My first water project. *Work in progress - Lots of pics warning*

[WoodButcher]

You're welcome, shortest tubing possible, smoth radius you'll be in. I don't know if the tubing you have is vinyl or more like rubber, IIRC primochill made the 3/8 - 5/8" I used a while back and it was the rubber type, the thick wall stuff like that will never collapse unless you kink it.

 

[Interitus]

The tubing is Primochill Pro LRT 3/8-5/8. Just from working with it so far it feels like rubber and not vinyl.

As far as the smooth radius, would you do something different than the 2 90's on the res and pump? I could change them to 45's, but the tube would then have to take an upward turn before it went into the pump. I'm not entirely sure I'd be able to pass it through the gap next to the MB tray in that fashion. I'd probably have to run it down below the MB into one of the wire management holes, then back up to the pump.

If you have any advice on how to the run the tube there I'd be very thankful.

 

[Interitus]

On a side note, I just read Eddy's official statement on EK's nickel flaking. Not happy about it at all since I have a full nickel Supreme HF.

Wondering if maybe I should get rid of it and grab something else now Don't want to hook this all up just to have to tear it down and inspect the block in a month for corrosion.

Sigh.

 

[WoodButcher]

No elbows, use that wiring hole under the mobo and make a loop.

 

[Interitus]

Thanks again

I'll run the tubes the way you recommended. In the meantime I have to figure out what I'm gonna do about this CPU block.

Looks like I'm gonna have to order something else as I'm not gonna risk using the HF, and a copper block replacement won't fit my build theme at all.

-edit-

I may have to wind up using a 45 on the pump inlet so it clears the HDD cage if I can't get the tubing to play nice in that respect, but I figure a 45 won't be that much worse than what the tubing bend would be anyways.

 

[Interitus]

Koolance CPU-370 on the way :thumbsup:

Anybody need a really expensive EK branded paperweight?

 

[ViviTheMage]

wish my 2 water builds weren't done, haha ... love putting this stuff together.

You don't like the EK Supreme HF?

 

[Interitus]

Have you seen all the stuff about the nickel plating problems? I have one sitting right here, but I'm not gonna chance the plating coming apart and thrashing my loop. I'd rather spend another $100 on a block I know will be okay rather than save $100 and gamble on what I'd estimate around $1500 right now.

 

[Interitus]

Wow. Ordered the 370 today and it shipped this afternoon. Free shipping and a few bucks cheaper than the big name resellers.

Hats off to you Hellfire Toyz.

 

[aigomorla]

370 is a nice block...

and you'll love koolance nickle quality.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Wow. Ordered the 370 today and it shipped this afternoon. Free shipping and a few bucks cheaper than the big name resellers.

Hats off to you Hellfire Toyz.

I get a lot of stuff from Hellfire Toyz...quick shipper! Gave me a decent discount on a few bulk items I got for my water rig...specifically QDC's .

Ahh, you got nickel ... I got Acetal, no issues

 

[Interitus]

370 is a nice block...

and you'll love koolance nickle quality.

370 (360 at that time i think) was always my second choice. Only real reason I flipped to the Supreme was that it fit the other blocks' theme better. They're pretty much all box'ish nickel/chrome so the Supreme looked right at home. Now i get the Koolance "ninja star" as my gf calls it lol.

I get a lot of stuff from Hellfire Toyz...quick shipper! Gave me a decent discount on a few bulk items I got for my water rig...specifically QDC's .

Ahh, you got nickel ... I got Acetal, no issues

I've purchased a lot of stuff from them as well lately. Their prices are right in line with all of the big WC equipment retailers (most of the time a buck or two less) and they almost always have free shipping. Can't attest to their customer service because frankly I've never needed to use it. Which is a good thing in my book.

 

[Interitus]

Koolance 370 arrived today.

Planning on getting to work tomorrow or Friday again.

On a side note, I would like to say thank you to EK. They have agreed to exchange my Supreme HF for an all copper version despite the fact that I've owned it for 6 months, never used it, and I have no evidence of corrosion. I'll probably just sell off the replacement, but it was still a good gesture on their part to replace a suspect part that may or may not be defective.

 

[Interitus]

Got a lot done yesterday. Flickr was being stupid so I couldn't upload till this morning.

MB/GPU/CPU blocks are mounted. I'll leave a separate post after with a few thoughts on that process.

Here we go....


I was sad to have to tear apart my baby. She was a looker, but it's time to move on...

About 2 hours later... (After I realized how meticulous I was about wiring last time around, ugh lol)

Board's ready to be mutilated. You can see the thermal paste fail on the CPU. Never again with the line or dot method. Thin layer for me from now on out. If the Venomous-X torqued down hard couldn't spread it across the whole IHS, I'll do it myself.

Off came the NB and mosfet sinks. Really liked how easy this was on the EVGA board. None of those stupid plastic prongs. All screws.

