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Matutu

Matutu

Matutu

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Joined
21 Aug 2008
Posts
956
Well its time to return!

My last PC building was circa 2005 when World of Warcraft was my go to game. The rig was a watercooled system using Radeon Crossfire which had only just came out and was still having a lot of teething issues. However it increased the E-Peen!

Fast forward until 2010 I quit Wow, I had no time on my hands and work ruled. I dabbled in some Xbox and PS gaming, however nothing major.

Now in 2021 I run my own company therefore a lot of stress and I find if I don't have some sort of side project, I get overwhelmed, so I thought after watching a few Youtube Videos, why not build another PC.

So jumping right in and 3 weeks later this lot arrived.....



Needless to say having never done hardline this will be abit of a challenge but I wanted something to keep me busy.

First issue was that I wanted to keep the theme of white/grey/dash of blue from the custom cables from Cablemod (due soon). The GFX was all black the backplate and all, really upset me, I thought I could ignore but I couldnt. So this opened a can a worms....




Removing the backplate I found this to my horror, there was no thermal pads but this awful putty stuff, which had worked its way into every nock and cranny of the circuits. The front was all normal pads so nice and east. The rear took 3 hours of tooth picks, isopropyl alcohol and a lot of patience, however was pleased how it finally came out.




This then allowed me to spray the parts white and the backplate im happy with, the front block is being re-done as it wasn't as nice as I wanted.


So overall not bad, dabbled abit with tube bending, however the major problem I have is from the front Rad down to the pump return, its to far for a 90 elbow but not far enough for a radius turn.... FFS. Therefore something needs to be done here, unsure what yet.


Will try and keep this updated.
 
I keep ordering new fittings all the time, they certainly add up! I find also the fitment of the 14mm into the sockets extremely tight, even with deburring.

Pleased with how this came out after all really.


Going to re-build later today.
 
Really pleased with how the graphics card came out.

Now working on some tubing, im thinking of a pass through in the base just because I love self torture it seems!

CPU pipework, im happy with the intake, however the outlet unsure, something just seems off, maybe a few degrees on the mid turn? Unsure. So hard turning when you have to guestimate etc.




 
Okay some more work done today. God hardline is frustrating, I now have a box called the tube grave.....

Pretty happy with things currently, I ended up doing a pass through as a feature which I'm really pleased with, think it will look quite cool.






Majorly not happy with this though... :mad::mad:


Cant think of any other way of doing it, if I try and throw it out into the case then dog leg back on itself, its to tight radius bends which looks like a curve and im going to right angles......
 
Thanks dude.
Did consider changing the pump etc. However want to keep to this for now as I know I’ll be most likely changing the motherboard etc soon. So I’ll change it then :)

Think I’m going to try and throw it out into the case and then back around and see how it looks.
So far I keep making pipes which fit. Then changing my mind as my OCD kicks in and it’s 2mm out lol
 
Well I have spent the last few days having the odd 30minutes here and there between work, mainly I have been making a section, finishing the section. The realising my OCD couldnt stand that the spirit bubble in the level was ever so slightly off and then remaking said bit.....

Result..........


However finally I am happy with the loop, for the return I ended up going with the option to throw it out into the system, I did this as I think it goes well with the left hand side and adds abit of symmetry to the system. Everything is spot on level and lined up.




Then I did a pressure test tonight.... over 30mins it lost 0.1bar...... FFS :mad::mad::mad: So its now going to be a long task of trying to track down the issue.
 
Well after 2 hours of checking every O ring, using soapy water etc etc I found nothing..... Couldnt understand it.

Then I thought I would do a test, I just plug'd the end of the test regulator and tiny bit of pressure and low and behold, it start to drop.

Submerging the whole unit in water showed a pin leak on the regulator connection. Getting all my tools out, cracking the item open and abit of PTFE tape etc, all perfect.

Tested this morning for 2 hours and not a single PSI drop :D:D:D

Pleased however would prefer EK's QC be abit better!

Now to test boot the system and then wire control, considering there is 11 fans, pumps and RGB's, 2 ICUE controllers, there is a lot!
 


Well that was a panic!

Test boot, plugged in all cables, including the some of the custom ones for ease. Pressed power.... red light VGA error, no display no boot.

Oh FUC*, the GFX card is the item I had to scrubbed and scrapped all that crappy paste off, needless to say I was immediately filled with dread! I checked everything same issue, I then got my current PC ripped the 8 year old GFX card out and tried that.... booted first time.

I was already on the XFX website looking at returns, however as I had already taken the card apart to paint, I was unsure if I could even pay for a repair! or if they would just say buy another.

Was just about to sign up when in the corner of my eye I noticed the BIOS selector switch was in the middle...... switched it to the left and plugged all back in and it WORKED! Thank the lord, literally have had beads of sweat dripping from my brow.

So all now unplugged and now comes the fun cable management side.

Think I am going to flush the system before filling just to ensure all trace debris is gone, have gone for EK solid.
 
Well looking good so far, leak tested etc. Cable management however, just send help lol.

Front all wired up.

However rear..... So many that I need to spread them to allow the door to close.
 
System is filled with De-Ionised water for final wet test.



Ill then leave this now for the day until tonight, check it all, if okay ill blow the final bits of water out with my air compressor, finish wiring and then fill with my final fluid.
 
im4gine3 said:
Fair enough.. I have around 5m of frosted tubing and about 3m of petg tubing to play with (joys of going on a shopping spree on aliexpress).. not sure if that's enough lol
Click to expand...

Think I used 10metres, however im very OCD, so literally a mm out and it was scrapped.
 
Haz123 said:
Beautiful build.

Favourite part is the white backplate. Did you not consider spraying the IO shield and VRM heatsinks as well ?
Click to expand...
Thanks. I did consider it, however because the MB is black thought it might just break up the all white.
Same as the back PCI covers, kept them grey just to keep abit of colour breakup.
 
Well the old one is out :D

In to where it belongs on the desk, just fits!

Quite pleased and love the IQUE system with the different lighting styles and fan control profiles. Just waiting on the IQUE desk pad now.




 
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