Water treatment works engineer here! Res return on top is better because it allows for higher residence time of water and better mixing, this will mix different water temperatures faster making the system more effective. suction and delivery on the bottom have the risk of sucking higher temperature water that came from suction to run through the loop.
true! but don't forget we are working with a difference of 1-3c between the coldest and hottest part of the loop, the reduced noise from bottom delivery usually is a higher priority
First off thank you for all of the non-biased information that you provide on your channel. Secondly, thank you for understanding that while explaining components that other people may not have the same knowledge of those components and so you take the extra time to explain things so I also appreciate that. I have not built PC in over 10 years. I am in the middle of building one. Prior to watching your videos I bought a $360 AIO of which I’ve returned at this point in favor of buying a custom waterloop set up and I spent right at $200 more than you. My cost was $463 however it includes the CPU and GPU with a 360 radiator and a 240 radiator. I don’t feel like enough channels are talking about loops really coming down in price in comparison with years before us
You're going to have a great time! I was in the same boat a couple years ago and I was happy to realize that both building, then using, a PC feels so much better than it was 10 years ago.
@@Wooskii1 I feel like I woke up in the Star Wars section of Disney land 😂😂😂. I’m building my brother a computer now because I have the blues on building. So much fun and the options now are so much more diverse.
Thanks for doing this series. I'm looking to custom loop my system and am coming from a place of complete ignorance in regards to what components/fittings I need, positioning, etc. So this is going to help a lot in not being overwhelmed, and not spending needlessly. Appreciate. If you could do something about the CAD/USD exchange rate next, that'd be fantastic!
@@ChrisGR93_TxS its easy to replace soft tubing. even if it collapses, you can just replace it down the line. black soft tubing should be the same quality as clear, and clear *will* eventually gunk up and get messy, even if its just the tubing itsself.
@@scarecrow5848 I don't mind spending money, when I'm getting value out of it. I just hate spending for nothing. Ie: When I was updating myself to build this new build, I was looking at expensive B670 boards. It wasn't until after a lot of research that a B650 was all I needed for the 7800x3d. My budget was cut literally in half (totalling all of the components I had originally listed) and I was able to figure out where to spend and save. So if a D5 pump res is legitimately the way to go for longevity and noise, then I won't mind spending the money.
@@Silentjackll I wanted to cool my GPU more than the chip, instead of running 2 different aio's I decided on an open loop. I have already ordered alphacool GPU, pump/res, cpu block.
as i come from an automotive background before getting into computers, i am so glad you mentioned galvanic corrosion. also love your automotive channel.
Tip. To improve the contact between the CPU block of that kind and the processor , using a caliper will help to calibrate how high each screws will be.
Bought 2 white dracaena 360 radiators 9 months ago from their manuf website and got them 1/2 off bc they accidentally priced their 360 rads to the 120mm price LOL. My only complaint is that the radiator frame (where the screw holes are) wasn't perfectly flat but not an issue once you attach fans/ mount to case. Pro tip: If you have a heat gun/ hair dryer you can easily remove the dracaena logo plate and straighten, reorient, or remove as you want. I don't care for the logo but the black plate on a white rad does go kinda hard.
First off thank you for doing this content, It's friggen Awesome!!! FYI Jay, if one has an Aluminum Rad, the best coolant to use is Honda Radiator fluid, it's usually blue and is designed to work with Aluminum. Plus you can get a gallon of it for like 20 bucks and it's already premixed. We use it in the coolant system of our Printing Presses at work, it's the only Fluid that Heidelberg allows us to use because the coolant radiators are 100% Aluminum with other mixed metals.
Hey the water cooling guy did a water cooling build, showing just how affordable this csn really be, awesome! Last year, I upgraded my graphics card and put it into a server... since it only had a Waterboro, I had to upgrade the server for water cooling, I got a similar old cpu block and tubing from the hardware store. And the cheapest barb fittings I could find. Its been running like a champ
Dude, I love watching you do water builds, friggin magic! I did my first water build, soft tubing three years ago. I did my first hard line PTEG water build 18 months ago thanks to you. You got me over my fears to do DIY
I think that individuals that take this route will find their very happy, I followed your sound advice and set my loop up with maintenance in mind, made it supper easy to maintain and I do not feel I need to start from scratch every time I want to do some sort of upgrade and Like you said I really enjoyed how you can expand the original loop. great piece on helping people know that custom water cooling can be affordable and a lot of fun..
Jayy!! Idea for a build. Find somebody with a resin 3D printer, have them PRINT you all the fittings you plan to use. Just the fittings. And then do a test of that and like, share your thoughts on it? would you trust 3D printed fittings? I 3D printed some fittings for my server build with soft tubing watercooling because i ran out of barb fittings, been over a year now and working perfectly :D
You know, the cheapest loop I did was back in 2016. I had a 360 aio, a cpu water block, and two amd R6 390x at crossfire. I went to homedepot and bought clear vinyl tubing and hose clamps. I cut the aio tubing off and routed the hose to the cpu, then the motherboard waterblock and then it splits into a tree to put water on both blocks at the same time then joiners to one back to the the aio rad. No reservoir. No air bubbles. Work perfectly.
I’m really happy seeing this “budget” custom water loop because I’ve always wanted to build a custom loop but cost has always been the inhibiting factor
That heat plate is "waffled" FYI that patters was found to be the most useful geomerty for removing heat in hgih power transmitting tubes with plate dissipation as little as 800W to tubes who can dissipate as much as 2.5 Megawatts. I have always wondered why the inside of every other cooler I have seen looks like a heat sink, not what some of us are use to seeing.
What I remember is that other cold plates usually have a set of directional channels/fins along with a baffle which directs the coolant flow from inlet to outlet.
I’m with you 100%. You don’t have to have any RGB bling. I had a stepmom that I didn’t want to know my computer was running. So the less lights and leds the better. So you don’t need a system lit up like a carnival booth to have a nice rig.
My aio was gunktup with solderflux. I cleaned al parts and filed it with red car coolant. Runs great over a year now and still same temps as when i cleaned it.
My brother uses the same. People always talk about mixed metals but if car companies are ok mixing them and have made coolants just for that purpose I'd be pretty trusting.
