First Water Project: The Mad Titan

[Rasphelt]

Hey all,

As the title suggests, this is my first water cooled build, and it's a fairly ambitious one too..

My inspiration was my existing setup really, I didn't like the GPU temps I was getting and started looking at a water cooling solution for my 2 x 980ti's and then I realised that I would really like a better looking solution rather than just a functional one; and that led me to a fresh build.

While the title is a Marvel Comics nod, it is also to reference my intention; a no holds barred, premium, high powered, bonkers build that should not only look awesome but be one of the most powerful builds this side of Christmas.

Colour scheme will be blue, black and yellow.

I will list the components here, once chosen, and keep it updated. I will also flood this thread with pictures and updates regularly to make sure that you guys see what a hash I'm probably making of things as I go along!

With this in mind, please feel free to impart your collective knowledge as much as you can!

Key:

Delivered = It arrived!
Ordered = Erm ordered.
Confirmed = Intended component. Changeable but unlikely.
Suggested = First stab. Changeable.
Tbc = Haven't looked at this yet. Changeable.
Striketgrough = Upgraded after installed

Components List:

Hardware;

• Case: Caselabs SMA8 (Black) - Delivered
• Motherboard: x99 - MSI Godlike Gaming Carbon Asus Rampage V Edition 10 - Delivered
• CPU: Broadwell-E 6950X - Delivered
• RAM: 128Gb Custom Corsair Dominator Platinum - Delivered
• GPU: 3 x MSI Gaming X 1080's 2 x nVidia Titan X(P)'s - Delivered
• PSU: Super Flower Leadex Platinum 2KW - Delivered
• HDD: 1 x Samsung 950 Pro 512Gb & 3 x Samsung 850 Evo 500Gb - Delivered

Cooling;

• 1 x Bitspower X99 full cover water block EK Rampage V Edition 10 Monoblock - Delivered
• Bitspower Carbon Black fittings - Delivered
• Bitspower Tubing 16/12 PETG - Delivered
• Mayhems Purple Blue and Yellow Coolant - Delivered
• 1 x EK CoolStream CE 560 (Quad) - Delivered
• 1 x EK CoolStream SE 480 (Quad) - Delivered
• 1 x EK CoolStream CE 280 (Double) - Delivered
• 10 x EK Vardar F3-140ER 11 x Corsair ML140 Blue fans - Delivered
• 5 x EK Vardar F4-120ER 5 x Corsair ML120 Blue fans - Delivered
• 2 x EK-RES X3 250 Reservoirs - Delivered
• 2 x EK-D5 PWM G2 Pumps - Delivered
• 2 x EK-XTOP Revolution D5 Plexi Tops - Delivered
• 3 x EK MSI 1080 full cover water blocks2 x EK Titan XP full cover acetal water blocks - Delivered
• 3 x EK MSI 1080 back plates2 x EK Titan XP back plates - Ordered
• 1 x EK 3 way GPU water block (in both clear and black) - Delivered
• 1 x Nzxt GRID+ - Delivered

Lighting;

• 1 x Custom light box - Delivered
• 1 x Custom Acrylic Parts - Delievered (hand made by me in the end)
• 1 x Nzxt Hue+ (and extender kit) - Delivered
• X x Several small custom mods to set the build aside visually

Additional Items;

• 1 x Aquaero 6 XT - Delivered
• 2 x Aquaero Poweradjust 3 - Delivered
• 1 x Custom sleeve set - Delivered
• 1 x Asus ROG PG348Q - Delivered
• 1 x Razer Blackwidow X Chroma RGB - Delivered
• 1 x Razer Deathadder Chroma RGB - Delivered
• 1 x Razer Firefly RGB - Delivered
• 1 x Noble black/gold chair - Delivered
• 1 x New Desk - Delivered
• 1 x HTC Vive - Delivered

More to add to all of the above, but it's a start!

EDIT: This has turned into a full upgrade of nearly everything PC related... hey ho!
Cheers
Ben

 

[Rasphelt]

Delivered: Caselabs SMA8 (Black)

This case is amazing.






