Aio vs custom cooling

[freeagent]

Do you guys think that

Yeah, I have a 5800x and with a silverstone pf360 it still gets 80c with cinebench and 66 average when gaming and 15c ambient temperature. If I use an air cooler I think it would start throttling.
Do you guys think this EK-Classic Kit S240 D-RGB - Black Nickel Edition – EK Webshop (ekwb.com) is worth it?
I think next year I will build a SFF pc with NR200p and 2 slim 240mm rads and don't want to expend a lot of money. Can the pump that comes with kit handle 2 240mm rads or I should be better of with another?

That's pretty warm for a 15c ambient.. brr.

 

[Timelessest]

These starter kits are a decent way to get introduced into the world of custom cooling; I'm guessing the instructions that come with the EKWB kit provide step-by-step guidance. I've heard that EKWB also provides good customer support. (Note: I did not use one of these kits but selected various components from a variety of manufacturers myself.)

That starter kit pump should be fine to push liquid through two 240mm slim radiators. I have an inexpensive Phobya pump that moves water without issue through two 360mm radiators (one ultraslim, the other is a standard 30mm thick), one CPU block and one full-length GPU waterblock in a straightforward cooling loop. The EKWB starter kit pump might struggle to push water through a more complicated setup (like a large distribution plate, cooling blocks for additional components like motherboard VRM, m.2 SSDs, etc.).

Once you get more involved in custom cooling, having a spare pump and reservoir is pretty helpful when you want to test new loop components outside of a functional build.

I see, thanks for the info, my only concern is having any leaks destroying the hardware, I saw that the kit's parts are made in China so I wonder if the quality control is good.

Hi,
Worst thing I did was buy ek starter kit p280's
Reservoir pump combos are total junk leak at base o-ring, fitting are plated metal not brass fluid is nightmare

wow, that sucks, did the leak end up damaging any hardware?

That's pretty warm for a 15c ambient.. brr.

Yeah, I only have PBO activated, 4.82 boost. Mine 5800x has 2 CCDS, I think that's why it gets hot so easy. What are your temps and overclock with cinebench?

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
No the pump res combo sits on the floor of the case so it just dripped on my desk it only happened when I shut down
Threads on the base acetal crap are different from the reservoir tube plexi

I have a ocool pump reservoir combo too it's 10x better quality than the ek's

 

[freeagent]

Yeah, I only have PBO activated, 4.82 boost. Mine 5800x has 2 CCDS, I think that's why it gets hot so easy. What are your temps and overclock with cinebench?

About the same for cinibench.. it depends.. probably somewhere around your cini temps..

Right now I am running stock clocks with -30 and pbo off and it is pretty willing to run 4950 for game stuff like 3dmark. Linpack will run at 4500 solid, occt runs at 4750 pretty solid, time spy is 4950 the whole way. With PBO on 3dmark will run 5150-5100 with a little fluctuation. Heavy load stuff is all the same as I already wrote, just a little warmer because of pbo and mostly shows its face on CCD1 and CCD2 more than anywhere else.

 

[Timelessest]

About the same for cinibench.. it depends.. probably somewhere around your cini temps..

Right now I am running stock clocks with -30 and pbo off and it is pretty willing to run 4950 for game stuff like 3dmark. Linpack will run at 4500 solid, occt runs at 4750 pretty solid, time spy is 4950 the whole way. With PBO on 3dmark will run 5150-5100 with a little fluctuation. Heavy load stuff is all the same as I already wrote, just a little warmer because of pbo and mostly shows its face on CCD1 and CCD2 more than anywhere else.

View attachment 204913

Wish I could reach 5 ghz with PBO, but 5800x runs hotter than the 5900x and can achieve better clocks.
I think with custom liquid cooling I will be able to do that.

 

[freeagent]

I almost want to get a 5800x because so many people say that..

But I already have a 5600X.. wanna trade

 

[Mussels]

Hey full loop guys, how often do you top up your loop? Every 6 months or so? Would you run your loop for 5 years without touching it?

Air accumulates in the reservoir, so you get a visible reminder to top it up as it gets lower

In my system thats as simple as unscrewing the top, squirting some distilled water in and rescrewing. done.

Do you guys think that

Yeah, I have a 5800x and with a silverstone pf360 it still gets 80c with cinebench and 66 average when gaming and 15c ambient temperature. If I use an air cooler I think it would start throttling.
Do you guys think this EK-Classic Kit S240 D-RGB - Black Nickel Edition – EK Webshop (ekwb.com) is worth it?
I think next year I will build a SFF pc with NR200p and 2 slim 240mm rads and don't want to expend a lot of money. Can the pump that comes with kit handle 2 240mm rads or I should be better of with another?