@@ragetist Have you looked under the hood of your car? It's a bit of a difference between the size and sturdiness of the components. Although the problem is probably exaggerated when it comes to PC water cooling. Would be interesting if some channel did a fully mixed metall build and had yearly updates on it.
@@ano_nym I know, big difference but there's also a big difference on how long the service intervals are between a gaming pc and a 1993 Toyota. Should do a mixed loop with a gunk trap at the bottom to see how what happens.
So I guess custom loops are not only expandable, but also easily upgradable if you swap CPU architectures. Just change the cold plate and keep everything else. I hadn't ever thought of a custom loop, but this makes it seem much more approachable.
With some tinkering, modding/making a custom "holder" for it, you could probably keep the same one for a while too. Unless CPUs explode up in size between the upgrades.
Depends on the CPU block. The 40 euro and up blocks often have mounting kits available for new sockets. My 30 euro block came with 11xx 1200 AM3 and AM4 brackets. The manufacturer now sells a 1700 and AM5 kit for like 7.50. The only part that does not carry over to a next build is the GPU block. Those are specific to a PCB layout. The sad part about that is that it's often the most expensive part as well. GPU blocks start at about 150-160 euro for good ones. The best advice on water cooling a GPU is to first buy a block and then buy a GPU to match, rather than hope you can find a block for a random GPU you've bought. Or just buy a GPU with a block installed from the manufacturer. But yes, realistically speaking everything except for the GPU block carries over.
@@fermitupoupon1754 do you have any experience with China blocks? Like the ones you get on AliExpress. I don't want to pay a fortune for a GPU block and will likely buy an older GPU so not even sure the "good" brands will have any for them left in stock.
For the record Antec has 5 packs of 120mm PWM fans for 20 bucks on Amazon. They've released a new line that seems to compare to the Arctic fans that have become popular due to their price and quality.
Thermalright too - TL-C12 fans(same ones used on their 120mm coolers) are $12 for a 3x pack; $4/fan like the Antecs. Also, $13 for a 3x pack of white ARGBs, $15 for 3x ARGBs w/ infinity mirror hub, they've been killing it.
I have a $300 CPU loop that uses all name brand recognizable parts. (As I have mine configured it's more like $340, as I required a low profile fitting that others wouldn't). Anyway, Alphacool pump/res, and cpu block. HWLabs 360mm rad. XSPC matte black fittings, and premix. 10/16 EDPM from EK(before things went fubar). Just wanting to note. You can get away with "quality" or otherwise recognized parts for a little more. With most of the added cost just coming from the CPU block @ $50.
@@XavierDaniles Yeah, my Alphacool stuff has been great! They did have a bad run of their D5 knockoff pumps several years ago, but I haven't heard anything bad other than that...I actually still have one of those pumps in my system, but thank god mine seems to not be affected...I was checking it constantly when I first heard about the issues...One thing I really like about Alphacool Radiators is that they have a lower fin density so you don't have to blast your fans at 2000 rpm to get really good airflow through them...
@@brucepreston3927 Yeah I had heard sub par things of their early pumps. That said, the specific build that I made uses one of their Apex pumps. On paper worse then my EK rebanded D5 in my main system. But it has done nothing but impress me. Quiet, more so then my D5.
@@thatfordboy4297 I have one of the Vpp755 pumps...They had quite a few of the Vpp755 and Vpp655 pumps fail, I think it had something to do with the bearing they used...I believe the Apex you have is just the newer version of the same pump...Mine has been amazing though! It is super strong and almost completely silent...It actually works better than the name brand D5 that I bought before...I have a very large loop and it has no trouble keeping...It has been running everyday for 5 years, and I think one reason it has held up so well is because I set a static pump speed and don't allow it to adjust up and down with PWM...I was told that it constantly spinning up and slowing down can cause issues long term with this specific pump...
Hey Jay. Long time fan here (I think one of the first vids i saw was you building Little Jays first pc lol). Love your content and work. You've inspired many of us including me.
I have that same cpu block, 2 240 rads and the same company as that block pump res combo with my i9 10900kf and keeps the cpu and 2080 cooled. Barbed fittings in an asus rog z11
The display in HwMonitor is _not_ a bug. 100% utilization is adjusted to the base clock of the CPU, so the higher your CPU resp. the core can boost, the higher this number will be. (And also it's not a HwMonitor thing, it's a Windows Performance Counter thing)
My cheapest loop was made about 13 or more years ago for an Xbox 360 and later upgraded for a PC. I initially used a plastic electronic junction box as a water reservoir, a submersible fountain pump as a pump, relays to allow it to be controlled by either 5 or 12 volts, a 1977 Pontiac Bonneville without A/C's full copper and no brass heater core as a radiator (available in costed $30 USD at the time!!!!!), the heater core's box as a shroud, two generic 120mm fans, some plastic hose from a hardware shop, two brass nipples for the heater core and some 2 part putty clay to mold on the nipples. It was an externally cooled radiator and fan setup. This worked for years on a severely heatgun reflowed modded 360 with an available waterblock that covered both it's CPU and GPU. I later got rid of the console and moved the setup over to my pc and got a DDR pump and pc reservoir which lasted for many years. It first cooled my Core 2 quad CPU and AMD r9 290x for 4 years. I eventually had it only cool my 1080 ti video card by itself and hot a separate AIO for the i7 3770K CPU. Kept the same setup to cool my current 3080 ti on it's current cpu with AIO setup.
I have used the same fittings on a few builds with no issues. The white version has a bit of thin paint on some of the interior areas, but functionally they work just as well as barrow, XPSC, Monsoon, EK fittings that I have used. I did try a different brand from Amazon, which I did not like. Tubing was much harder to install (didnt fit easily inside the compression collar alone, and then really hard to thread), and I scrapped them. I think that you could have gone with a slightly better CPU block, there are some really inexpensive bykskis or barrow blocks (not on Amazon)... but for the most part, the rest of the parts are more than good enough. Would like to see your update and comparison when the new blocks come in. For radiators, I tend to like the HW Labs rads from performance PC's, which tend to cost around the same price as the one shown in the video. People get carried away with builds, and often pay as much for one component that you can build a full loop with. I do a lot of value oriented builds, and often buy items out of build time and save some stock of them waiting to do builds when I can get things on sale for great prices. Then when its time to build, I have decent options and dont feel burdened by the costs of buying everything for what the cost is now. Prices on many things have increased across the board, but if not pressed for time, you can often find good deals. Although, many of the bigger companies now charge 2-3x the price for blocks, and shifted their market to "premium" where they used to be mainstream. It makes me think that the bottom may be dropping out of mainstream DIY watercooling, since most that would have done it before may just be going AIO now instead... so DIY builds are now premium focused, where absolute performance is the most important.
