Advice for my first Custom Liquid Cooling set up.

[Xrqute]

Hi Team,

I'm currently running-

Listed in my signature

I'm looking to drastically upgrade my cooling set up i live in Sydney, Australia and well it gets bloody hot here and 45+ degree (Celsius) days are not uncommon. So yea as we are about to start rolling into our warmer months i want to do all i can to ensure my PC doesn't cook itself i was thinking possibly a dual radiator set up (120mm Rear, 360mm top) or even a triple but i don't think i can squeeze one in the front with the aim of cooling my Cpu, both Gpu's, Mosfets, Chipsets, Ram etc etc pretty much everything i can.

So yea advice on parts is desperately needed..... I don't care if parts are brand matched or not i want performance not style.

Also is anyone aware of the maximum radiator dimensions (HxWXL) the HAF X is able to utilize?


Please advise away!! everything shall be taken on board and considered.

 

[Cru]

haf x is a terrible case for watercooling, i'd look into getting something different
also, don't bother with single 120 rads. they just make your loop look bad. same for cooling RAM
maybe take a look at the corsair 750d, slap a 360/60 in the top and a 240/80 in the front

 

[Xrqute]

haf x is a terrible case for watercooling, i'd look into getting something different
also, don't bother with single 120 rads. they just make your loop look bad. same for cooling RAM
maybe take a look at the corsair 750d, slap a 360/60 in the top and a 240/80 in the front

hahahaha! Funny you say that actually, today i was thinking a diff case would be better.... but decided to stick with this one, But now you've said that its right back on the cards haha.


throw some other case suggestions my way please!! i like the look of the 750D but I'd wanna see what else is out there before swapping!

 

[Cru]

hahahaha! Funny you say that actually, today i was thinking a diff case would be better.... but decided to stick with this one, But now you've said that its right back on the cards haha.


throw some other case suggestions my way please!! i like the look of the 750D but I'd wanna see what else is out there before swapping!

well 750d, nzxt switch 810 and fractal arc xl are the ones i'd choose from

 

[Feronix]

- NZXT Switch 810/ Phantom 820/ Phantom 630/ Phantom 530

- Fractal Design Arc Midi R2/ Arc XL

- Bitfenix Shinobi XL

- Corsair Carbide Air 540 (Can actually fit some nice rads)

Maybe you'll like any of those

 

[NeverBackDown]

- NZXT Switch 810/ Phantom 820/ Phantom 630/ Phantom 530

- Fractal Design Arc Midi R2/ Arc XL

- Bitfenix Shinobi XL

- Corsair Carbide Air 540 (Can actually fit some nice rads)

Maybe you'll like any of those

These are all cases that are worth getting for going down the water route. May be others but not really worth getting..

Personally i think the Switch810 has been overdone now. The Corsair 750D/540 Air or the Arc R2/Arc XL are the 4 choices i personally would look at before anything else.

But if you really want to go nuts a Caselabs case will do.. Though way out of budget i presume for you lol.

 

[Xrqute]

These are all cases that are worth getting for going down the water route. May be others but not really worth getting..

Personally i think the Switch810 has been overdone now. The Corsair 750D/540 Air or the Arc R2/Arc XL are the 4 choices i personally would look at before anything else.

But if you really want to go nuts a Caselabs case will do.. Though way out of budget i presume for you lol.

Yea the Switch 810 (White) and the Corsair 750D are the two I'm struggling to decide between. I'm a huge fan of all things Corsair as they make quality everything but I'm really leaning towards the Switch I'm def a fan.

Budgets not overly an issue Single guy on 6 figures I'm not going to needlessly through away money but if its worth it sure, So ill take a look at Caselabs.

At this point in time throw me some set up ideas based around a Switch 810 as that's what I'm leaning towards and will prob get unless these caselabs cases blow my mind haha

 

[Xrqute]

Yea I'm sure the Caselabs are amazing functionality wise, But i don't have the time or patience to mod it to make it look cool. So the Switch 810 it is!

Set up idea's!! go go go go! Being a tradesman as i am im thinking about using copper piping instead of tubing so that way the entire loop set up will act as one big heat sink and with a few case fans add to the performance of the cooling set up.

 

[NeverBackDown]

Copper piping? As far as i know only tubing will work well. You want the least amount of metal(no mixing metals) in a loop to prevent corrosion.

I'm no watercooling expert compared to many others on the forum but the basics such as what to buy and how to connect things are probably only 20% of everything you need to know.

 

[Xrqute]

Copper piping? As far as i know only tubing will work well. You want the least amount of metal(no mixing metals) in a loop to prevent corrosion.

I'm no watercooling expert compared to many others on the forum but the basics such as what to buy and how to connect things are probably only 20% of everything you need to know.

aaahhh i can't think where it was that i saw it, it was some video on case modding where they fabricated up copper pipe to use for the loop.... Tbh it's prob to much of a pain in the arse anyway lol I'm an electrician not a plumber hahaha!

