Dripping with style or floody disaster?

OJ46 · 21 Apr 2016 at 19:19

Indeed, can't have all those spare parts and not be tempted to build a mini me

Oh dear, are they THAT expensive to have made? Would love to do a few proper custom bits myself next time but have always been put off by price, even though I have no idea how much these things actually cost! If you have to ask etc

OJ46 · 21 Apr 2016 at 21:03

Same here regarding having a working PC, usually build a new one in a massive hurry when the old one packs up. Until now I've always needed it for work (this is my first gaming only one) so usually faster / easier / cheaper to build a new one ASAP than spend days troubleshooting the old one whilst losing all potential wages.

If I had the cash to build another I'd happily steal some of your plans as a starting point, obviously have to make a few alterations though just to keep the guys at Parvum on their toes

I know you should never ask about money, but on a scale of 'pleasantly surprised' to 'holy ******* **** ****' just how bad is the custom acrylic? Bearing in mind I'm happy to buy a 6700k and 980Ti but moan about the price of water cooling fittings (it's value, not price!)

OJ46 · 22 Apr 2016 at 08:58

That's the way I've always looked at it tbh. I originally thought the watercooling fluid was a complete rip off, but once you've seen the amount of work guys like Mayhems put into developing it and the amount of extremely expensive kit required for the research it suddenly looks a lot more reasonably priced. Some of the Bitspower fittings on the other hand... OUCH! May have to give Parvum a shout when I finally scrape together some more funds for the next build

Nothing worse than a noisy PC, especially when it's idle. Personally don't mind it cranking up a bit when I'm gaming as the speakers are up loud anyway so drowns it out, but bloody annoying when web browsing!

OJ46 · 31 Oct 2016 at 19:26

Before all of my brainpower gets used up on the new build I thought I'd best check the current one over as it hasn't been used a lot recently, and I hadn't given it the once over for leaks in months.

Well there weren't any leaks... But... Erm...

I don't recall the water being that colour!! :eek:

Still working faultlessly and the temperatures are still absolutely brilliant, but think I might just have to strip this one down, give it a quick flush and install some new tubing before the current / future build starts

It's tempting to use this as a trial run with the PETG, but not sure I could justify all the extra expense on new fittings when there's nothing wrong with the current setup. Oh well, time to order some more Mayhems

OJ46 · 31 Oct 2016 at 20:31

It's actually more green than it shows in the picture, so I'm wondering if the anti corrosion additive I put in (that also made the water far too alkaline) has caused this?

Either way it obviously can't be left as it is, so going to have to try and find the time to re-do it all AGAIN, which is more than annoying when I want to start on the new one...

Will hopefully strip it down over the weekend if I get the chance, will see then if the silver is still... Well, silver

OJ46 · 31 Oct 2016 at 21:02

Will definitely strip the CPU block and check as it only takes seconds, but might get a bit lazy with the GPU as I can see the channels / fins without stripping it, so will just give it a real good flush out

OJ46 · 3 Nov 2016 at 14:15

I SHOULD be playing around with the new build, but seems everything possible is going to get in the way to stop that one from ever happening. So, in the mean time, problems to sort...

Pretty sure it wasn't that colour when it went in :eek:

No gunk and no visible corrosion, guess that's a positive...

One benefit of having the fans hardly ever turn on? No dust

Didn't really want green fluid all over my carpet so came up with a better idea: Turn mums kitchen into a workshop for a few minutes!

Looking sad...

...And empty

GPU back in ready for a good flush when I get time.

Well it's certainly different!

Haven't removed the CPU block yet as I'm waiting for the cleaner to arrive so I can remove the old TIM and reseat it.

Also toying with the idea of delidding it as practice for when I do the new one... Be rude not to really wouldn't it?!

OJ46 · 3 Nov 2016 at 14:49

Don't worry, it's far safer than what comes out the tap! And yes, I thought that would be quite a sensible place for a radiator, especially when using a case that has a place especially for it... although I'm sure there'll always be one who still bolts it to the outside

Ordered some of this to remove the old TIM, seems to have good reviews so thought I'd give it a shot. Also used it as an excuse to order a couple more fans

Was reading up on delidding Skylake the other night and there seems to be a nice split between the 'leave it open' and 'seal it with silicone' methods. Were you not worried about leaving it open in case any crap got in? I'm still undecided as haven't really had the time to sort the pro's and con's of it all yet...

Will definitely be going the blade route as it seems they're too easy to crack using the vice method, and really don't want to ruin a decent chip. Was planning on using some Kryonaut to replace the old TIM, not quite as good as liquid metal I know but doesn't seem to be a lot in it, and I have Kryonaut here already... #Cheapskate

Will let you know how I get on once its all been flushed out and rebuilt, including pictures of the failures along the way. Probably to include slicing off at least 1 finger!

OJ46 · 3 Nov 2016 at 15:51

Guess that's true about leaving it open: Once the TIM is squashed to the edge it is effectively sealed anyway... Well that has saved me one extra bill on silicone, cheers!

That's another of the reasons for delidding this one first: I already have decent data on temps in different games to compare against, so will know how much of a benefit it was and whether or not to bother on the new build

From the reviews I was reading the original stuff is utter ****e, the liquid metal is the best but decent 'normal' TIM like Kryonaut gets you a good 90% of the gains that proper liquid metal would but without the need to reapply when it dries out (if that is even still an issue).

Funny you should mention the single-sided blades as I was actually planning on using a double-edged Wilkinson Sword blade! Have used these before on phone screens with tape over the one side... And yes, if you put too much pressure on it your thumb gets ripped up and blood gets inside the phone. Luckily it never seems to do any lasting damage though

Does applying a bit of heat to it help soften it up like it does on the ol' phone screens? Guessing it should be pretty much the same only smaller and more awkward, with more expensive consequences

OJ46 · 9 Nov 2016 at 13:50

Got a bit impatient not having a gaming / media PC so have kind of thrown it back together again...

Paste spread on the CPU block and cooler when it was removed

Cleaned it all up to a shine, forgot to take photos, threw it back together (no delidding sorry, proper rush job, definitely on W2W though!) and flushed the blocks out. Radiators were removed and flushed properly couple of days ago.

Clear Mayhems tubing. Must say this stuff is an absolute dream to work with, far better than either the Primochill or XSPC stuff I used before.

Filling her up and.... Yup, that's how much fluid I was short by. BLEEEEEEP! :mad:

As you can imagine, I was extremely patient and was more than happy to leave it until I'd got more fluid to bleed the system properly...

...Not a chance! Fired up Netflix and watched what fluid was in the system do its thing

As you can probably imagine the ol' CPU temps fluctuated a bit as the massive air bubbles worked their way through. All good though, and should have the fluid to top it up and bleed it here tomorrow

OJ46 · 9 Nov 2016 at 14:07

Always surprised they're not used more often as they really are nice to look at and good to use. Can get em properly tight without ripping flesh off ya fingers!

OJ46 · 9 Nov 2016 at 15:54

Always worries me that I'd over tighten them if a spanner was used, especially as I'm a bit of a hammer & chisel, brute force kind of person when it comes to fixing things... Reckon the thread would be stripped in 15 seconds flat so long as I could get enough leverage! Certainly been something that I've had to dial back a few notches on these builds

If you want some seriously flexible tube I'd definitely recommend the Mayhems stuff, can't believe how good it is considering the price compared to some competitors.

Definitely right on the collar being pretty much a nice looking fail safe though, whenever I'm flushing the system I don't bother fitting them and not had a dribble yet