19:46 "Ow! That fan's spinning really fast." Maybe it's just been a really long work week, but I lol'd. Thanks for the laugh, and the information. I like channels that show a spectrum of costs and options, not just the latest, greatest, and most expensive. Kudos! Keep up the good work!
I have some Dracena stuff in my custom loop only because I needed some stuff quick and I agree the product quality is pretty damn good for the super low price and spare o rings are a huge win when they are included like that
Thank you! this makes me want to put a custom water loop in my next build and not worrying too much about GPU water block prices. BTW,I have seen copper plated aluminum heat sink when I'm shopping one for a DIY project. so what you see might not be what you get.
The budget fans I always go for are Arctic P12 PWM 5-pack from Amazon UK, which are usually in the $30 price range - if you add another $12 or so, you can get a 10-port SATA-powered fan splitter and some MX-4 thermal paste. You really can't beat a 6-year warranty on fans at that price and the build quality looks and feels more solid than Antec in my opinion.
I guess it's good to show the missteps too. $250 for less performance than air or AIO in the $40-50 range. Another video to see if another budget block will help.
To be completely honest, I'm planning to do water cooling on my next build pretty much solely for the look. Gonna try to stay decently cheap, so will be some Chinese parts. BUT with chromed copper pipes, which are actually cheaper than most hartubes, if you buy them from a hardware store and not as computer parts. Seems easier to bend too, no warming required.
He mentioned one good reason: Loop can be expanded. I will add: parts can be replaced/upgraded, open loop can be maintained, if the pump craps out, you don't just throw the whole thing away creating e-waste, and while aesthetics aren't a critical function, they do look better. Air coolers are good for low-mid chips that aren't going to be tortured (which is fine if that's all you need). AIO have a relatively short lifespan and most cannot be serviced, the ones that can will cost $200+ and probably come with a thinner radiator. There are plenty of pros/cons for all 3 options. Because his open loop doesn't perform better than an AIO is not indicative as to whether or not it's worth the money. Just one factor of many.
@MrAcuta73 I know the advantages of a custom loop, but above all else it must perform better than air or AIO, this doesn't, nor does it look better for those that care. Air coolers have always been and are currently fine for high end chips, that's fiction that they're for low-mid.
My fans of choice are Arctic P12 and P14. Super cheap, PWM, they can be daisy chained and I used them in all of PC I've built and I am yet to find issue with any of them. They are also reasonably silent and reliable.
Lap that CPU block and add a plexiglass bendable on top of the mounting arms that are flat with the height of the block. Cut out the middle so the block can push up trough it. Add another plexi or metal over that. Replace the screws for the mounting. Create a proper backplate the same way. Should shave quite a few degrees of the max.. Anyhow great video.
Scratches on shiny finished metals are a big problem in the metal industry. I worked for a factory making high-quality flue systems for home-warming with wood-burning. It's so easy to scratch a shiny stainless steel pipe in a big busy factory. Loads of products fail quality checks because of that.
That loop looks very good! Nice RGB effects, simple but nice! Really like this content with, let's say, alternative and/or cheaper brands of hardware!! 👌💯🤟
Some of us started liquid cooling with automotive radiators aquarium pumps and blocks soldered from the crap. And now it’s good to see parts that not cost you arm and leg to build the system. And I’d love to see how this system compares with systems from 2000. Asetek waterchill Antarctica in example
Thank you Jay for demonstrating how far AIOs have come for price vs. performance. Anyone that would buy this budget loop over an AIO at half that price deserves the inevitable leakage on their video card or CPU.
I love when you do these kinds of videos! Highlighting the brands that aren't popular is awesome. Even if sometimes your videos run these guys outta stock for a bit haha.
I see the manufacturer giveing extra O-ring as they believe their stuff is going to fail easily, so Jay is already a way more positive person then I am 😆 Another great video, thankyou.
I'm looking forward to you going forward on this project. I built my computer 10 years ago planning all along to use water cooling. I got close to $4000 and then tapped out and use an AIO. Now planning on another build, just picked up a Nividia 4080 super.
Very eye-opening video, definitely gets me more excited to try watercooling, I've been scared to try anything that isn't a big brand. Really wondering what this is like long-term too!
When the Phil montage started, I felt like grabbing my sunglasses, getting a convertible, and driving around the city at night, contemplating tomorrow’s inevitable finale. I appreciate 80s synthwave always.
I really like these videos, as someone whos always wanted to do watercooling but didnt think i could afford it, your really changing my mind. I personally wouod want to go for a bit better block so to see you try some mid range stuff wouod be cool for sure! Im in canada so the prices of everything are that much more rediculous
i used those fittings on my first build was hoping for the best because of the price but 4 months laterand still no issues and im stoked your checking them out
This was actually very cool to see that the prices can be managed with the right amount of research and time. Would be nice if you could make a video on some of the kits available on Amazon, since the prices for those are pretty insane.
Thank you. I plan to watercool a zen5 loop and this is great for seeing what parts make sense to spend on, and what parts are best to get cheap. I GREATLY look forward to seeing the 20 and 40 dollar blocks, and if you would sneak in a 'top of the line' block as well, just to show what you get for 200 or so, that'd be nice. Also curious about radiators. If you swapped out for HWlabs radiator, what, if any, would the temp drop be.
Grab a HeatKiller for like $80 or the Alphacool Core 1 for about 110 and you've got the best performing block you can find. Temps between the blocks are usually 1-2 degree max. Spending anything above that is a complete waste of money unless you just really like the aesthetics. For radiators, you really have to go check proper benchmarks. There are things like fin density, the flow restriction of the rad and the fans you use with it. If you look for a review of the Corsair Xr5 for example, you should see a TechPowerUp review that compares it to other radiators. radiator reviews/comparisons require more of a GN type of review, not the kind of thing Jay does.