Thats what i just upgraded from on my 5800x, i ran PBO +200 (5850Mhz) and sat around 80C in stress tests, 85C in summer with the 3080
The 5800x is not a high wattage component, its just hard to cool - like running an older intel without delidding it, slapping bigger cooling just doesnt change temps much.
Moving to the custom loop i see around 60 in gaming and 75 in cinebench, with zero change if i start the 3090 mining into the same loop... it's all about that heat density and the core contact, not the size of the cooling.

Hi,
Worst thing I did was buy ek starter kit p280's
Reservoir pump combos are total junk leak at base o-ring, fitting are plated metal not brass fluid is nightmare

The kits are pretty shit, best advice is to use them as a template for what you need to buy (number of fittings, etc)

 

[Deleted member 24505]

Why use an aio, when you get all the custom loop stuff for free. Jay really likes to show how awesome he (thinks) he is too.
Tried custom loops a few times, imo they are a pita. Need more time than an aio or air cooler to fit and service. Also if you have custom and need to strip rig or change CPU or GPU, it's a pain in the starfish.
Personally I think most people do it for looks and nothing else.

 

[freeagent]

Haha starfish..

I considered a loop more than once. I don’t mind the time as this is my hobby anyways.. I just never needed it before, maybe the odd time it could have come in handy. The way Mr. Mussels described it sounds fairly enticing.. I did consider those ek starter kits awhile ago.. thanks for the heads up..

 

[Timelessest]

Air accumulates in the reservoir, so you get a visible reminder to top it up as it gets lower

In my system thats as simple as unscrewing the top, squirting some distilled water in and rescrewing. done.



Thats what i just upgraded from on my 5800x, i ran PBO +200 (5850Mhz) and sat around 80C in stress tests, 85C in summer with the 3080
The 5800x is not a high wattage component, its just hard to cool - like running an older intel without delidding it, slapping bigger cooling just doesnt change temps much.
Moving to the custom loop i see around 60 in gaming and 75 in cinebench, with zero change if i start the 3090 mining into the same loop... it's all about that heat density and the core contact, not the size of the cooling.


The kits are pretty shit, best advice is to use them as a template for what you need to buy (number of fittings, etc)

I see, so custom won't make much a difference for the CPU. How are the temps for the GPU when mining? I am worried that a 3080 in a ITX build could end up dying because of memory overheating.

 

[ThrashZone]

I see, so custom won't make much a difference for the CPU. How are the temps for the GPU when mining? I am worried that a 3080 in a ITX build could end up dying because of memory overheating.

Hi,
3080 is a 10gb card
Heating issue is on 3090 24gb and the back 12gb memory chips heating up.

 

[Mussels]

I see, so custom won't make much a difference for the CPU. How are the temps for the GPU when mining? I am worried that a 3080 in a ITX build could end up dying because of memory overheating.

absurdly cold when mining. I went from 65C GPU and 105C VRAM to this:

CPU's are moderate heat in a small area, so they're hard to cool but dont need big coolers (The one exception being the 255W PL2 intel chips when unlocked)

GPU's are lots of heat in a large area, so a big cooler helps massively

 

[PaulieG]

So which manufacturers makes good aio's ?

What is the difference between a good aio and custom water cooling in temps, i don't often see aio's (no matter brand) compared to a good custom water cooling

My take:
Real world comparison of the top AIO's on the market right now. | TechPowerUp Forums

I'm planning on adding the EVGA CLC 280 AIO to that comparison. Short summary of that is the EVGA is in last place out of the AIO's I compared in terms of cooling by a slight margin, but the fans are very loud.

I love custom loops. No AIO is going to compete with a well designed and implemented loop. The thing is, I don't have the time or the energy anymore to build, then test outside of the case for a day to watch for leaks etc. Not to mention a good loop is usually way more expensive than an AIO. AIO's have come a long way and the good one's are the next best thing to a custom loop. So that's what I use now. I especially appreciate those AIO's that have there roots in water cooling like EK does.

 

[Chrispy_]

In 2020 I jumped back into custom loops for the first time in almost 20 years and they are so easy now compared to the old days when you needed to use aquarium pumps, plastic barbs designed for chemistry-lab tubing and radiators that were originally intended as heater cores in cars.

