My ITX build + Main PC WC Rebuild

savagesam117 · 31 Aug 2015 at 14:16

Hey guys!

I'm going to have two kinda builds running through on this thread. One is my ITX build, nothing special, just thought i'd add it in as i'm rebuilding my main PC with a WC loop, properly this time!

The ITX Build:

The only reason i'm building this is because I won the case from OcUK at i55

Also all purchased from them too!

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N960OC-4GD) £154.99
1 x ASRock B85M-ITX Intel B85 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ITX Motherboard £65.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £59.99
1 x Intel Pentium K Anniversary G3258 Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £55.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TPKD38G1600HC11DC01) £44.99
1 x BitFenix Colossus M Mini ITX - Black £39.95
1 x Kingston 60GB SSDNow V300 Drive SATA 6Gb/s 3 2.5" (7mm height) Solid State Hard Drive - (SV300S37A/60G) £34.99
Total : £456.89 (includes shipping : Ex.VAT).

It's all done, up and running without the 960 though.

Main PC rebuild: All components staying the same just adding in a water cooling loop.

So the Spec of my PC is in my sig.

Here it is as it stands:

The loop parts:

YOUR BASKET
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-FC Titan X - Acetal+Nickel £89.99
1 x XSPC D5 Vario (Body + Screwring) £54.95
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-D5 X-RES 100 CSQ - Acetal £49.99
1 x XSPC EX280 Dual Fan Radiator £40.99
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-Supremacy MX £34.99
1 x MagiCool Copper Radiator III - 360 mm £32.99
2 x Monsoon 19/13mm (ID 1/2 OD 3/4) Free Center Compression Fitting Six Pack - Blue £24.95 (£49.90)
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-FC Titan X Backplate - Black £22.99
1 x Mayhems XT-1 150ml Clear Coolant £6.98
2 x Primochill Primoflex Advanced Tubing 19/13 - White £5.99 (£11.98)
Total : £395.75 (includes shipping : Ex.VAT).

I will be swapping out the normal tubing and going for hardline when funds allow and putting the gpu in the loop so it'll be finished hopefully by the end of the week but will be updated overtime to get it totally finished.

I didn't buy them fittings and res size out of choice, they were on the MM for cheap so i thought it's good enough to get me back into watercooling as my H105 is on it's last legs

savagesam117 · 31 Aug 2015 at 16:35

As I say nothing special.. Here are a few Pictures and it's all done now just installing windows.

The only thing i'm a little upset with is the PSU, even though it has no side panel, you can see the PSU has the sticker on it, the otherside has a nice pressed superflower logo which i'd like on this side but hey ho!

Teuton · 31 Aug 2015 at 17:06

Looks nice

, I love how cute Itx boards look next to graphics cards and coolers lol!

savagesam117 · 31 Aug 2015 at 17:18

Me too, it' so tiny! I just checked my bank balance and it's a lot worse than i thought so sadly the 960 is going to have to go back

In a way i'm kind of glad as i want to get one of them AMD Nano cards but thats for another month but for now, lets get overclocking the CPU

koolpc · 31 Aug 2015 at 17:29

Nice looking. For me though, ITX means small case too, etc etc. Still, the case was free so why not use it!!

savagesam117 · 31 Aug 2015 at 17:32

koolpc said:
Nice looking. For me though, ITX means small case too, etc etc. Still, the case was free so why not use it!!

I do agree, the case is huge for an ITX. As you say, it's free! The whole front of the case is free.

Although, I am going to put my 980Ti in there which will need the space when i strip my main computer as it'll be about a week or so for me to get it done so i can still play.

savagesam117 · 1 Sep 2015 at 20:07

I done a little last night and today at work.

The VRM heat sinks just unscrew from the board as I found out when stripping down the PC, so took them off ready for paint.

Also the top of the RAM came off so I'm going to give that a lick of paint. And the fan rings too as I gave my white ones to someone on the forum, oops :rolleyes:

Got some paining done today, need to finish it off and spray the SSD case.

*inserts picture here and realises its massive, and can't resize on my phone*

I got the rads and fans fitted last night too.

