School me on custom loops.

Did you have any kind of coolant in there before? A clear coolant shouldn't turn cloudy.

Did you use any kind of pre cleaner in you loop? New radiators at least should be flushed before use, they will almost always have residual stuff in them from the manufacturing proces to include random grit and junk.

I honestly wouldn't buy any of EKs coolants. I had issues with thier opaque stuff a couple of years ago, but even their clear coolant shouldn't get cloudy on its own.

I like XSPC ec6 clear and aquacomputers Double protect.

Distilled works as well, but if you have any non nickel plated components, like the copper cpu plate or copper/brass then it really stops being distilled after a while as it strips ions off the copper/metal blocks. That is just reality. I used distilled/silver for years as well, it is definitely the cheapest route but nowhere near the best.

Going distilled is fine, just add in some form of corrosion inhibitor.
I used primochill sys prep before I put in the coolant and I flushed the rads before that with distilled water. I had no coolant before as this is a brand new loop.
 
I used primochill sys prep before I put in the coolant and I flushed the rads before that with distilled water. I had no coolant before as this is a brand new loop.

Yeah that is an issue then. There should be no particulate or cloudiness in a clear coolant at all. Maybe the EK stuff reacted with the sysprep, no idea.

A quick search found a few other instances of EK clear going cloudy, one of the hits is in this forum. So I would guess it is an EK coolant issue.

I know when I had issues with the EK opaque coolant, I had to take my blocks and res apart to get the residue off. Flushing with distilled/vinegar and then distilled did nothing.
 
I used distilled/silver for years as well, it is definitely the cheapest route but nowhere near the best.

Going distilled is fine, just add in some form of corrosion inhibitor.
Please define “best”. Adding anything to water will decrease its cooling capability, and most (pretty much all) loops don’t need anything to prevent freezing or boiling. Corrosion inhibitor isn’t necessary for an all copper or copper / nickel loop, and a silver coil works fine as a biocide. What are you getting with clear coolant besides a higher price tag?
 
Please define “best”. Adding anything to water will decrease its cooling capability, and most (pretty much all) loops don’t need anything to prevent freezing or boiling. Corrosion inhibitor isn’t necessary for an all copper or copper / nickel loop, and a silver coil works fine as a biocide. What are you getting with clear coolant besides a higher price tag?

Already defined in your post. Corrosion/oxidation inhibitor, biocide.

I've used both, there is zero difference in cooling ability, unless someone is an idiot and is dumping pure glycol in their loop, or measuring down to 0.01c of temperature variance.

Edit: I am not talking particulate heavy opaque coolants, but clear or dyed coolants.

Distilled with a coil is fine, it is just not the best, as good yes, cheaper over the long run, sure.

You are still adding a biocide regardless.

Spending a few bucks on coolant is irrelevant, we're not a bunch of AIO plebes here, I've never heard if anyone getting into WCing their pc to save a few bucks.
 
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Please define “best”. Adding anything to water will decrease its cooling capability, and most (pretty much all) loops don’t need anything to prevent freezing or boiling. Corrosion inhibitor isn’t necessary for an all copper or copper / nickel loop, and a silver coil works fine as a biocide. What are you getting with clear coolant besides a higher price tag?
"Best" is coolant that will never cause any material corrosion or allow growth. Saying that additives reduce cooling capacity is like saying 90° fittings reduce flow - technically true, but inconsequential in practice.

Haven't experienced it myself but have read that silver attacks nickel. No-nonsense all copper, POM and EPDM rubber loops are possible but, let's face it, not what most people have in their systems.
 
"Best" is coolant that will never cause any material corrosion or allow growth. Saying that additives reduce cooling capacity is like saying 90° fittings reduce flow - technically true, but inconsequential in practice.

Haven't experienced it myself but have read that silver attacks nickel. No-nonsense all copper, POM and EPDM rubber loops are possible but, let's face it, not what most people have in their systems.
I have nickel fittings on my current loop, and have for years with no issues (that I know of). The only time I've ever heard of Nickel + Silver issues is from EK trying to explain away problems with their crappy nickel plating. As soon as I manage to get a 5950, I'll pull apart my current loop and can take some pictures of the interior of the nickel fittings to see if over 5 years of silver coil + nickel fittings caused any issues. There is nothing visibly wrong that I can see in the bayrez or kill coil, but I'll likely have to look in the fittings and pull apart the Apogee block to verify.

