800D Extreme Modding - Experienced Input Needed :)

mkelbie

mkelbie

mkelbie

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I am going to go as extreme as I can with my 800D for a really good water cooling setup but given I have never done a full loop on my own this is going to be a challenge and half. I have a contact who is an engineer but with no PC background who I am hoping if I explain what I want can make any mods I need on my 800D for the best results. I am confident that if its possible then he will make it work in terms of mods as he works wonders with metal.

Anyway the tricky part is between us neither of us know the best config for this loop so I am looking for advice and ideas on what's possible with my 800D.

My Specs;

3930K
Rampage IV Extreme
16GB 2133 Corsair Vengeance
Asus GTX680 DCU II 2GB
800D
AX1200i

I want to cool the CPU & GPU guaranteed, the memory and motherboard I need advice on if its worth it or not. Also my memory isn't really the best so is it worth upgrading that 1st and secondly I only have a single card at the moment, I wish it was a 4GB version and SLI but is it possible to do this loop and then when funds are available again stick a 2nd card in there run it on air for a bit then just fit it in the loop?

What I am looking to achieve with the loop, these are just my ideas from looking at other builds,

Most important for me is easy fill and drain, I am not familiar with the best places I need to fix my parts to and if i ever need to drain/clean the system I want to be able to do it easily without causing a mess or problems.

480 Radiator in the roof - simple cut out and then just need a girl or bracket to hold the rad in place. Guessing it can be screwed or welded in place.

140 radiator on the rear - cool the motherboard/memory

360/480 radiator in the bottom - not sure if it will fit with the PSU but ideas or suggestions appreciated.

I use my hot swap bay as I have a couple mechanical drives and my SSD+Hybrid is mounted on the side next to my motherboard which I am going to either move the drives in the spaces in the hot swap or mount it somewhere else as I will be fitting my res in the taken space unless I choose a bay res as I don't need any optical drive

With the use of my hot swap, I cant fit a radiator anywhere in that area I don't think?

The pump placement I will need advice on.

Lastly; fans. I use SP120 fans on my h100 and wish to use them with the radiators if they work well but happy to hear alternatives.

I control the fans with corsair link kit which does cooling & lighting in my build, should i remove this from my system and replace with a fan controller or will i manage.


I appreciate I am asking a lot here but i really do need the help and I will be grateful for any input i receive. I am contemplating buying a test bench to run my rig on whilst i go about this as I think the case modding and overall build is going to take a while

Thanks
 
You dont need that much radiator space, I run a 990x and 680 sli's in my 800d

and have a 360 in the top and a 240 in the bottom which only required a slight

mod. and my temps are awesome, high 40's on the gpus and 60 on the 990x.
 
Would be a lot easier if I don't have to start cutting into my case as means I can probably complete the build myself.

How did you fit the 240 in the bottom and is a 140 on the rear even needed?
 
I was up until a week or so ago considering a similar mod and had it all planned out so your in luck ;)

For the 480 in the roof, its fairly simple, mark out the extra slots using a 480 grill as a template, then cut/drill, you'll probably need to remove the current grill and mounting thats in place for the 360 as its recessed. You'll probably loose some 5.25 bays doing this too, also take a look at the Koolance 480 shroud, OcUK sell them, iirc around £30 too.

A 360 in the bottom (TJ07 style) isn't going to work with that PSU unless you go all out and mod the PSU mounting so the PSU stacks vertically (again TJ07 style). You can get away with completely removing the hotswap bay and standing a 360 vertically in the front using some rad holders, you could then move your drives down into the bottom of the case. You may need to add support to the midplate when removing the hotswap bays though.

140 in the rear is going to be tight depending what thickness 480 you use in the roof, a 120 may just about fit, but additional cooling for the motherboard/memory isn't really required.

The SP120 fans will be fine on radiators, many have moved to them on WC setups recently :)
 
All you need is a dremmel and a drill, a dremmel to cut the hole for 240 and a drill to drill out the rivets holding the drive bay in the bottom and to make the holes to hold the rad.
 
I will definitely look into the 480. Just seems a fairly easy mod to someone with a bit of experience.

I will skip the rear 140 rad and forget about blocks for the memory as quad channel memory will probably only make the loop even more complicated.

Even thought I think the stock cooling on the R4E is great I will probably want the blocks for the board just cause it looks nice :)

Will look at the PSU mod idea or settle for a 240.

Do i need to make cute in the case to allow better airflow mounting any radiator in the bottom of my case
 
I dont really want to move the hot swap as it will annoy me having a door open to no drive, maybe I have OCD or something =/ i just use the hot swap so wont want to loose it.

Dont mind remove the drive bays in the bottom though as they are hidden away
 
You dont have to remove the hot swap bay for the 240 , just the drive bay in the bottom of the case.
 
DSC00060_zpsc3444c78.jpg


Heres mine
 
If you can deal with part of the psu hanging out of the back of the case, that is an option to increase space in the bottom for a 360. By this I mean you can cut the back of the case to allow the psu to poke out.
 
Bubo said:
If you can deal with part of the psu hanging out of the back of the case, that is an option to increase space in the bottom for a 360. By this I mean you can cut the back of the case to allow the psu to poke out.
Click to expand...

Its not even needed.
 
I am back to debating selling my 800D now =/ but I think it will be easier & more fun do the mods :)

I like the look of that loop, seems pretty much perfect for what I need if I stick to CPU & GPU only. I dont mind doing some cuts internally but dont want things sticking out so PSU will either have to go on its side or I am sticking with a 240.

Off topic; i see you have a xonar card. Do I need 1 of them? I use my vengeance 2000 headset for gaming and HDMI to my AVR for movies but thinking of some SP1200 2.1 speakers, any benefit of me getting 1?
 
eggcup said:
Its not even needed.
Click to expand...

I take it the only mod in your build is to accommodate the 240 in the bottom? I will keep it simple and do something like that if I have to do it myself but the idea of my posts is to "borrow" ideas from people on here and see whats the best I can do with my hardware but it requires a lot of input as I am new to this.

I spent a lot on the components so may as well go all out :-)

And to be honest on my own I struggled fitting my H100 in push pull :P
 
No you dont need a xonar, im just anal about not using on board audio.

You could easily do motherboard cooling aswell btw with this setup
 
Last edited:
Have you considered an external rad? I just finished a loop in a 800d with a 360 in the top and 480 external, running 3930K @ 4.4ghz and 7970's in CF. CPU max temp 59c and GPU Max 40c.

p10300681280x719.jpg
 
hughesy627 said:
Have you considered an external rad? I just finished a loop in a 800d with a 360 in the top and 480 external, running 3930K @ 4.4ghz and 7970's in CF. CPU max temp 59c and GPU Max 40c.

p10300681280x719.jpg
Click to expand...

I have actually looked at external, what I was looking at was a koolance mount i think it was that fitted to the rear 140 spot and held a quad rad in place.

How does that external perform? is it not a noisy annoying disturbance?
 
mkelbie said:
how easy is it 2 add another card in the loop, for me it will be from 1 to 2 but say for you from 2 to 3 is it a nightmare?
Click to expand...

Its a pain but only requires emptying the system putting card in. Reconnect everything then refill loop.
 
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