EK S360 Vs My custom Loop

[Masters2150]

I put together a custom loop based off DazMode parts, but I'm wondering if the money is worth it or will I be fine getting the S360 kit. Yes the custom loop has better parts, but is it worth it is my questions. Basically am I spending extra money on the custom loop over the kit just for the hell of it, I could put that money to better use.

Here is the S360 kit: https://dazmode.com/store/product/ek-kit-s360/

Heres my custom loop: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/pr49sJ

[Zapious]

I am in the process of doing my first hard tube loop. I haven't received everything I need yet. (have an order on the way as we speak)
I ordered everything directly from EKWB. The difference between the s360 kit and my custom loop is a graphics card waterblock, hard tube, an extra rad,
and about $900.00, or so.

[Necrodead]

If it's worth it is up to each end user. Water cooling in general is 'not worth it' as a good air cooler will do a very similar job for much, much less. The difference in cooling you would have would not be very significant (360mm vs 480mm radiator) but the fans may have to spin a bit faster on the 360. I also prefer the GT fans over the EK but they are both very good fans.

The rest is looks, with the custom parts you choose what you want. The EK kit is a great deal but you are stuck with what they give you. If you don't care about looks at all get a good noctua air cooler or 360mm AiO for even less and it will be the same performance as the EK parts with 360mm rad. I'd say you could then put that money to better use... but I don't see any immediate upgrade path for your chosen machine since it is already all the best parts for gaming.

[Loafer987]

Just a heads up, im using an aorus 1080 ti with an ek water block and I have a PE360 front rad and PE120 rad in the rear all set up as intake. Then 2 unrestricted exhaust fans out the top of my case. All corsair RGB 120mm 1200RPM fans. I find that when I leave the system mining (eth and Sia dualmining) the water temp gets quite high and causes the cpu to spike in temp if it is overly active at the same time. I have had the system try to install updates in the background and crash due to my cpu hitting 80*C+ (5820k at 4.4 ghz) If you want to push that card and have your cpu overclocked I highly suggest more than one slim 360 rad.

[10e]

I mostly agree with Necrodead. I find that water cooling benefits high end processors with proper heat transfer through their integrated heat spreaders more than most of the recent Intel chips that have relatively worse heat transfer properties.

In those cases a good air cooler is more than enough. I've put a Dark Rock Pro 3 on a Ryzen 1700 and at 3.8 Ghz at 1.3 volts seen temperatures in the mid 50s, which is only a bit higher than on my main rig which sports a 420 + 280mm radiator combination (though in its defence it has a 1080Ti on the loop as well).

I find that in most cases, water cooling can be effective in managing heat from certain components quite well AS LONG as it's SIZED properly. In those cases it is very good at getting heat out of the case and keeping radiated heat from affecting surrounding components. So for example, my 1080Ti doesn't exhaust any heat into the case that isn't removed promptly through a top mounted radiator in exhaust. The air cooler on it is MORE THAN competent enough keeping the GPU in the low 70s even OC'd, but the heat is not taken out of the case as well because I have to rely on exhaust fans to help move it out properly. So in this case my radiators more than do the job of handling heat and getting it out of the case efficiently. My GPU rarely goes above 50 celsius even with the hardest core benchmarks.

But you're looking at the View 71 which is a pretty big full tower, and can easily handle two 360mm radiators. I'd probably go that route to see benefits at least on the GPU with WC. The CPU will be OK as long as you don't massively overclock it, but don't expect incredible results as it just isn't built to transfer heat that well, like Ryzen's soldered on integrated heat spreader does.

I'd probably say I prefer custom WC the most due to the control it gives me in system design, and then air cooling. AiOs are last on my list. I've had a pump failure on one, and those AiO pumps aren't anywhere near as reliable as a DDC or D5 pump. I also don't know how hot components under those AiO pumps affect them.

Loafer, I'd probably say your results are typical. The 5xxx/6xxx series Intel HEDT CPUs can be good with power until you overclock. When overclocked they can use over 200 watts easily at full load. Add that to the 250+ watts your GPU turns into heat and you're looking at a solution that needs another fan space (so a 360+240) or you have to turn your fan RPMs up.

I usually look at ExtremeRigs.Net to see how much a radiator can dissipate, and then I multiply that by .75 to take into account different fans and airflow impeding dust filters. So for example, in push only at 1300 RPM with Gentle Typhoon fans, the EK PE 360 can dissipate around 310 watts, but take into account filtration, and other airflow impediments and that is a best case scenario, so realistically you're only going to see in the 250-280 watt range dissipated.