New and Improved Watercooling Sticky - Post Your Systems Here

[DWolvin]

Are you using iced tea?

 

[mvmiller12]

Current state of my basic custom loop. Going to vertically mount the GPU with a Heatkiller V block soon.

View attachment 466550

My computer would also like a beer.

 

[Smoked Brisket]

As others have asked:Why is it brown??

 

[motqalden]

Clearly the answer is that RTX on + rgb + Noctua ppc = iced tea.

 

[VoodooRufus]

Not sure what you mean by iced tea, but if you're asking about the coolant, it's 70/30 distilled to Toyota coolant.

 

[mvmiller12]

Not sure what you mean by iced tea, but if you're asking about the coolant, it's 70/30 distilled to Toyota coolant.

What he means is that your coolant coloration is brownish, reminiscent of iced tea. Brown is an extremely unusual coloration for PC coolant and brings to mind contamination in the coolant.

 

[VoodooRufus]

It's actually pink. If it was brown I would be concerned!

 

[pendragon1]

the res against the black looks brown but you can see the pink some. just poor lighting i assume.

 

[hititnquitit]

Yeah, the combination of your case and leds made me think your res was filled with 🍺 until I looked close up and saw the slight pink tint on the bottom and top of the acrylic.

 

[VoodooRufus]

Got my Heatkiller V FTW3 block installed on my 3080Ti. No more ice tea coolant. Back to the generic green stuff. Pump -> GPU -> CPU -> GTS360 -> GTX280. Gentle Typhoons on the 360 and my Noctua PPC2000s on the 280. Fill port for the case hooked into the reservoir plug top. Made the radiator dance much easier to bleed bubbles out.

House: 72F/22C

Running Heaven demo:
GPU: 55C
GPU power: 375W
GPU clocks on stock curve: 1950-1980MHz
CPU power: 60-100W
Water temp: 40C
Fan speeds 1200rpm or less depending on water temp.

 

[motqalden]

Got my Heatkiller V FTW3 block installed on my 3080Ti. No more ice t ea coolant.

Mountain Dew?

😉

 

[DWolvin]

Mountain Dew?

😉

IT'S GOT WHAT PLANTS CRAVE!

 

[Sir Beregond]

Just got this up and running this week. Its been a unintentional long term project as I started buying parts for it in early 2021 and then the project kind of went on hiatus for the rest of 2021 - completely unrelated to the GPU shortage. Anyway, glad to finally have it up. I find the RGB light distracting so turned them all off. Sorry pic was taken prior to filling and I also flipped the bottom radiator fans around to be intakes, so will have to get some more completed rig pics now. Otherwise, feels like a nice upgrade coming from my 4790k and GTX 980.

Parts list:

• Ryzen 9 5900X
• RTX 3080 Ti FE
• 32GB G.Skill Trident Z Neo DDR4-3600
• ASUS Crosshair VIII Dark Hero
• 2x 2TB Samsung 970 Evo Plus
• 1TB Crucial MX500
• Corsair RM1000X
• Lian Li O11-Dynamic

Cooling:

• Optimus Foundations AM4
• Alphacool Eisblock for 3080 FE
• Hardware Labs 360GTX and 360GTS
• EK Quantum Kinetic TBE 200 w/ D5
• Bitspower True Brass Enhance Multi-link 14mm fittings
• Corsair 14mm White acrylic tubing
• Mayhems XT-1 Nuke Clear
• 9x 120mm BeQuiet Silent Wings 3 PWM High-Speeds
• Barrowch temperature/flow meter

 

[DWolvin]

Love the staircase!

 

[Sir Beregond]

Love the staircase!

Thanks!

 

[celwin]

Sir Beregond build looks like a pc you would expect to see in some middle eastern dictator's palace; With it's gold and white theme. All that is missing is the hunting falcon and an exotic car at the front entrance.

 

[Sir Beregond]

Sir Beregond build looks like a pc you would expect to see in some middle eastern dictator's palace; With it's gold and white theme. All that is missing is the hunting falcon and an exotic car at the front entrance.

Hmmm...Didn't think of it that way.

 

[motqalden]

This is not done as in not cable managed (yet) but finally got my 1950x setup with my 3x Radeon VII.
Nice to put the Heatkiller block i got from ~ever~ to good use.

