Project Distraction

Mike_J_Smith · 31 Oct 2021 at 11:41

Hi All,

I though it may be interesting to some and useful to me to document a build I am working on. It started as a bit of a distraction during lock down and I'm slowly pulling it together, learning as I go.

It's an O11D XL build, so nothing revolutionary there, but it'll be a custom over powered water cooling loop with custom cabling / cable management, lots of RGB and I'll be 3D printing bits to help along the way - None of which I have any experience in at all (bar a bit of 3d printing). I always start project with incredibly high expectations and lofty ideas and then try to battle my way through them! the plan is for a nice, clean hardline loop and cabling. So it'll be fun to show what I'm doing, hopefully you'll be able to help when I get stuck and even better someone may see something they like / want advice on.

System as it stands:

AMD 5800XT
MSI RX 5700XT Gaming X
4 x 8GB Corsair Vengeance RGB
MSI Tomahawk x570
Phanteks AMP 750w

For the watercooling set up I currently have an alphacool AIO but going to be:

EKWB PE 360
Alphacool XT45 360
XSPC TX360
Aquacomputer Ultitube 150 / D5 next pump combo
Alphacool GPX block
EKWB Velocity CPU block
EKWB Vertical mount

Aquacomputer Octo & Farbwerk for fan / rgb control. I have a load of black / atomic green MDPC cable sleeving.

I'll add some photos of where I am.

Cheers, Mike

Mike_J_Smith · 31 Oct 2021 at 11:44

A couple of snaps of where it stands now, all pulled apart and a new place for the AIO for now

Mike_J_Smith · 31 Oct 2021 at 11:46

I’ve started playing with 3D printing some replacements for the horrible rubber flappy covers for the cables to go through. My plan for these is to incorporate cable combs somehow. Also a psu shroud to hide some of the cabling

Mike_J_Smith · 31 Oct 2021 at 11:48

And I don’t like the pump/reservoir mount that came with the Ultitube plus it didn’t come with a radiator mount option so currently 3D printing my own

Mike_J_Smith · 31 Oct 2021 at 16:36

Not bad for the first go, may drop the mount a couple of cm and line up with the graphics card though. Mount is solid which is good although I’ll probably do something for the top mount too

Mike_J_Smith · 1 Nov 2021 at 18:26

Second attempt at the mount is a much better position, approx 2cm lower

Mike_J_Smith · 2 Nov 2021 at 15:41

Upper mount printed and installed; works a treat.

Mike_J_Smith · 2 Nov 2021 at 15:49

Also set up a quick loop to check the pump works. My first time bending the tubes, seems to have worked ok - didn’t leak at least and the bends looked ok

mickyflinn · 4 Nov 2021 at 17:20

Like the 3d printing your own mounts and attaching it to the radiator, look forward to the rest of the build.

Mike_J_Smith · 11 Nov 2021 at 22:39

mickyflinn said:
Like the 3d printing your own mounts and attaching it to the radiator, look forward to the rest of the build.

Thanks!

Nothing too exciting, but back to the cabling. 3 fans with fan and aRGB cables cut to size and sleeved. I cut the aRGB cables and solder them as I can’t work out how to DIY the connectors.

Haz123 · 12 Nov 2021 at 10:59

Not sure how it will turn out yet but looking forwards to seeing the end product.

Mike_J_Smith · 29 Sep 2023 at 14:23

After a long hiatus due to a house move and other priorities, I've finally got round to getting the loop completed

Mike_J_Smith · 29 Sep 2023 at 14:27

Some of the bends aren't perfect and I cut some of the tubes a mm or so short, so the angles are off a little. But I had to decide to finish it or risk never getting it done. I'm very happy for my first loop and it fulifils a long held desire to do a full custom loop.

There's still a lot to do on the wiring, but I'm going to just enjoy it for now and play around with pump / fan settings.

I definitely learnt a lot and spent a lot more than I needed to (I have a massive pile of spare fittings now!). I also ditched the 3rd radiator at the back to make the runs easier, so would like to add that in the future.

Monkey Puzzle · 29 Sep 2023 at 18:23

Those tubing runs look great to me, very nice!

Mike_J_Smith · 29 Sep 2023 at 19:02

Monkey Puzzle said:
Those tubing runs look great to me, very nice!

Thanks! They are a lot better than I expected and far from the hardest part of the build. I made a jig from a sheet of mdf and some timber which allowed me to make multiple bends accurately.

Next time I would buy everything then build ASAP. That way I would over order then return stuff. This time I ordered a couple of years ago, which meant the 90 degree elbows I initially bought aren’t available and I needed several more.

I would have redone one or two of the runs, but I ran out of pipe and didn’t want to wait until next week.

Mike_J_Smith · 29 Sep 2023 at 20:05

Here's a shot with the side glass panel on; looks really good

Mike_J_Smith · 29 Sep 2023 at 20:06

It's a lot more green than this, but I can't get the image edited to show

Monkey Puzzle · 29 Sep 2023 at 20:18

Mike_J_Smith said:
It's a lot more green than this, but I can't get the image edited to show

That looks great, like nvidia on St Patrick's day already! You could adjust saturation in an imaging app perhaps?

Gepetto · 29 Sep 2023 at 21:38

This is great to see, I think it is a fantastic job. My son has just seen this and now wants to WC his PC. Not something I have dabbled in at all so it's going to be a learning experience. For both of us! He has the same case so this has really inspired him. Great build! Thanks.

Mike_J_Smith · 30 Sep 2023 at 08:26

Monkey Puzzle said:
That looks great, like nvidia on St Patrick's day already! You could adjust saturation in an imaging app perhaps?

Ha! It is pretty green. Back when I first wanted a water cooled pc, it was all black lights and UV coolant, which is still a good look IMO. Not sure whether anyone does that anymore?