Cheers
Ben

 

[Rasphelt]

Good luck with the build, looks to be solid, although I'd do a little more reading on the 4x1080 part, From what I could see/read they won't support 4 cards, and was a little confusion if the 3 cards used in the PC on show was just 2x SLI and a 3rd for Physx.

Yeah, I saw that... Not sure what the deal is there as nVidia haven't said a thing... I will wait and see. It's not a huge deal though as I expect to be upgrading to the 1080ti variant by the end of the year and that should definitely support quad sli, I hope!

Cheers
Ben

 

[Rasphelt]

Delivered: The first component to arrive!



Cheers
Ben

 

[Rasphelt]

Update: All fans and rads ordered from OCUK! Some fans out of stock though so not sure on delivery date.

Cheers
Ben

 

[Rasphelt]

Sweet looking forward to this

Thanks mate!

Cheers
Ben

 

[Rasphelt]

Awesome, have been drooling over the SMA8 lately so looking forward to watching this

Thanks buddy, I just thought **** the cost, I NEED one!

Cheers
Ben

 

[Rasphelt]

Looking forward to following this one too. You are using the same radiators, fans, GPUs, X99 Boradwell E etc as I am on my current build.

Out of interest. What do you make of the black and grey colours of the EK Vardar fans? Mine have arrived but they are really pretty ugly! I have just taken one apart to see how easy it would be to spray the blades white.

I think there is an all white version and a white blade/black surround in the f4-120's... Not sure if that helps though mate!

I am going to mod mine so they will likely either be an entirely different colour/have led's/center logo or something... Haven't decided yet though..

Cheers
Ben

 

[Rasphelt]

The F4-120ER have a white version I think?

^^ what he said

Cheers
Ben

 

[Rasphelt]

In for the ride as well. Case looks stunning.

May I ask, how much did you pay for shipping with Dazmode? I'm sure last time I looked it was somewhere around the $1-200 region and now when I look it's quoting a cheapest price (UPS saver) of $580CAD to ship to me in England.

$850CAD for the case seems a great price but there's no way I'm paying that much for shipping...

I'm not sure to be honest, it was about £760 all in or thereabouts. Shipping was expensive to the UK, but in for a penny and all that!

I will say this though, it got here in 3 days max!

 

[Rasphelt]

4 x 1080 gpu... might as well go for the 128gb ddr4 then just for fun .. lol

Maybe! Seriously though, my intention is to build this with 3-4 x 1080's and then replace them with 1080ti/Tx's or whatever when they release them... I am just waiting to see what the SLI limitations are on the 1080's first...

I know that's bonkers!

Cheers
Ben

 

[Rasphelt]

Update: Bitspower fittings ordered, to the tune of £300!

 

[Rasphelt]

Am I right in thinking that the Aquaero 6 XT can control all my fans (with splitters into three groups, giving 3 x 4pin PWM connectors back to the XT), 2 x flow sensors, 2 x water temp sensors and both of my EK D5 G2 pumps?

Cheers
Ben

 

[Rasphelt]

Yeah, you are correct on that one. The software is a bit of a pain to get used too but it's alright when you figure it out.

Going to keep an eye on this, not a fan of the case but when it needs to be that big, it's going to be worth watching!

Thanks mate

Cheers
Ben

 

[Rasphelt]

Maybe. There are four 4-pin fan headers capable of either PWM or voltage control (3-pin fans). With the correct splitters you're fine there. Most splitters have the tacho wire connected to all fans so the reading is garbage. You need to pick one fan in the group and have the tacho wire connected only to that one.

Water temp sensors: no problem. There are 8 temp sensor headers. You can connect inline water temp sensors or tape the sensors (4 supplied with Aquaero) to things you want to monitor. I have one taped to my pump heatsink to keep an eye on it and one on each of my toasty M.2 SSDs. The stuff you want to tape it down is Kapton tape (or a cheap foreign knock-off).

