Drowning, save me

[WantoN]

Firstly, your choice of components, and the build, look excellent mate. Great job so far.

I’d advise you run your cabling before you fit your tubes, and fit your ram, audio cables, front I/O, SATA etc.

For the res, as far as I can tell you can use any inlet you want. The outlet has to be the marked one though (the OUT port in the picture), as that’s for the pump. Make sure the anti-foam and anti-cyclone is fitted to the res, and you cap any port that’s not being used with a G1/4 plug.

I don’t see a problem using the out, as you can just use a 90, maybe with an extender, and drop straight into the bottom rad.

The rest of the loop seems pretty clear to me too: Pump > bottom rad > GPU > CPU > Top Rad > Res.

I missed if you’re going with hardline or not, but I would advise you go flexy, as it’ll be much easier for a first build. I personally prefer the aesthetic too.

What TT fans are those?

 

[Distracted]

Firstly, your choice of components, and the build, look excellent mate. Great job so far.

I’d advise you run your cabling before you fit your tubes, and fit your ram, audio cables, front I/O, SATA etc.

For the res, as far as I can tell you can use any inlet you want. The outlet has to be the marked one though (the OUT port in the picture), as that’s for the pump. Make sure the anti-foam and anti-cyclone is fitted to the res, and you cap any port that’s not being used with a G1/4 plug.

I don’t see a problem using the out, as you can just use a 90, maybe with an extender, and drop straight into the bottom rad.

The rest of the loop seems pretty clear to me too: Pump > bottom rad > GPU > CPU > Top Rad > Res.

I missed if you’re going with hardline or not, but I would advise you go flexy, as it’ll be much easier for a first build. I personally prefer the aesthetic too.

What TT fans are those?

They're going hardline, glass tubing.

Straight in the deep end.

Should look great.

 

[WantoN]

They're going hardline, glass tubing.

Straight in the deep end.

Should look great.

Ah yes, I remember now thanks fella.

Hardline was always going to be a pain

 

[existentialJimmy]

Firstly, your choice of components, and the build, look excellent mate. Great job so far.

I’d advise you run your cabling before you fit your tubes, and fit your ram, audio cables, front I/O, SATA etc.

For the res, as far as I can tell you can use any inlet you want. The outlet has to be the marked one though (the OUT port in the picture), as that’s for the pump. Make sure the anti-foam and anti-cyclone is fitted to the res, and you cap any port that’s not being used with a G1/4 plug.

I don’t see a problem using the out, as you can just use a 90, maybe with an extender, and drop straight into the bottom rad.

The rest of the loop seems pretty clear to me too: Pump > bottom rad > GPU > CPU > Top Rad > Res.

I missed if you’re going with hardline or not, but I would advise you go flexy, as it’ll be much easier for a first build. I personally prefer the aesthetic too.

What TT fans are those?

Thanks man, im happy with everything so far aswell and i think it will only look better once i get the tubing/fittings in there.

i will fit my ram almost last as they are coming out my existing pc that im currently using. ill do the toprad>res last, put in my ram just before. Yes i plan to remove the bottom rad/fans so i can do all the cabling, i just put it in for planning purposes.

Yeh, the loop i had planned is exactly as you say with a 90 fitting straight down into bottom rad, i was just worried about the inlet as the manual said not to go in the top but i didnt see an issue with it going in the top either. I havent used the foam or anti cyclone EK symbol thing, i just went with the small tube that comes with it aswell - i guess its anticyclone too?

The fans are Thermaltake Riing Trio 12 RGB - their newest fans that cost me a fortune that only an idiot would pay (thats me). They look real nice though imo.

They're going hardline, glass tubing.

Straight in the deep end.

Should look great.

Yehhhh, im scared

Any ideas for a drain port location? i was thinking the first tube down from the outlet port into bottom rad, m/m fitting in the rad with a T splitter to a tap that will sit in the area under the res?

The cabling is looking extremely daunting, i have so many wires all over the place i dont know where to even start and i dont even have half of them in yet lol. Im not even sure how im going to do all the fans

 

[LuckyBenski]

Have you cleaned out your radiators? Best to do that if they're new, rinsing with hot water and flushing at the very least.

 

[existentialJimmy]

Have you cleaned out your radiators? Best to do that if they're new, rinsing with hot water and flushing at the very least.

I haven' yet, I have bought a mayhem's blitz kit that I planned to run through the system initially but would it be best me just physically running water through them myself before I start putting the loop together?

