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DrDork posted:If your idea is that the pump pulls in water via suction in a negative-pressure manner, then that is indeed exactly the concept demonstrated in the video: by using negative pressure to suck the water into the pump and letting it just fall out the other side, you're able to tolerate holes to some extent because the vast majority of your loop is now under negative pressure. There are limits to that, of course, and that neat feature stops the moment you turn the system off, so it's not like it really offers meaningful long-term protection against such damage. It does, however, mean that you don't leak fluid out of components or joints that are fine at holding still water but then have trace leaks under the positive pressure generated by a normal pump. And I guess it presents cool YT video opportunities for people to poke poo poo in tubes and blocks. Pretty much this. Every pump has a suction side and a pressure side, and the idea would be to have the reservoir on the pressure side and the cooling loop on the suction side. I don't know how much suction these pumps actually generate, and you might end up with localized high pressure areas where there's a significant restriction to flow, but you'd have that same problem even with what looks like a vacuum pump attached to the reservoir. I don't know that I'd run something like the product in the video, but pulling a vacuum to test for leaks is pretty standard and I can definitely see the value in having a vacuum pump available for building and maintaining coolant loops. I'd be willing to bet you could get a nice small vacuum pump for less than the ~$150 this thing costs, though.
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Oct 3, 2021 05:03
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Anyone had issues with EKWB's nickel plated stuff? I was inspecting my loop and the nickel looks like its coming off? I have copper rads and fittings, and nickel is supposed to play nice with copper. I've only used distilled water in this loop.
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Nov 27, 2021 20:52
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SPACE HOMOS posted:Anyone had issues with EKWB's nickel plated stuff? I was inspecting my loop and the nickel looks like its coming off? I have copper rads and fittings, and nickel is supposed to play nice with copper. I've only used distilled water in this loop. Could just be a defect in the coating, or have you ever had any silver in the loop (kill coils/etc will destroy nickel coatings)? The important thing is it is just a coating, bare copper will tarnish over time and it gets ugly, nickel coating prevents that and perhaps makes it easier to clean but otherwise serves no real purpose and has no impact on performance.
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Nov 27, 2021 23:45
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I don't have a silver kill coil. I'll have to take a picture of it tomorrow when I drain my loop. When I first put a flashlight to it, I thought it was rust.
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Nov 27, 2021 23:53
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SPACE HOMOS posted:I don't have a silver kill coil. I'll have to take a picture of it tomorrow when I drain my loop. When I first put a flashlight to it, I thought it was rust. Do you have any Optimum blocks in your loop? They don't play nice with EK nickel. Did you flush your radiators before using them? Could be flux/crap from manufacturing. Unless your loop is 100% copper I'd advise against just 100% distilled and get one of the longevity focused clear coolants, the anti-corrosives go a long way.
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Nov 28, 2021 14:53
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SPACE HOMOS posted:Anyone had issues with EKWB's nickel plated stuff? I was inspecting my loop and the nickel looks like its coming off? I have copper rads and fittings, and nickel is supposed to play nice with copper. I've only used distilled water in this loop. There's a long history of reddit watercooling posts of folks with flaky EK nickel blocks. Consensus seems to be that the plating is very thin and just a little galvanic action will cause it to flake off. Other than getting the bits in your blocks it's just cosmetic.
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Nov 28, 2021 15:14
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Kerosene19 posted:There's a long history of reddit watercooling posts of folks with flaky EK nickel blocks. Consensus seems to be that the plating is very thin and just a little galvanic action will cause it to flake off. Other than getting the bits in your blocks it's just cosmetic. Yeah, Reddit is full of posts complaining about EK's nickel plating. Yet Reddit users also seem to love Bykski, which I find weird given the only Bykski block I've ever used had exactly the same issue
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Nov 29, 2021 23:15
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a dmc delorean posted:Yeah, Reddit is full of posts complaining about EK's nickel plating. As someone who has compared EK and Bykski blocks on the same card, Bykski can gently caress right off. Their design was GARBAGE compared to what EK put out. (Though, admittedly, the Bykski block was also dirt cheap and came from B-stock since they tooled the block for a 3080 and stamped a 3090 label on it.)
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Nov 30, 2021 04:01
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Warmachine posted:As someone who has compared EK and Bykski blocks on the same card, Bykski can gently caress right off. Their design was GARBAGE compared to what EK put out. (Though, admittedly, the Bykski block was also dirt cheap and came from B-stock since they tooled the block for a 3080 and stamped a 3090 label on it.) Admittedly the block I had worked fine (RX 580 lol, was literally the only block I could find for that card) and their prices are good, too, like you say. But I wouldn't get another Bykski block unless I had to. No idea why Reddit seems to rave about them so much. What was the issue with the block you had, out of interest?
