[Build Log] Back To Water!

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>>>>Finished Pics here<<<

Introduction.

Hi everyone,

A few years ago I was into spending lots of my money on Custom PCs which meant I had a few WC builds in a short space of time but things in life came up which meant I had to sell up and go with something alittle more basic. Anyway now I’ve got abit more time and money I want to get a custom looped build again. Parts below have all been ordered except the hard tubing as may go with PETG and Ram as I killed my last set trying to remove the heat spreaders.

Main Components:

• CPU: Core i7 4790k (Supposed to do 5GHz but we will see. Also ordered a cheap CPU to practice delidding on before I risk doing this one.)
• Motherboard: MSI Z97M Gaming.
• Graphics Card: 2x GTX780ti
• Memory: 16GB 1600Mhz.
• Storage: Samsung 840 Evo 250GB.
• Power Supply: Corsair Pro AX860 with Full Custom Cable Sleeving by PexonPcs.
• Chassis: Phantek Evolv mATX in Gloss White.

Cooling:

• CPU Block: EK Supremacy Evo Full Nickel.
• GPU Block: 2x EK FC780 Nickel and Acetal.
• RAM Block: EK Monarch X4 Clean CSQ Acetal and Nickel.
• Pump: EK-D5 PWM with EK-D5 Cover Kit Nickel and Acetal.
• Res: EK-D5 X-RES 100 CSQ Acetal.
• Radiator: 2x XSPC AX240 White.
• Fans: 4x Noiseblocker NB-eLoop 1x Alpenföhn 140mm Wing Boost 2 Plus PWM Fan Red.
• Hardline Fittings: PrimoChill Revolver 13/10mm Diamond Black.
• Soft Tubing Fittings: EK-ACF Fitting 12/16mm Black.
• Fitting adaptors: Mix of Matt black Bitspower and Barrow fittings.
• Tubing: Mix of Black PrimoChill LRT in Black and Hardline tubing undecided yet.

Tour of the case.

First thing I did was went about fitting both radiators in the case. My aim with the radiators is to have none of the fans or fittings on show to give a clean look to the build. The one in the roof was simple, just screw it in with the outlets facing up so they are out of sight. I should just be able to squeeze some 90 degree non rotary Bitspower fittings in here but this is at the moment un tested as waiting for fittings.

The one in the front required cutting the false floor of the case at the front as the XSPC AX rads are too wide. Having it fitted like this means the outlets are again hidden in the lower compartment.

I then cut the little removable door down and refitted this against the rad to hide anything below. It’s a very tight fit but looks neat.

The fan Ive chosen for the exhaust is the Alpenföhn 140mm Wing Boost 2. Ive not used these before but seems to be highly regarded and is a change from the normal corsair fans.

This is where the build is currently. Should be able to get a few more updates as parts roll in through the post. Thanks.

 

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Small Update.

My Corsair AX750 has served me well but the original label on the side is gold and black which didnt fit the theme very well so I found a better one and printed a few out until I found the right size. There is probably a proper way to do this so it prints right first time but I couldn't figure it out.

And fitted

This looked fine but at some point I would like to go sli so wanted abit extra wattage. Then a Corsair AX860 came up on the MM basically brand new for a decent price so snapped it up. Best part is the label already fits the build!

Now this is fitted I can start to figure out what room I have to work with. Between the PSU and front radiator my plan was to fit my pump and res combo along with all the fittings to make it work while looking neat. Now the PSU is in it looks loads smaller than expected though.

I also had a few fittings come through the post so went about trying to configure how the roof rad would fit with the tubing and fittings all being hidden.

Again its abit tighter than expected where the tubing was planned to run.

Last I bought a cover kit for the EK D5 pump from vti_786 but he seems to have sent the wrong Acetel plate as the cover wont fit through the main hole to be secured. I contacted EK hoping they would be able to help me out considering im using mostly EK parts in the build but disappointedly they wouldn't and offered me the plate by itself for 18 euros which is not far off what a total new kit is so im going to have to buy another but in black so I have the choice between black or Nickel. Hopefully vti can find it for me and save me abit of cash.

Thanks.

 

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Been tempted to do same with my Evolv. I think you can fit a bay and res in that gap. It been done in one of the prebuilt systems https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-454-OE&groupid=43&catid=2474

Yea I did see that but thats with the rad with fittings on show at the top which im trying to avoid I also dont think a bay res stuck in there is the most elegant way to go about it.

If you stick a gasket between fans and top rad, it'll give you a couple of mil more clearance for those fittings. Just a thought...might help avoid the dreaded Dremel!

I dont have a dremel any more mate so will be a hacksaw and file jobby for any cutting. Great idea about the gasket though. Ive been looking on ways run the tubing and found a better way that originally planned which I will show in the next update.

Waiting on my pump and res before I can really go any further which seem to be stuck in the post somewhere between Ocuk and Germany. Hopefully will have an update this coming week sometime.

Thanks for all the comments it seems this case is quite liked by the community so hopefully I can do a worthy job of it.

 

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Its 160mm long without any cables plugged in which will add some. The white Superflower 1200w is 200mm without cables I think so would eat up what is already not much room.

Between the face of where the fittings screw in and the face of my PSU without any cables plugged in is 125mm. If you have the rad with fittings at the top though that would give you more space down there.

