Various Qs from an interested water cooling novice...
Hey everyone, I'm trying to wrap my head around my next big PC "upgrade" - watercooling. I've got a few questions that I'm trying to work through and was hoping to get some help.
To save money, I was looking at the EK 240G Aluminium kit for both the GPU and CPU - but my 1080 is a ASUS STRIX that has no aluminimum block available. Are there alternatives like nickel/copper I can use, or is there an aluminium block that I've overlooked for that GPU? I've heard to not mix metals ever but there's some conflicting information on the internet.
Follow up to Question #1 - If a suitable block can't be found to match the cheaper AL kits, what should my next steps be? Go full copper and expect that it's going to cost twice as much? Would it be worthwhile to trade my 1080 STRIX for a reference card that can take the AL plate from the EK 240G kit? Ship my GPU off to Alphacool for a month? Would Aplhacool's block even work with an EK kit?
Lastly, my case. I've got an Enthoo Evolv ITX for a case and like everyone else with this case I worry about airflow. I've got 2x ML140s in the front and a single ML140 in the rear for case airflow, with the plans to mount the 240mm rad on the top with two ML120s. Is a single 240mm rad enough for both the GPU and CPU? EK's configurator seems to think that two 120mms is fine, why it didn't recommend a single 240 I have no idea.
This is something I've been toying wth for a long time and I'm currently saving up the cash to try and make it a reality - just trying to get my ducks in a row before I'm ready to pull the trigger.
4 comments · 81% upvoted · other discussions
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ZeroPaladn [OP] 1 points · Dec 2017
Yeah, more research and advice from various people are leading me to a fully custom, nickel setup.
As for radiators, EK's configurator seems to be happy with giving me two 120mm rads (???) but assuming that a single 240mm rad is the same thing, that should be sufficient for my lightly overclocked setup (whatever AM4 top-end chip come next year paired with a GTX 1080). My case is not amazing for raw airflow so I'm worried with stuffing anything in the front where my dual 140mm fans sit. Should I be worried about the single 240 in the ceiling or should I be considering a 280 in the front and have additional intakes elsewhere (top?) to make up to the impeded airflow?
3n1 1 points · Dec 2017
You should stuff at least a 240 in the front and a 240 in the top imho. 280's would be even better if they'll fit; I'm not familiar enough with your case so you'd have to do more research.
Whether you're heavily overclocked or not this will provide better cooling headroom and allow you to run your fans at lower rpm's if you so desire. IE, a quieter system.
Do not mix anything with aluminum. If you decide the aluminum EK route then you're stuck with their kits + expansion stuff. Trading out for a reference pcb gpu is a fine idea. It will probably overclock just as well once under water anyways.
If you go full custom and choose nickel blocks then please never ever use a silver kill coil in your system.
[deleted] 1 points · Dec 2017
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ZeroPaladn [OP] 1 points · Dec 2017
The top isn't filtered - why would I want my intake from there? Is a 120/140 not possible in the rear with a 240 on the top?