[Build Log] Dark Waters

Serephucus

So, some of the parts have come in for this, the rest are due tomorrow, so I figured I'd throw up what I've got so far.

Core system:

Corsair 600T
i5 3570K
ASRock Z77 Extreme4
2x8GB Corsair Vengeance (Low Profile)
EVGA GTX 670
Enermax Platimax 600W
Crucial M4 128GB SSD
Samsung 1TB F1 HDD


Watercooling:

Swiftech MCP-655 Pump
XSPC Raystorm CPU block
XSPC Razor GPU block
Alphacool NexXxoS 120 radiator
Alphacool NexXxoS 240 radiator
Phobya Xtreme 200 radiator
Phobya straight gold 1/2-3/4 compression fittings
Phobya 90° gold 1/2-3/4 compression fittings
1/2-3/4 random black tubing
1/2-3/4 ModSmart black sleeve

Owned | Delivered | Arriving


The fittings (gold doesn't show very well in this light)


Attached to spare tube with black sleeve


The fitting isn't tightened because I can't move five feet of sleeving at once, and I don't have enough spare to start cutting it.

Also got some LEDs for the blocks:


And adapter plates for the 200 rad to allow push-pull


For some reason the stock brackets don't. One is 200, one is 180, instead of both being 200 and 180.


Will update tomorrow when the Specialtech and HWVS orders arrive.

Edit: Watercooling has arrived!

CPU block:


GPU block:


The amazing GTs:


Bay res:



Front 200mm rad:


And finally the rear and top rads:


Now I just need the case to get started...

deejer

you happy with the sleeving? Looks like a fairly light weave

can you use shrink tubing on that?

Serephucus

@dejeer. It looks like it, but I am, should look fine with black tubing. Not going to use heatsink. Just going to pinch with compressions.

So, I must have been doing something right, all the watercooling just got delivered. Pictures shortly (see first post)

One thing I will say is that I'm really impressed with the GTs. Plugged one in on my rad quick just to get an idea, and at 12V, the GT seems to push about 30% more air with about 40% less noise. Roughly the same at 7V too. Can't wait to see how these do in the final build.

I'm also very impressed with XSPC's stuff. Looks really nice in person. Very... clean.

Genghiz Cohen

...Proceed.

shane547

Some nice gear there mate, those alphacool rads are great performers. Should be picking up that res and a chrome raystorm for myself.

Serephucus

HWVS parts arrived. They sent me an Arc Mini instead of a Define Mini, and I want my rig operational ASAP, which means the server has to get built ASAP, which means there'll be an Arc Mini being sold in the next few days as well.

Everything else looks alright. The door on the 600T doesn't sit quite flush with the case, so I might poke Corsair about a new one, though I haven't touched that build yet, other than to look at the case. I have to play a bit of Music Hard Drives before the server can be booted, so I'm backing up and cloning stuff at the moment. Then on to the actual build. I'll be running it on air for the evening, just to make sure everything works, etc. then first thing tomorrow morning the watercooling goes in.

NTMK

Serephucus wrote: »

Everything else looks alright. The door on the 600T doesn't sit quite flush with the case, so I might poke Corsair about a new one,

try swapping the doors (unless one is windowed) My doors dont sit flush nor do i think Tea's did either

Serephucus

There is a window unfortunately. I got the silver version.

NTMK

Serephucus wrote: »

There is a window unfortunately. I got the silver version.

you could try bending it at the corners and edge but i dont think ive seen a flush 600t yet. if its only a mill or 2 its normal

Whats the silver like i was so sceptical of the white 600t and it turn out to be one of the best looking white cases ive seen.

Serephucus

I'm loving the colour. Really, really nice case, and very happy with it (looks-wise at least) so far. Door latches are great too, going to find those really handy.

It's a fair bit out. About 3mm out from the case at the top left, and about the same up, on the bottom left, then the same in on the bottom right. the top right is the only one that sits where it's supposed to.

NTMK

Serephucus wrote: »

I'm loving the colour. Really, really nice case, and very happy with it (looks-wise at least) so far. Door latches are great too, going to find those really handy.