 

[LuckyBenski]

I haven' yet, I have bought a mayhem's blitz kit that I planned to run through the system initially but would it be best me just physically running water through them myself before I start putting the loop together?

I'd say so - that majority of the crud you want to remove before it goes near either the blocks, or the pump. Hot water and simple flushing will remove some, slightly acidic liquid will do more.

IIRC the Blitz kit comes with a Part 1 which is meant to be put in radiators first anyway.

 

[WantoN]

IIRC the Blitz kit comes with a Part 1 which is meant to be put in radiators first anyway.

You’re correct sir.

OP, make sure you rinse radiators out several times with distilled water after using Blitz, at least 5. It’s very, very important that new radiators are cleaned very thoroughly before you run them with any other component. You can run an open loop for flushing them out if you want, so: water container > primed pump > radiator > sink/empty container. Make sure you never run out of water, obviously.

You want your drain port as low as you can possibly get it, I often get an idea for placement first, but finalise quite late into a build after I’ve got most stuff in.

As for the wires, don’t worry. Just do them one at a time till they’re all routed. RGB fans are an absolute pain though; we really need a standard that allows us to cut down on the number of wires. Again, I tend to get my wire runs done before I run a loop; it can be incredibly frustrating to plan the whole thing then realise a tube or component will foul a cable or socket once assembled.

Just get cracking, go slow and ask as many questions as you need to.

 

[existentialJimmy]

Ok I will remove both radiators and clean them. Thanks for letting me know.

As for the wiring, I'm unsure on how exactly my Thermal take riing trio 12 RGB fans wire up to this controller - how do I link up 2 controllers together and plug them in using only 1 RGB header on my mobo?

I only have 2 RGB headers on the motherboard, Ive bought a 3 way RGB splitter for my CPU/reservoir/GPU which will take 1 header then I have 1 left for the 6 RGB thermaltake fans.

I also have another 3x pwm fans, I have plenty of pwm headers on the mobo but i thought it might look neater if I had a splitter for them as well so I only have 1 cable coming through to the motherboard but I'm unsure if the fans would get the 12v each of these Corsair ML120's need doing that?

Also, has anyone got any ideas on where to run the rgb cable from my CPU block so it doesn't look awful? If you zoom in on the picture on the previous page you can see I've just tucked it under the RAM sockets for now

Thanks for the help ppl

 

[WantoN]

Ok I will remove both radiators and clean them. Thanks for letting me know.

As for the wiring, I'm unsure on how exactly my Thermal take riing trio 12 RGB fans wire up to this controller - how do I link up 2 controllers together and plug them in using only 1 RGB header on my mobo?

I only have 2 RGB headers on the motherboard, Ive bought a 3 way RGB splitter for my CPU/reservoir/GPU which will take 1 header then I have 1 left for the 6 RGB thermaltake fans.

I also have another 3x pwm fans, I have plenty of pwm headers on the mobo but i thought it might look neater if I had a splitter for them as well so I only have 1 cable coming through to the motherboard but I'm unsure if the fans would get the 12v each of these Corsair ML120's need doing that?

Also, has anyone got any ideas on where to run the rgb cable from my CPU block so it doesn't look awful? If you zoom in on the picture on the previous page you can see I've just tucked it under the RAM sockets for now

Thanks for the help ppl

Splitters are fine. Each fan will receive 12v. The one thing you need to be wary of is how the splitter handles the tach signal. When you manage fans in banks (which I always do) you only want one fan to send the tach signal back to the header, or your readings will be way out.

How handy are you with wiring and soldering?

I have no idea about the Thermaltake solution; it was my understanding that most controllers connect to a usb 2.0 header. I’ll look into it for you.

For routing the RGB cable. Can you go top left, run it under the heat pipe of the VRM heatsink, and go behind the ATX power cable that connects to the top left of the board, into the grommet above?

EDIT : It looks to me like the controller uses a micro USB to internal USB2.0 so it’s meant to be connector to USB2.0. Each controller can apparently handle up to 16 fans, so you should be able to use only one?

Remember if you’re connecting some RGB to the board, and some to the Thermtake system, you won’t be able to manage all the colours from one software suite. I’d decide which you want to use and focus on having all the RGB run from one of them. If you can I’d do the same with fan control too, makes life much easier.

 

[existentialJimmy]

Splitters are fine. Each fan will receive 12v. The one thing you need to be wary of is how the splitter handles the tach signal. When you manage fans in banks (which I always do) you only want one fan to send the tach signal back to the header, or your readings will be way out.