Some more bits should turn up tomorrow for me to get some bits done on Friday.

Teuton · 1 Sep 2015 at 20:29

Haha I know the feeling regarding looking at your bank balance!

Interested to see how the painting goes on mobo heatsinks as I might be interested on doing something similar on mine.

MrMD · 2 Sep 2015 at 00:36

Prob better to continue this here rather than the MM thread regarding your fan controller

You can get a little PCB board with upto 8 headers on it.All your fans plug into the PCB and the pcb connects into your CPU or system header via a standard 4pin cable.All the fans can then be controlled off the single header via the bios or Speedfan.The PCB's are powered by a molex connecter so you dont have to worry about drawing too much current through the motherboards fan header.

Just google 8 Way PWM and they will pop up,usually branded under swiftetch/phobya.

Theres versions for 3 pin fans aswell.

Edit: They are perfect for controlling rad fans

savagesam117 · 2 Sep 2015 at 00:47

As I've got some thing in my case which can power 8 fans via molex but can't plug it into the motherboard so they run at full power all the time. Is there anyway I could splice into that to make it work?

It goes molex > 3 pin fan > into the pcb which seems to power them all.

But I will have a look into those and see what I can come back with.

Swiftech do a nice Sata one.

Also, does anyone who has recently sleeved some cables have some black sleeve left over? I'd like to do my fans but can only seem to buy it in like 2m's and I don't need that much for 3 fans! I stupidly threw all mine away as I didn't think I'd need it again!

MrMD · 2 Sep 2015 at 01:09

Is it one of those Nzxt Grid thingys?

If it is they should have a method of hooking up to your mobo,they are internal USB i think?

What fans are you using? 3 pin or 4 pin pwm?

savagesam117 · 2 Sep 2015 at 20:57

No it's not, just some power board thing.

At the moment they are sp120's but they will be EK Vardars.

savagesam117 · 3 Sep 2015 at 13:05

A little update. I finished spraying the heatsinks, well I stupidly left the others at work in my tool box but hey ho. Looks much better in person than the picture.

Hopefully some more bits should turn up today so i can get more done. I miss my main PC

Little update for the ITX one, it got my 980Ti for a week or so.And i sense some major bottleneck! Well, on stock playing dirt rally max settings, CPU was at 90%, and sitting at about 90FPS. I usually get solid 144Fps with my 4790k. So it's doing well for itself!

savagesam117 · 4 Sep 2015 at 22:28

Some bits are starting to turn up now, CPU block, res and pump.

Got the block fitted, along with the heatsinks. Doesn't look too bad I don't think.

I'm now trying to figure out where to put the Res. I think this is the only real place for it. I can mount it to the back bit where the HDD slots are, and still have my SSD and HDD sitting in their proper places.

I'll have to buy a couple more fittings, a 90 degree or two so it can go back to the rad and then down from the top. Save having these bend all over the place.

Hopefully the tubing and drain port will be here tomorrow so i can actually see what extra fittings i'll need.

Also, would would be the best way to get rid of this blue stuff on the fittings?It comes off if it pick at it, I don't want to do that for 12 fittings! Maybe just put them in boiling water and it'll flake off?

*Edit*
Hot water worked, it falls right off

savagesam117 · 5 Sep 2015 at 23:11

I got home from work today to find another package which contained my tubing, drain port and a couple of other bits.

I started and found that the 280mm rad in the front was sitting too high and in this case they haven't put holes for a 140mm fan to be fitted down the bottom so after some measuring and some drilling I got one to fit down there so i could move the rad down.

Then I could start putting some tubing in, i have to say this 13/19mm stuff is really nice to work with, it bends into places i wouldnt have thought and looks good too.

Cleared the rest of the paint off the fittings, the inside fell off as i tightened them up.

Pump fitted, and secured.

And then everything plumbed in, not been filled up yet!

It looks much better than my last attempt!!

I need to get some white sleeve for my cables so i can switch out the red and then i'll have black and white. This won't be for a while as i hate it, unless there's anyone that wants do it for me?

I've had enough for tonight and im pretty tired so i'll probably mess something up.

What do you think so far?