First Water Project: The Mad Titan

[Rasphelt]

If you can train the PET sleeving enough, I think you should have each set of 6+8 pin bend behind each GPU below.

Have 3x nice small curve, just like your tidy 24 pin. The yellow is a bit too dominating if it runs that close to the side panel.

That's good advice, it's more difficult to do with this type of sleeping, but I will give it a go when my GPU backplates arrive. I quite like the large loop though,but it's difficult to keep tidy.

The GPU loop will be purple and the CPU yellow so this should even things out a bit.

Thanks for the advice!
Cheers
Ras

 

[Rasphelt]

In general, each addition of 120mm gives you much better cooling than adding more thickness where you will only see a few degrees here and there realistically

Yup, agreed.

Trust me, making mistakes is part of the experience, I made so many with drilling and cutting on my project, I just try to hide them all well! . I've been working on mine for months, normally I'd bang it out over a weekend!

Subbed this, looking good

Thanks man, I have made a couple of boob's along the way, but nothing fatal, I definitely need to get better at petg bending, that is tough! I will likely be doing an upgrade in December so I will have another pop at it then!

Your build looks sweet by the way!

I take it you're aware about the key you need to unlock in the gpu bios to unlock 3 or 4 way sli? (Nvidia will still claim not to support for than 2 way sli however, the board partners will on their non reference cards) Also the old 3 way and quad sli bridges for the 9xx series are supposed to work.

No enthusiast key needed anymore, nvidia ditched that idea, it seems that now there is little support at all - my plan is to have a dedicated physx card unless I'm benchmarking - with this in mind I have both the new HB bridge and the older 3 way bridge!

Thanks again dude

 

[Rasphelt]

If you can train the PET sleeving enough, I think you should have each set of 6+8 pin bend behind each GPU below.

Have 3x nice small curve, just like your tidy 24 pin. The yellow is a bit too dominating if it runs that close to the side panel.

Like this? It does look tidier by far!






I am concerned about the cables laying on the GPU's though.. How much should I care?

Cheers
Ras

 

[Rasphelt]

Hardly any at all to be honest, so I guess it's a winner!

Cheers
Ras

 

[Rasphelt]

If it is an issue, have a search for "Hex Gear 180". I've seen some similar custom-built combs in aluminium by a forum member too.

I have a hex gear in purple and and another in black, although I don't really want to use them.. The branding just puts me off for some reason.. Plus, they will be upside down as the holes are not in the right place!

Cheers
Ras

 

[Rasphelt]

SCARY UPDATE!

Ok, so I have all my 2kw PSU cables plugged in, except for a few fans and the water pumps.

I am going to begin a new build in the next few weeks with my Caselabs BH4 that should be arriving in the next few weeks, so I already bought my Corsair SF600.

I figured it would be a good idea to use the diddy Corsair for my leak testing, and decided to test it with one of the PWM splitters to be sure it worked ok. Now, here is the scary bit.

The entire system turned on.

I mean, everything, motherboard, PSU everything that was plugged into the 2kw PSU turned on! The 2kw PSU has no power and is turned off at the back!

WTAF is happening?! Could this possible be power leak? Or am I feeding power back top the 2kw PSU from the Corsair?

Any ideas?

Cheers
Ras

 

[Rasphelt]

Nope, none of that is happening mate. While the PSU is plugged into the mobo it is not live at all - turned off with no power cord.

The only live connection is the SF600 to the pwm splitter and the PSU cable on that has the pins shorted as you suggest.

This is really odd.

 

[Rasphelt]

I should also add that the PSU that has no power cable and is turned off is also ON - fan spinning!

I am really at a loss.

 

[Rasphelt]

Yeah, that's sounding odd.

So you've got your test PSU with the ATX cable shorted (to turn it on) and that's plugged into the PWM splitter only.

The 2kW PSU is disconnected from the mains and turned off but its ATX cable is plugged into the motherboard and presumably most other things except the PWM splitter.

What about the 4/8 pin EPS cable that also plugs into the motherboard?

It couldn't be just that the fan in your 2kW PSU has a motherboard fan header connection and that's plugged into the PWM splitter could it?

Worst case, start simplifying things. Take the test PSU and fire it up with nothing connected to it. Start plugging things in until you recreate the problem. At that point, you know what it is that caused it. If necessary, you can plug in the PWM splitter on its own and then plug fans into that one at a time.

Yep, you got it mate.

I figured out what is going on... Check this out...

The aquaero 6 XT is feeding power back to everything else plugged into it! PSU through the molex connector (and therefore back to mobo), PWM fans through the 4 PWM headers and the light box through the rgb header. Quite how or why this is happening is unclear; but I have isolated everything, in order and this is the definitive outcome. Odd.

Cheers
Ras

 

[Rasphelt]

The Aquaero is powered (or not at the moment) by a molex (and also partially through the USB) connected to the 2kW PSU. Your PWM hub is powered by a molex or SATA power from the test PSU and has a connection back to the Aquaero. I'd be a bit concerned that it's shoving enough juice the wrong way through the Aquaero to power up lots of other things to be honest. It might be worth powering the Aquaero from the test PSU without the PWM splitter and make sure it all works properly.

