Question Watercooling, still unknown territory for me...

[gamerbrehdy]

So I asked this question a few times now, and the awnsers weren't very clear. So I'm going to rephrase the question.


I want to buy an AIO, or build a custom loop (both at least 240ml radiators)

My pc has the following headers:
1x cpu_fan
2x cha_fan (or chassis fan/case fan)
1 or more 4-pin molex connector
1 SATA connector (It's weirdly angled in a 90° angle from the cables.)

My plan is to buy an AIO with a 240ml (2 fans) or a 360ml (3 fans) radiator, or a custom loop with also a 240ml or a 360ml radiator, and a pump-resevoir combo.


Is it possible for me to hook up the pump and the fans correctly in both an AIO or a custom loop, or am I missing crucial headers?

 

[Gmoney06ss]

Yes it is possible to hook up everything. A lot of the newer aio on the market have a fan splitter included, making fan hookup easy.

Custom loops pumps come in a variety of hookups, for example my pump is sata powered. All my fans go to a fan splitter, also sata powered with a lead to the cpu fan header for pwm signal.

You have plenty of available headers. At worst you'll need to buy a separate fan splitter/hub.

 

[rubix_1011]

Let's separate AIOs and custom loops for now - AIOs cannot (typically) be chained together as these are sealed units. The only method for most of these would be to physically cut tubing and re-connect them while also running additional tubing and fittings before refilling. also, AIOs usually have weaker pumps and are not designed to move coolant beyond the setup that comes out of the box.

Custom loops can be setup in just about any orientation you might want. Please see the watercooling sticky linked in the meta-index in my signature line below. Once you have some concepts down, let's discuss your plans.

 

[gamerbrehdy]

Yes it is possible to hook up everything. A lot of the newer aio on the market have a fan splitter included, making fan hookup easy.

Custom loops pumps come in a variety of hookups, for example my pump is sata powered. All my fans go to a fan splitter, also sata powered with a lead to the cpu fan header for pwm signal.

You have plenty of available headers. At worst you'll need to buy a separate fan splitter/hub.

I've seen the thing you are talking about. So I just have to plug the splitter into the cpu_fan header and plug the fans and the pump in the splitter?

(This is the cooler I want to buy: Cooler Master MasterLiquid Lite 240)

 

[gamerbrehdy]

Let's separate AIOs and custom loops for now - AIOs cannot (typically) be chained together as these are sealed units. The only method for most of these would be to physically cut tubing and re-connect them while also running additional tubing and fittings before refilling. also, AIOs usually have weaker pumps and are not designed to move coolant beyond the setup that comes out of the box.

Custom loops can be setup in just about any orientation you might want. Please see the watercooling sticky linked in the meta-index in my signature line below. Once you have some concepts down, let's discuss your plans.

I allready kinda knew what the difference was, but thanks for the clear technical explaination. Sadly, a custom loop is a bit outside of my budget...

 

[rubix_1011]

So, you are wanting to only setup the PWM splitters between them? That can be done if you want. Heck, you can find tons of PWM splitters on Ebay and Amazon as well as just about any tech site.

 

[Gmoney06ss]

That setup uses a 3 pin for the pump and 4 pin for the fans. According to cooler masters site. You could probably run a y harness to the cpu fan header for the fans and then run the pump to another fan header on the board. Or grab a Molex to 3 pin adaptor, and run it directly off the psu.