 

[SuB]

Of course you can use copper piping, most people get it chromed though.

It is MUCH more difficult to do but it looks superb. The electrolysis issue comes up when you mix aluminium and copper block/fittings/tubing. If they're nickel coated as a lot of stuff is now it doesn't really matter. But again, most blocks are copper these days so again, a none issue.

Basically, keep aluminium out of your loop and you're golden

if you want to try going the solid copper pipe route, give it a try, don't be put off because it's 'hard' or someone else says so. If you want to try it, try it.

 

[J-a-c-o-b]

Well on TTLs review of the switch 810, Tom uses an XSPC rad, which is 58.5mm thick and isn't able to run push pull, things you could try are:

1) The hardware labs black ICE rads are 54mm thick, could just fit.

2) Get a monsta rad with a single set of fans, I'd say do this (so does TTL!) seems you are looking for performance.

I reckon as well you could squeeze a 80mm monsta rad in the bottom in push pull. You'll still be fine with the ax1200i (due to the 200mm length), because of the different places you can put fittings on the alphacool monsta rad.

If your gonna try doing this with copper piping, I can only see almost endless struggle and misery to pull it off. If your doing this for extra cooling, (don't remember if this was the reason, I was too lazy to scroll up and check), I wouldn't say the effort would be worth it, at least with this water cooling setup due to the huge capacity you would have.

I wouldn't bother with cooling the ram, tubing could be a pain, but possibly and you do once again have the cooling capacity.

As for a res and pump just to be simple, I'd then go for a bay res/pump, probably the XSPC D5 bay res.

Also, as TTL also says in his review, if you go for the plain white or black, you may have to do some modding to a drive bay panel. NZXT then made the gunmetal gray and matte black where it has holes in it to fix the airflow issue. (Look at 42:20 to see what I am on about)

Hope this was useful, i'm not so sure!

 

[coffeefoot]

G-day mate ! I would also suggest you looking into rigid acrylic tubing from Primochill. Will work well in a Switch 810. I am currently working on a rig with this. No worries.

 

[Xrqute]

Well on TTLs review of the switch 810, Tom uses an XSPC rad, which is 58.5mm thick and isn't able to run push pull, things you could try are:

1) The hardware labs black ICE rads are 54mm thick, could just fit.

2) Get a monsta rad with a single set of fans, I'd say do this (so does TTL!) seems you are looking for performance.

I reckon as well you could squeeze a 80mm monsta rad in the bottom in push pull. You'll still be fine with the ax1200i (due to the 200mm length), because of the different places you can put fittings on the alphacool monsta rad.

If your gonna try doing this with copper piping, I can only see almost endless struggle and misery to pull it off. If your doing this for extra cooling, (don't remember if this was the reason, I was too lazy to scroll up and check), I wouldn't say the effort would be worth it, at least with this water cooling setup due to the huge capacity you would have.

I wouldn't bother with cooling the ram, tubing could be a pain, but possibly and you do once again have the cooling capacity.

As for a res and pump just to be simple, I'd then go for a bay res/pump, probably the XSPC D5 bay res.

Also, as TTL also says in his review, if you go for the plain white or black, you may have to do some modding to a drive bay panel. NZXT then made the gunmetal gray and matte black where it has holes in it to fix the airflow issue. (Look at 42:20 to see what I am on about)

Hope this was useful, i'm not so sure!

Got my 810 today and it has the holes in the tray i haven't had time to do the tubing yet but i've mounted my 360 rad, D5 dual bay, fans etc. i ended up deciding to start off with a XSPC- AX360 D5 kit see how it goes and expand apon it overtime

Ps.
Love the Switch.

 

[J-a-c-o-b]

Sweet man, on the other hand, not a bad idea to play it safe

 

[Xrqute]

G-day mate ! I would also suggest you looking into rigid acrylic tubing from Primochill. Will work well in a Switch 810. I am currently working on a rig with this. No worries.

Yea i saw that the other night actually bud. Im going to order some lengths just need to decided on a colour Scheme. Also did you get the Primochill specific compression fittings or something else?




Also i haven't got any coolant atm >.< Are there any easy to obtain alternatives so i can leak test my set up and get it running till i can get some coolant delivered?

 

[J-a-c-o-b]

What you can do is boil some water in a pan, then let it cool down. Although going and buying distilled water would be a safer option I'd say.

 

[Xrqute]

What you can do is boil some water in a pan, then let it cool down. Although going and buying distilled water would be a safer option I'd say.

i legged it down the shops and got-

option 1-


option 2-



the coolant is anti-corrosion etc so id assume it would be suitable and i couldn't find distilled only demineralised water. Haven't put either in yet though they'd only be to carry me through a few days not even a week.