[build log] Corsair 650D to 750D and 420 rad

Hey, thanks for watching. I'm between contracts at the moment so in order to keep myself sane I'm finally going to redo my gaming PC... below is how it looks currently:



Basic specs:

Corsair 650D
Intel Core i7 4770K
Asus Maximus Formula VI
16GB Corsair Vengeance Pro
2 x EVGA NVidia GTX780 Hydro Copper gfx cards in SLI
Corsair Link Commander Mini
250GB Samsung 630 SSD
250GB Samsung 640 Basic SSD
EVGA Supernova G2 750 PSU

For the water loop, I've got a Magicool Slim 280 30mm rad in the roof. To fit this I had to dremel out the plastic hot swap thing at the top front of the case. Attached to this is 2 140mm Akasa Black Apache fans (good fans). At the back is an EK XT120 rad, a single 120mm fan is mounted to the outside of the case. The pump is a Phobya DC12-260, which I intend to reuse in this build, and at the front is a basic XSPC dual-bay res. The tubing is masterkleer red with EK clear koolant (which has gone a yellowy colour and should be changed anyway). I will not be reusing either of the rads.

Before anyone asks yes 750W is more than enough to drive 2 x GTX 780's in SLI... maxed the whole system pulls around 500W at the wall.

The bottom hydro copper card is a recent aquisition... as they are somewhat hard to come by now. One of those late night drunken ebay purchases. So I've hacked my loop just to get it in and working... at the moment it is *very* temporary to say the least. I had trouble finding flow bridges for the cards, on the Formula VI with the cards in the top 2 x16 slots I have 40mm between the blocks. I think I've found 2 variable-length bridges which will fit but they have not arrived yet. But more importantly the loop in its current state is simply not up to the task of cooling both cards and the CPU, which brings this little project into being...

So here's what arrived today:



Corsair 750D
Alphacool NeXxos XT45 420mm rad
3 x Noctua NF-14s redux-1500 pwm 140mm fans
EK-RES X3 250 res
EK X3 multiport top (plus tube)
Mayhems pastel red coolant
Masterkleer clear tubing
Silverstone 140mm magnetic dust filter
Various connectors

First task will be to dremel out the top optical bays to fit the 420 rad. I will flip the rear 140mm fan and use it as an intake, and I'll keep the front 140mm fans as they are timebeing. So stay tuned to watch me hack up my shiny new 750D !

I know, I know what you said and at stock clocks I agree but if your going to push it is 750W really enough? I know my 780 Classy's will turn off my AX860 if I push them too hard but I suppose they will go a fair bit further than a stock 780 in terms of power consumption. Just saying, I would sooner change it before rather than after.

JR

He should be ok with 750, a overclocked system (the cards probably at stock) pulled 544w with the system by the looks of things and calculated 440w just for the cards:

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/geforce_gtx_780_sli_review,4.html

Edit:

Just looked at this:

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/...idia_gtx780_sli_vs_gtx_titan_sli_comparison/9

Yes you guys are correct I don't overclock - if I did I would definitely need a bigger psu.

May I ask why you don't overclock?

Even if your not pushing the limit and just a mild overclock theres so much performance to gain from it.

yeah I've just never really needed to overclock... the only game that totally destroys my PC is Civilization V, huge map, late game. I swear that game is so poorly coded... I don't know if the new one is any better, not that I have any desire to play it because it's been pretty much universally panned *sigh*

lol I have an in-line temp sensor on the outlet of the top rad feeding back into the bay res, I don't play Civ V much anymore but I spun it up to see if it was any better when I added the second hydro copper. the improvement was significant but when i checked the coolant temp had just touched 50 degrees. with the fans on full the heat being pushed out of the top rad was unbelievable. and that's when i shut the game down... and decided i needed better rads....

looking forward to this hopefully you will avoid a few of the pitfalls i had

Ok I'm finally getting around to doing something with this. I've stripped the 750D completely, I think I know what I need to cut to remove the drive cage - at least the bottom and window side of the drive cage. I'm not sure if its necessary to remove the m/b side of the drive cage, some other builds I've been have just left it in, but it might make things easier to just remove it entirely.