NB and SB were as usual really goopy. Ewww...

And after a little love with alcohol and Arcti-Clean...

No real prep shots here, pretty straightforward. Goop on the chips and slap on the blocks. The finished result...

 

[Interitus]

Next up, tackle the 5850 block.

Before:

I think I was tired when I cut the thermal pads for the block. Not exactly straight lol.

And she's ready to go!

And into the M8's tray..

PSU mounted in the case. Thinking I'm going to keep it here rather than at the bottom. It's a REALLY snug fit when in the lower location next to the drain valve. Don't want to have the two rubbing against each other and scratching stuff up. Have a feeling it's gonna be a cable nightmare on this side.

Lookin' good on the MB side of the case though...

 

[Interitus]

Couple thoughts on the day's work:

1) The Enzotech block IMO just isn't the type of quality you'd see in other blocks. The finish isn't as good as on other brands' blocks and there were some issues with it. First, the block was slightly bent out of the box. The mosfet block didn't fit the first attempt because it was angled wrong. I had to bend the block out a little bit. It wasn't a huge issue, but I was a little uncomfortable doing it and trying to avoid damaging the pipe that runs from the NB to the mosfets. Second, it really gets in the way of the RAM latches. Most of them next to the NB part of the block will not fully open now, some you can barely squeeze the RAM into the slot due to how little the latch will open. Third, I don't even want to try to imagine using my GPU in the first x16 slot. It would be hell trying to flip the unlocking latch on top of the slot because the board block is really in the way of that too.

2) The Koolance 5850 block was pretty easy to install. However, their instructions left out a major detail in the assembly process. There's a small thumb nut that MUST be installed otherwise the block can't be screwed down in one spot. It's pretty obvious when you get to that point, but that's a big oversight and it made me have to unscrew everything and re-mount again.

3) I'm aware that the optimal mounting orientation for the CPU block is to have the inlet/outlet going top to bottom, however running tubing between all those blocks would be a nightmare in that position. I might lose up to 1 degree on my temps, but it's worth it to make running tubing way easier.

Might tinker a bit more today. If anything I'll try to get the tubing on the board run.

 

[Interitus]

Well things went really smooth over the last few hours and I'm all but ready to leak test.

Water guru's wanna critique my tubing before I get it wet?

A few quick notes and some things I'm considering to change:

1) The tubing between the motherboard block and the CPU block inlet looks a bit funny. I think it's just the piece of tubing I used. I couldn't get it to stay straight so it leans to the right a bit. It almost looks kinked in the photos but it's not, it's just leaning right at the camera.

2) Because of the way that tubing leans, I've contemplated one change. Instead of running two standard compressions there, I could run 2 45's off of those blocks and arc it to the right a bit so it curves just like the tube from the CPU outlet to the GPU. This would mean I would have to change the 45 on the GPU to Res tube to either a straight compression or a 90. Don't really have the cash right now to order more 45's.

Anyways, here she is in current state:

 

[biggestmexi]

Sorry if you posted this earlier, but what case is that "old" one of yours?

And which wire extensions are you using?

Aaannnddd Whatcha doing with that old stuff?

 

[Interitus]

Sorry if you posted this earlier, but what case is that "old" one of yours?

And which wire extensions are you using?

Aaannnddd Whatcha doing with that old stuff?

Old case is a Lian-Li / Lancool K62.

The extensions I made myself with MDPC sleeving. I just ordered the Silverstone extension kit and sleeved them myself.

All the old stuff is going back into the new build, it's really just a migration over to water. The only thing that won't be reused is the Venomous-X heatsink and the case.

 

[aigomorla]

it looks clean and fine the way it is

i dont see why u would want to change it.

 

[Interitus]

Eh I'm just a closet perfectionist

I just figured it could look better. It doesn't look bad, it's just because the piece of tubing I used there was right at the bend where my coil of tubing was stored so it's just trying to stay bent in the same way it was for more than a month.

Might go ahead and fill and start leak testing. The change I was thinking about might look a little better but it's probably not worth screwing with. Need to get this thing back up and going soon. Starting to remember why I hate using laptops for any extended period of time, lol.

 

[aigomorla]

lol.... save that on rev.2

trust me, your going to get bored... and your going to want to start another one.

 

[Interitus]

I know, lol. I already have a huge wish list for rev 2

QDC's, flow meter, aquaero, more MDPC sleeving... it's an uphill battle for sure

 

[badb0y]

This thread makes me want to watercool.

 

[Interitus]

So funny thing...

Don't walk into a hardware store and put zipties, hose, funnel, superglue, and spray paint on the counter.

After being treated like a meth chemist for 20 minutes, I finally got out of there with my stuff, but yeah...

Good thing I have pics on my phone of my progress.

This thread makes me want to watercool.

Hey if I can do it so can you