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.

ChrisD. · 28 Jan 2014 at 22:28

Ha, just seen some of your pics mate.

Just working out a drain solution.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

ChrisD. · 2 Feb 2014 at 22:48

Thanks for the comments, and thanks again to Petey for the help pre build.

The side window of the Phantek's is tinted so I can barely see my work, so I've ordered a white LED. I'm also pondering about switching the fans out for some Corsair ones but I think that's a bit pointless.

ChrisD. · 8 Feb 2014 at 11:10

Well it's been over a week now and no leaks and temps as good as ever. Was a pretty expensive thing to do but I couldn't be happier with the results.

ChrisD. · 11 Feb 2014 at 17:50

JCX50 said:
I think you should spray the fans yellow. Looks amazing tho

That's too much modding for my liking, I like to keep things simple.

Smudge said:
Hey Chris, great build! Just out of interest, are you planning on selling either of your old air coolers from the 2 cards? I have a ref sapphire 290p that's driving me nuts but don't have the funds to watercool it right now.

I'm keeping them in case I need to RMA one of the cards.

ChrisD. · 15 Feb 2014 at 09:10

Do they work well with rads? And what's the noise like?

ChrisD. · 16 Feb 2014 at 10:31

Do they have braided cables? Don't worry about sending me anything, it'll be a long time before I actually go for some new fans. I'm thinking about getting another 290X in there which will need some work, just unsure if the two rads will be enough.

ChrisD. · 24 Feb 2014 at 18:41

Came home, noticed temps a little high and fluid had dropped slightly. Brought the case out (it's fairly large!) to have a look.

Just what I need on a Monday evening.

ChrisD. · 24 Feb 2014 at 18:46

Looks to be the bottom GPU block. It's right where the seal is between the block and the terminal.

I don't really know what to do now, just sat here in disbelief. I'd have to strip it all down which means losing most of the water as I didn't bother putting in a drain as parts hadn't arrived. I figured I'd sort that in 6 months.

ChrisD. · 24 Feb 2014 at 21:03

Fixed. Was a dodgy O ring seal on the terminal. Got a spare out of the packet and the rig is back up and running. I put a drain solution in this time!

ChrisD. · 10 Nov 2014 at 22:41

I decided to upgrade my long serving i7-2600k to something more modern. Not messing about, I decided on a 5960X. Went up to OcUK to get it all and I was looking forward to having it up and running today. But I forgot the spacing on my new motherboard is different so need a different terminal block. Highly frustrating!

As you can see, the tubing and/or fluid isn't looking too great. I think it's the tubing to be honest, so I'm trying to source some Primochill now! And yes, I know the RAM is in the wrong slots, just put the sticks there to keep it all together while I wait for parts to arrive.