How handy are you with wiring and soldering?

I have no idea about the Thermaltake solution; it was my understanding that most controllers connect to a usb 2.0 header. I’ll look into it for you.

For routing the RGB cable. Can you go top left, run it under the heat pipe of the VRM heatsink, and go behind the ATX power cable that connects to the top left of the board, into the grommet above?

EDIT : It looks to me like the controller uses a micro USB to internal USB2.0 so it’s meant to be connector to USB2.0. Each controller can apparently handle up to 16 fans, so you should be able to use only one?

Remember if you’re connecting some RGB to the board, and some to the Thermtake system, you won’t be able to manage all the colours from one software suite. I’d decide which you want to use and focus on having all the RGB run from one of them. If you can I’d do the same with fan control too, makes life much easier.

Can you recommend a pwm splitter?

I've never soldered if that answers your question .

Well there are only 5 fan ports on the controller box so I have no idea how you get 16? Unless you use splitters coming out the controller as well? It doesn't say anything on the limited paperwork that came with the fans. One thing that is confusing me with these fans is that I have 2 cables - controller cable (usb header Y splitter to 2 micro usb) and bridge cable (4 pin into controller #1 to micro usb in controller #2). There is only 1 micro usb port on the control box. How do I link 2 controllers together if the micro usb port is already taken by the control cable, if the control cable can link 2 controllers then what's the point of the bridge cable. Hope that made sense.

I think the thermaltake fans RGB only works with thermaltake software? I don't know if it's compatible with Asus aurora which is what all my EKWB RGB will be controlled by.

Routing the CPU RGB cable through the vram heatsink like you said may work, it's very very close with the length of the cable, I'll remove the heatsink and give it a try.

 

[WantoN]

Can you recommend a pwm splitter?

I've never soldered if that answers your question .

Well there are only 5 fan ports on the controller box so I have no idea how you get 16? Unless you use splitters coming out the controller as well?

One thing that is confusing me with these fans is that I have 2 cables - controller cable (usb header Y splitter to 2 micro usb) and bridge cable (4 pin into controller #1 to micro usb in controller #2).

I think the thermaltake fans RGB only works with thermaltake software? I don't know if it's compatible with Asus aurora which is what all my EKWB RGB will be controlled by.

Routing the CPU RGB cable through the vram heatsink like you said may work, it's very very close with the length of the cable, I'll remove the heatsink and give it a try.

Yes, you would use splitters to connect the fans. The idea being that each port will be for a bank of fans. I’m afraid I can’t recommend one as I always solder my fan banks into one cable and header. The last I used was an Akasa braided one, which worked fine. That was probably more than 5 years ago.

I don’t believe that Thermaltake will work with Aura Sync, No. I was just pointing out that you’ll be managing your RGB over two different software suites. I always like to design around just one for RGB, fan curves, pump speed etc. if I can help it.

Take a photo of the controller ports and the cables, my assumption is it’s for daisychaining them onto a single USB port, and there’s multiple cables for different possible setups.

Is there not a manual you can download online?

You can always use an extension on the cable if it’s too short to reach the route I’ve suggested. I’m not saying it’s definitely how you should run it, it just seems the cleanest route to me.

How do you plan to fill the loop? Squeezey bottle into one of the two top ports? Drain valve off the bottom radiator?

 

[existentialJimmy]

Yes, you would use splitters to connect the fans. The idea being that each port will be for a bank of fans. I’m afraid I can’t recommend one as I always solder my fan banks into one cable and header. The last I used was an Akasa braided one, which worked fine. That was probably more than 5 years ago.

I don’t believe that Thermaltake will work with Aura Sync, No. I was just pointing out that you’ll be managing your RGB over two different software suites. I always like to design around just one for RGB, fan curves, pump speed etc. if I can help it.

Take a photo of the controller ports and the cables, my assumption is it’s for daisychaining them onto a single USB port, and there’s multiple cables for different possible setups.

Is there not a manual you can download online?

You can always use an extension on the cable if it’s too short to reach the route I’ve suggested. I’m not saying it’s definitely how you should run it, it just seems the cleanest route to me.

How do you plan to fill the loop? Squeezey bottle into one of the two top ports? Drain valve off the bottom radiator?

I've ordered a pwm splitter and I think I've figured out the thermaltake fan situation .

I have a new issue, I've gone to plug in my front panel cables and the usb3.1 when plugged in is too big, there simply isn't enough room between the bottom rad and mobo - it's such a fat connection! Is there any kind of adapter or anything?

