New and Improved Watercooling Sticky - Post Your Systems Here

CPU/GPU are about 30°C each at idle and 50°C at load while gaming. GPU VRM's are about the same. The CPU and GPU are at their default clocks, BTW.
 
yeah CPU's are pretty easy to keep cool with even a 120mm rad (remember the size of the original Corsair H50). The Asus 7990 ROG card actually shipped with a 120mm rad, though it was a 60mm rad. it also had two pumps, lol
 
Like the Mini watercooled rig, curious to see what people are capable of with the 250d "mini itx" case!
 
Charity build we (PDXLAN) raffled off in memory of NVIDIA employee Phil Sholtz (went to a charity in his memory). Did more wire management before the new owner picked it up.

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is that a grandfather clock weight used to anchor your mouse wire? i'm stealing your idea..

Beavis; very nice...my only criticism (and it's just nagging) is that you couldn't get a gigabyte board with green pci-e slots or a green/black theme from another brand
 
Reality said:
is that a grandfather clock weight used to anchor your mouse wire? i'm stealing your idea..

Beavis; very nice...my only criticism (and it's just nagging) is that you couldn't get a gigabyte board with green pci-e slots or a green/black theme from another brand
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sponsored charity build - we raised 20k for a charity in the memory of Phil Sholtz from NVIDIA who died when saving someone stuck on train track
 
Ok, now that I'm done with a recent re-build, I finally feel like my system is worthy of posting, so here it goes

Rig:
i7-4770k
Maximus VI Hero
2x AMD 7970

Loop:
XSPC Raystorm
2x EK FC7970 CSQ
XSPC RX360
Alphacool XT45 140mm
Laing D5 w/ EK X-res top/res combo
Various fittings, mostly XSPC 7/16"





 
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Nice, very nice, especially since I'm "still" planning to watercool my rig, which is also in an 800D case. :)

Couple quick questions.

Did you mount the Alphacool XT45 140mm in the same area as the AX860 PS? Did you have enough room for extra length for the PS cables?

How did you fasten the Laing D5 w/ EK X-res top/res combo to the case wall?

What fan is cooling the lower drive bay, on the bottom right in the first photo?

Thanks.
 
x509 said:
Nice, very nice, especially since I'm "still" planning to watercool my rig, which is also in an 800D case. :)

Couple quick questions.
Did you mount the Alphacool XT45 140mm in the same area as the AX860 PS? Did you have enough room for extra length for the PS cables?
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Yea, its down in the bottom. Its not really "mounted", its kind of just sitting there. In order to fit it the way I wanted, I had to do a tiny bit of dremel work. There is a raised "rail" down there that the PSU sits on. This extends pretty far back into the PSU compartment and was maybe 1/2" too long for the entire 140mm fan to sit flush on the bottom with the fittings aligned in a way that would let me use the existing pass-through holes. A 120mm rad should fit no problem, the 140 is definitely pushing it size wise... its basically takes up the full available width of the compartment. If I could do it again I'd probably go with a 120mm or much more seriously consider going for the more involved mod to remove the HDD cage and put a 240mm rad in that space.
As far as room for PSU cables, its very tight. There is some, but for the most part the cables are squeezed in behind the motherboard tray. Before I added the second GPU to the loop and put in the XT45 I didn't have a modular PSU. With the rad in its current position I'd say modular is an absolute necessity.

x509 said:
How did you fasten the Laing D5 w/ EK X-res top/res combo to the case wall?
Click to expand...
I used an existing hole in the wall but had to drill a second hole. I think the existing hole had to be drilled out a bit to fit the screw as well. I also had to dremel a notch in the plastic that covers the hot swap backplane. If you click through the pictures to the full res, you should be able to see pretty easily where that was done.

x509 said:
What fan is cooling the lower drive bay, on the bottom right in the first photo?
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Its just some fan that came with my XSPC radiator and stuff (originally had a Rasa kit) I had originally had a corsair SP120 down there, but dropped something into it when I had my case side off and the rig on and busted a blade off. It does the job of cooling my steam drive :)


FWIW: I've had my 800D for a long time now, and while this wasn't really a difficult build by any means, its obviously not nearly as well designed for WC as many of the newer cases are. Its suitability for WC is mostly due to size rather than thoughtful design. The hotswap bays are a big compromise in flexibility and limit available rad and pump positioning a lot. I still love it, but the 750D would probably be nicer to build in (900D being a totally different animal!)
 