Flow sensors: depends how they connect. There is a header labelled "Flow" on the Aquaero. This takes a connection to the Hi Flow sensor. The square block style one without USB that's about £30 on OCUK. Be aware that it requires a separate cable (helpfully not supplied) to plug it in. It looks like a fan plug but the pins are much bigger.
For a second flow sensor (which will read the same unless you have dual loop or a parallel flow section ) you can either use one that connects by Aquabus or USB. You could add a PowerAdjust Standard which has a flow header on it and a 3-pin volt controlled fan header.

Pumps: you can definitely run them off the Aquaero but there are considerations here. If they are 3-pin you can run one off each of two fan headers. You might be able to run both off one but you need to be careful you aren't overloading the header which has a 30W max. You'd probably need either a cable convertor (there's a DDC cable available) to change the mole and fan connector into just a fan connector. That or crimp some fan pins on the end instead (and braid it ).

If they are PWM it has been reported that the D5s don't implement it correctly and need a mod before they work. The Aqua Computer ones are apparently pre-modded.
If you want to run both of one header it should be fine as it doesn't pull the power from the Aquaero (unless you mod the wiring so that all four pins go into the fan header) but you'd only be able to monitor the speed of one pump - same as the fans.
You might be best to add a PowerAdjust (standard only as the Aquaero will be in charge) and link it to the Aquaero with an Aquabus cable. Then you get a second flow sensor header and a fan header. That gives you enough for a header for each of the pump's and the 3 fan groups - although one of the would be volage control only.

Lots of info in the last few pages of the Aquaero thread on here too. Worth a read.

Hope that helps.

It does! Cheers! I will definitely invest in the PowerAdjust, it will make things more simple for the flow sensors in both loops.
I have started to read the Aquaero owners thread, some good stuff that saves me from a few pitfalls, thank you!

Cheers
Ben

 

[Rasphelt]

Delivered: EK Pumps and Tops



Cheers
Ben

 

[Rasphelt]

No problem. For reference:

Flow sensor for 'flow' header
Cable for above
Flow sensor that will connect by Aquabus.

There are also a range of "Flow sensor MPS" - the 100, 200 and 400. They're priced between the two flow sensors above and connect by Aquabus. There are pros and cons to them. The pro is that because they work using differential pressure, they are silent. The downside is that to get an accurate result, you must have a straight connection in and out - not a right angle or 45°.

Silent? The flow sensors I listed above work by counting the revolutions of an impellor mounted in the sensor. There is a slight tick as it spins which is louder as it gets faster. Depends how noise-sensitive you are and how quiet everything else is as to whether you'd be able to hear it. Having it mounted flat reduces the noise too so plan to have it flat if possible.

Thanks Cenedd, I will give that a look and once I come to put the Aquaero/sensors/fans ETC all together I will no doubt need to pick your brains!

Cheers mate
Ben

 

[Rasphelt]

If I recall correctly, atm you won't be able to run more than 2 GTX 1080s due to the new sli bridge only support 2 cards. I am sure in the future they will release 3-4 way sli but I don't know when.
For the build, first watercooling and caselabs. We have something in common. Good luck!

This is my understanding also, I am just hoping that I can at least push a three way build, but as you say, time will tell...

What Caselabs unit did you get? They are something else, definitely worth the money imo.

Thanks for the luck I'm sure I will need it!

Cheers
Ben

 

[Rasphelt]

Ordered: Super Flower 2KW PSU

When only 8pack will do!

 

[Rasphelt]

that's a bit overkill I think but hey I'm not complaining just jealous

Ok, here is my logic.... I am looking to quad SLI the 1080Xx (whatever that is) and I'm not sure on power draw, so I based the power consumption on the Titan X, and with everything else added on it came to a few Watts short of 1500. I thought that a 1600W PSU wouldn't give me much overhead, and would already be fairly stretched, and as the cost was nearly £300 for a decent one of those, I figured the sensible choice would be the Super Flower 2KW PSU.

Cheers!

Ben