BUILD LOG: First time Watercooling Project - 4770K & 7970 GFX

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I have been pressed by a couple of OcUK fourm members to put together a build log for my PC so here it is!

I started this build a couple of months back with the intention of eventually watercooling it as it was a serious crime to leave that 4770K running at stock on air cooling. The plan was to let the wallet recover prior to moving to phase 2 of the operation and watercooling the beast.

PC Components:

1 x Asus Z87 MAXIMUS VI EXTREME Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £329.99
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £263.99
1 x NZXT Switch 810 Ultra Tower Case - White £139.99
1 x BitFenix Recon Internet-Connected Fan Controller (White) £29.99
5 x Prolimatech Blue Vortex Blue Wings 120mm Fan £10.99
1 x Samsung Green 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz 30nm Dual/Quad Channel Kit (MV-3V4G3D/US) £239.98
1 x XFX Radeon HD 7970 Black Edition


Watercooling Components:

1 x EK Water Blocks EK-Supremacy Clean CSQ - Full Copper £66.98
1 x Alphacool NexXxoS UT60 Full Copper 360mm - OCUK Competitor
1 x Alphacool NexXxoS UT60 Full Copper 240mm - OCUK Competitor
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-FC7970/R9 280X - Acetal CSQ £75.95+
1 x EK FC7970 Backplate CSQ Design - OCUK Competitor
1 x OcUK Tech Lab - 18w DDC Pump & EK-DDC X-RES 140 CSQ Value Combo £105.98
3m Tygon R3603 1/2" ID - 3/4" OD (13-19mm) Tubing - OCUK Competitor
10 x Primochill G1/4" Thread Ghost Compression Fitting for 1/2" ID - 3/4" OD (13-19mm) Tubing - OCUK Competitor
2 x 1/4" Thread 90 Degree Rotary Compression Fitting for 1/2" ID - 3/4" OD (13-19mm) Tubing - OCUK Competitor
1 x 5L Halfords Battery Top-up water
1 x Anticorrosive AntiCorro-Fluid 50ml - OCUK Competitor
1 x Mayhems Biocide 10ml With PH Testing Kit £5.99

At the time I looked at the Corsair 900D but the price was a little too eye watering for my liking and to be honest I didn't need something that big, so settled on the NZXT Switch 810 which is essentially the same as the NZXT Phantom 820 but without paying an extra £60 for some LED lights and a fan controller. Motherboard choice was simple... shoot for one of the best, I was let down with a dead onboard soundcard and credit to OCUK they sorted this very quickly with a replacement. Memory choice was based on the many good things people have to say about Sammy Green on the OcUK Forums. Fan choice was based on low noise and was one of the primary reasons for me deciding to watercool, low noise and low temps. I liked the BitFenix Recon initially on the basis of the software supplied BUT having had so many issues with the Bitfenix software not working at all I eventually had to use a third party software tool to control the fans, so I wouldn't recommend the Recon to anyone which is a pity.

For the watercooling components I am glad I took the time to do a lot of research through reviews and online forums. With the rads I looked at the Hardware Labs Black Ice SR1's & Alphacool NexXxoS UT60's and in terms of performance the Alphacool's had the edge. The build quality of the Alphacools is excellent, I flushed out both rads and was happy to find A. No leaks and B. No debris so kudos to Alphacool. Next up was the waterblocks for the graphics card and CPU I went with EK. The EK-Supremacy seems to constantly get good reviews and I havent heard too much bad about them, can't say the same about EK VGA waterblocks so took a bit of a gamble on this one and it was what was in stock at the time.

Tubing wise I wanted Tygon tubing as it is chemically inert, doesn't matter what you put in the loop it won't react with the plastic (well almost), which can't be said for other popular tubing brands on offer. Fluids wise I didn't see the need to pay over the odds for water or pre-mixed coloured stuff, so Halfords battery top up water which is di-ionised water does the job just fine, couple of drops of biocide and anticorrosive fluid and your good to go. Distilled and De-Ionised water are both very pure so either is good to use. Water won't clog up in the system long term or leave a nasty stain on the carpet in the unlikely event of a leak, so has its positives too!

 

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All the bits n bobs arrive

Alphacool rads
Waterblocks and GFX card backplate
OCUK EK pump combo
Primochill Ghost compression fittings
Anti-kink coil & some Tygon tubing

 

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EK-Supremacy Copper waterblock

VGA Card block

Primochill GHOST Compression fittings. These are a lot bigger than I had anticipated at first, I might have gone for smaller tubing had I known any better. They do give a nice clean finish thou.

Prepped up with PTFE tape around the threads to prevent leaking. Some say that this is not necessary, however I am sure any plumber will tell you different. I folded the tape in two and wrapped it around approx. 2 times to cover all the thread and it has worked I haven't suffered any leaks.

XFX Black Edition Radeon HD 7970 - TIM & thermal pads removed and cleaned with Acetone from the local pharmacy using cotton pads and buds. Next job was to add the new thermal pads to the VRAM and MOSEFS and a bit of TIM to the GPU. Running on air when folding@home GPU temps were in the 70-80C bracket, to lower the temps to the 40-50C mark meant running the fan like a jet engine and was sufficient to heat the whole room in the process.

 

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Leak Testing

I tested the whole loop outside the PC first and disconnected everything from the PSU except the pump and started the PC with using the paper-clip method

Pump running away, I used the foam that the pump is sitting on to mount it to the side of the case using heavy duty velco from the local hardware shop.

The tubing is deliberately left too long. This is to allow for maintenance of the system its real easy to empty the loop via the reservoir into a sink. I left the whole loop run overnight for leak testing and in the morning I was greeted with a dry system, so good news

 

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A close up of the anti kink coiling and Primochill GHOST compression fittings, they are really solid and are really tight on the fittings, I would be very surprised if they were ever to slip off.

 

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All Done!

All installed and running away nicely. Currently overclocked to 4.4Ghz stable and have been able to achieve 4.5Ghz (F@H) crashes but gaming is fine. I have only been testing for a couple of hours so more work to do but I am fairly confident I should be able to get 4.5Ghz stable and maybe up to 4.6-4.7 Ghz.

CPU temps and pretty nice hitting 60C under full load, previously on stock I was looking at 95C with stock air cooling.

GPU was in the 70-80C mark when folding and now is the 35-40C region so overall a huge improvement in terms temps.