Project: Deuterium

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Hello everyone :)

Last year in June/July I completed my first watercooled build "Clear & Simple" which was a hardline watercooled loop using acrylic in the black/white/monochrome colour scheme. It looked great but was rather "muted" in the style area not to mention the R9 290X which didn't really fit into the rest of the systems specifications.

So, I've decided to have another but this time it's going to be a little bit different. For the project the target will be improving the aesthetics to something more colorful and "eye-popping" to help the system stand out, hence the name Deuterium (Nuclear Fusion fuel) :D. As a result the colour scheme for the system is going to be a black, silver/chrome, blue and purple.

This build log is going to go more in depth as I have never attempted case modding, acrylic fabrication or cable sleeving so it will be a learning curve.

Now, without further ado the hardware:
Components
CPU: Intel i7 5820K
Motherboard: EVGA X99 Micro 2
GPU: Palit NVidia GTX 1080 "Founders Edition"
RAM: 32GB of Corsair Vengeance 2400MHz DDR4
SSD: Samsung EVO 850 500GB
Fans: EK Vardar F1-120
Cables: Custom Pexon PC Teleios cables
Case: Caselabs S5

The loop
CPU WB: EK Supremacy EVO Nickel/Plexi
GPU WB: EK GTX 1080 Nickel/Plexi with nickel backplate
Radiators: XSPC EX360 & EX240
Pump: Laing D5
Reservoir: AquaComputer Aqualis Eco 100ml
Tubing: If all goes well, 12/10 Mayhems Glass tubing
Fittings: 12/10 EK-HDC Fittings

So that is all for now (I have already started working on the case) but I plan to get some updates done very soon :)

Sidenote: No this build is not sponsored but many thanks to Aytex for the header/logo :D
 
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Oh yes. Since I finished my build last year, I have revised it twice :p
I will post photos for the second revision. :D

For fans you may also have a look at these, EK-Vardar F4-120ER. They may fit your build better depending upon what is in your mind. You may have to paint the fans if white is not the fit color for the theme. They are also high static pressure like sp120's
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ek-water-blocks-ek-vardar-f4-120er-2200rpm-white-wc-868-ek.html
To be honest the fans won't be visible as they are hidden due to the way radiator mounting works in the S5 (The rings will be painted if I use them). However the reason I haven't set them in concrete is the noise aspect more than anything as the SP120s aren't awful but they certainly aren't the best :)
Also I think the Vardars come in black as well (Link)
 
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Shame that Deuterium Oxide isn't as snappy a title...Heavy Water would have been a good association :D Also, I'm probably on the watch list for every major TLA :rolleyes:

What size of glass tube are you planning?
Sleeving: Teleios (plastic) or paracord (nylon but cloth-like)?
 
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Shame that Deuterium Oxide isn't as snappy a title...Heavy Water would have been a good association :D Also, I'm probably on the watch list for every major TLA :rolleyes:
What size of glass tube are you planning?
Sleeving: Teleios (plastic) or paracord (nylon but cloth-like)?
Hehe, I was originally planning on the name sodium borosilicate but I didn't think it would sound as good. As for the sleeving most of it will be done by a sleeving company (yet to decide) but it will be Teleios as I don't like Paracord elasticity. I'll be sleeving the pump though :D
 
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So, an early update from today. I have been planning out the loop and I would like to run the CPU/GPU in parallel as this will certainly give a cleaner aesthetic for the system as I can use the pre-bent Mayhems glass and just cut to size. My only issue is that I'm not sure what effect this would have on temperature due to the difference in flow restriction between the blocks.
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As for the wiring and cables I have been messing around looking for sellers but for now I am looking at the design like the one below. Feel free to recommend any improvements, sellers etc as this is new territory for me and if I'm paying for custom cables I may as well get the best quality/design
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Design found here: (Link)

So that is all for now, I'm currently cutting out some templates for an acrylic panel to cover a section of the case to hide some of the tubing/pumps etc and seeing if anywhere in my local area sells custom cut acrylic panels :)
 
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Soldato
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I'm not much help to you on the parallel loop question other than I've seen it done and as you say, division of flow is going to be based on restriction - pretty much like electrical resistors in parallel I would think.

Remember you can stick a 45°, 90° or double-45° fitting on a block before the HDC to get some bends. So you could, for example, 90° downwards out of the left hand side of the GPU, have pre-bends staggered shortly afterwards and then run the tubes parallel, stacked above each other. That would take out less of your PCI-E slots - should you need them.

Does the black line represent a connection with the tubes descending through the grommet? I'm not sure if your diagram shows 90°s out of the GPU and then you have the pre-bends to descend through the hole but if you need additional bends, you could always back-to-back HDC - 90° elbow - HDC to get a bend. If the Bitspower 90° link things don't fit that diameter of pipe, Alphacool do a G1/4 female to G1/4 female 90° without rotaries to keep the size down.

