OK, maybe you guys can help me think of a better name that isn't as corny... 
This is going to be a watercooled build using the new Ryzen chip, purple/dark UV themed. No sponsors but you guys can send me stuff if you desire
. It's going to be a fairly conservative budget for a WC loop, first time not on air and for me KISS principles apply.
Not an entirely new computer as I will be transferring the GPU, storage and PSU, with a new case, cooling loop, motherboard, RAM and CPU added in. Will also be getting a new desk to accommodate the second monitor that I will be adding at some point. Would like this to be quiet under load so I have a 360mm rad for the CPU which I can hopefully run quiet fans on.
Colour scheme is purple inside a gunmetal case, currently the plan is for CPU watercooling only, going to hang onto my R9 380 until Vega makes a showing before I start on any GPU loop.
Starting off with the case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro M Acrylic Titanium Grey
Front Panel off to remove drive cage so the radiator can be installed. The case comes with two 140mm fans which I possibly might use in the front of the case, but will be useless for the radiator as it requires 120mm fans. Still a nice addition, case is build very well as far as I can tell.
Front panel pulls off by hand easily if done right but hard enough that you couldn't accidentally knock it off, and the ODD cage removes via 4 screws.
Opened enough cases now to not have the panic moment of "where are my screws"
...packed away neatly in the HDD caddy.
The side panel is clear acrylic with a black tint on the edges to hide the case screws. It's gonna stay under the protective plastic until I'm done with everything else as it's bound to be a fingerprint or scratch magnet.
Radiator mount slides out after undoing 4 screws. This case supports up to 360mm rads in the front and top, but the front requires removal of the lower HDD bay which I feel I might require as I have a few HDD in my current PC. The top dust filter is also a simple magnetic job on the outside of the case so makes for far easier cleaning than the front one, which necessitates removal of the front fascia to access (like I said, it's easy to remove but the lazier cleaning the better).
PrimoChill 240mm CTR next to the radiator mount. Could have opted for a smaller res but I think this size will suit the case better.
Magicool 360mm Slim Radiator. Don't like extremely fat radiators that protrude far into the case, think this will be fine just for the CPU and I can always add a second radiator to the front if I need it for a GPU loop. It's at this point I realise my existing fans are 140mm so I will have to order some new 120mm ones. No radiator mounting fun can happen yet
The accessories that come with res. 2 mounting brackets, mounting bracket mounting screws, spare o-rings for the two main end caps, smaller o-rings for the supplied fittings - 4 metal plugs and two clear acrylic plugs with rubber sleeves so you can mount led lights onto the res. 4 1/4 inch fittings on each end of the res, for 8 total, so with all the supplied fittings attached you have 2 open holes for input and output. Going to wait for some UV LEDs to see how the light plays before I attach the two clear fittings to an end.
5mm LED should fit fine in the end cap when wrapped in the supplied rubber sleeve
A few nitpicks with quality on the res; supplied manual says that the tube has been laser cut, one end is smooth but the other looks like this... nothing a quick sanding won't solve but I get the feeling my piece might have been the end of the section of pipe they cut it out of. Regardless it was the last one I could find in stock anywhere and after testing for quite a while no leaks happen as the seal doesn't rest on the end of the pipe. Ignore what looks like scratches too, it smudges with fingermarks very easily.
After a bit of water testing
Second nitpick with the quality... the supplied brackets don't quite fit themselves properly. The ring piece is black acrylic while the block it clamps onto is metal. The hole in the acrylic isn't big enough for the supplied screw to fit through. This happened to both brackets. Again, because it's acrylic I can just bore the hole a little larger but surely a bit worrying if every one is supplied like this. Then again this is a fairly inexpensive res and not hugely popular so issues might not have come up. Anyway anything for the dank purp...
Next up, tubing; fairly thick tubing as it was the only option in this colour; 1/2 inch ID to 3/4 inch OD PrimoChill Primoflex Advanced LRT in Pearl UV purple. Matches the res colour very well.
Bitspower fittings in a dark titanium colour to fit it:
Excited but that's all I've got so far.
Things in the post :
This is going to be a watercooled build using the new Ryzen chip, purple/dark UV themed. No sponsors but you guys can send me stuff if you desire
. It's going to be a fairly conservative budget for a WC loop, first time not on air and for me KISS principles apply.Not an entirely new computer as I will be transferring the GPU, storage and PSU, with a new case, cooling loop, motherboard, RAM and CPU added in. Will also be getting a new desk to accommodate the second monitor that I will be adding at some point. Would like this to be quiet under load so I have a 360mm rad for the CPU which I can hopefully run quiet fans on.