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Activate: AMD said:
Yea, its down in the bottom. Its not really "mounted", its kind of just sitting there. In order to fit it the way I wanted, I had to do a tiny bit of dremel work. There is a raised "rail" down there that the PSU sits on. This extends pretty far back into the PSU compartment and was maybe 1/2" too long for the entire 140mm fan to sit flush on the bottom with the fittings aligned in a way that would let me use the existing pass-through holes. A 120mm rad should fit no problem, the 140 is definitely pushing it size wise... its basically takes up the full available width of the compartment. If I could do it again I'd probably go with a 120mm or much more seriously consider going for the more involved mod to remove the HDD cage and put a 240mm rad in that space.
As far as room for PSU cables, its very tight. There is some, but for the most part the cables are squeezed in behind the motherboard tray. Before I added the second GPU to the loop and put in the XT45 I didn't have a modular PSU. With the rad in its current position I'd say modular is an absolute necessity.


I used an existing hole in the wall but had to drill a second hole. I think the existing hole had to be drilled out a bit to fit the screw as well. I also had to dremel a notch in the plastic that covers the hot swap backplane. If you click through the pictures to the full res, you should be able to see pretty easily where that was done.


Its just some fan that came with my XSPC radiator and stuff (originally had a Rasa kit) I had originally had a corsair SP120 down there, but dropped something into it when I had my case side off and the rig on and busted a blade off. It does the job of cooling my steam drive :)


FWIW: I've had my 800D for a long time now, and while this wasn't really a difficult build by any means, its obviously not nearly as well designed for WC as many of the newer cases are. Its suitability for WC is mostly due to size rather than thoughtful design. The hotswap bays are a big compromise in flexibility and limit available rad and pump positioning a lot. I still love it, but the 750D would probably be nicer to build in (900D being a totally different animal!)
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Answers much appreciated.:D I'm a "buy and hold" kind of guy, so I'm going to stick with my 800D for now. I'm a Photoshopper, not a gamer, so one vid card is enough, and that means my water-cooling requirements aren't as stringent as they are for a lot of the guys on [H]. ;)
 
x509 said:
Answers much appreciated.:D I'm a "buy and hold" kind of guy, so I'm going to stick with my 800D for now. I'm a Photoshopper, not a gamer, so one vid card is enough, and that means my water-cooling requirements aren't as stringent as they are for a lot of the guys on [H]. ;)
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I wasn't trying to advocate you switch cases, I love my 800D. It was more of a statement in general about the 800D and watercooling. If you're using one card + cooling the CPU, a single 360mm up top will be plenty to meet your needs and remove a lot of the considerations I had to make to get the second rad down there. I'm sure more experienced WC'ers could have come up with a better layout than me.
 
Activate: AMD said:
I wasn't trying to advocate you switch cases, I love my 800D. It was more of a statement in general about the 800D and watercooling.
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Totally understand. But there is a lot of, well, "pressure" to always upgrade your rig whenever some new motherboard/CPU/vid card/whatever comes out. I just don't have the spare time. I barely have the time to optimize the rig I have now. That's all.

x509
 
Draconian said:
What fans did you use?
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I had 6 original lian li fans, which were quite nice, picked 4 quietest out of them, and then added one new bitfenix 120mm fan (dead silent), and enermax uctb. Didn't have to spend anything on fans this way. One of benifits of having fans in such hidden orientation (can't see blades from inside the case), so you can use pretty much whatever fans you like, looks are irrelevant.
 
aerial- said:
I had 6 original lian li fans, which were quite nice, picked 4 quietest out of them, and then added one new bitfenix 120mm fan (dead silent), and enermax uctb. Didn't have to spend anything on fans this way. One of benifits of having fans in such hidden orientation (can't see blades from inside the case), so you can use pretty much whatever fans you like, looks are irrelevant.
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Thanks :)

Right now i'm trying to find something with good static pressure for thick rads but doesn't sound like a jet engine.
 
You will be hard pressed to find any fans that meet your needs
without sounded like a mini jet. Silvetstone does makes some
125 cfm fans that are not as loud as the delta fans that I have,
but them too are far from sounding like 45cfm fans. You will
have to give in at some point, so you might as try the silverstones
on newegg's site.
 
I've been using Gentle Typhoon AP-15's on my xspc rx360v2, it's pretty thick and thy don't sound like jet engines.
 
Here is my system!! dual CPU Intel xeon E5-2665 with Asus Z9PE-D8 and GTX 690, i now have two GTX 690's, you can see that in the second picture! enjoy!!

