You can skip half a page if you get bored easily 
Background; apart from having built a couple of PC's a few years back, my interest in anything more than gaming and working on PC's was until recently minimal; it was only when I bought a second monitor and my old GTX580 started complaining (i.e. became noisey as xxxx) whilst running 2 x WoW and stuff that I downloaded GPU-Z and Coretemp to see how hot things were getting.
The gpu was hitting high 80s and my i7 2600k was hovering between 65-75 degrees while raiding on one screen and AH-ing on the other. I ended up buying an H80i which fixed the cpu temps, then an HAF-X to try and reduce the gpu temps with some more case air flow. I was going to try the Antec 620 gpu cooling solution but after sitting on this forum and a couple of others and seeing what people were doing and what awesome hardware there is about now I got the new toys bug big time. I'd like to start learning more about over clocking and I thought I'd get myself some shiny-er stuff to break while doing so.
Apart from taking apart/putting back together a couple of PCs and some very basic OCing of my 2600k my experience is about, hmm, nothing. I'm sure there will be plenty of people cringing and thinking 'what a waste!'. Consequently this thread will probably contain a lot of stupid questions and be filled with a lot of school boy errors for people to ridicule
Anyway, having a few quid spare, I've decided to build a fairly high-spec water cooled rig from scratch. It will probably all go horribly wrong but whatever happens it will still be a lot cheaper than playing with cars which is my other hobby ;p Hopefully if I can pull it off with my non-existent skill set it may encourage someone else to have a go
So, TLDR version; I've now got a load of shiny bits and pieces lying about and I'm nervously looking forward to trying to put them altogether and get them working together - hopefully without breaking too much...
Anyway, the first of MANY terrible pics to come from my iphone - the obligatory 'look at my shiny new stuff'-shot:
Wanted to get everything else sorted before the case arrived, so ended up randomly ordering various Bitspower compression fittings to cover a few eventualities:
The parts list is as follows;
I7 3930K
Corsair Dominator Plats 4x4gb
Asus Rampage IV Extreme
Corsair AX1200
2x EVGA Titans
2x XSPC Titan blocks + back plates
Koolance 380i
XSPC clear Highflex tube
EK EK-FB RE4 kit
OCUK XSPC D5 pump and top combo
Bitspower Z-Multi 150mm res
Load of blood red Bitspower compression fittings
2x Koolance VL3N QDC's
Alphacool 480 Monsta
Alphacool 240 Monsta
Bunch of Scythe Gentles/Noiseblockers
Lamptron Touch fan controller
Samsung 256gb 840 Pro
Crucial 256gb M4
I'm already in love with the case. The HAF-X was a revelation in cases compared to my little ******** box - but the SM8 is just in a totally different universe - really is a lovely piece of kit and Jim @ Caselabs couldn't be more helpful. Unfortunately, both doors and the centre divider were damaged (gg FEDEX :/) in transit but less than a week later I have replacements on their way from California...
The fact you can extend it top and bottom means it should fulfil my needs amply should I find more space somewhere at later date . I loved the look of the Monsta rads and wanted something that would fit a 480 P/P in the roof but would still fit under a desk, the XSPC H2 and the LD Cooling stuff all looked a bit too tall whereas the Merlin looked like I'd be able to house it. Slapping it together was fun, no issues apart from the damaged panels; I would've liked to have it reversed but it doesn't really fit my desk layout for one reason or another, and tbh, I'm so used to having things the normal way it'd probably have confused me ;P
Still waiting on a few bits, the CPU block being one of them, plus a couple of Koolance QDC's and some more fans.
I was concerned as to whether a 480 Monsta was going to fit in the SM8, on paper it should but I couldn't find any pictures that showed exactly how well. My concerns were fairly well founded - it's a pretty tight fit. I'll probably have to stand it off the top of the case a few mil as one end tank is hard up against a captive nut. I have the 31mm vented top cover on its way with the replacement doors so there will be ample room for the fans pulling on top.
The WC loop will be cpu block, chipset blocks, gpu blocks x2, 480, 240, res, pump - just need to work out where to put everything - ideas gratefully received! (I'll raffle my spare AC3 and Metro Last Light codes off to those who've helped me along the way when I'm done, bribery>begging).
I'm considering chopping up the front 240 mount as I think I *may* be able to gain another drive bay slot if the 240 is sat on the floor. That way I could consider a double drive bay res which would mean I wouldn't have to drill holes to mount the Bitspower res which I really don't want to do...
That's about where I'm at for now. Pushed for time atm unfortunately. Not sure whether to mount the chipset blocks before the cpu block arrives or if that'll make fitting the latter harder. I'll hopefully remove one of the Titans from my 2600k box tomorrow and fit one of the blocks and the one backplate I have so far (leaving the other in my 2600k as long as poss before chucking my 580 back in it). And may be look at the chipset blocks if I have time.
