I've finally gotten round to sorting out the photo's and apologies to everyone who has followed my thread for the slow update.
I'll start off with a brief mini unboxing section (but spoiler hidden this time for those that aren't to fussed about this):
So there were two main objectives from this stage of the build.
1) Modify the case to allow the 360 rad to fit into the case top bay. This leads to the ability to add in fans push/pull (yes I know that the performance gains are basically zero, but I wanted to take this route for the overall finish of the build).
2) Get the GPU waterblock into the loop.
The first task was marking out the area of the case that would need removing. I marked this out after removing the 360 Predator. Currently the pump and res were sitting at the front of the case with the tubing coming down through the optical drive bay. With the gpu block going in I wanted to reverse the orientation of the rad.
Here is the case parts at the back that need to go to allow the pump and res to fit
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One from the side - you can see where the pull fans will be affixed on top of the case frame
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Without being the owner of a Dremel, I had to resort to elbow grease and my trusty coping saw with a hack saw blade attached.
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It turned out pretty good (although I had to be careful with the cutting)
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And the pump/res now fit above the case frame. I had to remove all of the spring loaded mechanism off the back of the top filter, but a worthwhile trade off.
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All the fans sit in the top bay with the Rad suspended in the case and the push fans beneath
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If you read my earlier post with the challenges I had on the 8 pin power and the fan space, you will appreciate this.
The problems resurfaced with there not being enough space for the push fan in that area fitting and also allowing the power plugs to connect to the mobo. Even forcing them was too much of a risk.
The solution turned out to be getting back on the coping saw and taking some of the F4 casing out of the equation.
The actual fan still spins fine and is not obstructed by the power leads. And yes, this was a bit of a dicey moment for me!
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Now on to the GPU work. Just a quick shot of the G10/H55 removed and GPU ready for the Kryonaught application
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All of the heat syncs needed to come off with the stock backplate. I won't post loads of pics of that process. I've also talked about the issues I had with the block seating in my previous post so will avoid repetition.
Here's a couple of shots of the initial system set up
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You will see that there is no backplate in play right now (it was on order when these shots were taken but had not arrived). Clearly this was not going to cut the mustard. I went for an EK full nickel backplate as I felt that the silver finish would compliment the overall build. Having the black tubing meant that I wanted something to pop and draw the eye.
A shot with the backplate on (and the need to clean the fingerprints of the EK fittings)
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I like that the plate has the engraved MSI logo along with the EK button
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The mirror effect of the nickel backplate works well and I'm pleased with my decision
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You may recall that I had considered the possibility of a few customer vinyls to add a little extra eye candy. These arrived just as I was adding the nickel block and of the 3 I had printed felt that two stood out and were worth applying to the PSU shroud.
Not quite as good as a customer laser cut but for £12.00 a fair trade off
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Obviously the black isn't quite a perfect match, but without camera flash and in the case it is not nearly so apparent.
I'm really happy with the results I've achieved and the progress I've made in learning new techniques. Certainly there is further improvements that I can make (going full custom loop and starting with a fully modified custom case).
However, from the 240 AIO cpu cooler and G10/H55 I think that the system is greatly improved. Temps are also awesome and the overclock ceiling greatly increased. Here's a quick before and after shot before a few galley shots of the finished product. Thanks for reading!
Before
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After
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Galley
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I'll start off with a brief mini unboxing section (but spoiler hidden this time for those that aren't to fussed about this):
The box is similar to the standard Predator AIO in design. Again, simple yet stylish.
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The block is exactly what you would get if you bought the base TF5 full acetal/nickel waterblock and filled yourself in the customer loop.
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Here you can see the addition of the QDC enabled tubing, along with the coolant already in the block
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Now on to the build!
The block is exactly what you would get if you bought the base TF5 full acetal/nickel waterblock and filled yourself in the customer loop.
Here you can see the addition of the QDC enabled tubing, along with the coolant already in the block
Now on to the build!
So there were two main objectives from this stage of the build.
1) Modify the case to allow the 360 rad to fit into the case top bay. This leads to the ability to add in fans push/pull (yes I know that the performance gains are basically zero, but I wanted to take this route for the overall finish of the build).
2) Get the GPU waterblock into the loop.
The first task was marking out the area of the case that would need removing. I marked this out after removing the 360 Predator. Currently the pump and res were sitting at the front of the case with the tubing coming down through the optical drive bay. With the gpu block going in I wanted to reverse the orientation of the rad.
Here is the case parts at the back that need to go to allow the pump and res to fit
One from the side - you can see where the pull fans will be affixed on top of the case frame
Without being the owner of a Dremel, I had to resort to elbow grease and my trusty coping saw with a hack saw blade attached.
It turned out pretty good (although I had to be careful with the cutting)
And the pump/res now fit above the case frame. I had to remove all of the spring loaded mechanism off the back of the top filter, but a worthwhile trade off.
All the fans sit in the top bay with the Rad suspended in the case and the push fans beneath
If you read my earlier post with the challenges I had on the 8 pin power and the fan space, you will appreciate this.
The problems resurfaced with there not being enough space for the push fan in that area fitting and also allowing the power plugs to connect to the mobo. Even forcing them was too much of a risk.
The solution turned out to be getting back on the coping saw and taking some of the F4 casing out of the equation.
The actual fan still spins fine and is not obstructed by the power leads. And yes, this was a bit of a dicey moment for me!
Now on to the GPU work. Just a quick shot of the G10/H55 removed and GPU ready for the Kryonaught application
All of the heat syncs needed to come off with the stock backplate. I won't post loads of pics of that process. I've also talked about the issues I had with the block seating in my previous post so will avoid repetition.
Here's a couple of shots of the initial system set up
You will see that there is no backplate in play right now (it was on order when these shots were taken but had not arrived). Clearly this was not going to cut the mustard. I went for an EK full nickel backplate as I felt that the silver finish would compliment the overall build. Having the black tubing meant that I wanted something to pop and draw the eye.
A shot with the backplate on (and the need to clean the fingerprints of the EK fittings)
I like that the plate has the engraved MSI logo along with the EK button
The mirror effect of the nickel backplate works well and I'm pleased with my decision
You may recall that I had considered the possibility of a few customer vinyls to add a little extra eye candy. These arrived just as I was adding the nickel block and of the 3 I had printed felt that two stood out and were worth applying to the PSU shroud.
Not quite as good as a customer laser cut but for £12.00 a fair trade off
Obviously the black isn't quite a perfect match, but without camera flash and in the case it is not nearly so apparent.
I'm really happy with the results I've achieved and the progress I've made in learning new techniques. Certainly there is further improvements that I can make (going full custom loop and starting with a fully modified custom case).
However, from the 240 AIO cpu cooler and G10/H55 I think that the system is greatly improved. Temps are also awesome and the overclock ceiling greatly increased. Here's a quick before and after shot before a few galley shots of the finished product. Thanks for reading!
Before
After
Galley