Colour scheme is purple inside a gunmetal case, currently the plan is for CPU watercooling only, going to hang onto my R9 380 until Vega makes a showing before I start on any GPU loop.
Starting off with the case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro M Acrylic Titanium Grey
Front Panel off to remove drive cage so the radiator can be installed. The case comes with two 140mm fans which I possibly might use in the front of the case, but will be useless for the radiator as it requires 120mm fans. Still a nice addition, case is build very well as far as I can tell.
Front panel pulls off by hand easily if done right but hard enough that you couldn't accidentally knock it off, and the ODD cage removes via 4 screws.
Opened enough cases now to not have the panic moment of "where are my screws"
...packed away neatly in the HDD caddy.
The side panel is clear acrylic with a black tint on the edges to hide the case screws. It's gonna stay under the protective plastic until I'm done with everything else as it's bound to be a fingerprint or scratch magnet.
Radiator mount slides out after undoing 4 screws. This case supports up to 360mm rads in the front and top, but the front requires removal of the lower HDD bay which I feel I might require as I have a few HDD in my current PC. The top dust filter is also a simple magnetic job on the outside of the case so makes for far easier cleaning than the front one, which necessitates removal of the front fascia to access (like I said, it's easy to remove but the lazier cleaning the better).
PrimoChill 240mm CTR next to the radiator mount. Could have opted for a smaller res but I think this size will suit the case better.
Magicool 360mm Slim Radiator. Don't like extremely fat radiators that protrude far into the case, think this will be fine just for the CPU and I can always add a second radiator to the front if I need it for a GPU loop. It's at this point I realise my existing fans are 140mm so I will have to order some new 120mm ones. No radiator mounting fun can happen yet
The accessories that come with res. 2 mounting brackets, mounting bracket mounting screws, spare o-rings for the two main end caps, smaller o-rings for the supplied fittings - 4 metal plugs and two clear acrylic plugs with rubber sleeves so you can mount led lights onto the res. 4 1/4 inch fittings on each end of the res, for 8 total, so with all the supplied fittings attached you have 2 open holes for input and output. Going to wait for some UV LEDs to see how the light plays before I attach the two clear fittings to an end.
5mm LED should fit fine in the end cap when wrapped in the supplied rubber sleeve
A few nitpicks with quality on the res; supplied manual says that the tube has been laser cut, one end is smooth but the other looks like this... nothing a quick sanding won't solve but I get the feeling my piece might have been the end of the section of pipe they cut it out of. Regardless it was the last one I could find in stock anywhere and after testing for quite a while no leaks happen as the seal doesn't rest on the end of the pipe. Ignore what looks like scratches too, it smudges with fingermarks very easily.
After a bit of water testing
Second nitpick with the quality... the supplied brackets don't quite fit themselves properly. The ring piece is black acrylic while the block it clamps onto is metal. The hole in the acrylic isn't big enough for the supplied screw to fit through. This happened to both brackets. Again, because it's acrylic I can just bore the hole a little larger but surely a bit worrying if every one is supplied like this. Then again this is a fairly inexpensive res and not hugely popular so issues might not have come up. Anyway anything for the dank purp...
Next up, tubing; fairly thick tubing as it was the only option in this colour; 1/2 inch ID to 3/4 inch OD PrimoChill Primoflex Advanced LRT in Pearl UV purple. Matches the res colour very well.
Bitspower fittings in a dark titanium colour to fit it:
Excited but that's all I've got so far.
Things in the post :
- 120mm fans for the res so I can get that mounted
- UV Purple LEDs, which I might test with some non UV ones once I see how they are
- Tube cutters
- Pump, which is a chinese clone of a DDC style pump with clear acrylic top (Don't kill me
), it has more pipe mounting options than a similarly priced DDC from the UK, if it sucks I will bin it and buy a "real" pump from OCUK - MDPCX Sleeving - in the post, Vivid Violet colour, which should match the rest of the colourscheme
- Any actual electronic components (CPU, RAM, Mobo). Thinking of springing for the R7 1700 but going to wait a little longer until things become at little more stable with the boards
- CPU block, again no point ordering until I know the CPU for sure, if it's a 1700 then likely will be the Raystorm block
- I have distilled water and testing/sterilising kit
- Sure there is something else but I won't remember now