It's a fair bit out. About 3mm out from the case at the top left, and about the same up, on the bottom left, then the same in on the bottom right. the top right is the only one that sits where it's supposed to.

I had to bend mine to get it to sit better it wouldnt take much

deejer

Looking forward to todays update!

any pics of the case?

Serephucus

Sorry guys, I've had a splitting headache since yesturday evening, so things are a bit behind. My server is up and running, and so is the rig, but it's on air for the moment, and probably will be until the weekend; I have assignments and things that have to get done, so I can't afford to have it down for a day for leak testing.

Anyway, some of the components (as much as I could fit in the shot)


The build at present:


I'm going to be replacing the stock 200mm fans most-likely; they're just ridiulous in terms of noise. I'm also going to be getting 24-pin and GPU extension cables. The 24-pin because it looks horrible, and it's non-modular, so I'm not bothered trying to sleeve it, and the GPU cables because they're too bloody short.

Side note: I swapped my M4 (now in my GF's laptop) for a Samsung 830, and I've noticed quite a few improvements. I'm going to put the boot time down to the ASRock board, as they usually do great with that, but I can definitely tell the difference in the write speed. I've had to reinstall a tonne of applications, and it's going a lot faster than I remember with my M4.

NTMK

Serephucus wrote: »

I'm going to be replacing the stock 200mm fans most-likely; they're just ridiulous in terms of noise. I'm also going to be getting 24-pin and GPU extension cables. The 24-pin because it looks horrible, and it's non-modular, so I'm not bothered trying to sleeve it, and the GPU cables because they're too bloody short.

You think that they would put nice sleeving on the cable for the price of that psu

also that is a nice looking colour on the 600T

Burgo

Yeah really like the look of the silver one.

looking good so far Serephucus, keep us posted!

Serephucus

Small update: Test fitted the rads and bay res today.

They res fit, but I had to remove the tool-less latches, as they rely on having a full length 5.25 something in there to lock, which the res isn't.

The 240 rad fits, but barely. An EX240 definitely wouldn't have fit. The 120 also fits on the back, but I had to mount it case | rad | fan, as the other way round didn't have enough clearance.

The big pain, ladies and gentlemen, has been that Phobya 200 rad. Contrary to TTL, it does not fit. I assumed since he had both the case and the rad there that he would have actually fit it off camera, but no, sadly not. The rad itself does fit, but there's a bleed screw on the top that hits the ODD bays, so tomorrow I'll be looking for a countersunk style head instead, and hopefully that will fit.

The ribs on the top cover are also going to have to come off to accomodate the radiator (you'd think given how much Corsair was touting WC support with this case though they would have allowed for fans up there). Sadly, I don't have anything that will cut them. I assumed it was an optional thing.

One positive note: Because I'm now running only one 200mm fan, and three GTs, I'm even more impressed with how quiet they are. It's ridiculous how little noise they make. The stock 200mm Corsair fans though are complete piss.

Anyway, pics.

Rads in:


And to give you an idea of the clearance on that rear rad:

papu

Looks good , How are you going to route the tubes? Those bay res's look the business!

Serephucus

I'm thinking res -> roof read -> CPU -> rear rad -> GPU -> front rad -> res. Will have to play around with it a bit though.

I'm a little concerned about the sleeving on the tubing, I'm worried they might not seal perfectly, and the fittings are quite a pain to tighten with the sleeving on, etc. I'm planning to put the rig under water Monday evening, so I'll update then at some point.

papu

Serephucus wrote: »

I'm thinking res -> roof read -> CPU -> rear rad -> GPU -> front rad -> res. Will have to play around with it a bit though.

I'm a little concerned about the sleeving on the tubing, I'm worried they might not seal perfectly, and the fittings are quite a pain to tighten with the sleeving on, etc. I'm planning to put the rig under water Monday evening, so I'll update then at some point.

Yeah it's gonna be a PITA to get the most efficient cooling AND have it looking tidy wheres the pump going to be in the flowchart? I'd advise sketching it out , I was only ever cooling one component so it was easy enough.

Are you going to be using hose clamps?