Yeah I thought that, so I did a few tests.
The Aquaero works fine when powered separately by either PSU. Equally the same behaviour exists when using the 2kw to power the splitter with everything else plugged into othe other PSU. Oddly though the gpus and water pumps don't power up as not enough power I would guess.

I also removed the molex and the fans and lightbox still got power from the PWM splitter through the aquaero - so it's def the aquaero. All seems to work though when plumbed in normally.

Cheers
Ras

 

[Rasphelt]

Weird. I would have thought that with the Aquaero-controlled voltage regulation, it wouldn't be possible to have power flow the wrong way through it....but what do I know!
I suppose it doesn't normally come up because you've normally only got one PSU and it's either connected or not - rather than bridging stuff it shouldn't.

Agreed! Ah well, at least I know now!
I will take a voltmeter to it at some point to see whats what...

I am so close to finishing now though... Plus I have sold my old rig so I am without a PC!.. Just the backplates and two y-splitters (for the drain ports) to arrive and then full system and leak testing (the reason I will actually use my lil SFX PSU!) - then, hopefully I am good to go!

Thanks mate
Cheers
Ras

 

[Rasphelt]

No problem. Sometimes it's helpful to have a sounding board to say "Yes, that is crazy....but it could just be the problem!"
Hope things get delivered soon - hate the waiting!

I appreciate your feedback and help through the the process - it's been extremely useful!

Thanks mate
Ras

 

[Rasphelt]

Update:

Both EK reservoirs leaked at the same 1/4 thread round the back. They didn't leak when I tested them outside of the loop, the only leaked when I had the pastel liquid in. I am not best pleased. I also have tried three different type of blank 1/4 fittings - the EK ones, the Bitspower originals and the Bitspower v2's all three leaked - I have had to resort to sealant to fix the problem until my new resevoirs get here.

Cheers
Ras

 

[Rasphelt]

They're not the ones with the stupid inset port are they? If so they need a special EK G1/4 extension that isn't/wasn't supplied with them. Without it, the o-ring doesn't seat properly and it leaks.
I thought they'd stopped this but I could be wrong. Worth checking given that it's both res's.

Thanks mate, I'm not sure - it's the port round the back of the res, as you look at it just to the right and behind a little. I will explore the inset port, but regardless one would have hoped that they would warn you about it?!?!

Filling loops again now...

Cheers
Ras

 

[Rasphelt]

If it leaking like this then Cenedd has got it bang on. ****ed me off no end as well!

Spoiler

Oh yes and nice build mate, colour scheme and build quality both looking top notch

If it is that it's crazy isn't it?! I have basically ruined the resevoirs now anyway, permenantly sealing the stupid ports shut!

I have a couple of other resevoirs on order, ready for when I change the GPU's in December!

Thanks for your comments mate, I really appreciate it - when you are this close to something everything just looks like it could be done much better, so cheers!

Ras

 

[Rasphelt]

Update: Final Leak Testing (before top up and OC)

6950X and 1080's at stock currently - all running at 30 degrees C or lower with fans set to 35% - case fan not yet included in groups.







Custom and case lighting still to be tweaked, backplates still to be attached and some minor bits and pieces - but mostly its done - overall I am happy with the how the build has progressed!

Cheers
Ras

 

[Rasphelt]

Jebus christ... that is a nicely built machine

Thanks mate, much appreciated, a few things yet to do to finish it off!

That's a monster! Colour scheme reminds me of the old sweets you use to get lol.

Ha! Cheers! I wanted something a little different so I'm hoping the black, yellow and purple stave off my need to change things constantly!

Cheers
Ras

 

[Rasphelt]

Tbh, it doesn't look like a really fantastic build considering the huge amount of money spent on parts. Just my opinion.

That's awfully nice of you.

This was my first water cooling build and while you are entitled to your opinion, I worked hard on it, so maybe keep your unconstructive criticism to yourself?

 

[Rasphelt]

Have been following this build with interest (stealthily lol)! Done really well man, especially with all the curve balls along the way, but didn't give up!

Love the colour scheme and its really tidy.

I have only one "thing" (i wont say criticism cus i just cant bring my self round to being critical about this build) but the purple watercooling fluid looks a bit dull? Lacks the vibrancy of the yellow fluid and the sleeving job... Could just be the photo i dunno....dont wanna slam your build considering ive never even done a watercooling build myself!

Well done though!

I am inclined to agree with you to be honest! I have some purple and yellow/green UV fluids from Mayhems that I might use... But I'm not sure... I think I am going to see what the lighting does and then go from there...

I am going to replace the resevoirs with a couple of others when I decide which ones I want! Then I will drain the loop, put the GPU backplates on and change the reservoirs and possible change the fluid too... See what's what.

Thanks mate, I really appreciate the feedback, I need it!

Cheers
Ras

 

[Rasphelt]

For sure it is beast of a system. good luck with it. enjoy

Thanks dude!
Cheers
Ras