Edit. Also added a second pump which I can tell makes a difference. I could visibly see the water in the resevoir was moving much faster when i turned the second pump on

 

[Nobu]

Thicc

 

[motqalden]

Thicc

Well it can easily pull 1000w from the wall even with the Radeon's undervolted. the 2x 360 60mm was fine for just the GPU's before but I figured I better add a third rad due to the CPU pulling a good bit of power as well now.

 

[~ever~]

This is not done as in not cable managed (yet) but finally got my 1950x setup with my 3x Radeon VII.
Nice to put the Heatkiller block i got from ~ever~ to good use.

View attachment 490645View attachment 490646



Edit. Also added a second pump which I can tell makes a difference. I could visibly see the water in the resevoir was moving much faster when i turned the second pump on

I'm glad to see it be put to good use!

 

[FearTheCow]

My CPU runs leave something to be desired.... trying to figure out if I can run a third radiator on the bottom while still having a mini itx system there.

 

[hititnquitit]

My CPU runs leave something to be desired.... trying to figure out if I can run a third radiator on the bottom while still having a mini itx system there.

Regarding the cpu lines, my motto is, maybe next time hahaha. That distro isn't doing you any favors either. Its offset just enough to jank up your bends.
Can't see the very bottom of your case but if there's a will, mod it

edit- grammar

 

[DWolvin]

Might sound silly, but a spiral loop from the distro to the CPU might be good looking...

 

[Storm-Chaser]

 

[Dan_D]

Here is my most recent build.

 

[DWolvin]

Got ahold of a 3080 12gb Hydrocopper when the prices dropped, and had time to slap it in the 'Hodge Podge'. Folding output (and Control / Cyberpunk) jumped up a bunch, and I'm enjoying the silly loop. One 45 Deg, Two 90's between the radiators. Sorry for the potato pic, bright window behind me.

 

[Sir Beregond]

View attachment 491698
View attachment 491699

Hey I know this rig! I always call it the octopus rig.

 

[mvmiller12]

I rebuilt my wife's computer into this case while she was away for a month for a school trip to England. It is the second rig in my signature, only new parts are the case itself (of course), the 280mm copper rad and the Corsair LLs on it - the other radiator at the top and the other fans are reused from her old case. The Radeon 7 card block did not have ARGB lighting, so I have a Corsair strip taped to the bottom of it with electrical tape. The fans are all Corsair RGB, and the EK CPU block has an adapter to work with Corsair lighting as does the Barrow flow meter. For purposes of this picture, I have all lighting set to white. Fluid is Koolance blue.

The reservoir is glass, as is all the hard tubing. I have soft tubing actually running to the CPU and video card using Koolance QD3 quick disconnects for ease of maintenance. The video card tubing is hidden behind the card and runs into the basement where it winds around to the back side of the case.

I'm really pleased with how well this turned out.

 

[DWolvin]

Really nice! What size are the other two rads?

 

[mvmiller12]

Really nice! What size are the other two rads?

System has 2 radiators total - the 480 on the side (which you can see), and a slim 360 at the top. There are only 2 fans on the 360 though, because there is less than a millimeter between the top of the reservoir and the fins on that part of the rad.

As a matter of fact, one of the things I really like about this build is that there is nothing obvious holding the pump/res in place. The floor of the Hyte case has deep-cut venting grooves parallel to the side panels, and the pump wires run down one of those grooves. The very top of the reservoir has a removable ring that has screw holes that allow the mounting bracket it came with to be attached to it. I had 1/2 of an old 2.5" to 3.5" HDD adapter rail set, so I drilled matching holes in it and spray painted it black. It attaches to the top of the case in a slot designed to accommodate fans or a radiator. I used thin flat-topped screws to hold it down and the radiator just sits on them. The bracket itself is invisible unless you take the top off the case and pull the 360 rad out, or stick your eyes near the bottom edge of the case looking up. The end result is that the pump/res looks like it is just sitting there, but between that bracket, the pump wires in the groove, and the glass tubing connected up to it, it does not move.

The soft tubing for that top rad runs through a hole to the back side of the case on one end, and is tucked up into a gap in the top on the other and running beside the rad's fans, wrapping behind them to run through another hole into the back. The way it tucks up into that gap, that top tube is effectively invisible. I DID have to drill both of those 2 small holes in the case to accommodate the tubing running this way, but they aren't visible unless you pull the top fans and both rads out. The only downside is that filling or draining the system is a bit of a pain (but only a bit). To get to the top of the reservoir so I can fill it, I have to pull the two fans off the 360 and pull the rad up and out a bit. There is just enough tubing to do this comfortably.