Thanks Jay, it just goes to show that you can build an inexpensive open loop, but throw a GPU specific water block into the mix and your price will more than likely double!, unless you buy a generic one size fits all. Cheers.
I did a custom 184mm alphacool aio setup. The pump had a small resavior built in. Works quite well considering it's coolong a 14900k. It did a better job than a dual tower cooler.
Thanks for doing a review on their parts and radiators, was looking for another radiator, saw that brand on amazon but wasn't sure how it would hold up! didn't want to pay Corsair pricing if i didn't need to
benefit of a custom loop is longevity of being able to retain parts for future builds etc. I know I'm currently saving up for a block for my 4070Ti Super (Alphacool has the only block that will fit my card).
Been actually contemplating to build this to cool the processor for overclocking my 14900k the past two days and this vid came out on my youtube. For me as long as it would perform well I'd be happy.
I like this video alot, you showed that you can do a budget water cooling loop. My next build i have been pondering the idea of doing a loop and seeing Dracenas products might put me in that direction.
Especially since L-Type copper tubing is relatively flexible while M-Type is rigid, but easy to bend with a pipe or conduit bender and a lot of that stuff is available at you local hardware store. As a bonus copper has antimicrobial properties so should reduce need for biocides.
You should do a full Barrow build. I have some of their bits in my build, and they go pretty hard. But I know you can get an entire set of loop components.
Since you were positively surprised with the quality of the radiator, I think in many cases, not just in the PC market, we're paying a bunch of premium just for the brandname on it and you can have the same quality without that fancy brandname on it.
Jay can you do a follow up video pertaining to the 13-14900 CPUs. Now that it is sounding more and more like it is not just motherboards causing these CPUs to fail.
I still would rather do a custom loop vs an AIO. You can keep re-using almost all the parts on future loops/builds and you don't need to replace the whole thing when something fails. Heck some manufacturers such as XSPC sell upgrade mounting brackets for CPU sockets released after a CPU block's original release. GPU waterblocks are probably the most expensive part that can't be re-used most of the time. The only exception is when you upgrade cards from the same generation that use the same base board such a reference 3080 and 3090 to give an example.
16:18 Parts List + MX4 Thermal paste and a different CPU block. I see an Aveks brand on Amazon for $19.89 "CPU Water Cooling Block Waterblock 50mm Copper Base Cool Inner Channel"
That CPU block appears to be a perfect size for that CPU, perhaps use the mounting from another cooler and a CPU contact frame to mount it closer to perfect instead of having to guess with the supplied mounting kit. The Die height should be the same. This build has made me want to liquid cool my system now just for looks.
I like watching the "how"... the value would only matter (to me) if I actually DO it. Would I do this? High probability. Would there be a point with my 5800X, compared to the Dark Rock Pro 4 I have? Questionable. Could I do this? I think so, but I dunno what the "procrastination factor" would do to the 'build time'. TY, Jay, for demonstrating the procedure & reinforcing the relative ease.
Fittings can really affect the cost of a loop, you need a bunch of them, so a small saving per can really add up. Barrow are really good and are much cheaper than brands like EK.
Those Antec fans are legit. I've been running them on a media server for years. Non a peep. I would be concerned about mixed metals with some of those components.
I'd bet if the pins on the water block hit the top and forced the water to only go between the pins, it would help a ton. Right now it looks like the vast majority of the water can flow over the top of the pins, rather than between them. Something like having a rubber pad for the pins to butt up against.
My guy lol sand it on glass pane i use garbage like $8 solid copper block sometimes but if you sand on glass to like 1200 grit - better is good lol - and itl kick ass - fyi i use a big ol tube of cheap thermal paste its kinda iffy cause it is conductive when its not supposed to be lol but for cpu where i can be safe it outperforms arctic by 2-3 degrees. All cheap fixes 😊
Water treatment works engineer here! Res return on top is better because it allows for higher residence time of water and better mixing, this will mix different water temperatures faster making the system more effective. suction and delivery on the bottom have the risk of sucking higher temperature water that came from suction to run through the loop.
true! but don't forget we are working with a difference of 1-3c between the coldest and hottest part of the loop, the reduced noise from bottom delivery usually is a higher priority
This is the kind of content I originally subscribed to your channel for. More please. Thank you for this!
First off thank you for all of the non-biased information that you provide on your channel. Secondly, thank you for understanding that while explaining components that other people may not have the same knowledge of those components and so you take the extra time to explain things so I also appreciate that. I have not built PC in over 10 years. I am in the middle of building one. Prior to watching your videos I bought a $360 AIO of which I’ve returned at this point in favor of buying a custom waterloop set up and I spent right at $200 more than you. My cost was $463 however it includes the CPU and GPU with a 360 radiator and a 240 radiator. I don’t feel like enough channels are talking about loops really coming down in price in comparison with years before us
You're going to have a great time! I was in the same boat a couple years ago and I was happy to realize that both building, then using, a PC feels so much better than it was 10 years ago.
@@Wooskii1 I feel like I woke up in the Star Wars section of Disney land 😂😂😂. I’m building my brother a computer now because I have the blues on building. So much fun and the options now are so much more diverse.
Thanks for doing this series. I'm looking to custom loop my system and am coming from a place of complete ignorance in regards to what components/fittings I need, positioning, etc. So this is going to help a lot in not being overwhelmed, and not spending needlessly. Appreciate. If you could do something about the CAD/USD exchange rate next, that'd be fantastic!
@@ChrisGR93_TxS its easy to replace soft tubing. even if it collapses, you can just replace it down the line. black soft tubing should be the same quality as clear, and clear *will* eventually gunk up and get messy, even if its just the tubing itsself.
@@ChrisGR93_TxS d5's cost too much for a starting point, which was the point of this entire video.
@@scarecrow5848 I don't mind spending money, when I'm getting value out of it. I just hate spending for nothing. Ie: When I was updating myself to build this new build, I was looking at expensive B670 boards. It wasn't until after a lot of research that a B650 was all I needed for the 7800x3d. My budget was cut literally in half (totalling all of the components I had originally listed) and I was able to figure out where to spend and save.
So if a D5 pump res is legitimately the way to go for longevity and noise, then I won't mind spending the money.
Go with the liquid freezer 3 AIO. Dont waste your time with this.
