hey so....i bought a pc from cyberpower a few years ago. I know, I know...dumb move. but I want to upgrade the cooling, case and psu. I am opting for the EK Nucleus 360 AIO and would like to also get the Alphacool Eiswolf 2 AIO for my GPU. which case would work best? what should the radiator orientation be? and how many extra fans should i get? it's an i9-10900k with a Zotac Trinity OC 3080 on an Asus TUF Gaming z490 rig. current case is an Eluna 242V.
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pc building noob
- Thread starter mislam2
- Start date
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2002
Hi, welcome to OCF. If you don't mind could you please make a signature including the full system specs, it will make it easier for people to reference as they reply. Buying a prebuilt isn't always a dumb move, you definitely pay for the assembly and configuration, but if those things involve knowledge and skills you don't posses and are not in a position to learn then it's fine.
What are you trying to accomplish with this upgrade? Off the top of my head I'm guessing you'd spend $400-500 doing all of this, and I doubt it will make a drastic difference. Is there a certain problem you are trying to rectify?
Is this your current case? What cooler do you have on the CPU right now. Eyeballing it, that case could fit a 360 and a 240, so it's possible to make that work. Both of the coolers you listed though are 360mm, so you'd need a dual 360 capable case.
Have you considered using the Alphacool system for both the CPU and GPU, then you could connect the coolers together for whole loop that might work in your current case.
You could also do a custom loop, honestly the GPU block is the most difficult part and it would not cost much (if any) more.
Regarding radiator orientation, you need to avoid the pump being the highest part of any liquid cooling loop, as the pump is lubricated and cooled by the liquid it is pumping, and ingesting air will kill the pump. This means if you have a case with a bottom intake and the pump is attached to the block (i.e. the Alphacool GPU block and the EK AIO), you shouldn't use the bottom as a radiator mount. A top intake is always safe. Hypothetically, tubes down is better than tubes up when mounting a front mounted AIO, but tubes up is fine, as long as the top tank of the cooler is above the block in question. In a custom loop, this isn't much of an issue as long as your loop order places a reservoir physically above and before (in terms of flow direction) the pump. A CPU AIO mounted to the top of the case and a GPU AIO mounted to the front of the case should almost always be okay, although with 360AIO it is rare for the CPU to be above the cooler as well.
What are you trying to accomplish with this upgrade? Off the top of my head I'm guessing you'd spend $400-500 doing all of this, and I doubt it will make a drastic difference. Is there a certain problem you are trying to rectify?
Is this your current case? What cooler do you have on the CPU right now. Eyeballing it, that case could fit a 360 and a 240, so it's possible to make that work. Both of the coolers you listed though are 360mm, so you'd need a dual 360 capable case.
Have you considered using the Alphacool system for both the CPU and GPU, then you could connect the coolers together for whole loop that might work in your current case.
You could also do a custom loop, honestly the GPU block is the most difficult part and it would not cost much (if any) more.
Regarding radiator orientation, you need to avoid the pump being the highest part of any liquid cooling loop, as the pump is lubricated and cooled by the liquid it is pumping, and ingesting air will kill the pump. This means if you have a case with a bottom intake and the pump is attached to the block (i.e. the Alphacool GPU block and the EK AIO), you shouldn't use the bottom as a radiator mount. A top intake is always safe. Hypothetically, tubes down is better than tubes up when mounting a front mounted AIO, but tubes up is fine, as long as the top tank of the cooler is above the block in question. In a custom loop, this isn't much of an issue as long as your loop order places a reservoir physically above and before (in terms of flow direction) the pump. A CPU AIO mounted to the top of the case and a GPU AIO mounted to the front of the case should almost always be okay, although with 360AIO it is rare for the CPU to be above the cooler as well.
