Project UnderOverStated - A 900D Watercooling Migration
- Thread starter Sin_Chase
- Start date
Soldato
Fast work, and some nice idle temps to boot 
Associate
Very nice! 
Ok, so, the rest of the project log!
Pre-Work Stuff
Decent Tools. Halfords Pro set has been totally invaluable. Best £100 I spent!
Partsssss, not a big a pile as some people as I have most of what I need hardware wise.
Radiator Flushing
I spent some time in many different shops looking for Distilled Water. Must have been into 5 or 6 Pharmacies and 3 hardware stores, the most I could find was de-ionised water. Finally, in an old-school chemist I found what I needed. Couple of quid for 2 x 5L bottles. A recurring theme in my purchasing decision is "Rather too much than not enough" As such 10 Litres it was!
Was going to use the kettle to boil but the amount of crap which builds up on the elements looked rather incompatible with a clear flush. Decided to boil it up in a nice clean pan. I flushed both radiators 3 times in total. My process was:
Fill rad to brim.
Plug Up
Shake it like Polaroid Picture
Half Empty
Shake again
Empty
Boiled.
Filled.
First Empty Debris.
Not too bad at all. The second flush netted far less debris, and the third was crystal clear.
Continued Case Prep
Cards/PSU removed.
Dead H100 Out.
H100 TIM Spread, not too bad. German Shepard Hair included!
CPU out and cleaned.
900D ships with all required motherboard stand-offs installed. Will get in the way of my tube res, so removed.
CPU and Block
CPU reinstalled with block backplate installed. I found, as with all custom CPU cooling solutions, that the instruction guide is wanting. Backplate orientation is not very clear/detailed in places and some guesswork is involved. 2 sets of stand-off screws are included. One for Socket 2011 and the others for everything else. Not distinguished on the part or in the guide. Have to squint eyes and work it out based on how much of the bolt is threaded and what length. Would be nice to see a 'Parts Included' section with labels and detailed pictures.
CSQ Block assembled with EK Compressions.
Blob method TIM application.
Please remove indeed. I'm not ashamed to admit I have left this barrier on before for a Heat sink application....it was totally clear! Honest.
Shiny....
..but not entirely perfect, no escaping the camera flash!
Installed, clean! Might need to get me some subtle LED lighting for the block. Thumbscrews have lockouts which is a nice touch. Also like how the bolt is obscured by the hollow on the thumbscrew itself.
Can just see the SP140 on the left acting as 900D rear exhaust, coloured ring is removed currently.
GPU and Block
The required T6 Torx Bit.
As sexy as the reference cooler is, off with yah. Standard thermal pads and a pretty decent TIM spread, compared to some I have seen.
EK supplied thermal pads. There were lines in the protective film but I could not get them to separate, could not tell if they were pre-cut...so I cut them along those lines anyway.
SKhynix VRAM modules.
Cleaned up and pads applied.
EK 780Ti FC block installed.
Res/Pump Combo
The Photon 270 with D5. Cables could use a braid and it would have been nice to see this out of the box for a product of this price/quality. For me not such an issue as I will be mounting the lower out of site. Seen next to the it is the removed rubber cable grommets from case in the location the Photon will go.
Where to put it.......
HERE! I was going to go for the drilled holes and bolted attachment. In the end I decided to KISS (Keep it simple stupid) and went with Velcro. Rated for 25KG and cheap, reversible and easy to install. Once that tube is on it is VERY VERY VERY hard to pull off. As you can see the pre-installed motherboard stand-offs were going to foul this placement. The tube clears the cable management clips however.
and stuck on:
Rad Install
480 with SP120s up top. Fans pulling from inside the case and exhausting out top. Not making use of the top air filter drawing in but wanted to work with natural convection rather than against it.
480 with SP120s down below, on the windowed side of 900D. Pulling air from outside of the case/filter and out the other side. Note: the compression fitting installation seen on the base of the res will change:
Tubing
Photon Output to GPU Input:
GPU Output to CPU Input:
Very quickly decided to soften the tubing ends with boiled water. Without doing so it's very hard to get them over the compressions fully. Also seen to the left is my rubber PSU noise/vibration dampener. How effective it is? No idea. but for £3 is worth a punt. Sits between the case and PSU when bolted on, a little thin though.