@@Silentjackll I wanted to cool my GPU more than the chip, instead of running 2 different aio's I decided on an open loop. I have already ordered alphacool GPU, pump/res, cpu block.
as i come from an automotive background before getting into computers, i am so glad you mentioned galvanic corrosion. also love your automotive channel.
Whats his automotive channel called?
17:37 I clicked for the thumbnail, stayed for the information and the build montage was the cherry on top!
Tip. To improve the contact between the CPU block of that kind and the processor , using a caliper will help to calibrate how high each screws will be.
Bought 2 white dracaena 360 radiators 9 months ago from their manuf website and got them 1/2 off bc they accidentally priced their 360 rads to the 120mm price LOL.
My only complaint is that the radiator frame (where the screw holes are) wasn't perfectly flat but not an issue once you attach fans/ mount to case.
Pro tip: If you have a heat gun/ hair dryer you can easily remove the dracaena logo plate and straighten, reorient, or remove as you want. I don't care for the logo but the black plate on a white rad does go kinda hard.
First off thank you for doing this content, It's friggen Awesome!!! FYI Jay, if one has an Aluminum Rad, the best coolant to use is Honda Radiator fluid, it's usually blue and is designed to work with Aluminum. Plus you can get a gallon of it for like 20 bucks and it's already premixed. We use it in the coolant system of our Printing Presses at work, it's the only Fluid that Heidelberg allows us to use because the coolant radiators are 100% Aluminum with other mixed metals.
Hey the water cooling guy did a water cooling build, showing just how affordable this csn really be, awesome!
Last year, I upgraded my graphics card and put it into a server... since it only had a Waterboro, I had to upgrade the server for water cooling, I got a similar old cpu block and tubing from the hardware store. And the cheapest barb fittings I could find. Its been running like a champ
Dude, I love watching you do water builds, friggin magic! I did my first water build, soft tubing three years ago. I did my first hard line PTEG water build 18 months ago thanks to you. You got me over my fears to do DIY
I think that individuals that take this route will find their very happy, I followed your sound advice and set my loop up with maintenance in mind, made it supper easy to maintain and I do not feel I need to start from scratch every time I want to do some sort of upgrade and Like you said I really enjoyed how you can expand the original loop. great piece on helping people know that custom water cooling can be affordable and a lot of fun..
3 Thermalright ARGB 120mm fans for like $13 on Amazon. Love those.
I picked up the new Noctua style fans for $25 for 3..
@@insomniacbritgaming1632 not argb..
I've got SEVENTEEN of the Thermalright SW120's in my dual PC Lian Li V3000 build and they are absolutely fantastic.
I'm all about cheap Amazon fans if I'm not trying to go through a radiator.
@@groenevinger3893 so? I'd rather have quiet performance over loud poor performance and shiny...
Jayy!!
Idea for a build. Find somebody with a resin 3D printer, have them PRINT you all the fittings you plan to use. Just the fittings.
And then do a test of that and like, share your thoughts on it? would you trust 3D printed fittings?
I 3D printed some fittings for my server build with soft tubing watercooling because i ran out of barb fittings, been over a year now and working perfectly :D
You know, the cheapest loop I did was back in 2016. I had a 360 aio, a cpu water block, and two amd R6 390x at crossfire. I went to homedepot and bought clear vinyl tubing and hose clamps. I cut the aio tubing off and routed the hose to the cpu, then the motherboard waterblock and then it splits into a tree to put water on both blocks at the same time then joiners to one back to the the aio rad. No reservoir. No air bubbles. Work perfectly.
I’m really happy seeing this “budget” custom water loop because I’ve always wanted to build a custom loop but cost has always been the inhibiting factor
I really hope you continue this series with the new block. I wanna see if this is a viable option for a new water looper to try.
That heat plate is "waffled" FYI that patters was found to be the most useful geomerty for removing heat in hgih power transmitting tubes with plate dissipation as little as 800W to tubes who can dissipate as much as 2.5 Megawatts. I have always wondered why the inside of every other cooler I have seen looks like a heat sink, not what some of us are use to seeing.
What I remember is that other cold plates usually have a set of directional channels/fins along with a baffle which directs the coolant flow from inlet to outlet.
I’m with you 100%. You don’t have to have any RGB bling. I had a stepmom that I didn’t want to know my computer was running. So the less lights and leds the better. So you don’t need a system lit up like a carnival booth to have a nice rig.
Should I ask why you didn't want her to know your computer was running?
You also don't need to add water for cooling but goofs do it anyway.
@@ogshotglass9291 up too late at night and she saw the RGB through the door probably XD
My aio was gunktup with solderflux. I cleaned al parts and filed it with red car coolant. Runs great over a year now and still same temps as when i cleaned it.
My brother uses the same. People always talk about mixed metals but if car companies are ok mixing them and have made coolants just for that purpose I'd be pretty trusting.
@@ragetist Have you looked under the hood of your car? It's a bit of a difference between the size and sturdiness of the components.
Although the problem is probably exaggerated when it comes to PC water cooling. Would be interesting if some channel did a fully mixed metall build and had yearly updates on it.
@@ano_nym I know, big difference but there's also a big difference on how long the service intervals are between a gaming pc and a 1993 Toyota. Should do a mixed loop with a gunk trap at the bottom to see how what happens.
I have one of their AIO, got it about 2 years ago to replace the stock air cooler on my Aurora R7.
Good quality and no problems.
Next, the super loop absolutely ridiculously over the top.
We have an internet provider called Superloop in my country :P. Just thought it was amusing reading your comment.
i would love to see a loop that also ahs a tiny 1 fan radiator on the back of the case.
Big Rig Radiator or dont bother :D
Its called skunkworks :D
Go watch literally any other video of Jay xD
So I guess custom loops are not only expandable, but also easily upgradable if you swap CPU architectures. Just change the cold plate and keep everything else. I hadn't ever thought of a custom loop, but this makes it seem much more approachable.
With some tinkering, modding/making a custom "holder" for it, you could probably keep the same one for a while too. Unless CPUs explode up in size between the upgrades.
Depends on the CPU block. The 40 euro and up blocks often have mounting kits available for new sockets. My 30 euro block came with 11xx 1200 AM3 and AM4 brackets. The manufacturer now sells a 1700 and AM5 kit for like 7.50.