I will certainly say that the "Best" coolant, also won't leave particles / goop all over your loop either. So far, that has been my number 1 issue with commercial coolants, but the last one I tried was also, like, 2004, so maybe they have gotten better. That said, this thread seems to reinforce the idea that commercial coolant = trouble waiting to happen.
 
Had primochill liquid utopia (from concentrate) in my loop for 10 yrs. Had goop in the blocks, but the coolant remained clear the whole time. I think if I had not left the PC off for extended periods of time I would not have had goop in the blocks either.

That said,a more realistic timeframe for changing coolant is probably 2-5yrs, with more frequent changes if your PC is left off or run hard for extended periods of time (stagnant water and heat are breeding grounds for bacteria, and heat will deteriorate the chemicals in your coolant as well, so a heatsoaked loop is no bueno).
 
So I put in the EK Cryofuel Clear coolant a few days ago and I thought it would clear over time and while it did it was still quite a bit cloudy. So I drained it and it seemed to have left quite a bit of residue so I tried to flush it with distilled water and that helped a bit but wasnt quite as I wanted so I bought the primo chill reboot and it helped quite a bit. But it seems like I need to disassemble my distro plate and clean it to get it as clear as I think it should be given how new it is.

My question anyways: do you guys have recommendations of coolant (clear preferably) that doesn't have clouding and particulate issues.
I personally run Koolance 702 High Performance Liquid Coolant and haven't had any issues with clouding or particulates. I ran Mayhem Blitz to prep my loop.
 
I have nickel fittings on my current loop, and have for years with no issues (that I know of). The only time I've ever heard of Nickel + Silver issues is from EK trying to explain away problems with their crappy nickel plating. As soon as I manage to get a 5950, I'll pull apart my current loop and can take some pictures of the interior of the nickel fittings to see if over 5 years of silver coil + nickel fittings caused any issues. There is nothing visibly wrong that I can see in the bayrez or kill coil, but I'll likely have to look in the fittings and pull apart the Apogee block to verify.

I will certainly say that the "Best" coolant, also won't leave particles / goop all over your loop either. So far, that has been my number 1 issue with commercial coolants, but the last one I tried was also, like, 2004, so maybe they have gotten better. That said, this thread seems to reinforce the idea that commercial coolant = trouble waiting to happen.

Ek likes to deflect blame from their shoddy plating process, of course they also sell coolant. The only issues I had with commercial coolants or additives, were opaque ones. Ek and XSPC both left goop in my blocks. Like literal sludge. Although I also had oxidation on blocks and rad when using only distilled and a coil. Which I used for years.
 
Ended up buying some Aquacomputer double protect ultra clear since I also wanted the flow rate sensor from Performance PC.
 
Question for you guys does this look normal?

IMG_3863 - Copy.jpg

I was running and flushing my loop this week with distilled water to try to get the remains of the EK coolant out and I finally stripped everything down yesterday to finish cleaning the loop. The ek cpu waterblock has some discoloration and my alphacool rtx waterblock looks perfect. Wonder if this is normal?

IMG_3868.jpg


I think I am finally done. I added in the Aquacomputer Flow sensor and a T on the top rad to help drain the loop.

I want to thank everyone for helping me out with this build. Its been a long long build (1 month+) and its been a lot of fun but a lot of headaches too.
 
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I would say that cpu block looks just fine. It is nickel plated and there will be some wear/discoloration from any exposure to elements.
 
I have always gone AIO's and with COVID being the way it is I have had too much time to look at PC stuff this year. I want to build a system in a Lian Li PC O11 Dynamic Mini (I think its coming out within the next week). I looked at Corsair stuff but that was when I was thinking about doing it in an ITX system and was forced to use the Commander Pro because the lack of fan headers. Now that I am not restricted to that since I can use an ATX board I was wonder what you guys recommend.

System Build:
AMD R9 5900x
AMD RX6800XT or 6900XT
4X 32GB G.Skill Trident Z Neo 3200MHZ CL16
MSI Meg X570 ACE
Corsair SF750

I plan on water cooling both the CPU and GPU. I don't know how much rad I actually need. I wont be overclocking too much.

I already ordered one HWLabs Nemesis 360GTS.
I also ordered the Corsair XD3 pump res combo and XC7 block but now I am unsure if I want to use them.