Serephucus

It's in the bay res. And nope, I'm using compressions.

papu

Serephucus wrote: »

It's in the bay res. And nope, I'm using compressions.

ah sweet .You could always double up with clamps on the outside if you're worried about the seal , better safe than sorry! , spray them the same colour as the sleeves and they shouldn't stand out too much!

Bloodwing

What's the XSPC res like? I'm thinking of changing to one. I haven't been happy with the primochill since it went in. Its a nightmare to get the air out of it.

Serephucus

Haven't actually filled anything yet, so I can't say, but it looks very nice, and should be alright to fill. I'm a little pissed that I had to screw it in, as instead of just pressing a butting and pulling the res out to fill, I'll have to pop both panels off, and take out six screws.

That's the case's fault though, so don't take the above as being against the res.

Bloodwing

Serephucus wrote: »

Haven't actually filled anything yet, so I can't say, but it looks very nice, and should be alright to fill. I'm a little pissed that I had to screw it in, as instead of just pressing a butting and pulling the res out to fill, I'll have to pop both panels off, and take out six screws.

That's the case's fault though, so don't take the above as being against the res.

I had to do the same with the Primochill. My biggest issue is the shape of the Res, if you look at the pic below the air bubbles sit in the top corners and if you try tilting the case to get them out through the fill ports you end up spilling water plus the fact that i had to put the whole thing together was a pain.

Serephucus

I have a couple of extra parts coming from Specialtech tomorrow. GPU and motherboard extensions, as well as two Spectre Pros for the front rad, so I should have an update tomorrow with all the rads and all the tubing (minus the blocks) done. Then then the new 670 arrives, I can just throw it straight in, leak test, and I'm good to go.

Serephucus

So, update:

I'm not going to be sleeving tubing again in a hurry. Three hours. Three. Three of them. I spent that much time trying to get a whopping four fittings installed. Didn't happen. Got one ok, but the sleeving just makes the fittings too tight to effectively work. I might try narrower tube, but I think 5/8+sleeve with 3/4 compressions would be too lose.

I'll throw a picture up tomorrow (tired beyond belief at the moment) but the front rad is in, as well as some of the tubing. I also have the 24-pin and GPU extensions added, and re-did the cable management as well. Just waiting for the 670 to arrive before everything goes under water.

Tea_Bag

how'd you fit the rad? countersunk screw?>

glynf

Maybe stop the sleeve short of the fitting, and sleeve with 10-15mm of 20mm diameter heatshrink? The wall thickness of decent quality shrink should be < 0.3mm, so should easily fit under the compression ring part of your fittings. you could experiment with the length until the heatshrink is just visible outside the fittings. Good quality heatshrink won't go crappy if you use a lighter to heat it either.

RS do some 1.2M lengths for €20, they have a trade counter at their place just off the canal near Rialto.

Serephucus

Tea, I used a different screw from Specialtech, but I don't think that's what helped the most. The Spectre Pros are 5mm thicker than the stock fans, and that moved the rad to a slightly different position under the 5.25 bays, where there wasn't a slot for the 3.5 cages.

Also, the rad isn't actually screwed to the front of the case. It's more that the screws are going through the fans and into the rad, with a bit spare, and that's hanging off the case. The screws are narrow enough in comparison to the screw holes on the case that the whole thing is resting down a mil or two, which also helped with the rad mounting. Extremely tight overall though.

Thanks for the heatshrink link. I'd wanted to avoid it. At this point I'm very much out of funds to go throwing anything more at this. I think I'll throw everything together as-is and see what can be done after that.



Horrible picture, but the rad's in, and you can also see the sleeving in this shot. Yes, there's two 6-pins going to a 580, it was just to see how it looked (and I'm very happy with it) I just need a camera that will actually do it justice.

Tea_Bag

is push pull completely necessary on the 200? with a single 670 and CPU you'd almost get away with a 240 alone.

Serephucus

That had crossed my mind alright. It's probably going to be a wait and see thing. If it turns out I can run everything passively, then I will, but I just don't know how it'll perform. I'm almost-certain it's overkill - even if you factor in a GTX 780 upgrade - but I'd prefer to start from the top and work down to see what I can achieve.

I can't imagine a single 240 doing very well though. I'm sure if I had the fans running at 12V or something I'd be fine, but remember that I'm probably going to be running everything at 5V.