Tubing finished. CPU Output to Top 480, Top 480 down back of motherboard tray to Bottom 480 then back up to Photon Input (with revised fitting placement)
Tube down the back of the motherboard tray. Cable tied down and fed to the Lower 480. The Lower 480 is orientated so that the fittings are at the front of the case. Be careful not to tighten the cable ties too tightly as it will pinch the tubing. Can also see the 2 into 1 3 Pin fan cabling that runs back to the Lamptron FC2 Fan Controller. Each rad has 2 banks of 2 x Fans into 1 Controller Channel. 2 front mounted 120MM fans and the single rear 140MM into 1 Controller Channel each. 4 channels dedicated to rads, and 1 each for the front/rear fans.
Filling/Leak Test
Polyroll to the rescue. Lots of! PSU left outside of the case to be extra careful.
Funny, loads of my packages came with PSU Bridging Tools! Stripped cable tie with bent over ends, works fine! Lack of coloured wire makes this interesting though. Had to pull up a 24 Pin ATX Wiring diagram and work out which pins to short.
Liquid Coolant! The Mayhems bottles are perfect for filling the res using the nozzle ends. The Photon has anti turbulence baffles at both ends, if you fill too fast with a funnel you are asking for troubles with spillage. The fine stream and controlled pouring the Mayhems nozzle provides is ideal.
Mhhhm, glass.
The system bled pretty quickly but had some trouble spots. Most notably the GPU block and the upper section of the CPU block. Moving around a full 900D is a workout in itself but eventually can get the bubbles to clear, the major ones anyway. I found bleeding the rest of the systems first before trying to work out those CPU block ones the best way. The Photon res is not the best in helping with bleeding. The lower baffle can sometimes trap bubbles which then get moved straight back out of the Output of the pump.
QDCs and Drain Lines
On the left is the front of the case. Here you can see the Female Koolance QDC3 on the end of the rear of motherboard tray tubing. In the background you can see the Male G1/4 threaded QDC3 direction in the Lower 480 Rad in the bottom most fitting thread. Once these two are disconnected I can connect my drain line to the lowest point of the loop in the rad, and from tubing run behind the motherboard tray.
One of the drain lines with the sexy sexy QDC3s.
Lower Rad QDC3 Threaded fitting close up. Illustrates why the front lower 120MM case fan and brackets needs to be removed.
Oww my back
Sound Card and Capture card re-installed and case MANHANDLED(TM) back to it's home on the desk. Cheap and cheerful but effective additional noise dampening is seen under the case feet. Some power tool sound/vibration dampening mat cut up and placed under.
Bubbles still slowly working their way out.
Wanted a way to keep an eye on my loop levels to make sure I am not losing coolant somewhere. Packing Tape Coolant Level Meter, Patent Pending.
And a couple of complete shots, The Man Corner.
Pre-Work Stuff
Decent Tools. Halfords Pro set has been totally invaluable. Best £100 I spent!
Partsssss, not a big a pile as some people as I have most of what I need hardware wise.
Radiator Flushing
I spent some time in many different shops looking for Distilled Water. Must have been into 5 or 6 Pharmacies and 3 hardware stores, the most I could find was de-ionised water. Finally, in an old-school chemist I found what I needed. Couple of quid for 2 x 5L bottles. A recurring theme in my purchasing decision is "Rather too much than not enough" As such 10 Litres it was!
Was going to use the kettle to boil but the amount of crap which builds up on the elements looked rather incompatible with a clear flush. Decided to boil it up in a nice clean pan. I flushed both radiators 3 times in total. My process was:
Fill rad to brim.
Plug Up
Shake it like Polaroid Picture
Half Empty
Shake again
Empty
Boiled.
Filled.
First Empty Debris.
Not too bad at all. The second flush netted far less debris, and the third was crystal clear.
Continued Case Prep
Cards/PSU removed.
Dead H100 Out.
H100 TIM Spread, not too bad. German Shepard Hair included!
