First Build, Corsair Carbide 540

Macha0n

Macha0n

Macha0n

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Joined
1 Nov 2013
Posts
49
Okay, so no experience of system building, check. No experience of watercooling, check. Big pile of hardware, check.

WP_20131106_003_s.jpg


Apologies for crap quality. So far just got the psu in the case and planned everything out, two compression fittings short for the cooling loop :mad:

That said, if that's the worst problem I have I'll be over the bloody moon!

If anyone's got a spare minute, what's the most efficient/safe order to build in? It's putting the waterblocks on the 290Xs that's freaking me out a little at the moment.

Oh, and yes that is a haemmorhoid cushion at the bottom. I've got static paranoia, so I borrowed it to sit on while I build :cool:
 
Righty-ho, good advice about the thermal pads there, I'll do that- I thought the same about setting up the loop away from the gpus, but it seemed like it'd be a nightmare to fit the blocks after they were already plumbed in to the loop, especially considering Crossfire.

Radiator-wise, I've got a 360 and a 240 with five Gentle Typhoons- general consensus seemed to be that would be enough cooling?

Thanks for the responses- I'm feeling it's fairly ambitious (read foolhardy) for a first build! Friendly and helpful posts are quelling the panic somewhat :D
 
Also, no drain loop :mad:

With this case, I was planning to velcro the pump/res into the opposite half of the case to most of the delicate bits- Looking at it I should be able to just lift it up and out to the side to drain. Not elegant I know, but workable.
 
Ah, okay- A QDC might be a good idea then. That looks bang on, by the way- hopefully I'll end up with something half as professional!

So, to run the 290Xs on air, I'll have to set up the loop with just the cpu block, then drain it to fit the gpus?
 
Adam, I've been looking at mine today- there's about 20mm, but if you have the sockets at the bottom there's only about 1mm of clearance between the fittings and the right side of the HDD bay- generally the whole case is a lot tighter than I thought it would be!

On a similar note, I think the top and bottom fans on the 360 rad will have to be on the outside- will having 2 out of 5 fans pull rather than push hurt their performance much? Going to have to make a dust cover now too!

Also, I was reading the Motherboard manual- looks like there are 4 sockets marked CHA_FAN, and two marked CPU_FAN. Will a CPU socket take a case fan. or am I a socket short?

Still soldiering on!

Whoops, edited to say my rad's an EK one!
 
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Right- I've got all tomorrow morning, I'm going to try and get it up and running with the cpu on water and the 290Xs on air and check everything's working as it should.

There'll be photos, you'll laugh, you'll cry etc. :D
 
Just out of interest, when I come to drain the loop and add the gpus into it, will it be a case of unplugging everything at the PSU end and jumping it again to refill the system?
 
So, candidate for longest build ever? ;)

Me being me, I decided to follow advice and run the 290xs on air for 5 mins to check everything worked and make the coolers easier to remove. Almost a year to the day later, off came the coolers!

Anyway, I've just finished sorting everything out. All went well in the end, here are a couple of pics:

Q6_V5709.jpg


Q6_V5710.jpg


Currently the CPU and both GPUs are running around 50C under load- is that good/bad/unexceptional?

So, barring everything blowing up at some unspecified future point, I would say I'm pretty pleased with how things have gone (several hours of fiddling/sweating/swearing aside!).

If anyone reading this doesn't know anything about PC building and wants to jump in at the deep end- I would say go for it! Just ask for help, read guides and don't press any metaphorical big red buttons until you're very sure what they do.

Thanks again for all the help guys!
 
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