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4960X @ 4.5
32GB DDR3-1600
Rampage IV Black
Quadfire 290X
Dual Seasonic 1000W Platinum PSU

GPU and CPU each have their separate loop.

cockpit12.jpg


cockpit13.jpg


cockpit14.jpg


cockpit11.jpg


cockpit10.jpg


cockpit9.jpg


cockpit7.jpg
 
@Tigerlord:

I see that you have an XSPC D5 vario + photon reservoir. I got mine but I couldn't turn the speed controller, and it finally broke and fell off.
Can you please confirm that you could modify the position (1 to 5) even if the pump was off ?
 
if you couldn't turn the red dial on the D5 between 1-5, that means the plastic "dial" became dislodged or broken. You can pop the top cap off (where the 12v & RPM wire comes through) with a flathead screwdriver and reattach the red dial into the correct position, I had to do it with a D5 a few times
 
TigerLord.. I think you pretty much knocked it out of the park with that build.

Incramus... very nice! I have always loved uv glowy green wc tubing and liquid... makes it look radioactive. :D
 
revenant said:
Incramus... very nice! I have always loved uv glowy green wc tubing and liquid... makes it look radioactive. :D
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Thanks! That's kinda what I was going for; But I think I need to add a light to enhance the glow/green a tad.
 
Incramus said:
Thanks! That's kinda what I was going for; But I think I need to add a light to enhance the glow/green a tad.
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You're going to love that card with a waterblock on it. I'm using the EK Classified block with the EVGA backplate on it, wonderful combo of looks+performance.

Also I noticed your card is in the bottom slot. When you get a block would you put it in the first or is there another reason why you have it down there?
 
Shogon said:
You're going to love that card with a waterblock on it. I'm using the EK Classified block with the EVGA backplate on it, wonderful combo of looks+performance.

Also I noticed your card is in the bottom slot. When you get a block would you put it in the first or is there another reason why you have it down there?
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Yeah I can't wait to see how much the temps drop off the card when I add that EK block. As far as it being in the bottom slot, I'm in a test fitting stage and was trying not to have the tubes resting on the card; at first I didn't think that I was even going to be able to fit the HD trays...lol
 
Activate: AMD said:
Ok, now that I'm done with a recent re-build, I finally feel like my system is worthy of posting, so here it goes

Rig:
i7-4770k
Maximus VI Hero
2x AMD 7970

Loop:
XSPC Raystorm
2x EK FC7970 CSQ
XSPC RX360
Alphacool XT45 140mm
Laing D5 w/ EK X-res top/res combo
Various fittings, mostly XSPC 7/16"
Click to expand...

@Activate: AMD, First Off very nice build!
Also, I was wondering what size is that EK X-res/top combo you used in this build?
Thanks!
 
Incramus said:
Yeah I can't wait to see how much the temps drop off the card when I add that EK block. As far as it being in the bottom slot, I'm in a test fitting stage and was trying not to have the tubes resting on the card; at first I didn't think that I was even going to be able to fit the HD trays...lol
Click to expand...

The card is very long and wide, also needing 3 power cables it can be annoying to accommodate in certain cases (problem I may have with my Parvum lol). I assumed that was the reason for placing it there and I would of done the same, was curious is all.

Well my max load has been 55C or so at 1.35v if that tells you much vs what you are seeing now. When I use stock voltage (1.25v) it's usually in the mid 40's, ambients around 28C or so. I'll let you know when it's under more realistic conditions if you want when I pair it with a 4690k and 2 240 rads.

I'm so glad aerial- posted his build in here, very witty using that slim fan to cool the vrm! I think I have one of those in red somewhere around so I'm going to try it on the K|ngp|n for some more cooling. Even with a waterblock some parts still reach ~ 67C or so with my IR thermometer on the bottom of the PCB. Me being the way I am I want it to be as cold as possible given the warm area I live in.

MouseTrap said:
@Activate: AMD, First Off very nice build!
Also, I was wondering what size is that EK X-res/top combo you used in this build?
Thanks!
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I think it is the 100mm version, http://www.ekwb.com/shop/reservoirs...-d5/ek-d5-x-res-top-100-csq-black-acetal.html

I agree it's very nice build, and so many others as well in here!
 
MouseTrap said:
@Activate: AMD, First Off very nice build!
Also, I was wondering what size is that EK X-res/top combo you used in this build?
Thanks!
Click to expand...

Shogon said:
I think it is the 100mm version, http://www.ekwb.com/shop/reservoirs...-d5/ek-d5-x-res-top-100-csq-black-acetal.html

I agree it's very nice build, and so many others as well in here!
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Thanks for the kind words guys! It is indeed the 100mm version. I think the 140mm version looks better and the bigger volume is nicer for filling, but the 100mm is easier to squeeze in and still works just fine. You can always buy the taller tube from EK if you want to go bigger.

I'm actually seriously considering re-doing my loop in a 750D with some additional radiator area and hardline tubing in the near future
 
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