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Nov 30, 2021 21:18
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Changing out mobos and cpus this weekend and it’ll be a loop tear down and flush. Keeping an eye on reservoir, the fluid has stayed clean. Changing out these pain in the rear end Monsoon compression fittings for some barbs and clamps going forward. Also, only had to buy a 20 dollar conversion kit for my cpu block. Watercool Heatkiller IV Intel 115x currently and going to AM4.
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Nov 30, 2021 21:55
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a dmc delorean posted:No idea why Reddit seems to rave about them so much. Because they're cheap, mostly, and they usually work "well enough." Add in the usual need for people to defend their purchases (especially when they're buying more budget priced stuff because they cannot afford the more expensive brands) and off you go. Bykski is pretty fine for low complexity parts, though, like fittings and whatnot. But, yeah, their actual blocks generally reflect the lower prices they charge.
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Dec 1, 2021 04:03
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BurritoJustice posted:Do you have any Optimum blocks in your loop? They don't play nice with EK nickel. Kerosene19 posted:There's a long history of reddit watercooling posts of folks with flaky EK nickel blocks. Consensus seems to be that the plating is very thin and just a little galvanic action will cause it to flake off. Other than getting the bits in your blocks it's just cosmetic. I have alphacool rads and res, bitspower fittings, then EK blocks for the cpu and gpu. I flush my rads when they are new using distilled white vinegar, then distilled water. This isn't a great picture due to the condensation. It also looked worse when it was in my case.  Also was messing with a new macro lens for something else but, 
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Dec 1, 2021 19:20
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Are there any cases particularly suitable for watercooling that don't have glass/acrylic panels or windows? I'm interested in moistening my next build, but I really don't like cases that I can see into. I was excited when the Torrent came out with a solid panel option, but it seems that its radiator mounting is less than ideal. What should I be looking for?
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Dec 5, 2021 23:27
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fatman1683 posted:Are there any cases particularly suitable for watercooling that don't have glass/acrylic panels or windows? I'm interested in moistening my next build, but I really don't like cases that I can see into. I was excited when the Torrent came out with a solid panel option, but it seems that its radiator mounting is less than ideal. What should I be looking for? I think corsair cases with windows have a ~$25 optional solid side panel you can order direct from corsair instead. Or at least my Obsidian 750D does, I kept the window on mine though since it faces away from me anyway.
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Dec 5, 2021 23:59
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fatman1683 posted:Are there any cases particularly suitable for watercooling that don't have glass/acrylic panels or windows? I'm interested in moistening my next build, but I really don't like cases that I can see into. I was excited when the Torrent came out with a solid panel option, but it seems that its radiator mounting is less than ideal. What should I be looking for?
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Dec 6, 2021 03:24
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The Electronaut posted:Changing out mobos and cpus this weekend and it’ll be a loop tear down and flush. Keeping an eye on reservoir, the fluid has stayed clean. Welp, did this today. Took longer than expected, but why did I screw around with these compression fittings? Barbs + clamps is so pain free.
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Dec 6, 2021 03:28
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a dmc delorean posted:Admittedly the block I had worked fine (RX 580 lol, was literally the only block I could find for that card) and their prices are good, too, like you say. But I wouldn't get another Bykski block unless I had to. Poor/no contact on certain components. To the point where it didn't even look like they machined the block for the right schematic. I don't remember exactly because I pretty much tossed it back in the box and didn't look at it again after comparing my numbers side by side. Even with slight fitting issues, the EK block was superior in pretty much every way. It even cured the 3080 of the hot memory issue everyone was talking about. fatman1683 posted:Are there any cases particularly suitable for watercooling that don't have glass/acrylic panels or windows? I'm interested in moistening my next build, but I really don't like cases that I can see into. I was excited when the Torrent came out with a solid panel option, but it seems that its radiator mounting is less than ideal. What should I be looking for? If you wanna try going SFF, Coolermaster's NR200 is a good choice. I think you can fit a 280mm in there? Depending on your tolerance for messing with extremely tight, er, tolerances and/or using a dremel/case modding, you could even theoretically attempt a 2 or 3 radiator loop in it. Theoretically, as in, I've seen some nutters pull it off but I wouldn't recommend it unless you're well down the rabbit hole of case modification.
