Water cooling

[rosario75]

Hi All,

I am new to this but I want to build an RGB gaming PC with custom water cooling with hard fittings. I find difficult to try to match the combination between pc case, customer cooling for CPU/GPU and current available GPUs. I was leaning towards corsair but it is not clear to me what to choose and how. I have tried the configurator on corsair website but most of the custom block for GPU are unavailable. The model of GPU that is found is Asus TUF GAMING GeForce RTX 3060 OC 12G.
What is the best way to find something that works for sure in terms of space and size?
Any good alternative from Corsair?

 

[Jason]

Hi rosario,

First of all welcome to our forum . Cool to hear you wanna do custom water cooling.

Do you have a case in mind already? This way we have an idea which direction you wanna go to. This makes giving advice a lot easier. The Lian Li O11D Mid Tower is very popular and will have enough room for any setup:
Black and White version
Razer Version

Also do you want to water cool both your GPU and CPU?
What about your budget?


To give you an overview, this the list you need for a complete water cooling setup:

1. Choose your Radiator:
2. Choose your Fans:
3. Choose your CPU block
4. Choose your GPU block (if you also want to water cool your video card)
5. Choose your Reservoir
6. Choose your Pump
7. Choose your Pomp Top (optional if you have chosen a Laing / Swiftech pump)
8. Choose your Coolant
9. Choose your Hose/Tube
10. Choose your Fittings
11. Choose your accessories, recommended list:
    • Hose Cutter (10-40MM)
    • Funnel
    • Filling bottle - 1000ML
    • PSU Bridging Tool 24 pin
    • Arctic Silver ArctiClean Cleaning Kit 60ML
    • Arctic Cooling MX-4 Thermal Paste (4g)
    • UV/Color lamps
    • LED strips
    • sleeving
    • Cable Combs

 

[rosario75]

Thank you. I was actually looking more for something like the Corsair Obsidian 500D RGB SE with colours on the edge and on the core. While for the graphic card the only one available within my budget (~1000/1200€) right now seem to be an RX 6700 which does not seem to be compatible with the Corsair Hydro X.

 

[Jason]

Not sure if I'm following you. What is your videocard model exactly? In your first reply you said it's Asus TUF GAMING GeForce RTX 3060 OC 12G, but now you are talking about an RX 6700?

With that case you can fit max 1x 360mm, 1x 280mm and 1x 120mm radiators. If you cool both your CPU and GPU I recommend getting a 360mm and a 280mm radiator. With this in mind I think you can already fill in quite a lot from the overview list I mentioned earlier. Try to fill it in and I'll correct where needed.

For a 360mm radiator you have to get 3x 120mm fans. Likewise for 280mm radiator you need 2x 140mm fans.

Pump or reservoir I recommend a pump/res combo:

Reservoirs met ingebouwde pomp voor koelvloeistof voor waterkoeling PC kopen - HighFlow

Reservoirs met ingebouwde pomp voor koelvloeistof voor waterkoeling PC kopen bij HighFlow.nl. Ruim assortiment met diverse formaten en toebehoren. ✅ Gratis verzending va €150 ✅ Altijd Euroknallers

www.highflow.nl

For coolant you can just get a premix coolant:

Premix & Concentrates

Premix & Concentrates coolants for PC watercooling

www.highflow.nl

Fittings:
You wanna do hard tubing, so just make sure the OD of the tube and fittings match. So if you choose 12mm OD hard tube you need 12mm OD fitting.

All hard tubings. At the top you can choose size.

Hard Tubes voor waterkoeling systeem kopen bij HighFlow.nl

Harde Buizen voor waterkoeling systeem kopen bij HighFlow.nl. Ruim assortiment Acrylic/Rigid producten. Bezoek onze website ✅ Gratis verzending va €150 ✅ Altijd Euroknallers

www.highflow.nl

All hard tube fittings. At the top you can choose size.

Hard Tube Fittingen voor waterkoeling systeem kopen bij HighFlow.nl

Hard Tube Fittingen voor waterkoeling systeem kopen. Ruim assortiment Acrylic/Rigid producten. Bezoek onze website ✅ Gratis verzending va €150 ✅ Altijd Euroknallers

www.highflow.nl

Some extra accessories you need for hard tubing: reamer, heat gun, silicone insert, hard tube cutter, mandrels/bending tools. All available in the shop. Or you could get a full kit, like a "Eiskoffer". Everything available here:

Hard Tube Tools voor waterkoeling systeem kopen bij HighFlow.nl

Hard Tube Tools voor waterkoeling systeem kopen bij HighFlow.nl. Ruim assortiment. Bezoek onze website ✅ Gratis verzending va €150 ✅ Altijd Euroknallers

www.highflow.nl

 

[rosario75]

Hi, This was very helpful.
It took a while but in the end I have decided to increase the budget for the graphic card and get one already assembled with the GPU block. As I am reviewing the list of things you sent I am only wondering of the following. What do I need to add to the corsair setup to control the EK pump reservoir? Are the radiators you have suggested compatible with the Corsair case?

 

[Jason]

Depending on your motherboard you should be able to control your pump speed through the bios. Check your motherboard (manual) and see if it's possible.

Yes they will fit. Still I recommend you checking the dimensions for thickness and length to make sure it will fit along with your other components inside the case. You can find your case specifications on Corsair website.

Also have you included a drain valve in your loop? If not you can take a look in this topic:

Drain / Aftappunt / Leegloop ideeën

Een aftappunt is een punt in jouw loop, waar je het water met gemak uit kan laten lopen. Dit is erg handig als je bijvoorbeeld jouw setup wilt upgraden of aanpassen. Zo'n punt is iets wat men vaak over het hoofd ziet of gewoon niet inbouwen, terwijl het eigenlijk zeker wel de moeite waard is...

www.forum.highflow.nl

Everything is in Dutch but there are some photo's with example drain setups. But if you're on PC and Google Chrome you can right click anywhere on the page and select "translate to english" if you want.

All drain valves and plugs:

Afdichting. stoppen, plugs en exhaust fittingen in uw pc waterkoeling loop kopen bij HighFlow.nl

Afdichting. stoppen, plugs en exhaust fittingen in uw pc waterkoeling loop kopen bij HighFlow.nl. Ruim assortiment met diverse grootte en toebehoren. ✅ Gratis verzending va €150 ✅ Altijd Euroknallers

www.highflow.nl

A simple drain valve:

EK-Quantum Torque Drain Valve

EK-Quantum Torque Drain Valve

www.highflow.nl