on that. So that was to address them.

SLI 1080 Ti's is a bad idea? I haven't heard SLI has been that terrible recently, do you have anything I could read about that? I was told if you want to handle 4K at the highest possible fps, (100+) you will need 2x 1080 Ti's to do so. Won't the G-Sync help a bunch with the screen tearing as well?

 

[n0ns3ns3]

there is only one prototype 4K monitor with over 60Hz.
Frankly, unless the monitor is over 40" and you are sitting less than 1 meter away you will not be able to tell the difference between 2560x1440 and 4K gaming.
So 4K gaming is pure marketing BS as Gamer will always prefer 144Hz (at least 100) over resolution.
I have 34" 3440x1440@100Hz and i cant see individual pixels on text even from 50cm distance.
you might want to take a look at what is angular resolution and when it makes sense to to have 4K.
It will be only next year or even more when high refresh rate monitors will go for sale.
regarding multi GPU, i can't give you a single source. you can probably find quite a few mentions of "why not" multi GPU on Gamers Nexus.
the list of usual problems is:
1. not all games support it
2. those that do, not always do it on day 1 and not always properly - hence crashes, stuttering and freezes.
3. high power consumption -> much heat -> much noise
4. Input lag - one of the most annoying issues in general. hardcore gamers (i'm not talking about wannabe) would prefer screen tearing over input lag introduced with "sync" technologies. yes, G-Sync is one of the best and has much lower input lag than V-Sync. Multi GPU solutions add input lag by design. this is how they work.
Instead of second 1080Ti, next year or so you can get new Volta/Vega that will give you same raw power as SLI but with the benefit of constant fluid experience.

 

[rubix_1011]

Yes, correct - essentially SLI 1080/Ti's is overkill and you'd be spending more money on hardware you cannot utilize at this point in time. Your loop (assuming the bay/res/pump is a D5 - nevermind, it is not?) I agree on not using it altogether and simply running a D5 with a good top and/or connected to the cylinder reservoir. The only thing you need to be aware of is making sure the reservoir feeding the pump inlet is never going to allow air to make it into the pump impeller. Otherwise, loop order really does not matter. You can also run a good DDC pump in a loop like this and see good flow as well.

I'd also skip any idea of watercooling MB or RAM blocks as neither is really beneficial or necessary. As long as you have good case airflow, these components will be fine. Are you still going with hardline tubing? I like the concept and look, but I know it's a lot harder to pull off and takes some practice to get good at making the bends you need. Plus, I still kind of like the mech+organic look of watercooling hardware and flexible tubing.

 

[iRon_Man22]

Yes, correct - essentially SLI 1080/Ti's is overkill and you'd be spending more money on hardware you cannot utilize at this point in time. Your loop (assuming the bay/res/pump is a D5 - nevermind, it is not?) I agree on not using it altogether and simply running a D5 with a good top and/or connected to the cylinder reservoir. The only thing you need to be aware of is making sure the reservoir feeding the pump inlet is never going to allow air to make it into the pump impeller. Otherwise, loop order really does not matter. You can also run a good DDC pump in a loop like this and see good flow as well.

I'd also skip any idea of watercooling MB or RAM blocks as neither is really beneficial or necessary. As long as you have good case airflow, these components will be fine. Are you still going with hardline tubing? I like the concept and look, but I know it's a lot harder to pull off and takes some practice to get good at making the bends you need. Plus, I still kind of like the mech+organic look of watercooling hardware and flexible tubing.

Thanks for the responses guys! Yeah I've been looking more into it and I see that SLI really isn't the best bet in terms of gaming and performance. I will probably just stick with the one 1080 Ti and upgrade to Volta/Vega later. I went ahead and bought a photon 270 pump/res combo to replace the bay res. It just isn't the best pump or layout. As for the tubing, I am going to stick with the PETG hard-line. I love clean lines and the aesthetic it brings to a case. I bought 15ft of PETG my first go around, this time I bought 30ft and I have more experience. Plus I bought several 90 degree fittings that should make things easier.

As for RAM and Mobo cooling, I've never really looked into. I would only do it for the aesthetics not for the performance. But its probably a waste of money.