 

[Thunderdolt]

This is my current desktop. It's a dual 3090 render and sim rig. I'm loving the quiet reliability and stability of this thing, especially in just a mid-tower case. I'm actually in the process of building another but using thinner HardwareLabs cross-flow rads with a different rad layout in there. Full specs and a mountain of verbal vomit after the pics.

Spoiler: Pics behind spoiler to reduce thread scrolling

Here it is with the tinted side panel on. Had to do a long exposure to get the normal state bright enough for the pic. I have since put electrical tape over the BIOS code.

Here are the guts. You might notice a couple of rivets have been replaced by screws. This is because a little modification to the top panel was required. Pic of that below. I still need to trim the bottom insert to fit the drain port. The VRAM on the top GPU runs noticeably hotter than the bottom one even though it gets cooler coolant, hence my experiment with the heatsinks. I think I just need to repaste that backplate. Oh, and I've also reversed that exhaust fan since these pics. It is now an intake.

Another shot of the guts. The RGB really gets dimmed significantly by the glass. Feels like it even gets softened even though the glass is smooth on both sides. Just noticed the dog hair stuck in the vent. lol. #goldenretrieverlife

I used automotive grade constant tension clamps for every connection except this one where the ports are too close for barbs to fit, but where I still need flexibility in order to use the QDC and thus couldn't just use a hard coupler. The tool with the flex cable actually makes these way easier to use than regular twist-on compression fittings, especially in tight spaces.

This is an older pic that shows how the routing is done up top. Had to go up and over because there wasn't enough clearance with the motherboard IO to route it internally. The next build with the HardwareLabs rads will fix that. These Corsair ML120s have also been replaced with the Noctuas listed below.

The original top panel still fits without any adjustment necessary.

Here is the Aquasuite dashboard for the machine during a render. You can see in the D5 temp plot when the denoiser stage kicked in and caused the GPU TDPs to hit max.

Hardware specs:

• Case: Corsair 5000D Airflow
• CPU: i9-11900K
• CPU Block: Aquacomputer cuplex kryos NEXT with VISION
• Mobo: ASUS ROG Strix Z590 Gaming-E Wifi
• RAM: 128GB TridentZ Neo 3600
• SSD: 2TB Samsung 980 PRO
• GPU: 2x ASUS ROG Strix 3090
• GPU block: Aquacomputer Kyrographics NEXT with XCS active backplate
• GPU Bridge: Aquacomputer SLI block for XCS, 4-slot spacing
• PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 1600 T2
• Pump & Res: Aquacomputer Ultitube D5 200 Pro with D5 NEXT pump
• Sensor: Aquacomputer Highflow NEXT (it has flow, temp, conductivity sensors built in)
• Tubing: Aquacomputer 16/10 EPDM
• Fittings: Almost entirely Alphacool except for the T fitting I think.
• Leak detection/prevention: Aquacomputer LEAKSHIELD
• Cooling Controller: Aquacomputer aquaero 6 LT
• RGB Control: Aquasuite for software, hardware is built in to the various Aquacomputer components
• Rads: 2x Alphacool XT45 360x45 X-flow
• Fans:
  • 10x NF-F12 industrialPPC-3000 PWM (3000rpm)
  • 2x NF-A12x15 PWM chromax.black.swap (15mm thick)
• Coolant: Aquacomputer Double Protect Ultra clear
• Cables: Cablemod custom set. Next time, will do 200+mm reduced lengths on GPU & ATX and ~300mm extended length on CPU power.

Spoiler: Verbal vomit behind spoiler to reduce thread scrolling

I have the RGB configured to show the cooling system status in real time. Yes, it actually serves a legitimate useful purpose. Crazy. Here is how the RGB is configured, but two notes first:

1. I have been letting my coolant run hotter lately. The 41C target temp is still well below the manufacturer-indicated operational limit of 50C, but the momentary transition spikes still are not at the point where components get hot enough to impact performance in any measurement I have taken.
2. The alarm states may seem low given the 50C operational limit and 60C momentary accidental limit, but that's because this system runs a very very very stable coolant temp even when the room's air conditioner cycles. It's so stable, in fact, that when I set up the watchdog to monitor data liveliness, I had to add a 100x scalar to the temp reading to boost the resolution of the calculation enough to detect a 30 second trend. Thus, in order to hit the alarm temps, something very wrong needs to have happened. Keeping the alarms low like this gives me and the system more time to respond before the magic smoke comes out.