The only people I've seen recommended for cable sleeving are Pexon. Haven't used them myself but they are mentioned a number of times in projects.

Image isn't working but the link shows black, purple, blue. Should look good - depending on the colours of your other stuff, obviously.
 
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I'm not much help to you on the parallel loop question other than I've seen it done and as you say, division of flow is going to be based on restriction - pretty much like electrical resistors in parallel I would think.
Remember you can stick a 45°, 90° or double-45° fitting on a block before the HDC to get some bends. So you could, for example, 90° downwards out of the left hand side of the GPU, have pre-bends staggered shortly afterwards and then run the tubes parallel, stacked above each other. That would take out less of your PCI-E slots - should you need them.
Does the black line represent a connection with the tubes descending through the grommet? I'm not sure if your diagram shows 90°s out of the GPU and then you have the pre-bends to descend through the hole but if you need additional bends, you could always back-to-back HDC - 90° elbow - HDC to get a bend. If the Bitspower 90° link things don't fit that diameter of pipe, Alphacool do a G1/4 female to G1/4 female 90° without rotaries to keep the size down.
The only people I've seen recommended for cable sleeving are Pexon. Haven't used them myself but they are mentioned a number of times in projects.
Image isn't working but the link shows black, purple, blue. Should look good - depending on the colours of your other stuff, obviously.
The diagram of the loop is in it's simplest form, it won't look anything like that other than the order of the components as for the actual runs they will be done so I could go dual SLI in the (Very distant) future. Also the black line represents a pass through port for the tube (Ironically I missed the other ones off the diagram). As for the parallel flow I need to do some research as I do prefer the aesthetics but if it is going to cause a big imbalance in the flow I will have to go down another route :)
 
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I'm back everyone and I bring news and updates, today my sleeving arrived with a cable connector kit. All in all it went okay, I messed up one (Used wrong measurement) but the other went great :)

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So I need to order more sleeving and I'm in dual minds whether to do the PWM cable again (That's why I haven't heatshrinked the molex at the pump yet but honestly I'm glad I'm not sleeving all my cables (PSU etc) or my fingers would be non existent :D

That's all for now but there should be more to come soon :D
 
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Does your fan controller do PWM and can it handle the power draw of your D5? If so, you can re-wire the two separate cables as one single PWM cable and plug it in. One wire instead of two is neater :D
 
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Does your fan controller do PWM and can it handle the power draw of your D5? If so, you can re-wire the two separate cables as one single PWM cable and plug it in. One wire instead of two is neater :D
I don't think I'll be using a fan controller (If so I doubt it would support the D5) so it's best just to keep them as separate cables. Still the black plugs look much nicer than the beige/off white 4 pin header and the translucent molex :)
 
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So I'm back for another update. I've still yet to start building this project as I'm waiting for parts to arrive.

This week my Caselabs parts arrived (Thanks to deFiniLogy)
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I also ordered some matte acrylic to cut out a cover for the case to hide the pumps and drainage section of the loop.
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Unfortunately this arrived (I hate glossy acrylic, so many scratches so easily :mad:)
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So that's it for now until I get the rest of my parts ordered. It looks like I'm going to need to sand(blast) the acrylic panel to get a reasonable matte look and I also need a new glass cutter. :)

To top it off my glass nipper arrived like this
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However I wasn't going to let that stop me so I got to cutting the glass
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That's bad news on both. Can't you get them to send you replacements for both rather than trying to sandblast it? Agree on glossy being evil though!

Can't help but feel those lengths of glass are just random carried-away snippings rather than the lengths you need :D
 
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That's bad news on both. Can't you get them to send you replacements for both rather than trying to sandblast it? Agree on glossy being evil though!
Can't help but feel those lengths of glass are just random carried-away snippings rather than the lengths you need :D
Unfortunately the listing they had was wrong (Yet the place I bought it from still hasn't changed their listing :confused:) so I just took a half refund :)

And yes, I just wanted to try my method for cutting with this piece, my plan is to the system in PETG/Acrylic perfectly and then copy the lengths in glass :)
 
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I'm currently in the process of ordering fittings but I have come across a dilemma. I have limited funds for the build so I need to decide the design first and I have two final ideas.

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The first one is using Mayhems pre-bent 90° tubing and 45° fittings on the CPU to pass through ports to form two triangles. Then for the GPU use two 90 fittings on the GPU and 45° fittings for the pass through ports and straight tube to form 45° runs to the GPU

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The other option is just to use straight runs and 90° fittings for the CPU to pass through ports to form rectangles and the same for the GPUs. However this method would require a angled run from the CPU to the GPU and extenders as the tube is pre-bent but unfortunately only has 10/11cm after the 90° bend which is too short to reach the pass through ports.

As for the rest for the loop the runs will be lines straight down from the radiator/reservoir to the pass through ports in the panel I'm cutting :)

So, I'm stuck so I put it to you people. Which do you think would look the best? :D
 
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