BenseBuilt Liquid-cooled MicroATX Mini Workstation / Riser Card Research / X99 / X299

[Bense]

I disassembled my water pump, which I previously repaired with JB weld for a temp fix. It lasted 3 years longer than I expected


I disassembled my Heatkiller Waterblock for cleaning and saw some corrosion on the nickel plated copper waterplate.


So, I began the lengthy process of lapping all of the nickel off...

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Cleaned up the other Heatkiller CPU Waterblock components with alcohol and q-tips

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Received the additional, NVMe heatsink


Installed


More lapping...

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Had to use a safety razor with electrical tape to clean out the grooves in the waterplate

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Radiators after running distilled water mixed with distilled white vinegar through them for a day

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Heatkiller CPU Waterblock reassembly

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[Bense]

Some pictures of the board..

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Installed in my Mini Tower

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Yours truly..

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Hoses and other plumbing connected. The dye helps detect leaks (I know most of you on this forum are already familiar with this)

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Laid on the side to bleed out air

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Another angle


I poured the fluid out into a separate bottle, then swapped out my pump with the new, replacement pump I purchased 3 years ago..

 

[Bense]

The next time I do this, I'm going to follow this guide and purchase some equipment to make my own PC cabling.


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[Bense]

As it turns out, my motherboard wouldn't detect my SN850X SSD in the M2_1 slot. I initially thought that that this might be attributed to the copper heatsink causing me to install it with a slight angle, so I reverted to the black, aluminum heatsink that I previously modified:


I later searched online and found this thread..
https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=25503&title=x399-taichi-not-detecting-sn850x-m-2-drive

I eventually moved the NVMe SSD to the quad M.2 NVMe card, with the copper heatsink reinstalled.

 

[Bense]

Several things I want to add.

In order for me to run a full size, 120mm fan on the rear 120x120mm radiator as well as the upper 120x360mm radiator, I need a slim fan that is no more than 15mm thick. I ordered two of these from AliExpress.

I will take pictures after they arrive and I get them installed.



These recent upgrades were surprisingly time consuming. As I was cleaning some of my water cooling components I thought about the time period when I bought out acquired some of these parts. I had nearly forgotten that some of these components were originally going to be used in a computer that I was going to build for a friend of mine almost 10 years ago.

It began to register with me that some of the information that I discovered about a year ago shed light on the fact that the reason my friend abandoned this project was because of some of the trouble that he got himself into shortly after the time period that we discussed this build.

It made me realize how extremely fortunate I am that I learned at a younger age that the best way to deal with internal problems that I might be struggling with -- is to find a project to take on, something that I can do where I can be productive, and use that outlet as a way to cope with whatever drama or BS is going on in my life.

If I had not done so, I cannot say for certain that I would not have gotten caught up in all the crap that was going 10-11 years ago, during the time period in my life that lead up to me creating this thread, and taking on this project.

 

[Machupo]

My favorite thin (12-15mm) 120mm case fans are definitely the Scythe PWM ones. Good balance of airflow for that blade depth and quiet!

 

[wareyore]

Idle hands. I get it.

 

[Bense]

I am having issues with this machine locking up on me.

I am running stock clock CPU, I've tested all of my RAM individually with memtest86+, there was an error once but I pulled all sticks out, put 1 stick in, ran the test, passed. Added the 2nd stick, passed, 3rd stick, passed, 4th stick, passed.

I lock up when running at stock RAM timings. I've even tried putting other RAM in. Same thing.

I've done everything that I can do with software; updated GPU drivers, updated chipset drivers, everything. I've switched to my previous install of windows. Still locks up.

I am not sure if I accidentally damaged my motherboard moving it in and out of my case, or if its this new GPU?

The lockup occurs when I'm doing normal desktop tasks with browser tabs open and playing back an mp3.

If anyone has any suggestions or ideas, please advise.