Alright here we go:

• Pump base, pump ring, and GPUs are based off of the sensor in the pump:
  • <38C: Completely off
  • 38-42C: Pure blue fades in from 0/0/0 @ 38C to 0/0/255 @ 42C.
  • 42-44C: Transitions from 0/0/255 @ 42C to 255/0/0 @ 44C. When the system goes from sustained idle to full render load, the coolant will briefly spike into this zone for about 30 seconds while the PID controller comes to life before returning to target twice that quickly.
  • >44C: Flashes 255/0/0 (alarm state)
• CPU Block:
  • Same as above but keyed off of the temp sensor built into the block and offset 2C lower.
• GPU Blocks used to be run individually based on GPU component temps, but I find that simply monitoring coolant temp is useful enough for now. If I were to add a Farbwerk360, I could run an alarm-based component temp rule layered on top of a coolant temp normal display. A drawback to this approach is that it would require running the control through the Aquasuite service rather than directly on the pump controller itself. Thus, it would be victim to errors in Windows and thus could be indicating bad data. I'm not wild about that drawback.
• RAM & mobo:
  • Always completely off once. BIOS code has been covered with electrical tape since the pics were taken.
• Leakshield ring is set to show system leak status. It changes to different colors for different alarms such as suspected leaks and device malfunctions.
• Highflow NEXT ring is keyed to the coolant quality/conductance measurement:
  • 100-90%: Fades in from 0/0/100 at 100% to 0/0/255 at 90%
  • 90-85%: Transitions from 0/0/255 at 90% to 255/0/0 at 85%
  • <85%: Flashes 255/0/0 (alarm state)
  • These limits may seem tight, but the coolant seems to last about a year at this setting. At the time of the photos, the coolant was about 3mos old and was still showing 100%.

Loop is configured to run counter clockwise. Side rad has 3 fans in pull as intakes and the top rad has 3 fans in pull as exhaust plus the two low profile fans in push. I wanted to try three, but there isn't enough clearance with the CPU power cable.

Rad fans are all on the same channel. I originally had the rear fan as an exhaust, but then I used a probe to measure the air in front of them. That air was super hot and meant the second rad was doing almost nothing for cooling. After seeing that, the rear fan has been changed to an intake. Post-rad coolant temp has dropped almost 3C as a result of the flip (when the fans are going full blast). Front fans are intake and configured to run on a reduced activation relative to the rad fans in order to prevent overpressure reducing flow through the side rad.

2x360x45 rads are the biggest that can fit in this case. Only two simple holes needed to be drilled for the tube routing. A limitation of this setup is that there isn't enough space to run a full set of rad fans in push on the top rad - not even the low profile 15mm ones. The same holds true for the side rad, except you can't fit even one low profile fan there.

Max coolant flow rate is pretty low. At 4800rpm on the pump, the sensor is reading only about 130L/h (~0.6gpm) of flow. I suspect the QDCs are significant restrictions and will not use them in the next build. WIth the quick and easy constant tension clamps, an easily accessible drain port, and the Leakshield to do super easy bubble-free vacuum fills, I don't see nearly as much value in the QDCs as I used to.

I think that's pretty much everything. It's a monster considering the small size. OB score is 1550 and it will run 6+ hour long single frame renders without skipping a beat. Looking forward to trying to smooth out some of the rough edges on this one with the next build I do like this one.

You can see what it's up to here.

 

[stryder2720]

Nothing special, but I had fun building it. Mostly Corsair parts with soft line, the blocks are both from EK. I don't overclock or anything, just enjoying the hobby and tinkering.
Ryzen 3700X with a Powercolor RX 6900 XT Red Devil.

The complete battle station:

 

[Catsonar]

Meshlicious
5800X
6900XT Ref
32GB Trident Z Neo CL14
Asus X570i
280mm rad
Vardar Furious Evo 140mm
Aquacomputer Quadro/Flow Next

 

[DWolvin]

Oh wow- I forgot to show off my retube / upgrade! Still a 3/4 janky mess, but I like it...'