The only part that does not carry over to a next build is the GPU block. Those are specific to a PCB layout. The sad part about that is that it's often the most expensive part as well. GPU blocks start at about 150-160 euro for good ones. The best advice on water cooling a GPU is to first buy a block and then buy a GPU to match, rather than hope you can find a block for a random GPU you've bought. Or just buy a GPU with a block installed from the manufacturer.
But yes, realistically speaking everything except for the GPU block carries over.
@@fermitupoupon1754 do you have any experience with China blocks? Like the ones you get on AliExpress. I don't want to pay a fortune for a GPU block and will likely buy an older GPU so not even sure the "good" brands will have any for them left in stock.
For the record Antec has 5 packs of 120mm PWM fans for 20 bucks on Amazon. They've released a new line that seems to compare to the Arctic fans that have become popular due to their price and quality.
Antec really fell off for quality after the acquisition in '11. The price is right, but I'd worry about longevity.
Thermalright too - TL-C12 fans(same ones used on their 120mm coolers) are $12 for a 3x pack; $4/fan like the Antecs. Also, $13 for a 3x pack of white ARGBs, $15 for 3x ARGBs w/ infinity mirror hub, they've been killing it.
Arctic > Antec for fans tho. Always.
Thermalright has basically made everything obsolete with their prices. And reliability isn't even a concern with thermalright.
I'd still pick Arctic fans. The value is hard to beat for sure.
I have a $300 CPU loop that uses all name brand recognizable parts. (As I have mine configured it's more like $340, as I required a low profile fitting that others wouldn't). Anyway, Alphacool pump/res, and cpu block. HWLabs 360mm rad. XSPC matte black fittings, and premix. 10/16 EDPM from EK(before things went fubar).
Just wanting to note. You can get away with "quality" or otherwise recognized parts for a little more. With most of the added cost just coming from the CPU block @ $50.
I have used Alphacool for YEARS. They are a great brand.
@@XavierDaniles Yeah, my Alphacool stuff has been great! They did have a bad run of their D5 knockoff pumps several years ago, but I haven't heard anything bad other than that...I actually still have one of those pumps in my system, but thank god mine seems to not be affected...I was checking it constantly when I first heard about the issues...One thing I really like about Alphacool Radiators is that they have a lower fin density so you don't have to blast your fans at 2000 rpm to get really good airflow through them...
@@XavierDanilescompletely agree. Their pricing is fair given the quality too.
@@brucepreston3927 Yeah I had heard sub par things of their early pumps. That said, the specific build that I made uses one of their Apex pumps. On paper worse then my EK rebanded D5 in my main system. But it has done nothing but impress me. Quiet, more so then my D5.
@@thatfordboy4297 I have one of the Vpp755 pumps...They had quite a few of the Vpp755 and Vpp655 pumps fail, I think it had something to do with the bearing they used...I believe the Apex you have is just the newer version of the same pump...Mine has been amazing though! It is super strong and almost completely silent...It actually works better than the name brand D5 that I bought before...I have a very large loop and it has no trouble keeping...It has been running everyday for 5 years, and I think one reason it has held up so well is because I set a static pump speed and don't allow it to adjust up and down with PWM...I was told that it constantly spinning up and slowing down can cause issues long term with this specific pump...
Hey Jay. Long time fan here (I think one of the first vids i saw was you building Little Jays first pc lol). Love your content and work. You've inspired many of us including me.
I've used those fittings on a "budget" soft tubing build for a friend. I was impressed for the price point.
I have that same cpu block, 2 240 rads and the same company as that block pump res combo with my i9 10900kf and keeps the cpu and 2080 cooled. Barbed fittings in an asus rog z11
120mm thermalright fans as well
The display in HwMonitor is _not_ a bug. 100% utilization is adjusted to the base clock of the CPU, so the higher your CPU resp. the core can boost, the higher this number will be.
(And also it's not a HwMonitor thing, it's a Windows Performance Counter thing)
My cheapest loop was made about 13 or more years ago for an Xbox 360 and later upgraded for a PC. I initially used a plastic electronic junction box as a water reservoir, a submersible fountain pump as a pump, relays to allow it to be controlled by either 5 or 12 volts, a 1977 Pontiac Bonneville without A/C's full copper and no brass heater core as a radiator (available in costed $30 USD at the time!!!!!), the heater core's box as a shroud, two generic 120mm fans, some plastic hose from a hardware shop, two brass nipples for the heater core and some 2 part putty clay to mold on the nipples. It was an externally cooled radiator and fan setup.
This worked for years on a severely heatgun reflowed modded 360 with an available waterblock that covered both it's CPU and GPU.
I later got rid of the console and moved the setup over to my pc and got a DDR pump and pc reservoir which lasted for many years. It first cooled my Core 2 quad CPU and AMD r9 290x for 4 years. I eventually had it only cool my 1080 ti video card by itself and hot a separate AIO for the i7 3770K CPU. Kept the same setup to cool my current 3080 ti on it's current cpu with AIO setup.
Cheap parts testing is a great idea! And those Time Spy thermals are pretty good with that old block.
I have used the same fittings on a few builds with no issues. The white version has a bit of thin paint on some of the interior areas, but functionally they work just as well as barrow, XPSC, Monsoon, EK fittings that I have used. I did try a different brand from Amazon, which I did not like. Tubing was much harder to install (didnt fit easily inside the compression collar alone, and then really hard to thread), and I scrapped them.
I think that you could have gone with a slightly better CPU block, there are some really inexpensive bykskis or barrow blocks (not on Amazon)... but for the most part, the rest of the parts are more than good enough. Would like to see your update and comparison when the new blocks come in.
For radiators, I tend to like the HW Labs rads from performance PC's, which tend to cost around the same price as the one shown in the video.
People get carried away with builds, and often pay as much for one component that you can build a full loop with. I do a lot of value oriented builds, and often buy items out of build time and save some stock of them waiting to do builds when I can get things on sale for great prices. Then when its time to build, I have decent options and dont feel burdened by the costs of buying everything for what the cost is now. Prices on many things have increased across the board, but if not pressed for time, you can often find good deals. Although, many of the bigger companies now charge 2-3x the price for blocks, and shifted their market to "premium" where they used to be mainstream. It makes me think that the bottom may be dropping out of mainstream DIY watercooling, since most that would have done it before may just be going AIO now instead... so DIY builds are now premium focused, where absolute performance is the most important.