I reckon my CPU+GPU twin radiator + D5 loop cost me €400 and I expect with another couple of GPU blocks it will last a decade and cost me €650 over that period. €65/year is a lot for cooling but that's guaranteeing me better noise/temps/performance than the equivalent air-cooled graphics card model and even at MSRP (which won't be a thing for another 6-12 months) the quietest, fastest, flagship versions of a graphics card can easily command a €200 premium - so a custom loop is a lot of capital expenditure but not actually very expensive for a premium experience in the long run.

So, "sample size of one" being the caveat but my experience with modern G1/4 fittings and soft tubing using mostly Alphacool parts was an absolute doddle to assemble and after leak testing for about ten minutes I've set it up and not touched it in a year. Apparently EK is even easier than Alphacool (but more expensive).

I've built a few gaming machines for people using AIOs and they work fine but without GPU cooling the AIOs seemed utterly pointless to me because the CPU is never even being pushed by gaming. The only reason to buy an AIO in my opinion would be for a CPU rendering workstation where the CPU was frequently at full load but you needed it to be quiet, and the system didn't have much of a GPU in it worth bothering about.

 

[freeagent]

So.. if were looking at getting into liquid cooling, and you were new.. what would you use to build a nice CPU loop, with the possibility of adding a GPU later?

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Ocool parts mostly
EK gpu blocks because they make one for every gpu lol

 

[freeagent]

Awesome man I will go have a peek..

 

[ThrashZone]

Awesome man I will go have a peek..

Hi,
CPU water blocks best so far are optimus or techN
But techn's are a little sloppy milling

 

[freeagent]

Looks like the endmill was worn a bit..

Do you like their rads too? I though they looked pretty nice.. Do you have to buy from Australia?

 

[ThrashZone]

Looks like the endmill was worn a bit..

Do you like their rads too? I though they looked pretty nice.. Do you have to buy from Australia?

Hi,
Rads ocool or best would be hardware labs rads
Yeah milling wise they were lacking cooling that's why the fins were laying down on the next...

 

[freeagent]

Lol yup I am a mill noob. I’ve used small end mills like that before, maybe a bit smaller and the cycle took forever.. but not for doing anything like that.. though I did watch my boss make a huge heat sink for his cell booster at the cabin.

Thanks for the pointers hombre, much appreciated.

 

[FireFox]

So.. if were looking at getting into liquid cooling, and you were new.. what would you use to build a nice CPU loop, with the possibility of adding a GPU later?

It depends on how much you are willing to spend.
Some people will recommend Alphacool + EK parts and some others Hardware Labs + EK or other known brands.
Best thing to do is to read a few reviews.

 

[Timelessest]

Is it possible to install a d5 pump inside the Meshlicious without drilling and having everything fixed? I'll travel a lot with the pc and I don't want the pump damaging any parts.
Optimum tech did say it's possible to install a pump in front of the GPU, but I don't think there are any appropriate holes for installation.

 

[Jetster]

It depends on how much you are willing to spend.
Some people will recommend Alphacool + EK parts and some others Hardware Labs + EK or other known brands.
Best thing to do is to read a few reviews.

I don't remember the company but there have been AIO coolers that are expandable, refillable and under $300
One company was sued for patent infringement. The name just slips my mind. Swiftech maybe

There is also kits. Not sure how good they are.

Swiftech Boreas Series DIY CPU Liquid Cooling Kit

Boreas Series, DIY liquid cooling kits with built-in addressable RGB lighting

www.swiftech.com

EK-Quantum Power Kit D-RGB P360

The EK-Quantum Power Kit D-RGB P360 is the ultimate fully addressable D-RGB customizable liquid cooling kit dedicated to all users who seek the most powerful water-cooling kit on the market! Decked out with all-Quantum Line liquid cooling parts products that share the same design language and...

www.ekwb.com

 

[Valantar]

Is it possible to install a d5 pump inside the Meshlicious without drilling and having everything fixed? I'll travel a lot with the pc and I don't want the pump damaging any parts.
Optimum tech did say it's possible to install a pump in front of the GPU, but I don't think there are any appropriate holes for installation.

A D5 is complete overkill for a loop this small (and I kind of doubt you'd be able to fit it). A DDC of something similar is plenty. In using a Nouvolo Aquanaut DDC CPU block, and while it isn't the best CPU block out there, it works really well still, and is impressively compact. No drilling required