Mippie's second build and first loop! (no snazzy name)

Mippie · 2 Mar 2017 at 20:17

Hey,

So i have just taken the plunge and decided to do a brand new build to last me as long as possible into the future (my current system is approximately 5-6 years old at this point, is slow and starting to lag, as well as not being up to task for modern games).

So i have selected the below items and placed my order - i will be doing a new build for the first time in about 13 years and this will be my first custom water loop - all things being even this should all arrive on Sunday and i will likely begin shortly there after.

Cheers,
Mipps

BitFenix Spectre PRO 120mm Fan Red LED - Black
XSPC G1/4" T Fitting (Black Chrome)
EK Water Blocks EK-CoolStream SE 240 (Slim Dual) Radiator
EK Water Blocks EK-CoolStream SE 360 (Slim Triple) Radiator
EK Water Blocks EK-XRES 140 Revo D5 PWM (incl. pump)
Monsoon 13/10mm (ID 3/8 OD 1/2) Free Center Compression Fitting Six Pack - Black Chrome EK Water
Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Ultra Gaming Intel Z170 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard
EK Water Blocks EK-Supremacy EVO - Nickel
EK Water Blocks EK-FC1080 GTX - Nickel+Plexi
MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Aero 8192MB GDDR5X PCI-Express Graphics Card
Phanteks Enthoo Pro M Window Edition - Black Full Acrylic Side Window
Samsung 500GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E500B/EU)
EVGA SuperNova G2 750W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply
Corsair Vengeance LED 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Red LED Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail

HoneyBadger · 3 Mar 2017 at 08:26

Sounds good, your links are out of order, for example clicking on the graphics card brings up the case (good case by the way) and clicking on the water block brings up the GFX!

Have you purcahsed the GFX card? The 1080ti has just been released
Z170 board is 1st gen, you should look at the Z270 boards, more features for your money
Couldnt see a CPU listed - which one are you going for?
If budget allows, try to squeeze in a m.2 SSD boot drive to compliment the 500GB SSD you've chosen

Mippie · 3 Mar 2017 at 11:02

ah crappy formatting!

I have indeed purchased the card, unfortunately i was only able to push the budget this far due to not needing peripherals.

I have a second SSD which is in my current case that runs my operating system etc, so i will keen that in the box for this build also. I have gone for an i7-6700K 4.0Ghz Skylake processor

I will however take a look at a m.2 SSD Boot Drive and possibly add as a future element

Mippie · 3 Mar 2017 at 13:34

Things i learnt today - the wishlist does not store amounts and you should always ALWAYS check the order before submitting!

Aka i put my order in, then realised after the fact that i only had 1 of everything i had ordered multiples of.....DOH!!!!

Mippie · 7 Mar 2017 at 22:59

So I have received all my kit but had no chance to really start so no pics, literally just prepared the mobo, fitted the water blocks and stripped the case/test fitted the radiators. I am hoping to make some good progress this weekend.

So Newb question...how do you guys generally power the fans (I am putting more fans in this case than I have before, and obviously there are groups of them) do you still connect to the mobo or is there some other clever way of doing it?

Cheers all

HoneyBadger · 8 Mar 2017 at 09:38

I use a little NZXT pwm fan hub from an old case but you can buy them for £5-15.

Something like these:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/phanteks-pwm-fan-hub-ca-009-pt.html

Or

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/lamptron-sp501-pci-bracket-pwm-fan-hub-fg-002-lp.html

Mippie · 11 Mar 2017 at 14:36

So I've gone from the following box of bits:

To having a system mostly built and doing leak testing, I think it looks quite nice..but some advice please. There are a lot of little bubbles in the reservoir, and tips or will they just go away over time? For the extending test should I leave the plug on the top of the reservoir off or in.

I am a bit bummed about the drain plug, I couldn't really get it to work in any other way without kinks

Cheers Mipps

romeooscarbravo · 11 Mar 2017 at 15:02

With regards to the drain plug,just a thought if youre not using the space under the res maybe a 90degree fitting out of the res might allow you to hide it then have it come back up through the rubber gromit above the phanteks logo? Only problem would then be routing the power for the gpu in a different direction.
For the extended test leave it on as you want no extra air to get into it. Moving the case around e.g. tilting it will help but make sure youre happy with the fittings first. You should then see the amount of fluid go down in the res as it will replace the air in the loop. Thats when you should open it up and either fill up and repeat until it stops going down or until its at a level youre happy with. Mine is about half way FYI.

Mippie · 11 Mar 2017 at 17:02

Cheers for the pointers

Another stupid question...I have fans with led's, however in the boxes only some of the fans have a little connector but some don't...who would I raise a ticket with? OC or the manufacturer? Also when you have leds on fans where do you normally connect them? Is it on the mobo or other. Again sorry for the stupid questions not had led fans either before

romeooscarbravo · 11 Mar 2017 at 17:16

No worries pal, that case is great, I've never actually done a soft loop though went straight to hard loop and got lucky i guess however i spent like the best part of three weeks planning it.
I would contact OC if you got it from them first always go back to point of sale if anything is missing. OC service for me has always been second to none when I've had any issues.
You can connect the fans to the motherboard headers for fans, however if you want to group them i would suggest using the pwm hub on the rear of that case if it came with that like the evolv model.

Mippie · 11 Mar 2017 at 17:30

Thanks, do you mean in terms of the led's? Cause I will likely connect the actual fans to the mobo initially, I'm gonna get a pwm hub for ease...would the led's also connect to the pwm? I assume use cause they are a 2 pin connector

romeooscarbravo · 11 Mar 2017 at 17:33

it should work using the 3/4 pin connector only, the two pin is only to turn them on or off if you want.so effectively if you want them on all the time you don't need it. if i remember correctly.

Mippie · 11 Mar 2017 at 17:35

Ah phew! Okay I'll wait until I have connected the entire system before panicking

Mippie · 12 Mar 2017 at 16:55

SHE LIVES.....and surprisingly worked first time...the only annoying thing is that the mobo has a load of red leds that come on upon boot but then switch off...which is a shame cause they would really finish the look...I'm also gonna replace that rear stock fan soon.

Oh and the drain point looks **** cause it's too long

romeooscarbravo · 13 Mar 2017 at 20:33

Glad its all working. With regards to the board lights have you tried the bios it might have a setting to keep them on?

esK` · 14 Mar 2017 at 08:00

Cant the drain valve go through that grommet into the lower part of the case?

Mippie · 14 Mar 2017 at 20:31

Unfortunately no..with the tap turned to shut it's annoyingly the wrong orientation....although I could have used a shorted connection and just had it hand there....fml for hindsight

Mippie · 15 Mar 2017 at 07:30

Follow on question....my pump has a molex connector but also has a fan type connector which I have plugged into cpu opt fan on the mobo. Do I need both plugged in or is there no point? Does connecting the molex just mean the fan runs at max at all times like it did when leak testing?

Thanks,
Mipps

romeooscarbravo · 16 Mar 2017 at 01:33

The molex is for the power, and the fan is for the rpm connect it to a wpump header or fan1 header. Without this it will run at max, however if you want to adjust it you would still need to set up a profile otherwise it would still run at 100%