New Corsair 900D Build, first WC attempt, assistance would be appreciated!

Tk-421

Tk-421

Tk-421

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Hi everyone,

I'm currently in the process of building my new Haswell machine. This will be my first attempt at water-cooling and I would love some input.

Currently I am still undecided over the mobo, but I have all the other machine components.

What I need help with is the water-cooling parts I am choosing and some general guidance to create an awesome looking but silent machine.

So far the parts I am interested in are;

Pump - Laing 18W DDC-Pump 12V DDC 3.25 - ULTRA PERFROMANCE - 900lph
CPU block - EK Supremacy Elite
GPU block - Ek GTX 680
Res - EK-RES X3 250 Reservoir
Rad - Either a EK Coolstream XTX (480) or Thermochill
Fans - Corsair SP120 x4 (for Rad)
Tubing - Either Primochill Primoflex Advanced Tubing 16/10 or XSPC HighFlex
Fittings - Bitspower Silver Plated?

Now I am quite particular about aesthetics, and I was originally going for a UV reactive fluid, then I started reading more about parts clogging/life expectancy, tube clouding and extra maintenance. This pushed me towards using distilled water and coloured tubing instead, however as I have chosen a tube res, wouldn't this look a bit pointless?

I selected the silver plated fittings to act as the antibacterial and antifungal agent.

Sorry for long post, wanted to give you guys as much info as possible, will be providing images as build progresses.

Any input would be greatly appreciated! :)
 
UV tubing? LEDs in the reservoir? Worked for me :)

Then there are these too.

As for the antibacterial stuff etc, maybe just get some Mayhems X1 (or equivalent) and save the faff?
 
Ha, you know I only spotted that new XSPC Res today and didn't really give it the thought it deserved. After seeing those LED images though, hmm, this could be a possibility ;)

I've been going back and forth over the clear fluid and UV reactive tubing or clear tubes and UV fluid for ages now.

Thanks for your input mate!

Any further advice on my parts list is always welcome.
 
Go with the xspc cpu block looks rather tasty in my 900d :)

Also why not get both uv reactive fluid and tube? Then you could keep the tube res.
 
I must admit I am kinda set on my EK CPU block :), as for the UV fluid and tubing, would that mean just getting clear UV reactive tubing?

Originally I was thinking of getting this Primochill tubing.
 
Ah man, I think i'm so spoilt for choice its doing my head in.

In terms of Res, the new LED XSPC photon is now leading the way, plus it's glass which should add to the clarity. (thanks to Uncle Petey for that btw).

Clear UV tubing, will have to be XSPC, as primochill don't seem to have a clear UV in the advanced LRT range.

Then i'm either going for a decent premixed fluid or DI with a dye bomb. I know a lot people use Mayhems but I keep hearing, or reading, issues with their products with certain tubes among other things. Any recommendations?

...Or just DI and Blue UV tubing with the photon Res to start with, argh! :confused:
 
*LOL* now you understand where the addiction to water cooling comes from.
Pick an option and go with it, tubing and coolant can always be swapped out later when you fancy a change. I don't know about any issues per say with Mayhems coolants, except with their Aurora range which is mainly a short term "display" coolant.
I'm about to do my fist loop, and I'll be going with a Mayhems clear blue uv dye in standard clear tubing so I can swap between a coloured led setup and a uv one
 
LOL tubing and coolant can always be changed, yeah if you have the time to drain the loop, rinse it through and undo all the barbs and rebuild everything and go for another set of leak testing :)

Nothing is fast in watercooling, take your time, have a look around and make the decision you are happy with from the start, it will save you so much time and effort than changing it when you are halfway through.
 
Hakanese said:
at least with that case he has the option to fit in more rads as he pleases
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I doubt he will be needing X2 480 rads + 240 unless she has a extreme build consisting of a dual socket system plus 4 titans. 99% of 900D builds have a load of unused space.
 
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mjones1 said:
I think it's really stupid to buy the 900D just to use a single 480 rad, complete waste of space.
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Wow, firstly, really helpful, secondly, it seemed rather silly to buy the 800D when the 900 had just been released.

I haven't had a new case for over ten years, my ATCS Coolermaster did me proud. However, after a while I was extremely restricted with new builds with that case. So excuse me for treating myself to a future-proof ideal, I never said I was going to have only one 480 Rad in it for the rest of time!

Opinions are always welcome, but I found your comment unhelpful, derogatory and honestly rather obtuse.

Thank you to everyone else who has taken the time to give me some input regarding this build. :)
 
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It will look a little empty, but so what? You'll have all the expansion room you'll ever need and plenty of space to work with for this and whatever you build next.

I think it's a solid investment. Who cares if you're not making the most of it right now with a ton of rads, quad GPUs and dual reservoirs etc? :)
 
Tk-421 said:
Then i'm either going for a decent premixed fluid or DI with a dye bomb. I know a lot people use Mayhems but I keep hearing, or reading, issues with their products with certain tubes among other things. Any recommendations?
Click to expand...

I'm using mayhems X1 UV blue and xspc clear UV tubing and did a lot of research before going that route. Any soft tubing long term does seem to degrade and leak plasticiser no matter what coolant is used, so as long as you work on the basis of changing coolant and tubing every 12 months or so you'd be fine (and lets face it, we all probably fiddle too much for a loop to last any longer than that anyway...).

A lot of people swear by distilled water, kill coils etc, but in my mind at least with a pre-mix it has been tested with most configurations and you have a certain amount of comeback with the manufacturer. It's also simple, nothing else to worry about in your loop, no mixing you could get wrong and cause issues. I'd really not suggest mixing methods, I've read some real horror stories about people using all of the above, i.e. pre-mix with kill coils and other dyes rom different manufacturers etc... Then you could really damage/ clog your blocks.

Long term I'm probably going to go primochill rigid tube and then you don't have to worry about it so much as apparently rigid tube doesn't have the same issues (but even so mayhems recommend changing coolant every twelve months...).


E-I
 
Evil-I said:
E-I
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+1

primochill advanced seems to be popular/get good reviews atm, xspc clear is fine too (I'm using xspc blue uv and cant fault it) . if you're changing it every 12 months as recommended, then i guess you cant really go wrong.
Premix is so much simpler, its a no brainer imo. all the testing and risk has been sorted out for you. no need to worry about any nasties, bad ph levels or whatever. personally i'd go for the x1 over dye bomb (having used both)
 
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Some people just gotta be snide on other people's purchases.
I do have to admit after filling a Phantom Enthusiast full to the point of bursting.. I understand why the OP opted for a humongous case. I'd have gone for one too, if I could afford all the goodies I'd want to put in it.
Enjoy your case and your build mate.
 
I have an 800d but I would love a 900d, such a dream case. Who cares if you dont fill it up stragiht away. I find high end cases will last a decent amount of time anyway. My CM Stacker lasted around 6 years.

If it lasts you a long time its great because any future upgrade you do wont have an issue going into that case.
 
Just a quick question, would it be prudent to wait until I have all of my WC components before build, or breadboard main machine to check parts.

I don't really see the sense in building it twice if that makes sense?
 
Well you definitely need to test each component individually.

Especially gfx cards etc before you invalidate the warranty by pulling the air cooler off :-)

I built mine up/ tested with DI water, drained, tweaked a couple of things then filled with the mayhems once happy.
 
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