Vidars first go at Water Cooling...

[Vidar]

So I've never done one of these project log thingies before, but after a couple of years of indecision I've finally gone and pulled the trigger on a tonne of gear. I totally blame @Space Monkey for this by giving me a really good deal on a load of fittings and then being a total gent and answering all my stupid questions! And anyone else who's given me some water cooling advice.

So this is my baby currently, forgive the dust I am overdue some maintenance! She looks a lot nicer in person, I promise.

The Specs are:

9900k @ 5GHz
32Gb 3200Mhz Aorus Ram
Z390 Aorus Master
Gigabyte 1080ti OC Black
Be Quiet! Silent Loop 360mm
3 120mm Silent Wing 3's High Speed PWM fans
3 140mm Silent Wing 3's High Speed PWM fans
Seasonic 750w Focus Gold PSU
Phanteks P600s in Grey.

The main reasons for this project are mainly that the Silent loop struggles to keep my temperatures under control, it constantly gets air locked and I've always fancied doing this and have way too much time on my hands being housebound!

So anyone who knows me, knows I don't do anything by halves, including breaking my leg. so I've gone big!

So thanks to Space Monkey, I got a load of fittings.

Lots of Water Cooling Fittings (for soft tubing):
15 x Barrow G1/4" Matte Black 3/8 ID x 5/8 OD Compression Fitting
7 x Barrow G1/4" Matte Black 45 Degree Rotary Adapter
6 x Barrow G1/4" Matte Black 90 Degree Rotary Adapter
19 x Monsoon MMRS Premium G1/4" Plug - Matte Black
1 x Phanteks Glacier Release Valve Fitting - Black
1 x Barrow G1/4" Matte Black T Adapter 3 Way
1 x Barrow G1/4" Matte Black Rotary Cuboid T (3 way) Fitting Adapter
1 x Bitspower G1/4" Stop Plug - Gunmetal
1 x XSPC 10mm M+M Adaptor - Gunmetal
1 x XSPC 5mm M+M Adaptor - Silver

Plus a load of extras like some tubing, cutters, psu jumper etc

@Awahwah Supplied me with a really good deal on a used EK Supremacy CPU block, Though I'm already tempted to swap this out for something new.

And this is where I descended in to absolute madness! And after plugging Space Monkey for as much advice as I could I ended up with the following being ordered.

I couldn't get them from Ocuk I went to a competitor for the first time in as long as I can remember and got myself 1 x Black Ice Nemesis 360mm GTS & 1 x Black Ice Nemesis 360mm GTR

Ocuk got the rest of my order as per usual...

My basket at [url=https://www.overclockers.co.uk]Overclockers UK:

• 2 x Mayhems Ultra Clear Watercooling Tubing (3/8 - 5/8) 16/10mm - 1m= £2.45
• 1 x Mayhems Ultra Pure H2O 5Ltr= £14.99
• 1 x EK Water Blocks Filling Bottle (1000mL)= £6.95
• 2 x Mayhems X1 Clear Premixed Watercooling Fluid 1L= £6.95
• 1 x EK Water Blocks EK-Cable Y-Splitter 3-Fan (10cm)= £2.99
• 1 x EK Water Blocks EK-UNI Pump Bracket (120mm FAN) Vertical= £13.99
• 3 x be quiet! Silent Wings 3 120mm PWM High Speed Fan= £19.99
• 1 x EK Water Blocks EK-Quantum Kinetic TBE 200 D5 PWM D-RGB Pump / Reservoir Combo - Plexi= £134.99
• 1 x CableMod ModMesh SATA 3 Cable 30cm - Burgundy= £6.95
• 1 x Official Overclockers UK Extreme Gaming Mug XL= £8.99
• 1 x Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut High Performance Thermal Paste - 1 Gramm= £4.99

Total: £273.61 (includes shipping: £0.00)​

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Obviously the most important items on the list being the XL Mug and the additional Sata cables cause that white one gets me so triggered every time I look at it.

