Dripping with style or floody disaster?

[OJ46]

So what do we reckon guys n gals, black fins or metallic bars?

ORIGINAL:

BLACK FINS:

METALLIC BARS:

Leaning towards the black fins myself, think the metallic bars are too close in colour to the block above it. One thing I do know: It won't be staying green!

 

[OJ46]

The system looks great but I definitely think you are right that some lights would add to the overall aesthetic. Personally I also like the look of the black fins as although the bars look better than the green PCB they just look a bit out of place whereas the fins look much nicer and more inline with the overall look of the system

Cheers mate, only another 9 days until the lights go in... Assuming of course that I'm allowed to play with it on Christmas day

I'm definitely thinking black fins atm, just look a bit more... Interesting? Would have been better if it was one piece but oh well, at least it isn't green aye!

I prefer the bars precisely because it's the same colour as the block. Also, it's a seamless single piece rather than 3 bits - the shadows are catching differently and the fins don't line up so it's setting my very heightened modding, measuring and design senses off

Of course if you do the 3 blocks REALLY neatly so it looks like a single piece then that'd probably be the best option.

Looks sweet either way - touch up the last little bit of green with a pen.

The 2 stripes will, unfortunately, be impossible to get rid of as where they join there will always be a double thickness line of fins Although I'm almost starting to like it, looks a bit different

I'm quite OCD with things like this, so will definitely be lined up properly when it's actually fitted, just dropped em on for a quick photo

My current plan is to wait until I've booted up and checked the drive actually works, then fit the block(s) whilst it's in the MoBo so I can cover the screw & leave an almost invisible sliver of green on each end

 

[OJ46]

+1 for the bars as you can see the other option is 3 separate blocks. Just my humble 2peneth worth!

Nice artsy pics too

Not sure about artsy mate, my skills with a camera are on a par with a toddlers

Anyways... To the build! After an extremely long morning of dealing with EE customer services (41 minutes on the phone to achieve nothing) things finally started to improve when the Sugar Fairy arrived

And it wasn't just Haribo in the box, they even remembered to include the tap, M/M fitting and plug

A temperature sensor to hide away at the back of the radiator...

...and some new eyes for Ressy (also got a comb to tidy up the messy cables)

She ain't looking too bad now I don't think

Just waiting on an internal tube for the reservoir & an extender to get the tubing to the graphics card more level and it'll be somewhere near finished

 

[OJ46]

I have the XSPC tubing in my system now, for around 6ish months, and not had an issue yet.

Glad I changed to PrimoChill before I built it tbh, it's a far tighter fit on the barbs and the compression fittings are tighter as well

For anyone wondering why I spent most of the morning on the phone to EE, my Broadband typically runs at around 16Mb/s all day, but this is what happens at 5pm every evening...

Seriously, do not touch these ***** with a barge pole. But there is some good news: After 41 minutes on the phone, I can confirm that they are not throttling me!!

 

[OJ46]

It's fantastic is it not? You spend all this money on a great PC then get snuffed over by lousy internet. Typical
I was in the same situation, as soon as fibre arrived in our area I jumped on it as I can't get by with less than 5Mbps

It's bonkers mate, 2 years ago I spent 12 months in NZ and when I left the internet around here was 8Mbps, but by the time I returned last year it had gone up to 20Mbps. Only trouble is it used to run at 8Mbps 24 hours a day, now they give you faster speeds when you're not using it but awful speeds when you are... Cheers EE! Should have fibre in by Feb / March next year though, so will definitely be moving to BT then and saying bye bye to throttling

Might even have the new build running by then as long as Slovenian post is more reliable than EE broadband

 

[OJ46]

Nice build man, I have a black evolve ATX myself and I'll be going red/black also.

Was considering 2x 280mm slim rads front and top but I'll probably just end up with a 360 AIO for the CPU and leave the GPUs on air.

Thanks mate, it's my first attempt at watercooling so pretty pleased with how its gone so far. Not getting too smug until it has been leak tested though

They're a tank of a case aren't they, my last couple have been Lian Li but think the Phanteks is better built, and the cable management, HDD / SSD mounting and cooling options are different league!

If you went with a 240 or 280 slim in the top you could easy fit a full fat 240 in the front and still keep the HDD bays. Unfortunately as I went for a 360 in the top I've had to go with a 120 in the front, but should still be more than enough for CPU + 1 GPU

 

[OJ46]

Worlds smallest update: Glad the old SATA cable was too short now...

Before, BitFenix Alchemy, with horrible metal clip

After, Silverstone, without a horrible metal clip

Much better! It's always the little things...

Edit: Should add this should be the last crapdate, the next update will HOPEFULLY be a fully finished and working PC

 

[OJ46]

I can't wait for the next update to see all the lights fitted. That SATA cable looks much nicer than the other one though

I'm proper OCD with things like that, the metal clip would have annoyed me forever until it was fixed... Hopefully be easier to take a semi decent photo as well once it's lit up

what about some black heatshrink over the SSD? would definatly hide it, although i don't know how warm these things get

There's mounts for SSD's behind the MoBo if you wanted to hide them, put this one on show deliberately, just wanted black braided cables so the cables were hidden

 

[OJ46]

Think he may mean the M.2 SSD. I would use the black fin heatsinks, as they sort of match the pump mount.