I do have a squeezy bottle but I'm thinking of drilling a hole in the top of the case above the reservoir and having a glass tubing go up to a passthrough/fillport fitting. It would work nicely as it is hidden from view when the top case panel is in place and easy to access - maybe look nice aswell?
As for the drain port I'm thinking of a T splitter on the bottom rad as it's the best I can think of lol.

I've also noticed that the evga G3 psu cables are ugly as hell, I may need to use this discount code for cablemods that came in my mobo box. This build cost is getting out of control and I don't even care anymore

 

[WantoN]

I've ordered a pwm splitter and I think I've figured out the thermaltake fan situation .

I have a new issue, I've gone to plug in my front panel cables and the usb3.1 when plugged in is too big, there simply isn't enough room between the bottom rad and mobo - it's such a fat connection! Is there any kind of adapter or anything?

I do have a squeezy bottle but I'm thinking of drilling a hole in the top of the case above the reservoir and having a glass tubing go up to a passthrough/fillport fitting. It would work nicely as it is hidden from view when the top case panel is in place and easy to access - maybe look nice aswell?
As for the drain port I'm thinking of a T splitter on the bottom rad as it's the best I can think of lol.

I've also noticed that the evga G3 psu cables are ugly as hell, I may need to use this discount code for cablemods that came in my mobo box. This build cost is getting out of control and I don't even care anymore

Haha! Nice builds always do my man!

USB headers can be a pain. I had to file out the grommets on my case to fit mine. Sometimes you only realise there’s a clearance issue when you fit the components!

If the cable/connector is fat, is it a lot of it plastic moulding? You could file it down with some needle files... Otherwise look for an extension that’s slimmer, or consider what can be moved, modded or changed to make it fit. Picture would be good.

I like fill ports; I tried to fit one in my current build but it just won’t fit. T splitter on the bottom rad is fine, just use a ball valve and make sure you use male to male rotaries to fit it in, so you can move it about. Even though there’s a valve I like to fit a plug too, then to try you can just remove the plug, fit a piece of tube with a g1/4 fitting on it, and voila. Make sure to remove a top plug on the res to drain.

I solder and sleeve most of my cables, but I really cannot be bothered with the PSU anymore. I used cablemods, they’re good. Sometimes you can pick up kits for your PSU, take a look at OCUK.

 

[existentialJimmy]

Haha! Nice builds always do my man!

USB headers can be a pain. I had to file out the grommets on my case to fit mine. Sometimes you only realise there’s a clearance issue when you fit the components!

If the cable/connector is fat, is it a lot of it plastic moulding? You could file it down with some needle files... Otherwise look for an extension that’s slimmer, or consider what can be moved, modded or changed to make it fit. Picture would be good.

I like fill ports; I tried to fit one in my current build but it just won’t fit. T splitter on the bottom rad is fine, just use a ball valve and make sure you use male to male rotaries to fit it in, so you can move it about. Even though there’s a valve I like to fit a plug too, then to try you can just remove the plug, fit a piece of tube with a g1/4 fitting on it, and voila. Make sure to remove a top plug on the res to drain.

I solder and sleeve most of my cables, but I really cannot be bothered with the PSU anymore. I used cablemods, they’re good. Sometimes you can pick up kits for your PSU, take a look at OCUK.

I dont think its possible to fix the whole usb 3.0 header issue, i guess i will just have to leave it unplugged and go without usb jacks on the front of my case which sucks as i needed them. I cant find anywhere that delivers a low profile 3.0 header extension cable/adapter to the UK - even if they did, from a lot of reviews ive read they only cause issues anyway. i will post a picture.

The radiator covers all the ventilation holes you can see on the bottom so the usb3.0 header is massively in the way - any ideas anyone?

 

[Testiculous]

90 degree adapter.

 

[existentialJimmy]

90 degree adapter.

It wouldn't work, that would mean the usb 3.0 socket would be facing the bottom of the case - even less room than it has now.

 

[Testiculous]

Maybe try using two together then to make it face back in on itself. For the cost of them it's gotta be worth a punt?

 

[Distracted]

Maybe try using two together then to make it face back in on itself. For the cost of them it's gotta be worth a punt?

I was about to suggest this.

 

[WantoN]

How much room is there between the edge of the radiator and the side panel?

Perhaps you could drill new mounting holes and shift the radiator a little further away from the socket.

Also, if you put the fans underneath the rad, does it give you any more clearance?