On a completely unrelated note: Might anyone have a need for a Spectre Pro in the next week or so?

Lu Tze

Serephucus wrote: »

Might anyone have a need for a Spectre Pro in the next week or so?

What size and how much?

Serephucus

@Lu Tze, have a look in the selling personal PC gear thread.

Small update (again):

The replacement 670 arrived today, and it seems to be running great. Unfortunately I busted up my thumb yesturday, so it'll be a few days before the watercooling goes in (have to wait for decent movement again). Fecked if I'm going to tighten all those screws/fittings one-handed.

Headshot

So no pics of the finished build?

Serephucus

It's not finished. No water in yet. I'll probably do that later today / tomorrow though, and will have pictures up by then.

Scratch that. Watercooling is on hold until I figure out whether I want to move the whole thing to a Prodigy or not.

As I have exams in January, and a lot of study and essays to do before then, it'll be after that that this will happen (if at all) so this is going to be in limbo for a while. Sorry guys.

Tea_Bag

DCU?

Serephucus

NUIM.

Tea_Bag

duh youre in maynooth. forgot about that. just know people in DCU doing exams in january. thats horrible. studying over xmas. eeew.

Serephucus

Tried all of yesterday and part of today to get the loop up and running, but alas, the reservoir is leaking. Have to wait until Monday before I can RMA it, probably won't have it until the end of the week at the earliest. I did get pictures while assembling the loop though, so:

A 670, minus the cooler and heatsink:


Shiny...


Blocks installed, lighting test:


Tubing layout (ran out of straight fittings, hence the 90° fittings on the CPU, and the weird setup on the front rad - had to use a 45° adapter, then a 90° fitting to get it clear of the fan.

Headshot

Let me guess that leaking res is from specialtech?

Tea_Bag

looks like you'd be in the same boat wrt single slot cooler cooler + soundcard in a prodigy.

its a beatiful peice of circuitry though.

game4it70

Looks good so far,shame about the res

Serephucus

@Headshot, yes, but it's not like Specialtech designed the reservoir. I'm pissed at XSPC's QC, not the people I bought it from.

@Tea, yup, unfortunately. Prodigy's out. Here's hoping they come up with an mATX version at some point.

tuxy

Hey any update on this build? I have the same case and I'm considering a water cooling setup. I was waiting to see how you get on first.

Serephucus

Not as yet. At this point I might just wait until I get the couple of bits I'm waiting on to see if I can get a sound card to work in the Prodigy. As it stands the radiators are in, and everything fits nicely, so a WC setup should work very well.

tuxy

Would you recommend the same parts you went with?

I think I might just cool the cpu at first and then ad the gpu loop later.
I have a gtx 570 that I don't want to change yet but also don't want to put an expensive water block on.

So maybe just a 240 rad at first.

Serephucus

You could look at Swiftech's new AIO cooler then - The H220. It's a true bridge between traditional AIOs (think H100) and custom loops. The pump in it is powerful enough to push a multi-block setup, and the radiator and tubing are all standard sizes.

As it's not out yet (dunno release date) depending on when you're thinking of buying, you could also look into a Raystorm 240 kit, or I could do up a custom one for you, whatever you'd prefer. You're probably look at around €200 for a CPU only loop, then another €120-ish if you want to add another GPU in later (having said that, by that point it could well be a Maxwell level GPU, meaning you might not need a second radiator at all, so it might only be €50-ish for the extra waterblock)

tuxy

That's great I will probably be back to you in a few weeks for advice. Thanks

tuxy

I was thinking about this some more. I'd rather not move my hard drive bays in the front. And it was the front 200 that gave you trouble.

How would a 240 top and 120 back cool a cpu + 1 gpu?

Serephucus

Should do fine really, assuming they're not ridiculously powerful components.

I should mention though that you don't have to remove all of your hard drives. The cages just slide out, and you can still put one back, between the PSU and where the cages are initially. The front was a pain, but only figuring out how to get it to fit, once I worked it out it was fine.

tuxy

I have a large collection(5) of mechanical hard drives.

So you think the difference in temps would probably be fairly small by removing the 200?