 

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Sorry for lack of updates been having few issues with orders and my pump and res arriving opened and damaged so having to return that.

Good news is Pexon just finished my PSU cables and sent me a pic of it which I think looks great.

 

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Are they made for a perfect fit for the Evolv ? I have been thinking about some custom cables for a while now.

Well I think I made them abit longer than needed just incase but hopefully fingers crossed they fit fine. I just chose which cables I wanted with what length and colour combination.

Damn this is making me want to buy an Evolv!

They are a very well made case.

Looking good.

Thanks.

I ordered some LED light strips from the bay for the build but they came with a molex connector which im trying to avoid using any in the build so went ahead changed to a sata connector.

I also plan to put some fan male and female connectors near the end of the light strips so I can easily remove the door when needed.

 

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Small update.

Ive been away on a course for over 3 weeks so progress has been alittle slow.

Anyway if you didnt already know I killed a set of 16GB corsair DDR3 trying to remove the heat spreaders. Ive been trying to figure out what to replace them with as wanted black PCB and a bit better than basic speed while not been too expensive.

Ocuk had a deal come up so got a 4x4GB 2400Mhz kit.

A quick test to see if they are all working fine. They actually match my motherboard pretty good.

First heatsink removed.

Came off lots easier than the corsair stuff as not glued.

EK parts fitted.

And a quick test fit with block and fittings.

All comments and criticisms welcomed.

 

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Yea I know what you mean. When I tried to remove the block and ram as one piece the one stick stayed in the motherboard. I think it could do with more thermal pads included considering the pretty high price so you can pack it around the sticks to hold them in better.

Thanks for the comments. Ordered some coolant and dye to start mixing up a colour to fit the build.

 

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Small update.

Time to mix up some coolant.

Started with some Mayhems Ice White Pastel.

Added some of their Emerald Green Dye.

The aim is to match the lighter Gray of my PSU sleeving.

Added some more of the green along with some red and this I feel is getting pretty close to what im after.

Feel i need to go alittle darker but I dont have any spare white so I dont want to go too far and have to place another order to lighten it up. Should hopefully tie all the colours of the build together.

 

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Thanks I may change it to the darker grey once the loop is built and filled depending how it looks under the lighting as may just look like a rubbish dirty white.

 

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Small update.

Some new parts for the build arrived today.

First is ive finally got the tubing for the build. Hopefully this is enough with the mistakes im going got make and the PETG is easy to use.

I know its not exciting but I also got new Sata cable to hopefully totally hide it plugged in under the waterblock and run it behind the motherboard so its out of sight.

Next I picked up one of the new 250GB Samsung m.2 SSD drives along with a Asus Hyper PCI-E adaptor to match the theme of the build.

Next my pump and res combo arrived after the last one I bought been damaged and opened on arrival.

Problem was the bracket was too tall to fit in the lower part of the case so needed trimming down about 5mm.

Tidied up and painted with the Res masked off to try avoid scratches on the many mock ups.

Lastly I tried the board in the case for the along with some of the parts and cables to judge where to start drilling holes in the case.

Found a few problems though with the cables from Pexon which will hopefully get sorted out quickly.

Thanks.

 

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Got a bit of a update tonight.

 

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Update time.

Hi.

Last bit of modification to the case hopefully.

I wanted a drain/fill port hidden away at the rear of the case as there is no way to gain access to the loop once all plumbed in and I think it looks lots neater than having a loose pipe with a stop fitting somewhere in the case.

There is a nice little section on the lower rear of the case between the PSU and side panal so went ahead and marked ready for drilling.

Used a small pilot drill bit to start. This probably should have been smaller.

Next onto this bit to open up the hole.

Not the best but after abit of a file turned out fine. As you can see below normally it will be capped off but can easily screw a small funnel on for filling.

This is how it is internally. Should give easy access to the stop tap which is a double safety measure so it wont leak.

As you can see it should hopefully just fit between the PSU and side panel with the stop tap in the closed position.

I also used the same method to fit the inlet and outlet between the lower and main chamber.

Just waiting on the final order from OCUK and replacment cables from PexonPCs which should be next week then its time to put it all together.

Thanks.

 

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Loop layout thoughts?

Which one do you think is best?

I personally think blue is best as the gpu fittings are not directly above the cpu fittings as don't want any tubing that is not running either vertical or horizontal.

 

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Lol that was my best attempt on my phone.

 

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Me too lol. Gonna be expensive ordering more from USA if I run out. So blue or green?

 

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Will update later but for now a teaser.

 

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Well I did the loop then really wasn't happy with the quality of the bends or the layout so after lots of time just looking at it I re bent each tube in turn in a bit of a mix of the both which I'm now happy with.

I personally wouldn't recommend hardline for someone's first time building a loop as it just adds expensive and difficulty to the process. I found it was harder to do a good job with than I was expecting even after I've had lots of water-cooled builds before.

The lower chamber is still a work in process as there is next to no room but I should get there in the end.

The Eagle eyed among you may have noticed the ek sli block as I've got another 780ti in the post for some sli goodness.

 

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Used the monsoon kit which has its limitations when bends are close together which was one of the problems the first time I bent the loop. I arranged the loop differently to space the bends out.

 

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As promised a few pics of finalised hardline side of build.

What's people's thoughts on the loop? I tried to use all of the space so it didn't look too cramped or bare in places.