1.) I was thinking some sort of EK pump res combo or their distro plate. But I don't understand what the different type of pumps that the come with.
2.) Whats D5 vs DDC (3.1 vs 3.2?) etc.
3.) I see that most things use g 1/4 thread. What fittings do you guys recommend. Also I want to learn more about Quick Disconnect fittings (I want to use one for a drain port).
4.) What ID/OD do you guys recommend for PETG tubing?
5.) Coolant and Kill coils etc. I want to go for clear liquid.
6.) I hear about cleaning out fittings and rads before hand what do you guys do to clean it out?
7.) I hear its bad to mix metals so does that mean if I get one copper block I have to get all copper blocks vice versa with nickel blocks?

Any help is greatly appreciated. In terms of budget I was thinking $1k~ for the water cooling stuff. If thats unreasonable I can increase it.

EDIT: Final System Build (in case you guys were wondering what I ended up doing in regards to the loop.)

A lot of the parts I got from Amazon because of fast shipping.

AMD R9 5900x (EK Velocity AM4 Waterblock)
RTX3080 (Alphacool Eisblock Aurora waterblock)
2 x HWLabs Nemesis 360GTS
3 x Arctic P12 pwm pst 120mm fans
3 x Noctua A12x15 Chromax
1 x Noctua A12x15
1 x EK DDC heatsink
1 x Lian Li-EK Distro plate G1
22 x Barrow 14mm hard line tubing fittings
3 x Barrow 90 degree rotary fittings
1 x bitspower dual 90 degree rotary fitting
1 x bits power 3 port T fitting
1 x bitspower 10mm extension fitting
1 x bitspower 20mm extension fitting
2 x barrow male to male fittings
1 x barrow quick disconnect set
1 x barrow ball valve
1 x barrow 10k temperature sensor stop fitting

Aquacomputer parts:
1 x aquaero 6 LT
1 x splitty9 fan splitter
1 x 53219 Flow rate sensor

View attachment 311272
Hi!

I cant believe how lucky i am you made this post! Im gathering parts for custom loop, i have a 5900x (bykski block) 3080 (alphacool block) ,same mobo, same case (black), also some p12 fans and same distro and i ordered the same rads. And i was wondering the same thing. So do you have any issue with the 2x360 gts rads running on the g1's ddc 3.1 pump?

Also how did u manage to have the gpu block vertical? What fans and gpu bracket did y use?

Please help!!!!
 
Hi!

I cant believe how lucky i am you made this post! Im gathering parts for custom loop, i have a 5900x (bykski block) 3080 (alphacool block) ,same mobo, same case (black), also some p12 fans and same distro and i ordered the same rads. And i was wondering the same thing. So do you have any issue with the 2x360 gts rads running on the g1's ddc 3.1 pump?

Also how did u manage to have the gpu block vertical? What fans and gpu bracket did y use?

Please help!!!!
I don't think there are any problems running the G1 ddc 3.1 pump other than maybe cooling it. I bought the metal heatsink cover for mine and I use a Noctua A12x15 behind it to cool it. I've seen some Flow rate goes from 30 l/h to about 70 l/h 50-100% pwm. I don't really know how its supposed to be since this if my first build ever with a flow meter. If you buy direct from EK it comes with the 3.2 pump, I didn't know this and bought from Microcenter.

For the Vertical bracket by far the best one is the EK Vertical Mount. I tried the Lian Li made for the O11, Cable Mod and Cooler master. The EK is by far the most well built and fits extremely well.

I used the Noctua A12x15 Chromax for the bottom rad (clearance is a few mm for the vertical mount, if you use 360GTS and 15mm fans you will have to buy countersunk screws because the screws that come with the rad wont fit they give you screws for 25mm fans), and P12 PWM PST for the top rad. I honestly think I should have went with a thicker rad on the top, honestly I might still do that.

Only thing I have a problem with really is draining the loop, I had to put a T fitting on the top rad so I can drain it faster. Performance wise my GPU stays around 50c max (3080 boosting to 2050-2100 mhz core and +800mhz on mem.) and CPU with CO around 80c max 5150mhz max single core clocks.
 
I don't think there are any problems running the G1 ddc 3.1 pump other than maybe cooling it. I bought the metal heatsink cover for mine and I use a Noctua A12x15 behind it to cool it. I've seen some Flow rate goes from 30 l/h to about 70 l/h 50-100% pwm. I don't really know how its supposed to be since this if my first build ever with a flow meter. If you buy direct from EK it comes with the 3.2 pump, I didn't know this and bought from Microcenter.

For the Vertical bracket by far the best one is the EK Vertical Mount. I tried the Lian Li made for the O11, Cable Mod and Cooler master. The EK is by far the most well built and fits extremely well.