Must say i am liking this build a lot. The use of the crossflow radiator has really helped the clean look.

Cheers Freddie, wanted to get all the tubing runs as short as possible, so the crossflow was a no brainer

I did wonder that after I posted the last comment, and I'm definitely with you on the black fins. As soon as I've got it running and the OS installed, the fins shall be mounted

 

[OJ46]

Any specific reason you're using a heatsink on the m.2 other than aesthetics? Have you looked at stuff like coldzero covers for them?

Nope, it's purely because the green is such a hideous lump of awfulness

Nope, it's purely because the SSD is green. Although they can get a bit warm down there with no airflow so heatsinks can do nothing but help out.

Hoping with the 3 x 120mm intake fans on the front there should be pretty decent airflow through the case, but as you say, it certainly can't do any harm

Quality looking build buddy, hope you get some quality time on her over the Xmas break!!

Cheers mate, first job is to buy a couple of games, otherwise she's gonna be a very expensive paperweight

 

[OJ46]

Sooooo, apart from the lighting and fan controllers the very last parts I'd been waiting on arrived today. The extender came in an envelope...

...But this is the box the 40mm tube came in

All ready to turn this into the floody disaster that the title promised...

...NO. Seems as I'd plugged the pump into the motherboard, the pump said no. Never mind, it would have been a simple fix if there wasn't a bloody great radiator blocking access to the connector

TADA! We have movement!

Ahhhhh, so much neater with the extender in the bottom of the GPU

Still got air in the system as the pump will only run slow until I've powered up the rest of it, but quite happy with how it's looking with the white fluid and definitely glad I went with white over red

Three days until the lighting & fan controllers can be opened, so will hopefully have it all finished by about the 28th if I get time to have a proper go at it

 

[OJ46]

Ah, cheers Freddie, that looks like just the trick for getting the rest of the air out without risking electrocution

Didn't really need the extender, but it would have annoyed me for weeks until I drained the system to fix it haha can't beat a bit of OCD for delaying a fairly simple build

 

[OJ46]

Hmmmmm, so this is the top of the reservoir this morning... It's as tight as I can get it, but still leaking a tiny amount. Should I be worried or just leave it, and wipe the top of the reservoir each morning?

 

[OJ46]

OK, I can see where I did a stupid: Didn't pay attention to the fact you need to use an extender to use the ports of the top

Easy fix, but means ANOTHER delay waiting for parts

 

[OJ46]

Sorry to hear about the leak.

Had a quick google because i can't believe you need a extender for it as well.

All i could find was someone saying the top ports are only compatible with EK fittings.

I find that hard to believe too. Surely if it is a G1/4 fitting with a o-ring, it should work regardless of brand.

That's what I thought mate, but looking at it the outside of the actual fitting is hitting the top of the port before the O-ring is touching the indented piece inside. Tried it with 2 O-rings just to test and the outside of the actual fitting is still hitting the top

Think this is what I need, so ordered one and will see... Just annoying having ANOTHER delay to such a simple build.
https://shop.ekwb.com/ek-extender-g1-4-socket-black

 

[OJ46]

Damn that is unlucky, If I could I'd send one over to you as I wan't to see this system in it's prime

Cheers mate, luckily I've managed to find one in stock in the UK, it's just annoying being held up again by something so daft. Still, should all be worth it in the end

 

[OJ46]

Well what the girlfriend calls 'the bomb making kit' is here and looking good, now I just need to mount it somewhere...

What I'm thinking is make a bracket to hold them both horizontal a few cm in front of the board, roughly where the red rectangle is. Reckon if I raise them high enough to route the cables back underneath the boards & out through the holes under the motherboard it should look fairly tidy... Now back to OcUK to order some silver fan extensions and Molex's

Any other / better ideas on where to mount them greatly appreciated

 

[OJ46]

Looks great, love those fittings, go really well with white tube. Yeah some kind of bracket there would look very nice can't really see any better places for it to go .

And I know your pain with EK ports, 1/4 fitting but they are machined down so the plug sits flush. Which is annoying as other brands are different sizes.

Cheers Tyler, love the Monsoon fittings but as you said, they definitely need white tubing to get the best from them

Yeah that was more than annoying, although it is partly my fault for refusing to RTFM and order the extender when the top came... Never mind, at least it's an easy fix

Just a thought for the LT, when I had mine I attached it to the back of the motherboard tray, out of the way whilst still plenty of space for wires, although if that case is anything like my ITX version, then there isn't much space.

Was looking at that mate but not enough space unfortunately, it's tight enough just for the cables! Was also thinking about putting them on the floor of the case next to the PSU, but again I think it's going to be a bit crowded and could end up damaging them

Think I'm going to have to get a bracket made up and see what it looks like, then decide if it's hideous or not and go from there

 

[OJ46]

Excellent stuff, it will be great to see it fitted inside the system and the lights on. I thought their were places inside Phanteks cases to fit fan hubs as on the Luxe you can mount one in the back

Yeah its got a fan hub behind the motherboard, but hey, why use that when you can make things a lot more difficult instead...

 

[OJ46]

It's the whole point of watercooling anyway

After this build I'm starting to think you might just be right! Thought it would have been finished for Christmas... Oops!