Here's some pics, sorry I can't seem to get the phone to focus properly and I'm rubbish at taking photos anyway... I'll try and take some better ones.

Here's the Alphacool NeXxos XT450 sitting on top of the 750D. Shows just how big the rad actually is:



and this is what I plan to do to it:







Comments or suggestions welcome!

Done. I left the m/b side of the drive cage in, as there were no clearance issues except for the bit highlighted. 420 fits in fine now. On with the rest of the build...

Hey man. Good luck with your build

I have a question. Did you notice any flex in the case after removing the optical drive bay? I'm planning on doing this myself with my 450D, but I tried it a few years ago with my Thermaltake Chaser and it destroyed the case.

I don't think it's made a difference, even when it's empty and with the sidepanels off the main chassis doesn't bend at all. Possibly not removing the m/b side of the drive bays helps a bit. I think once the rad and fans get bolted back in and the sidepanels go on it will be fine.

That's good that your case is still solid. I may attempt this with mine then. I'm not putting a 420 in the front like you are but it would make my rigid tube loop a lot cleaner. I reckon in a few years we will see full length bays dissapear in favour of shallow ones for front I/O or Aqueros n stuff.

I've subbed to your build, want to see the result. Good luck man.

Ok so it's been quite a while... finally got around to putting the case back toegther:

Basic side on view. I'm not sold on the Noctua grey to be honest. But when it comes to high static pressure fans there's little to be had in the 140mm market - the Corsair SP140's look to be rubbish and the phantek's were sold out so I got these. They come well packaged and they are pwm which is good for my corsair link commander mini.



Not much clearance left up front:



But managed to put the cable unit back in ok:



Here's a close-up of the top rear, clearance between the bottom of the top rad fan and the rear fan. If anyone manages to get a 60mm rad up top in this case they're going to lose the rear fan:



Overall I really like the 750D... for £125-ish it is extremely good value. Much better than my 650D v1 which I thought was rubbish in comparison. My dream case is a CaseLabs Merlin SM8 but at £550-ish landed in the UK is slightly ridiculous, I think at less than a quarter of the price the 750D is awesome for the money.

Nice work on making the radiator fit!

May I ask, with that one in the top, would another rad the same size fit in the front also?

Cheers

I thought about that and tried to measure it up, I don't think another one would fit. If I need more rad space I'd be inclined to put a 280 xt45 or ut60 in the front.

I've been thinking of moving the fans into a pull config instead of push. For a single set of fans is there any performance benefit in push vs pull?

Nah wont make any difference for a single row of fans.
Plus it looks better in push as you can see the fans and the radiator is flush to the top of the case, I have my fan pushing the air through my radiator on the top of case

yeah my reason was kind-of the opposite... I think they grey fans might clash with the rest of the build so if they were in pull at the top of the case when the side window goes on they would be more hidden, and more rad awsomeness would be visible.

Here's a new pic with the res installed. This is an EK X3 250 res with the multiport top and the internal tube. I'm using the original top as the bottom - mainly because EK didn't provide enough blanking plugs... which means I can't use the anticyclone but I don't think I'll need it anyway. In hindsight I probably didn't need the multiport top, I could have just flipped the thing upside down. I drilled into the 2.5" mounting bays to mount the clamps.

I also changed the fans to pull instead of push.

Some progress today...



shows how much space is really in the 750D with the drive cages removed. Rear cabling is still a nightmare - I am seriously considering the aftermarket EVGA sleeved cable kit though its like £70 or something. I found a couple of spare plugs so the bottom res is back on, with the EK anticyclone thing in it.

I was going to reuse my Phobya 260 pump, which has been fine... but thinking of selling off all my old watercooling stuff on ebay in one lot and the only thing missing is the pump so.... any suggestions on pump upgrades? Must be pwm.

Decent progress, is the red sleeving actually red? Your camera makes it look pink (not a bad thing).