CPU out and cleaned.
900D ships with all required motherboard stand-offs installed. Will get in the way of my tube res, so removed.
CPU and Block
CPU reinstalled with block backplate installed. I found, as with all custom CPU cooling solutions, that the instruction guide is wanting. Backplate orientation is not very clear/detailed in places and some guesswork is involved. 2 sets of stand-off screws are included. One for Socket 2011 and the others for everything else. Not distinguished on the part or in the guide. Have to squint eyes and work it out based on how much of the bolt is threaded and what length. Would be nice to see a 'Parts Included' section with labels and detailed pictures.
CSQ Block assembled with EK Compressions.
Blob method TIM application.
Please remove indeed. I'm not ashamed to admit I have left this barrier on before for a Heat sink application....it was totally clear! Honest.
Shiny....
..but not entirely perfect, no escaping the camera flash!
Installed, clean! Might need to get me some subtle LED lighting for the block. Thumbscrews have lockouts which is a nice touch. Also like how the bolt is obscured by the hollow on the thumbscrew itself.
Can just see the SP140 on the left acting as 900D rear exhaust, coloured ring is removed currently.
GPU and Block
The required T6 Torx Bit.
As sexy as the reference cooler is, off with yah. Standard thermal pads and a pretty decent TIM spread, compared to some I have seen.
EK supplied thermal pads. There were lines in the protective film but I could not get them to separate, could not tell if they were pre-cut...so I cut them along those lines anyway.
SKhynix VRAM modules.
Cleaned up and pads applied.
EK 780Ti FC block installed.
Res/Pump Combo
The Photon 270 with D5. Cables could use a braid and it would have been nice to see this out of the box for a product of this price/quality. For me not such an issue as I will be mounting the lower out of site. Seen next to the it is the removed rubber cable grommets from case in the location the Photon will go.
Where to put it.......
HERE! I was going to go for the drilled holes and bolted attachment. In the end I decided to KISS (Keep it simple stupid) and went with Velcro. Rated for 25KG and cheap, reversible and easy to install. Once that tube is on it is VERY VERY VERY hard to pull off. As you can see the pre-installed motherboard stand-offs were going to foul this placement. The tube clears the cable management clips however.
and stuck on:
Rad Install
480 with SP120s up top. Fans pulling from inside the case and exhausting out top. Not making use of the top air filter drawing in but wanted to work with natural convection rather than against it.
480 with SP120s down below, on the windowed side of 900D. Pulling air from outside of the case/filter and out the other side. Note: the compression fitting installation seen on the base of the res will change:
Tubing
Photon Output to GPU Input:
GPU Output to CPU Input:
Very quickly decided to soften the tubing ends with boiled water. Without doing so it's very hard to get them over the compressions fully. Also seen to the left is my rubber PSU noise/vibration dampener. How effective it is? No idea. but for £3 is worth a punt. Sits between the case and PSU when bolted on, a little thin though.
Tubing finished. CPU Output to Top 480, Top 480 down back of motherboard tray to Bottom 480 then back up to Photon Input (with revised fitting placement)
Tube down the back of the motherboard tray. Cable tied down and fed to the Lower 480. The Lower 480 is orientated so that the fittings are at the front of the case. Be careful not to tighten the cable ties too tightly as it will pinch the tubing. Can also see the 2 into 1 3 Pin fan cabling that runs back to the Lamptron FC2 Fan Controller. Each rad has 2 banks of 2 x Fans into 1 Controller Channel. 2 front mounted 120MM fans and the single rear 140MM into 1 Controller Channel each. 4 channels dedicated to rads, and 1 each for the front/rear fans.
Filling/Leak Test
Polyroll to the rescue. Lots of! PSU left outside of the case to be extra careful.
Funny, loads of my packages came with PSU Bridging Tools! Stripped cable tie with bent over ends, works fine! Lack of coloured wire makes this interesting though. Had to pull up a 24 Pin ATX Wiring diagram and work out which pins to short.
Liquid Coolant! The Mayhems bottles are perfect for filling the res using the nozzle ends. The Photon has anti turbulence baffles at both ends, if you fill too fast with a funnel you are asking for troubles with spillage. The fine stream and controlled pouring the Mayhems nozzle provides is ideal.