I've got 3 Dracena radiators, a 480 and 2 360's. They're extremely narrow compared to some others I've seen, but the price was within my budget.
19:46 "Ow! That fan's spinning really fast." Maybe it's just been a really long work week, but I lol'd. Thanks for the laugh, and the information.
I like channels that show a spectrum of costs and options, not just the latest, greatest, and most expensive. Kudos! Keep up the good work!
I have some Dracena stuff in my custom loop only because I needed some stuff quick and I agree the product quality is pretty damn good for the super low price and spare o rings are a huge win when they are included like that
Thank you! this makes me want to put a custom water loop in my next build and not worrying too much about GPU water block prices.
BTW,I have seen copper plated aluminum heat sink when I'm shopping one for a DIY project. so what you see might not be what you get.
The budget fans I always go for are Arctic P12 PWM 5-pack from Amazon UK, which are usually in the $30 price range - if you add another $12 or so, you can get a 10-port SATA-powered fan splitter and some MX-4 thermal paste. You really can't beat a 6-year warranty on fans at that price and the build quality looks and feels more solid than Antec in my opinion.
I guess it's good to show the missteps too. $250 for less performance than air or AIO in the $40-50 range. Another video to see if another budget block will help.
To be completely honest, I'm planning to do water cooling on my next build pretty much solely for the look. Gonna try to stay decently cheap, so will be some Chinese parts.
BUT with chromed copper pipes, which are actually cheaper than most hartubes, if you buy them from a hardware store and not as computer parts. Seems easier to bend too, no warming required.
nobody builds a custom loop to be cheaper than an air cooler or aio.
@MikeKitchenman No one said they did. Custom loops should be better, this one isn't, that's the point.
He mentioned one good reason: Loop can be expanded. I will add: parts can be replaced/upgraded, open loop can be maintained, if the pump craps out, you don't just throw the whole thing away creating e-waste, and while aesthetics aren't a critical function, they do look better.
Air coolers are good for low-mid chips that aren't going to be tortured (which is fine if that's all you need). AIO have a relatively short lifespan and most cannot be serviced, the ones that can will cost $200+ and probably come with a thinner radiator.
There are plenty of pros/cons for all 3 options. Because his open loop doesn't perform better than an AIO is not indicative as to whether or not it's worth the money. Just one factor of many.
@MrAcuta73 I know the advantages of a custom loop, but above all else it must perform better than air or AIO, this doesn't, nor does it look better for those that care.
Air coolers have always been and are currently fine for high end chips, that's fiction that they're for low-mid.
I went and looked them up right as you mentioned who they were. Might use them to build my soft tube loop. Great stuff Jay!
My fans of choice are Arctic P12 and P14. Super cheap, PWM, they can be daisy chained and I used them in all of PC I've built and I am yet to find issue with any of them. They are also reasonably silent and reliable.
Love the 80s vibe B roll music! More please! :)
I don't plan on using anything other than air cooling with a good airflow case, but I do love watching these videos always
Lap that CPU block and add a plexiglass bendable on top of the mounting arms that are flat with the height of the block.
Cut out the middle so the block can push up trough it.
Add another plexi or metal over that.
Replace the screws for the mounting.
Create a proper backplate the same way.
Should shave quite a few degrees of the max..
Anyhow great video.
I have 2 of those CPU blocks in my Xeon server and they work great!
This is one of the videos about water cooling I’ve wanted to see. Thanks.
I'd like to see you go truly budget, scrapyard wars style. Maybe some junkyard/dumpster diving? The more jank the better!
Scratches on shiny finished metals are a big problem in the metal industry. I worked for a factory making high-quality flue systems for home-warming with wood-burning. It's so easy to scratch a shiny stainless steel pipe in a big busy factory. Loads of products fail quality checks because of that.
That loop looks very good! Nice RGB effects, simple but nice! Really like this content with, let's say, alternative and/or cheaper brands of hardware!! 👌💯🤟
Some of us started liquid cooling with automotive radiators aquarium pumps and blocks soldered from the crap. And now it’s good to see parts that not cost you arm and leg to build the system. And I’d love to see how this system compares with systems from 2000. Asetek waterchill Antarctica in example
Thank you Jay for demonstrating how far AIOs have come for price vs. performance. Anyone that would buy this budget loop over an AIO at half that price deserves the inevitable leakage on their video card or CPU.
I love when you do these kinds of videos! Highlighting the brands that aren't popular is awesome. Even if sometimes your videos run these guys outta stock for a bit haha.
I see the manufacturer giveing extra O-ring as they believe their stuff is going to fail easily, so Jay is already a way more positive person then I am 😆
Another great video, thankyou.
I'm looking forward to you going forward on this project. I built my computer 10 years ago planning all along to use water cooling. I got close to $4000 and then tapped out and use an AIO. Now planning on another build, just picked up a Nividia 4080 super.
I am surprised you did not show the reservoir sediment trick. It seems to fit all the parts and extra fittings.
Very eye-opening video, definitely gets me more excited to try watercooling, I've been scared to try anything that isn't a big brand. Really wondering what this is like long-term too!
When the Phil montage started, I felt like grabbing my sunglasses, getting a convertible, and driving around the city at night, contemplating tomorrow’s inevitable finale. I appreciate 80s synthwave always.
I really like these videos, as someone whos always wanted to do watercooling but didnt think i could afford it, your really changing my mind. I personally wouod want to go for a bit better block so to see you try some mid range stuff wouod be cool for sure! Im in canada so the prices of everything are that much more rediculous
Thanks Jay for doing these vids
Love the budget water cooling! keep the videos coming!
i used those fittings on my first build was hoping for the best because of the price but 4 months laterand still no issues and im stoked your checking them out
This was actually very cool to see that the prices can be managed with the right amount of research and time. Would be nice if you could make a video on some of the kits available on Amazon, since the prices for those are pretty insane.
been running non-boutique brands for custom loop for a few years now, apart from the risk of some poorly made fittings, they work fine
Theres a killer deal somewhere right now for a liquid cooled 6900xt for like 350. these parts and that bad boy would be awesome
Thank you. I plan to watercool a zen5 loop and this is great for seeing what parts make sense to spend on, and what parts are best to get cheap. I GREATLY look forward to seeing the 20 and 40 dollar blocks, and if you would sneak in a 'top of the line' block as well, just to show what you get for 200 or so, that'd be nice.
