Before Liquid Cooling Your Gaming PC - Tips & Tricks

Building a liquid cooled PC? Start here.
Here are some useful tips that I've learnt throughout all of my custom watercooled PC builds.

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[Craig-Sweet]

If possible could you look at the performance of a thick rad and thin fans compared to a thin rad and thick fans. Thanks

[MoreThanLuck]

I'd love a comprehensive video on actually building and setting up a custom loop from start to finish.

[MichaelChan]

One painful lesson I learnt before custom cooling your rig... is to try out every components if it works first =(

[odinsplaygrounds]

Always nice with tips & tricks videos! Covering smaller things which might otherwise not get a dedicated video. Wouldn't mind seeing more of those covering various SFF topics.

[EvL--_--]

Tips:
- soak the tip of the soft tubes in boiling water for easier handling, or use a heat gun carefully to make them softer ;)
- also, flush the radiators a few times when new, also flush the complete new loop a couple of times with plain distilled water, I let it run for 24-48h and flush then repeat before adding the final liquid :D

[maximilianschmieder]

Your production value looks so high. Really always such brilliant shoots. Totally love your b-roll !!

[paskowitz]

Big list of tips, tricks and best practices (will be updated over time...):
1. The spatial relationship between components is very important. RESEARCH YOUR DAMN CASE! And if your current case is not good for custom water cooling, get a new one! The vast majority of bad experiences with custom loops originate from a case that was never designed with multiple radiators or custom loops in mind. The clearance between radiator mounts is a very important spec that most reviewers don't mention. This has a big impact on what parts you can fit. Corsair mid towers are notorious for this. You have to account for the size of your GPU block in relation to your reservoir and radiator positions. Also pay attention to your case's rad mounting solution. A sliding rail is far preferable to fixed mounting holes (again, bad on you Corsair). Finally, airflow. A bad airflow case makes for a bad custom loop case.

2. Quality components matter. You're spending $$$ if not $, $$$ for some aesthetic pop, a decent reduction in noise and a marginal increase in performance. Don't just get XY brand because you see everyone using them. You will spend less and get higher quality parts by mixing brands that excel in their respective product categories. I'll touch on this later...

3. Invest in tools. One I find ESSENTIAL for hardline tubing is the Primochill Rigid Finishing Bit (there are vids on it). The main + of the RFB is not the chamfering, it's that it lets you precisely shorten the lengths of your tube runs .##mm at a time. This is far preferable to cutting, deburring, sanding, oh crap it's too long, but only by a little bit, so I can't really cut, now I have to sand, well that's a PIA... so now I have to start over. No thanks. I also like to finish off my hard tube ends with some sandpaper to make sure they are 100% smooth. Breaking an o-ring is the last thing you want. Another tool you may see people use are bending kits/mandrels. Some important points for those. Do not waste your money on a cheap plastic set. They are not precisely made and will often cause more problems than they solve. Only get metal mandrels. Bitspower and Monsoon make the best ones. Monsoon and Alphacool also make a interlocking ruler kit that is great for measuring bends to set up your mandrel positions. I would purchase these together. If you are doing hard tubing, a heatgun with adjustable temperature is nice to have.

4. PWM control software. Mobo software + a water temp sensor often "works". However, as pretty much anyone knows, most mobo software sucks. Some people use Corsair iCUE since it also controls their RGB stuff. It's better than mobo software... but there is a vastly superior option... Aquacomputer's Quadro/Octo controllers w/ Aquasuite software. The lack of YT content on this solution is mindboggling to me. Ali, seriously, pls, make a video on this. I could write an page worth on this topic alone... but in short... lightweight software that doesn't crash, granular PWM control, plethora of special functions like condition based PWM curves, warnings and autoshutdown, terrific UI, fully customizable monitor, etc etc. Best $45 you will spend.

Now on to quality brands. There is a certain brand you will see pretty much every TechTuber use. They have a big marketing budget. They incentivize only showing their products together. Some products they make are great, most are ok, some should be avoided. They are NOT the only option out there and you should absolutely be considering the myriad of alternatives out there. Here is a detailed breakdown (get a cup of coffee):