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Dec 6, 2021 18:17
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In March of this year I got an MSI Mag CorelLiquid 240R AIO a few days ago. My experience with it is that it's okay but not great performance and a few days ago the pump just straight up died. Whelp that's my water cooling story. I like the concept of water cooling but this really scarred me regarding AIOs with how fast it went from functional to overheating my CPU an dying. I'm not doing a new build any time soon but when the time comes I might get one of those DIY kits or buy the parts myself and do it - I'm happy to really take my time with and not rush something like that. Looking at reviews kits like these a common complaint I see is that often the interior of the radiator arrives rusty/in bad shape? Is this just from cheaping out on the metal or like they have two reactive metals against each other? Can this be avoided if one is buying the parts for this stuff individually? This isn't urgent so I'll probably have to re-research this whenever I get around to actually working on this but in general are kits like that useful, like are there any that are particularly bad or good or is it better to just get individual components and bend/work whatever I need to if I have the time/resources to do that?
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Dec 24, 2021 21:42
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Neo Rasa posted:In March of this year I got an MSI Mag CorelLiquid 240R AIO a few days ago. My experience with it is that it's okay but not great performance and a few days ago the pump just straight up died. Whelp that's my water cooling story. AIOs usually have a pretty long warranty, you could try getting it replaced. The radiators used in watercooling are really cheaply made and have almost always debris or dirt left in them and you should always rinse them out before using. They should really come wrapped in a giant red warning that tells you to clean them. I would stay far away from getting anything water cooling related from Corsair. Their quality ranges from ok to terrible, and all of it insanely overpriced. The only brand with kits like that that seem pretty good is EK.
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Dec 24, 2021 22:01
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spckr posted:AIOs usually have a pretty long warranty, you could try getting it replaced. Oh yeah it's well within the warranty and I filled out a ticket, the old prism fan that came with the Ryzen is doing fine for now until I see how that works out. I appreciate the confirmation of my suspicions with Corsair because they really did look way overpriced compared to others considering the issues I was seeing.
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Dec 24, 2021 23:59
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spckr posted:AIOs usually have a pretty long warranty, you could try getting it replaced. This goes well beyond a simple kit, but how would you judge something like this? https://www.bitspower.com/titanseries/titan_x/ They sell this kit at Micro Center with a 3080 for $1900, and it comes with a radiator, a distro block/reservoir/pump, a cpu block, and pre-bent tubes tailored to the case they sell it with. I'm wondering if this is something that's worth recommending to someone looking for a whole new build and is curious about water cooling. Is Bitspower a decent brand? All the water cooling stuff this comes with totals out to over $400 at titan rig, so combined with the components it comes with and the gpu, this seems like potentially a decent deal as long as the equipment included isn't junk. Dr. Video Games 0031 fucked around with this message at 06:23 on Dec 25, 2021 |
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Dec 25, 2021 06:16
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Dr. Video Games 0031 posted:This goes well beyond a simple kit, but how would you judge something like this? https://www.bitspower.com/titanseries/titan_x/ I don’t have any experience with bitspower. From what I’ve read their quality is good but a bit pricey. This kits seems like a good deal though. Depends a bit on what the „high quality motherboard and power supply“ actually are. Pre-bent hard tubing sounds fantastic if it fits and would make building this much less of a hassle. I would never recommend hard tubing for a first loop (or ever really), but this could work really well. The case is really well built and works well for watercooling. I think the top panel does not allow much air through, so it won’t be completely quiet. I would definitely get a gpu block and a second radiator at some point. A full custom loop just for the cpu doesn’t make much sense imo.
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Dec 25, 2021 12:22
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BurritoJustice posted:There is nothing wrong with it. A popular way of doing hardline a while ago was to use soft tubing in the back for easy maintenance and routing. No need to go to the extra effort for what's out of sight. I recommend it if you're part of the "stuff the rear panel on and forget about it" cable gang So I think after studying this again over the break, and realizing I keep making like no progress (I keep getting wrapped up in thinking I need to CAD up a bracket and send it to Protolabs for fab...), I might just go all soft tubing. I have no windows in this case -- I know hard tubing is primarily done for aesthetic reasons, are there any other advantages to it over soft tubing? This is effectively the build I am doing / trying to follow: https://pcpartpicker.com/b/JrRJ7P and I cannot figure out how the gently caress he did the pump there in the lower left. I have the Heatkiller D5 top and my inlets/outlets don't work unless I fab some kind of bracket to mount it to my front rad + rotate it like 270 degrees. I think the outlet on that pump should be pointing straight down, and he's got a 90 degree or something hitting the front rad, but not sure. I think I'll get an EK XRES 110 for my reservoir and mount it to the front rad using some EK bracket -- kinda want to do a T-line for old times sake, but the res seems easier / cheaper in the long run. Still a few easy places hard tubing could work for me (like CPU block to top rad), but... 
