Enthoo Primo Watercooling build

ChrisD. · 28 Jan 2014 at 17:56

I had originally ordered watercooling parts around Christmas but in the end I decided against it. After 24h of mining with two 290X's and having the rig in the living room, the noise is driving me nuts.

So I have just ordered the following:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Phanteks Enthoo Primo Full Tower Case £199.99
1 x XSPC D5 Dual Bay Reservoir/Pump Combo V2 £109.99
1 x EK-CoolStream RAD XTX (480) £98.98
2 x EK Water Blocks EK-FC R9-290X £89.99 (£179.98)
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-Supremacy Clean CSQ £49.99
1 x EK CoolStream Radiator XT 360 (120.3) £48.98
1 x Monsoon 19/13mm (ID 1/2 OD 3/4) Free Center Compression Fitting Six Pack - Matte Black £29.99
1 x Akasa FC. SIX Channel Fan Controller - Brushed aluminium - AK-FC-08BK £27.98
3 x Mayhems Pastel - Sunset Yellow Coolant 1L £14.99 (£44.97)
1 x XSPC LCD Temperature Sensor (Orange) V2 + G1/4" Plug Sensor £5.99
1 x EK Water Blocks HD Tube 10/12mm 3-Slot (2 pcs) £4
1 x XSPC G1/4" T Fitting (Chrome) £3.95
Total : £804.78 (includes shipping : FREE).

There are a few varyations to the above though, eg I am no using acrylic tubing having ordered an EK terminal block and I am going for Masterkleer tubing. Can't wait.

I also need to work out how many fans I need and get some Skythe Gentle Typhoons.

colinmcr · 28 Jan 2014 at 21:19

Nice parts list look forward to seeing some images

Enjoy

paulstung · 28 Jan 2014 at 22:13

Copy cat.

Looks good mate, I love black and yellow, I'm on my 4th

ChrisD. · 28 Jan 2014 at 22:28

Ha, just seen some of your pics mate.

Just working out a drain solution.

paulstung · 28 Jan 2014 at 23:01

I've got mine going straight out of the back, on a 45 degree rotary with a length of hose zip tied to the back grill. It doesn't look great coming out of the back but it is in a corner so it can't be seen.
I no a lot of people use a 45 degree fitting and a ball valve or a QDC coming off one of the end ports, on the bottom rad. But doesn't the EK XT only have ports top and bottom, and not on the end ?
This isn't my pic I just grabbed one off Google.

ChrisD. · 28 Jan 2014 at 23:03

I'm going to use a T piece with a temperature sensor stop on the end, think that would be easiest for me.

ChrisD. · 29 Jan 2014 at 22:27

Some deliveries. I don't have all the watercooling bits, but I have the new case and felt I should move eveything over to get a feel of it. The case is awesome, very happy.

My old setup:

PSU installed. It's nice to have room for managment, the FT02B is tight at the back:

Getting there:

And some bits to go on soon:

cypto · 30 Jan 2014 at 01:57

Great start to the build, really loving that Phanteks case.

ChrisD. · 30 Jan 2014 at 18:28

Annoying, everything has arrived except for the GPU terminal.

I have acrylic, but don't want to put it together to then faff about changing it.

Now to read up about flushing the rads.

Bart_Hunt · 30 Jan 2014 at 22:10

I've seen a guy here on forums doing a DIY flush, by attaching 2 bits of tubing to rad, one and to the tap in kitchen, holding other one over the sink. He claimed it worked and to be honest, with constant stream and high pressure I'd have to agree. Probably better than spending few £ on DIY water.

ChrisD. · 30 Jan 2014 at 23:09

Been flushing the rads in the bath, was quite easy. Now working out how to mount the XT rad in the bottom or if it's a case of just leaving it sat there.

ChrisD. · 30 Jan 2014 at 23:27

Quick test fit of the 360 XT in the bottom:

Loads of spare room for a longer rad, but this will have to do and I wanted to keep the rads and blocks EK. Maybe in the future.

I could probably squeeze two of the supplied 140mm fans underneath, does this have any negative impact on airflow at all?

ChrisD. · 31 Jan 2014 at 21:53

So, I've spent a fair while today working on this. I hadn't realised the time it takes to be fair, and with it being my first time I wanted to be sure.

Lot of mess! This will take some time to sort out afterwards and put things back in their proper boxes.

The state of my desk!

Time to fit some GPU blocks.

And to see how they look in the case. I put the CPU block in just before.

Next up was to measure and cut the tubing.

Then leak testing with distilled water. I plan on running this till the morning perhaps then drain and fill with coolant. I've left enough slack on the tubes so that I can pull the XPSC res out and tip the fluid out. I was forced to do it this way as I hadn't got all the correct connectors.

Bear in mind that this is my first watercooled build that I've started from scratch. Any pointers most welcome.

Staffy50 · 31 Jan 2014 at 22:33

The monsoon fittings really need coloured tubing. You'll see when you put the coloured fluid in. Looking good though

ChrisD. · 31 Jan 2014 at 23:13

Yeah I see now. I've bled the water out and put the coolant in, now soak testing.

CharlieRich · 1 Feb 2014 at 11:37

Damn that coolant is an amazing colour

ChrisD. · 1 Feb 2014 at 12:58

Results so far after 18 hours of mining (I restarted it this morning as I changed from cgminer to sgminer hence the time):

Not sure if that's good or bad? But the PC is only as loud as the fans on the lowest setting so I think I've done well.

the1gooner · 1 Feb 2014 at 15:35

Wow that's a nice looking setup.

Looks like your getting good results there as well judging from that screenshot.

ChrisD. · 1 Feb 2014 at 17:02

Spent some time tidying the cables and I've also spent some time cleaning my living room! Here's some more pics. I'm very happy with the case, so much room and under £200 with the radiator support it has is excellent.

Thanks for reading.

fantasticCG · 2 Feb 2014 at 00:49

I love that yellow
Your PC looks awesome