I used the Noctua A12x15 Chromax for the bottom rad (clearance is a few mm for the vertical mount, if you use 360GTS and 15mm fans you will have to buy countersunk screws because the screws that come with the rad wont fit they give you screws for 25mm fans), and P12 PWM PST for the top rad. I honestly think I should have went with a thicker rad on the top, honestly I might still do that.

Only thing I have a problem with really is draining the loop, I had to put a T fitting on the top rad so I can drain it faster. Performance wise my GPU stays around 50c max (3080 boosting to 2050-2100 mhz core and +800mhz on mem.) and CPU with CO around 80c max 5150mhz max single core clocks.
I got mine from a local retailer, ek wont have it in stock until april here in EU. I was thnking swapping pumps, but if it works im happy. I wont oc aboce 5ghz and i will have the same gpu clocks i assume.

Thank you..
 
I don't think there are any problems running the G1 ddc 3.1 pump other than maybe cooling it. I bought the metal heatsink cover for mine and I use a Noctua A12x15 behind it to cool it. I've seen some Flow rate goes from 30 l/h to about 70 l/h 50-100% pwm. I don't really know how its supposed to be since this if my first build ever with a flow meter. If you buy direct from EK it comes with the 3.2 pump, I didn't know this and bought from Microcenter.

For the Vertical bracket by far the best one is the EK Vertical Mount. I tried the Lian Li made for the O11, Cable Mod and Cooler master. The EK is by far the most well built and fits extremely well.

I used the Noctua A12x15 Chromax for the bottom rad (clearance is a few mm for the vertical mount, if you use 360GTS and 15mm fans you will have to buy countersunk screws because the screws that come with the rad wont fit they give you screws for 25mm fans), and P12 PWM PST for the top rad. I honestly think I should have went with a thicker rad on the top, honestly I might still do that.

Only thing I have a problem with really is draining the loop, I had to put a T fitting on the top rad so I can drain it faster. Performance wise my GPU stays around 50c max (3080 boosting to 2050-2100 mhz core and +800mhz on mem.) and CPU with CO around 80c max 5150mhz max single core clocks.
What do you mean problem in draining.. i ordered a little valve to put in the back, isnt this enough? How is the t fitting gonna help?.. i will buy the metal cover for the pump then.. which one did u get?

Sorry for bombardment of questions
 
What do you mean problem in draining.. i ordered a little valve to put in the back, isnt this enough? How is the t fitting gonna help?.. i will buy the metal cover for the pump then.. which one did u get?

Sorry for bombardment of questions
Yea the bottom port in the back only allows you to partially drain the loop. I found it mostly drains the middle of the plate and some of the GPU since the GPU is first in line and is directly connected to the pump so it can drain back to the middle of the plate. But the CPU and top rad if you use them will not drain into the middle of the plate without some help.

Problem is caused I think by the 2nd rad since the middle part of the rad you use a plug to open is not at the top of your loop. I put a T fitting on the top rad so I can drain the rad and use a pump to push it out. Also be careful with the ball valve to put in the back have to measure it carefully you might have to put that in by taking out the pump first but since you are swapping out the back cover for the metal heatsink you should do that while you are at it. I ended up putting a quick disconnect fitting on that back port instead it is IMO much cleaner that way.

I learned all this because of the constant draining and filling I had to do to clean out the EK Coolant that left a lot of gunk in my loop. Also if you don't have one already I highly recommend getting a leak tester. Helped me out a lot, I also use it to help drain the system.

EDIT: Also, I wanted to add another flow meter from aquacomputer so while I was at it I also ordered the 3.2 DDC pump. I will let you know the difference in flow when I swap it out if you want to know.
 
So I got the EK DDC 3.2 PWM Elite and swapped it in. I was wrong about the flow rate for the ddc 3.1 that came with the distro plate. I was actually getting about 43-46 l/h running it at 100%. The ddc 3.2 can get up to 62-63 l/h. Temp wise there is a improvement of a few degrees under load but the biggest difference seems to be after load and idle. Water temps drop a lot quicker than the ddc 3.1. Idle CPU temps dropped 10c (though I did also reapply the cheap corsair thermal paste for Kyronaut so I can't really attribute it all the the pump). So I guess its up to you if you want to spend the extra.

I've been logging data and it seems like the water temp going into the GPU and out has a delta of 1c and after it flows into the CPU and out there's a 2-3c delta. I've been contemplating getting a thicker rad on the top and see if that helps drop water temp under load. My water temps can get up to 45-46c when gaming.
 
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