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Jan 4, 2022 00:25
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e: neat, double post. have my puppy instead:
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Jan 4, 2022 00:25
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A good hard tubing system looks totally awesome and that's pretty much its only advantage. (Soft tubing isn't any better for performance, it just doesn't look as good in most cases and is about a million times easier to work with.)
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Jan 4, 2022 00:44
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Nobody ever says "gee, I sure am glad I went with hard tubing" when it comes to any kind of maintenance or updating their rig. You can just clamp soft tubing to minimise spills without spending extra on QDCs.
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Jan 4, 2022 14:25
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Yeah, I’ve just been an idiot. Bought some EPDM tubing (amazingly not cheaper on McMaster…) and EK STC fittings to get the ball rolling, plus a EK X3 110 reservoir. Found a Heatkiller D5 mount that might actually work for me, so I’m gonna try that out as well. Not sure where to put a fill port, but with a soft tubing loop… who cares, right? Easier maintenance good by me.
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Jan 5, 2022 02:02
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With soft tubing you don't even need a fill port or a drain port, you can just release the mounts then grab the whole reservoir and tilt it upside down into a pan to drain the system. Filling one only takes a scrap piece of tubing and a funnel into the top of the reservoir.
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Jan 5, 2022 03:11
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Indiana_Krom posted:With soft tubing you don't even need a fill port or a drain port, you can just release the mounts then grab the whole reservoir and tilt it upside down into a pan to drain the system. Filling one only takes a scrap piece of tubing and a funnel into the top of the reservoir. I was an idiot for even spending time thinking about how to do a rigid / hardline build in a case with NO windows / no fucks given on cosmetics. Truly.
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Jan 5, 2022 04:00
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Theophany posted:Nobody ever says "gee, I sure am glad I went with hard tubing" when it comes to any kind of maintenance or updating their rig. Ain't this the truth!
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Jan 5, 2022 09:03
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What's the goto coolant these days? Way back when I did distilled + biocides, is distilled + corrosion inhibitors the way to go? Obviously w/ EPDM tubing I don't care about the color whatsoever, just something low maintenance that won't gunk up my blocks. Vanilla EK CryoFuel? e: Maybe colored is a decent idea just to help out in leak testing.
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Jan 5, 2022 22:28
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i haven't had issues with it myself, but allegedly colored coolants gunk up your loop
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Jan 5, 2022 23:00
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movax posted:What's the goto coolant these days? Way back when I did distilled + biocides, is distilled + corrosion inhibitors the way to go? Obviously w/ EPDM tubing I don't care about the color whatsoever, just something low maintenance that won't gunk up my blocks. Vanilla EK CryoFuel? I've been running clear EK CryoFuel, for a duration of up to 3 years at a time without changing it and other than topping off the reservoir every 6 months or so, no problems, nothing growing in it, everything looks and performs fine.
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Jan 6, 2022 00:10
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Truga posted:i haven't had issues with it myself, but allegedly colored coolants gunk up your loop This is more applicable to the ones that aren't just some dyes right? I've mostly heard this about the once with fancy suspended pigments or whatever. Not that it matters, I just run clear anyways
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Jan 6, 2022 00:28
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gwrtheyrn posted:This is more applicable to the ones that aren't just some dyes right? I've mostly heard this about the once with fancy suspended pigments or whatever. I think so -- my Googling / review reading has shown no one really have any complaints about the transparent stuff, but early versions of the solid coolant caused some issues. Indiana_Krom posted:I've been running clear EK CryoFuel, for a duration of up to 3 years at a time without changing it and other than topping off the reservoir every 6 months or so, no problems, nothing growing in it, everything looks and performs fine. How much are you topping off? Seems like with even a tiny res, a well buttoned up loop should be good for quite some time even if you never top it off. Now I want to see if I can add a cheap/quick fluid level sensor...
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Jan 6, 2022 02:38
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movax posted:How much are you topping off? Seems like with even a tiny res, a well buttoned up loop should be good for quite some time even if you never top it off. Now I want to see if I can add a cheap/quick fluid level sensor... Oh not much at all, my reservoir is 150 ml capacity and I'm only adding about 20-30 ml after ~6 months, the whole loop only holds about 550 ml. It is mostly cosmetic to keep the visible line of coolant inside the cap of the reservoir instead of seeing it down the side a bit. The coolant evaporates through the tubing ever so slowly so topping off is something that will have to be done in pretty much any loop over time.