- CPU block: Watercool Heatkiller, Aquacomputer, Alphacool (XPX), Optimus and EK's Magnitude (only) are top shelf. Bitspower, Phanteks, XSPC are good as well.
- GPU block: Watercool Heatkiller, Aquacomputer, Optimus, Phanteks, and Bitspower. Pay close attention to your GPU model. Reference cards (this crazy gen as an exception) and Asus's Strix are the best models to target if you are custom water cooling. EVGA is often a safe bet as well.
- Reservoir: Reservoirs don't impact performance and it really comes down to quality (material, glass/metal vs plastic), ports, size and mounting compatibility. Don't sweat this one. I like Watercool and Singularity Computers for ATX builds. Distribution blocks are also an option.
- Pump: D5 PWM (just not the VP755) for ATX cases. DDC 3.2 PWM (with heatsink) if you are tight on space (DDCs are noisier than D5s). Aquacomputer D5 NEXT has some nice features (display, temp sensor, rgb, etc) if you don't mind paying a bit more.
- Radiator: Hardware Labs. HWL GTS, SR2 and GTX are some of the best rads on the market. GTS is 30mm thick and is the best rad for 9/10 situations. Corsair and Bitspower uses HWL as their OEM, so they are good options if the price is lower or HWL availability is limited. XSPC makes the best <30mm rad (TX###). EK XE is the best thick rad (60mm). Alphacool rads are good for SFF/tight builds because they have multiport tops. Really, the only rad that is objectively "bad" is the EK SE (bad performance). Don't sweat this one too much, just make sure you have enough rad (at least 240mm of rad per overclocked component) so you can achieve quiet operation.
- Fans: Noctua A12-25, Noiseblocker NB-eLoop, Arctic P##, bequiet Silent Wings 3, Noctua iPPC, Gentle Typhoons. Arctic P## 5 pack is your best perf/$. A12-25 is best
perf/noise ratio overall. Don't skimp on fans if you are limited on radiator space.
- Fittings: Barrow. Best price to quality ratio and better quality than the majority of other brands and it's not even close. Monsoon and Bitspower/Corsair are also great but are far more expensive. Primochill is also good, but also expensive. You can get Barrow fittings on formulamod.com for stupid cheap and the quality is better than EK, Alphacool and Thermaltake. EK Torque fittings look nice but the o-rings and finishes are not as durable as Barrow. Use the money you save to invest in better blocks/fans/rads.
- Tubing: Brand doesn't really matter... but type does. For soft tubing, EK ZMT (black) is the most durable soft tubing. I've had bad experiences with various clear tubings, but YMMV. If you do go hard tubing, it's PETG vs acrylic. Both have pros and cons. IMO, PETG is easier for a first time custom loop builder but acrylic will give you a better (cleaner bends, clearer optics) final product if you have the skill (less forgiving to bend). PETG is susceptible to deforming if your loop water temp gets too high (from say your pump dying). This can be easily prevented by setting a shutdown command if a certain water temp value is reached in a program like HWinfo. End of the day, it's ZMT or acrylic for me.
- Fluid: Save yourself a lifetime of pain and regret and stick to clear fluid (dyed is fine). Mayhems Pastel White + their dye (+cleaning with their Blitz kit) is the only opaque fluid I can recommend. Stay faaaar away from particle fluids (VUE). Mayhems X1, EK Kryofuel clear and Koolance 702 are all very reliable. If you want colored tube runs and the best reliability, get clear fluid with colored tubing or paint the tubing yourself like I did. Also, if you go with PETG tubing, double check that your fluid is compatible... some are not.

[jeffreydesormeaux]

*ATTENTION*: if you are using the aqua computer aqualis glass res. The leak tester might lose pressure and make you think that you have a leave but you won't. The design of the res causes you to lose air but not water. It has something to do with the nickel plated metal tube and the glass. I recommend leak testing without the aqua computer aqualis reservoir. Adding the reservoir once your leak testing is done. The only place it SHOULD leak from is the base of the reservoir, Make sure to tighten the reservoir if you have previously taken it apart. If you apply pressure against the reservoir than you will create a small leak BUT that's only if something pushes against the reservoir

[supakul.]

Thanks for the tips! I will now always spit on my tube before sliding it over the tubing.

[bubbledoubletrouble]

I thought the first tip was going to be “Don’t”, followed by “If you really have to, […]”.

[cppctek]

i wish this would have been here a few weeks ago when i did all my watercooling upgrades. WOW i learned a lot lol. if you are new. GO SOFT TUBING FIRST! Wow i should have listened, the hard tubing was way harder than i thought since im a perfectionist.

[blackmennewstyle]

You forgot to mention an important and crucial best practice, do not mix different types of metals in your custom loops, never ever, always try to go with the same metal everywhere.
Also i honestly prefer cheap out on my fittings and tubing with buying from Bykski or Barrow and then spending a little bit more on my Radiators or even CPU/GPU blocks (EKWB, Alphacool).
Buying also the right tools for cutting your tubing is mandatory otherwise you are just up for nightmares lol

[theoldhenk]

While assembling all the hardware, and planning my first open loop, I've watched or read at least 50 in-depth water cooling tutorials, and 4 minutes in this is already the most useful.

Once you understand the basics, the details become critical, and your fittings discussion - especially your extenders mention (and the subsequent shot of their use on a radiator port) provides useful detail I haven't previously come across. A broader discussion of angled adaptors and T-fittings would have been even more appreciated, but that's mostly due to the fact that I'm currently trying to plan my fill/drain ports.

Your channel is obviously very professional, and the information presented is incredibly valuable.

[MangoAff]

What is better for noise and temperature? Have a thick rad combined with thin fans or thick fans with a thin rad?

[sparkymotive]

If you are using a large reservoir separate from the pump, you should always feed your pump from the reservoir. Use gravity to your advantage. The opposite configuration will cause unnecessary wear. This is mostly irrelevant in little ITX builds, but should be mentioned in a general water cooling video.

[emptylungs]

Loop order doesn't matter as long as the reservoir comes before the pump I guess...

[DaneCoShow]

Regarding sliding the tubing over the barb of the EK Torque fittings, do note that there is room for an allen key (hex key) on the inside. Using that it is super easy to both get the tubing over the fitting and closing it afterwards :)

[iroesstrongarm]

Thanks for the tips. Wish I had known about wetting the ZMT before installation. I recently did my first custom loop in a Ghost S1 and what a pain it was to tighten some of the fittings. Ended up having to use a wrench for a couple that didn't have good clearance to wrap my fingers fully around.

[sushimshah]

5:35-whoops!

Absolutely love your vids man, I'm surprised you still don't have a single sponsor (nod to EK).

[tigerag]

how do you normally dispose of fluid after use? it says don't pour down drain.. but doesn't say what to do with it lol.