Apologies for the massive amount of text thus far. For now - peace o/
Background; apart from having built a couple of PC's a few years back, my interest in anything more than gaming and working on PC's was until recently minimal; it was only when I bought a second monitor and my old GTX580 started complaining (i.e. became noisey as xxxx) whilst running 2 x WoW and stuff that I downloaded GPU-Z and Coretemp to see how hot things were getting.
The gpu was hitting high 80s and my i7 2600k was hovering between 65-75 degrees while raiding on one screen and AH-ing on the other. I ended up buying an H80i which fixed the cpu temps, then an HAF-X to try and reduce the gpu temps with some more case air flow. I was going to try the Antec 620 gpu cooling solution but after sitting on this forum and a couple of others and seeing what people were doing and what awesome hardware there is about now I got the new toys bug big time. I'd like to start learning more about over clocking and I thought I'd get myself some shiny-er stuff to break while doing so.
Apart from taking apart/putting back together a couple of PCs and some very basic OCing of my 2600k my experience is about, hmm, nothing. I'm sure there will be plenty of people cringing and thinking 'what a waste!'. Consequently this thread will probably contain a lot of stupid questions and be filled with a lot of school boy errors for people to ridicule
Anyway, having a few quid spare, I've decided to build a fairly high-spec water cooled rig from scratch. It will probably all go horribly wrong but whatever happens it will still be a lot cheaper than playing with cars which is my other hobby ;p Hopefully if I can pull it off with my non-existent skill set it may encourage someone else to have a go
So, TLDR version; I've now got a load of shiny bits and pieces lying about and I'm nervously looking forward to trying to put them altogether and get them working together - hopefully without breaking too much...
Anyway, the first of MANY terrible pics to come from my iphone - the obligatory 'look at my shiny new stuff'-shot:
Wanted to get everything else sorted before the case arrived, so ended up randomly ordering various Bitspower compression fittings to cover a few eventualities:
The parts list is as follows;
I7 3930K
Corsair Dominator Plats 4x4gb
Asus Rampage IV Extreme
Corsair AX1200
2x EVGA Titans
2x XSPC Titan blocks + back plates
Koolance 380i
XSPC clear Highflex tube
EK EK-FB RE4 kit
OCUK XSPC D5 pump and top combo
Bitspower Z-Multi 150mm res
Load of blood red Bitspower compression fittings
2x Koolance VL3N QDC's
Alphacool 480 Monsta
Alphacool 240 Monsta
Bunch of Scythe Gentles/Noiseblockers
Lamptron Touch fan controller
Samsung 256gb 840 Pro
Crucial 256gb M4
I'm already in love with the case. The HAF-X was a revelation in cases compared to my little ******** box - but the SM8 is just in a totally different universe - really is a lovely piece of kit and Jim @ Caselabs couldn't be more helpful. Unfortunately, both doors and the centre divider were damaged (gg FEDEX :/) in transit but less than a week later I have replacements on their way from California...
The fact you can extend it top and bottom means it should fulfil my needs amply should I find more space somewhere at later date . I loved the look of the Monsta rads and wanted something that would fit a 480 P/P in the roof but would still fit under a desk, the XSPC H2 and the LD Cooling stuff all looked a bit too tall whereas the Merlin looked like I'd be able to house it. Slapping it together was fun, no issues apart from the damaged panels; I would've liked to have it reversed but it doesn't really fit my desk layout for one reason or another, and tbh, I'm so used to having things the normal way it'd probably have confused me ;P
Still waiting on a few bits, the CPU block being one of them, plus a couple of Koolance QDC's and some more fans.
I was concerned as to whether a 480 Monsta was going to fit in the SM8, on paper it should but I couldn't find any pictures that showed exactly how well. My concerns were fairly well founded - it's a pretty tight fit. I'll probably have to stand it off the top of the case a few mil as one end tank is hard up against a captive nut. I have the 31mm vented top cover on its way with the replacement doors so there will be ample room for the fans pulling on top.
The WC loop will be cpu block, chipset blocks, gpu blocks x2, 480, 240, res, pump - just need to work out where to put everything - ideas gratefully received! (I'll raffle my spare AC3 and Metro Last Light codes off to those who've helped me along the way when I'm done, bribery>begging).
I'm considering chopping up the front 240 mount as I think I *may* be able to gain another drive bay slot if the 240 is sat on the floor. That way I could consider a double drive bay res which would mean I wouldn't have to drill holes to mount the Bitspower res which I really don't want to do...
That's about where I'm at for now. Pushed for time atm unfortunately. Not sure whether to mount the chipset blocks before the cpu block arrives or if that'll make fitting the latter harder. I'll hopefully remove one of the Titans from my 2600k box tomorrow and fit one of the blocks and the one backplate I have so far (leaving the other in my 2600k as long as poss before chucking my 580 back in it). And may be look at the chipset blocks if I have time.
Apologies for the massive amount of text thus far. For now - peace o/