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Jan 6, 2022 03:53
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Indiana_Krom posted:Oh not much at all, my reservoir is 150 ml capacity and I'm only adding about 20-30 ml after ~6 months, the whole loop only holds about 550 ml. It is mostly cosmetic to keep the visible line of coolant inside the cap of the reservoir instead of seeing it down the side a bit. The coolant evaporates through the tubing ever so slowly so topping off is something that will have to be done in pretty much any loop over time. Ahh, got it. I ended up getting the QUADRO -- I think what I will do is put my 3x front fans (360 mm rad) on a splitter / one channel, 2x top (240 mm rad) on another, 1x rear (just exhaust) on the 3rd... and then, for the fourth channel, does it makes sense to run my pump RPM feedback to it for monitoring purposes? Or I could just run the pump tach feedback to my mobo header -- I just really want some SW to let me know if it drops below an alarm threshold and if I'm running the Aquacomputer SW anyways, might as well make it that one. I sort of wish I got the OCTO now, so I have full speed knowledge of each fan, but meh. One on each rad + rear is good enough, and if I wanted to get really weird about it, I'd run my rear fan right off the mobo and then 4/5 of the radiator fans could go right to the OCTO. Or peel off the tach feedback from the split fans, and route to a mobo header... many options. e: The only RGB I've allowed myself is some Phanteks Halo RGB frames in the front for the Noctuas -- I guess the Aquabus RGBpx cable adapter here could be worth it vs. running off the mobo so I can do everything right from Aquasuite. Or use the Asus Aura SW if I want the lights to reflect different states... I guess I'll be tweaking this for awhile. movax fucked around with this message at 01:19 on Jan 8, 2022 |
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Jan 8, 2022 01:17
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Hi everyone, after many years of custom builds with AIOs, I'm finally jumping into a custom loop because I got an EVGA notify queue pop for one of the 3090s with the hydro copper block preinstalled. Yesterday I transferred my build into a Meshify 2 XL so I'd have more room for the loop and rads. I'll also be cooling the 9900k in the system. With the case I have, I understand that I can run a thick 420 rad on the top or front but not both at the same time. You can however run a 360 rad on the front and a 420 on the top, which is what I think I'll go for. There's the ability to mount a 280 on the bottom in the PSU shroud but it's really pretty crowded down there and I don't think it's a great option. There's also the 120/140 rear exhaust fan area, obviously a 140 rad isn't going to be life changing but I'm wondering if it's worth just doing anyways since I'll be using soft tubing and it doesn't seem very hard or expensive to add. Here's a photo of the case now.  Just a stock photo of the case.  So I'm appealing to the thread's expertise. I've always watched some content around water cooling and had a couple friends do it but really a long time ago. Is EKWB still the go-to? I'm in Canada and their local distributors are out of stock on everything and probably won't restock for months. I'm paying 15-20% duty charge on anything imported to Canada from the states. A summary of my questions The things I'm cooling: 9900k (overclocked) 3090 XC3 Ultra Hydro Copper (overclocked)
Any input is welcome. e: I'm thinking I should buy this kit from ekwb which comes with everything needed for a CPU loop and the 360 rad for the front of the case, and add the EK-CoolStream CE 420 rad for the top + the required fittings. Good idea? That kit comes with enough concentrate to make 1L of coolant. Should that be enough? e: Playing with mocking up components. Does this make sense?  e2: if anyone wants to draw me a loop feel free:  VelociBacon fucked around with this message at 01:37 on Jan 9, 2022 |
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Jan 9, 2022 00:20
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Loop order doesn't matter, do whatever works for your routing/aesthetics.
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Jan 9, 2022 04:30
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VelociBacon posted:Hi everyone, after many years of custom builds with AIOs, I'm finally jumping into a custom loop because I got an EVGA notify queue pop for one of the 3090s with the hydro copper block preinstalled. Yesterday I transferred my build into a Meshify 2 XL so I'd have more room for the loop and rads. EK is ok, but their QC is a bit spotty and you pay for the name. I'm not a fan at all of EK Vardars. I would go for a 480mm+360mm, 120mm fans are preferred here because you can go for Phanteks T30-120 which absolute stomp every other fan even up to the A12x25. I would go for a rear fan as another intake, so 360 front, 480 top (or reverse if that fits better), then a rear intake for fresh air. Don't buy EK rads unless you can fit the XE. The XE is competitive but the others are terrible, especially the SE thin rad. HWLabs make the best radiators by far, you can go for their GTS series for best all-rounders. They also make the L series which are OEM only but have the exact width of the fans on them, these are useful for cases with limited space for rads. Bits power and Corsair both rebrand slim L series HWLabs rads so you could get those if they're more available. You might need more than 1L, I have 1.2L in my loop that is 360+280+120, but I have a huge monoblock that holds a lot.
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Jan 9, 2022 06:58
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