Mhhhm, glass.
The system bled pretty quickly but had some trouble spots. Most notably the GPU block and the upper section of the CPU block. Moving around a full 900D is a workout in itself but eventually can get the bubbles to clear, the major ones anyway. I found bleeding the rest of the systems first before trying to work out those CPU block ones the best way. The Photon res is not the best in helping with bleeding. The lower baffle can sometimes trap bubbles which then get moved straight back out of the Output of the pump.
QDCs and Drain Lines
On the left is the front of the case. Here you can see the Female Koolance QDC3 on the end of the rear of motherboard tray tubing. In the background you can see the Male G1/4 threaded QDC3 direction in the Lower 480 Rad in the bottom most fitting thread. Once these two are disconnected I can connect my drain line to the lowest point of the loop in the rad, and from tubing run behind the motherboard tray.
One of the drain lines with the sexy sexy QDC3s.
Lower Rad QDC3 Threaded fitting close up. Illustrates why the front lower 120MM case fan and brackets needs to be removed.
Oww my back
Sound Card and Capture card re-installed and case MANHANDLED(TM) back to it's home on the desk. Cheap and cheerful but effective additional noise dampening is seen under the case feet. Some power tool sound/vibration dampening mat cut up and placed under.
Bubbles still slowly working their way out.
Wanted a way to keep an eye on my loop levels to make sure I am not losing coolant somewhere. Packing Tape Coolant Level Meter, Patent Pending.
And a couple of complete shots, The Man Corner.
Last edited:
Soldato
Very sexy
Soldato
Nice. Must start getting mine together.
How do you get Heaven to display that? I just downloaded it and ran it, let it run the scene with your settings three times, no benchmark, it seems in the basic edition there is no benchmark?
From what I got from MSI and the in game temp however, your score is about the same as mine, hovering around 70fps however both cores were at 82degrees!!!
From what I got from MSI and the in game temp however, your score is about the same as mine, hovering around 70fps however both cores were at 82degrees!!!
Very nice! Glad you got the GPU sorted
270 Photon fits perfectly in 900D. I gave up trying to fit one in a Switch 810, only place I could mount it and get the sides of the case on was wedged at a 45 degree angle at the front. A bit too ghetto looking so grabbed an X-Res 140 instead.
270 Photon fits perfectly in 900D. I gave up trying to fit one in a Switch 810, only place I could mount it and get the sides of the case on was wedged at a 45 degree angle at the front. A bit too ghetto looking so grabbed an X-Res 140 instead.
Associate
- Joined
- 8 Jan 2012
- Posts
- 668
Very nice looking build, just starting on my 900D as well.
Last edited:
Man of Honour
That looks very good.
With that quad rad fitted in the top do you lose the use of the top drive bay?
How many holes do you need to drill to fit the XSPC D5 Photon 270 Reservoir/Pump Combo?
Where did you get the velcro?
With that quad rad fitted in the top do you lose the use of the top drive bay?
How many holes do you need to drill to fit the XSPC D5 Photon 270 Reservoir/Pump Combo?
Where did you get the velcro?
Yes, lose top optical bay, for a full length device but my Fan controller still clears.
If you wanted to drills holes for the res you could drill 4 in total should you wish, but would likely get away with 2. I drilled no holes.
I bought the sticky back velcro from B&Q, turns out the width I bought was perfect for the res mounting plate.
If you wanted to drills holes for the res you could drill 4 in total should you wish, but would likely get away with 2. I drilled no holes.
I bought the sticky back velcro from B&Q, turns out the width I bought was perfect for the res mounting plate.
Some braided cables ad coloured coolant will add some great looks to this build
Cheers, holding off on committing to any colour yet. I might upgrade from the 2600k once Haswell-E makes an appearance. Then would be the time to possibly go from neutral to a coloured scheme depending on what hardware I get then.
Associate
Do you actually need the fans running with 2 x 480's
Man of Honour
Associate
Like the look of that glowing res, might have to indulge in one for a future build