The plan is to add the GPU to the loop, hence the two rads now. With new cards on the Horizon though I'm just not sure if I'm going to upgrade once released (I probably will) or track down a chinese full block for my awkward 1080ti and stick with that for the time being.

Hopefully all my gear gets here either Monday or Tuesday and I can get cracking!

If there's anything you think I've missed, other than the plot, or want to give me advice on the best way to set up my loop please do... I'd really appreciate it.

Will update with more pictures etc once things arrive.

 

[Vidar]

Got the T adapter if that's what you're meaning?

Yeah Space Monkey is a bad influence on me! haha

 

[Vidar]

I feel so very looked after right now!

 

[Vidar]

Just the bog standard 2 ports at one end, think the multi port one was sold out...

Oh no... I'll be taking no more expensive suggestions from you lot, least until next month my missus has already referred to tonights purchases as a *** repellent! lol

 

[Vidar]

Really not sure what to do over the GPU, track down a block for it and get it in the loop now, costing me around £100 more probably, well more cause I'll want it with a vertical bracket if I'm doing that... or wait for the 3000 series gpu's and decide then.

 

[Vidar]

Yeah they do seem really handy from what I've heard and it's something I might add at a later date, hell I've spent this much lol

 

[Vidar]

Give me a month or two I'll probably end up in a bigger case again as well lol

 

[Vidar]

It's only CPU temporarily and I really don't want to spend any more just now on a card that will likely be out of my system in a few months. Either way I'll be doing my loop once the parts arrive as I'm itching to get started.

Next round of upgrades for me will then be the GPU and getting it into the loop and swapping out my two drives for a large nvme and possibly swapping the CPU block and then hopefully I'll be done! At least for a good long while...

At least that's what I'm telling myself lol

 

[Vidar]

Next time the bug bites, I'm blocking Space Monkey until it subsides

My biggest problem is that being pretty much house bound and unable to do most other things without a lot of difficulty my PC in particular has become even more of a focus for me. I'm fortunate now any upgrades I want to do can be done in stages as opposed to all at once.

According to Linus the used prices of pc hardware could shoot up thanks to the corona virus as new hardware prices shoot up due to poor supply.

 

[Vidar]

Enough chat, where's the pics?

I know right.... Going to be tomorrow before I get the delivery

 

[Vidar]

Okay then guys, what's your thoughts on loop order?

 

[Vidar]

It's a pump res combo so should be fine then I guess, hopefully don't make a pigs ear of it...

Any last tips before I get stuck in?

 

[Vidar]

Quick pic of the post clean of the water block, didn't get a before pic but there wasn't really any gunk or anything, tiniest bit of residue...

Does it matter which way the fins are orientated or which way the plastic goes?

 

[Vidar]

Rads arrived at 9am.... the rest of my stuff not coming till 6pm ish! Gutted but at least the little one will be going to bed.

 

[Vidar]

Yeah I got a load of purified water from Ocuk to flush with, going to run tap through the rads first then the purified under advice from space monkey. Should have picked up some deionised too but not been out to get any. If I can't get it clean I'll go out tomorrow and get some.

Going to start stripping things down though

 

[Vidar]

So have had a pretty hectic day today, for me anyway. That and the majority of stuff arriving in the past 30 minutes or so means I haven't really been able to get started yet.

System tear down will start later tonight I think once the baby is in bed and not under my feet. The rest I'll start in the morning as soon as my de-ionised water arrives and I can flush properly!

Had a slight leak from one of the X1 bottles but not much at all. Got probably about 3 metres of tube in total so should be plenty...

Both excited and nervous at the same time.

@Awahwah Thanks for the block pal and for the advice of stripping it, it's interesting to see that there's different plates etc for optimising for different socket types. Never heard of that before.

 

[Vidar]

I'll bare that in mind, thank you mate

 

[Vidar]

I know, I just hope I don't make a mess of it...

 

[Vidar]

So have just been getting organised for tomorrow and just discovered this...

I've accidentally been sent the wrong tube size, the stuff on the left is what I need. The stuff on the right is what I got today.

 

[Vidar]

Sadly the collar from the compression fittings won't even fit on the tube