Water Cooled - Fractal Design Node 804 - Devils Canyon

Nickonthenet

Nickonthenet

Nickonthenet

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Joined
12 Oct 2014
Posts
26
Location
West Midlands, UK.
Hi everyone, this is my first post and my first water cooled PC build!
-Please feel free to offer up any encouragement or advice that you have :)

My objective for the build is a small form factor pc with some oomph. I enjoy gaming, no surprises there, and have Oculus Rift DK2 on order -woop! I also plan to work with 3d rendering/printing, some audio and video as part of my work.

I hope to create something that looks good and performs very well while being quiet. Of course I'll be overclocking, but nothing major to begin with.

Onto the build...

My Spec:
  • Fractal Design Node 804
  • ASUS Maximus VII Gene
  • Intel 4790k
  • Corsair Vengeance 16Gb 2400Mhz
  • Crucial M.2 240Gb SSD
  • Seagate 2TB Hybrid HD
  • ASUS GTX 980 Ref Design
  • Corsair RM1000
    -packing a fair bit more power than necessary here as I plan to SLI in the nearish future, and may take the leap to Haswell-E in couple years.
  • ASUS AC1900 dual band wifi
  • Black Braided Cabling
  • White LED lighting

Water Cooling:
  • XSPC Raystorm
  • 2x Hardware Labs ICE GTS-Lite 240
  • 4x Noctua F12
  • 1x Corsair SP120
  • 1x Corsair AF140
  • Aquatube Delrin Res Black
  • Aquastream XT Pump
  • Aquaero 5 LT
  • 12x Monsoon 10/16mm Free Centre Matt Black Fittings
  • 1x Koolance 60' swivel Fitting
  • 1x Koolance 90' swivel Fitting
  • Monsoon Quick Disconnect
  • 10/16mm Orange Primochill Primoflex tube
  • Mayhems Pastel White
    -unusual choice here. As the tube is orange, the only place you'll see the liquid is in the Res, which will be lit using the Aquaero RGB LED, which gives a quick visual indication of temperature.

Now for the tech porn...please excuse the quality of the some of the images, the lightings not ideal and I've been too excited to sort that out! :P
 
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The Fractal Design Node 804! A beautiful case IMO, and so far has been a pleasure to work with.

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Stuff. Lots of expensive stuff! Hopefully the case will be a tardis...it will fit, I'm a bit OTT when it comes to measuring.

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Fittings, disco's and sensors...turns out I'm using the AquaComputer inline sensors now.

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Monsoon Matt black Fittings! I'm planning a clean build, but these add a little 'bling'!

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EK Nickel Water block on the Ref Design ASUS GTX 980...installation was a little nervous, but all seems well. I used the Gelid GC-Extreme thermal paste on both CPU and GPU here, warmed in hot water to make it easier to use. This card was incredible when we tested it!

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The small form-factor of the case really limited my possibilities here. The Hardware Labs GTS-LITE made everything possible, even then turns out its still pretty close getting the GPU in there!

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So the airflow plan is a simple one...in at the front, extract at the back, with the top clear for any heat that wants out thata way. If necessary I can get some more fans in the top on either side, just not sure its necessary atm, and wouldn't be quite as aesthetic.

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Test fitting...all seems well at this point!

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Raystorms in, again using the Gelid GC-Extreme paste. Here I'm fitting the M.2 SSD. This was new tech to me, amazingly small and helped make things easier in the small node.

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All done on the Mobo. Got the sound card that comes with the ASUS M7G in there too just between the SSD and CPU.

*I'm just gonna sort through some of the other images and upload in a while*
 
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Cheers DynoDaz, put a lot of effort into getting this right, specs and visually...just resizing the images now to display better! Give me 10 minutes :)
 
Lets continue...

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This is where I'll be mounting the AQ Delin Res. It'll be lit by an RGB Led that varies with temperature so wants to be visible through the case window. The tubing-routing I have planned should make this an interesting and also well-functional feature! Its close to the rad, but I hope will not hold too much heat.

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First then, I need to make some custom mounts for the Res and Aquaero seen here. I thought using mesh would help with airflow. Easy to work with too.

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Heres the finished Aquaero mount in the HD bay...I've chosen to abandon this method as the bay takes up too much space when considering all the cabling...but the basic idea works!

Also here you can see the Aquastream pump, which conveniently aligns with the cable-hole at the bottom of the case divide. Its a little close to the rad, but space is premium in this case.

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Same method for the Res mount in the case front, but this time it will hang from the case top.

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Finished the Res mount and paint applied...happy with this!