Also curious about radiators. If you swapped out for HWlabs radiator, what, if any, would the temp drop be.
Grab a HeatKiller for like $80 or the Alphacool Core 1 for about 110 and you've got the best performing block you can find. Temps between the blocks are usually 1-2 degree max. Spending anything above that is a complete waste of money unless you just really like the aesthetics.
For radiators, you really have to go check proper benchmarks. There are things like fin density, the flow restriction of the rad and the fans you use with it. If you look for a review of the Corsair Xr5 for example, you should see a TechPowerUp review that compares it to other radiators. radiator reviews/comparisons require more of a GN type of review, not the kind of thing Jay does.
Hope for more good health updates. Thanks for the video, Jay!
Braided steel lines would look cool!
Thanks Jay, it just goes to show that you can build an inexpensive open loop, but throw a GPU specific water block into the mix and your price will more than likely double!, unless you buy a generic one size fits all. Cheers.
jay they make 3 packs of fans with ARGB for $14 bucks...awesome video!
This video was awesome! I hope it's the beginning of a series 😉 and I can't wait to see what you do for the GPU.
I did a custom 184mm alphacool aio setup. The pump had a small resavior built in. Works quite well considering it's coolong a 14900k. It did a better job than a dual tower cooler.
Thanks for doing a review on their parts and radiators, was looking for another radiator, saw that brand on amazon but wasn't sure how it would hold up! didn't want to pay Corsair pricing if i didn't need to
Corsair pricing? They're one of, if not the cheapest known brands when it comes to their radiators. XD
benefit of a custom loop is longevity of being able to retain parts for future builds etc. I know I'm currently saving up for a block for my 4070Ti Super (Alphacool has the only block that will fit my card).
Really good video Jay! Custom loops are so intimidating, but it really helps to know where to focus your budget.
Been actually contemplating to build this to cool the processor for overclocking my 14900k the past two days and this vid came out on my youtube. For me as long as it would perform well I'd be happy.
Phil always on point with the music choice! 👌🏻
I like this video alot, you showed that you can do a budget water cooling loop. My next build i have been pondering the idea of doing a loop and seeing Dracenas products might put me in that direction.
Amazing building shots Phil!
The CPU block wasn't a mistake, you now have the baseline for cheapest and future videos can show upgrading and results.
Can you also test against a 360 AIO to show the difference?
With the Rad and Block being copper, I would love to see a version of this hard tubed with copper pipe.
Especially since L-Type copper tubing is relatively flexible while M-Type is rigid, but easy to bend with a pipe or conduit bender and a lot of that stuff is available at you local hardware store. As a bonus copper has antimicrobial properties so should reduce need for biocides.
You should do a full Barrow build. I have some of their bits in my build, and they go pretty hard. But I know you can get an entire set of loop components.
Since you were positively surprised with the quality of the radiator, I think in many cases, not just in the PC market, we're paying a bunch of premium just for the brandname on it and you can have the same quality without that fancy brandname on it.
Jay can you do a follow up video pertaining to the 13-14900 CPUs. Now that it is sounding more and more like it is not just motherboards causing these CPUs to fail.
I still would rather do a custom loop vs an AIO.
You can keep re-using almost all the parts on future loops/builds and you don't need to replace the whole thing when something fails.
Heck some manufacturers such as XSPC sell upgrade mounting brackets for CPU sockets released after a CPU block's original release.
GPU waterblocks are probably the most expensive part that can't be re-used most of the time. The only exception is when you upgrade cards from the same generation that use the same base board such a reference 3080 and 3090 to give an example.
16:18 Parts List + MX4 Thermal paste and a different CPU block. I see an Aveks brand on Amazon for $19.89 "CPU Water Cooling Block Waterblock 50mm Copper Base Cool Inner Channel"
That CPU block appears to be a perfect size for that CPU, perhaps use the mounting from another cooler and a CPU contact frame to mount it closer to perfect instead of having to guess with the supplied mounting kit. The Die height should be the same. This build has made me want to liquid cool my system now just for looks.
I use them fittings. Never had a problem with them. Nice
Really love this kind of content, please keep it coming!
Hey Jay & co. Thank you for doing this. Maybe I do have a chance at water cooling after all.
I like watching the "how"... the value would only matter (to me) if I actually DO it.
Would I do this? High probability.
Would there be a point with my 5800X, compared to the Dark Rock Pro 4 I have? Questionable.
Could I do this? I think so, but I dunno what the "procrastination factor" would do to the 'build time'.
TY, Jay, for demonstrating the procedure & reinforcing the relative ease.
Fittings can really affect the cost of a loop, you need a bunch of them, so a small saving per can really add up. Barrow are really good and are much cheaper than brands like EK.
As opposed to air cooling. $50 for a decent air cooler. Possibly $30 for a 5 pack of good Arctic fans (or pick a case with enough fans to begin with).
Those Antec fans are legit. I've been running them on a media server for years. Non a peep. I would be concerned about mixed metals with some of those components.
iPhone on the top of curved iFixIt kit in beginning was crazy
I'd bet if the pins on the water block hit the top and forced the water to only go between the pins, it would help a ton. Right now it looks like the vast majority of the water can flow over the top of the pins, rather than between them. Something like having a rubber pad for the pins to butt up against.
Cant wait for the update video with the 2 other blocks tested!
I've used all of these components with great success.
Do u know the price range for that setup?
@@andylego-yo8zc I couldn't tell you. I'm constantly building loops for a hobby and at work.
My guy lol sand it on glass pane i use garbage like $8 solid copper block sometimes but if you sand on glass to like 1200 grit - better is good lol - and itl kick ass - fyi i use a big ol tube of cheap thermal paste its kinda iffy cause it is conductive when its not supposed to be lol but for cpu where i can be safe it outperforms arctic by 2-3 degrees. All cheap fixes 😊
Hey Jay, Hope you are feeling better. love the content
Arctic p12s are my go-to budget fan. No pwm, no rgb, no pst, just basic p12s.