 

[Sir Beregond]

Managed to snag an Aquacomputer Highflow NEXT and was also testing out some fans for a review I did on another site. The SW3's are back in place, but snapped this pic anyway. Also was playing around with a cheap 16GB b-die kit.

 

[Storm-Chaser]

One of only a handful of PCs liquid cooled from the factory. Both are HP z820s and I also have a z840 with liquid cooling as well.
1st Z820 - 2x Xeon E5 2673 v2 processors, 16C/32T, 4GHz turbo, MSI Gaming X RX 580, 64GB 8 channel memory
2nd Z820 - 2x Xeon E5 2696 v2 processors, 24C/48T, 3.1GHz all core turbo, MSI Gaming X RX 5700 XT, 64GB 8 channel memory
Z840 - 2x Xeon 2696 v3, 36C/72T, 2.8GHz all core turbo, 64GB 8 channel 2133MHz DDR4 memory

 

[equinox654]

I have always heard that custom loops aren’t worth it other than for looks and sound levels. Decided to go for my first build due to how hot my 7950x is

Seems to be worth it for my 7950x.
$350 not counting the heat gun.

Heat killer IV pro
Alphacool Nexxos 45mm rad
Alphacool VP655 pump with their body.
Cheap Alphacool 150mm reservoir
Barrow fittings.

So for $150 more than my aio. I get core parts that will last ages.

With my ek 360 aio it would run 95c and drop to 5080mhz. With the custom loop it’s right under 5.4 at 86c. From what I can tell it maxes out pbo in all circumstances.

I can do an all core overclock and have it swap from pbo after a certain current draw.

I was able to get 5.5ghz all core at 1.28 volts with the same 86c. Could probably push further, but it looks like 5.6 needs more than 1.32 volt and don’t wanna kill the chip.

Not happy with my bends. Guess they are fine for a first attempt. One tube is tilting the reservoir a few degrees. Plan on getting a block and extra rad for my 4090 when they are available. I’ll redo it then.

 

[arnemetis]

I have always heard that custom loops aren’t worth it other than for looks and sound levels. Decided to go for my first build due to how hot my 7950x is

Seems to be worth it for my 7950x.
$350 not counting the heat gun.

Heat killer IV pro
Alphacool Nexxos 45mm rad
Alphacool VP655 pump with their body.
Cheap Alphacool 150mm reservoir
Barrow fittings.

So for $150 more than my aio. I get core parts that will last ages.

With my ek 360 aio it would run 95c and drop to 5080mhz. With the custom loop it’s right under 5.4 at 86c. From what I can tell it maxes out pbo in all circumstances.

I can do an all core overclock and have it swap from pbo after a certain current draw.

I was able to get 5.5ghz all core at 1.28 volts with the same 86c. Could probably push further, but it looks like 5.6 needs more than 1.32 volt and don’t wanna kill the chip.

Not happy with my bends. Guess they are fine for a first attempt. One tube is tilting the reservoir a few degrees. Plan on getting a block and extra rad for my 4090 when they are available. I’ll redo it then.
View attachment 522832View attachment 522831
View attachment 522830

First time is always rough, I made my first hard tube loop last year. When you get more than one bend per segment the complexity skyrockets. What I found extremely helpful was to make some jigs using bricks, so I always had a 90 or two to bend against. I also had drawn out the distances I needed for each turn, which got me really close and then test fits allowed me to make minor adjustments. Take your time, my segments with three bends took me on average five hours a piece!

 

[equinox654]

First time is always rough, I made my first hard tube loop last year. When you get more than one bend per segment the complexity skyrockets. What I found extremely helpful was to make some jigs using bricks, so I always had a 90 or two to bend against. I also had drawn out the distances I needed for each turn, which got me really close and then test fits allowed me to make minor adjustments. Take your time, my segments with three bends took me on average five hours a piece!

Thanks for the info.
I was having hell getting accurate measurements.
I found out they sell compound slotted rulers for measuring fitting distance. I’ll pick one of those up and setup a jig on a board.

I went through 3 500 mm tubes before I had one that worked. Ended up just eyeballing it and tweaking with the heat gun to make it fit, so that I could test the temps and use it for work until I order more pipe and the measurement tool.

It was a blast though. Started at 4pm and finished bleeding the loop at 6am. Totally lost track of time.

Can’t wait to get a block for the 4090… that chungus was limiting my rad and pump placement.