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Test fitting the Res...its a slightly awkward location. Not only that but I want to mount it upside down so the outlet is underneath it. Requiring some careful thought about filling. This is where the 'Koolance 90' and 60'' fittings come into play. The Delrin res has recessed ports further complicating things as they limit the size of adapters. The Koolance are smaller than most, and should fit. The 90' will provide a fill port with access through the case top using a threaded funnel. While the 60' will help navigate around the RAM at the rear. These should be the only angled adapters required in the build, to help maintain good flow in the system.

*Thats all brackets made, tubing-routing planned. I can start now to mount the components* :D
 
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First in the MObo, followed by GPU...its close, very close. My measurements were off somewhere, I thought I had 5mm to spare...

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I didn't, theres about 2 mm between the GPU coverplate and Rad...I hope this'll be ok...?

Also close, was the coverplate to the RAM clips. Thankfully this Mobo only has moving clips on the top of the RAM, so this was also close, but no cigar! :D

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After abandoning the drive bay in the rear, the HD found its home in the case front, just below the Wifi adapter. Slight concern here about the heat generated by the Wifi card, as theres a fairly big what-looks-to-be heatsink on it! Is this proximity a concern?

I'm also largely cabled up here! All looking very tidy from the front :)

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Less tidy is the rear...I've done my best, but its just very small!

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Finally, the Aquaero's new mounting. I'm happy with this, I've got the heatsink close to the 140 Fan to help keep it cool as they do get hot, not that I'm pushing it all that much, but every little helps and its in a good position to work with, and away from the bundle of cables below.

*So this is whee I am at right now. I'm waiting on a couple of parts to begin the plumbing, but ready to go when they arrive!*
 
Any comments or advice on the build so far are appreciated :D

I do have a question about cabling...

The braided cables are extensions, so the PSU cables have to fit in there also! I've looked but cant find anywhere that makes short cables? Is this possible to replace the standard cables to save space?
 
There are people who can make you custom braided cables to your exact colours/length, davido_labido has made some for me - this means no excess cable at all :)

Looking good, liking the custom made brackets - I hope the mesh will hold up to the weight of the components you've mounted to them :)
 
Thanks for the help and comments guys!

I'm sure the custom brackets will be fine, they're extruded steel. Although it has been a consideration, the Aquearo is very light. The Res although aprox 500g once filled will have added support from the tubing; the outlet will work much like a leg to stand on and the inlet will stop any 'sway' when moving the PC. Should look pretty cool too and function well to gravity feed the pump. Worst case scenario, first sign on any give and I can remake them in stronger stuff.

Just can't wait to get it finished now, hopefully over the weekend!
 
Rather impressed with the mesh modding, considering it would be so easy to end up looking naff. Looking forward to seeing the finished project.
 
Some of the remaining parts arrived, although I'm still waiting for a couple of adapters to finish the build...

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Here's my Res setup, which is a little fiddly. I had to use Koolance adapters as they have a smaller outer diameter -the Delrin Res has a recess around the inlets limiting the proximity of larger fittings.

The top left in the image is a 90' adapter -this will serve as the fill point, and point towards the top of the case.

Right one there is a 60' fitting -this will be the inlet and has to navigate around the RAM on the mobo.

Right one from that there is a clear plexi LED plug -this was originially to house a RBG Temperature controlled LED, however! I've since discovered the Mayhems Pastel is too opaque to trasmit any light through it, so the RGB LED will now replace the LED in the on/off switch :(

Down the right side on the image, top there is a plug. Below that a fitting for the outlet to the Pump.

When in situ, the outlet will be directly down from the bottom of the res, which should nicely help gravity prime the pump, while the other fittings will be out of view behind the Res.

*All going well the final bits should be with me on Monday and I can begin plumbing! Hopefully by Wednesday I should be ready to fill her up!*
 
PLUMBING UPDATE!

With the last couple adaptors having arrived today, I set about getting the tubing on...

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I had to start with these as it gets real tight once the Res is in. Navigating the Mobo from the Rad made for some serious bends, but no kinks!

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Pump ready with QDC(outlet) and tubing(inlet), ready to feed through from the back of the case. Inlet goes to the front of the case along the floor and up onto the Res.

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Hopefully Res should help gravity feed the pump, and the tubing also helps support the floating looking Res.

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Rear face of the Res...you can see the 90' fitting(filling) face on and the 60' behind it directing the tube around the Ram.

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Offside.

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Top.
You can see here the AQ inline Temp Sensors on the in/out of the Rads(Rads are in serial).
Also here but hidden, one Air Temp Sensor infront of the case fans(pulling over the Rads) and another on the exhaust fan.

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Nearside.

*Will hopefully have chance to fill tomorrow and deal with any leaks all going well!*
 
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