Black & White - FD Arc Midi R2 - Watercooling (i7-4790K + Z97 upgrade) - FINISHED

[Guest]

Link for the last update:

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/150763-black-white-fd-arc-midi-r2-watercooling-i7-4790k-z97-upgrade-finished/?p=2806470

 

 

 

Hey everyone.
About a year ago I've decided to upgrade my PC. New graph card + watercooling. Eventually I've ended up only keeping my old MoBo (it bugs me the most, since it's out of the color scheme), CPU and RAM. (Asus H67, i5 2500k, 2x4GB)
 

So I've bought the Arc Midi 2. Looks quite good, water cooling options are really nice, also white accents (I'm huge black&white fan). Unfortunately finding white stuff is not that easy, everythings red, blue and green on the market...

First I got rid of all the drive cages, I only use an optical drive and an HDD, SSD gone behind the mobo. I used the space of the drive bay for the pump+res combo and one of the rads.
Drilled 4 holes into the 5,25" tray for my HDD, and used the rubber gommets that came with the drive cages. Also cut one corner off a bit so it won't dig into my tubing. (lower left corner on the picture)
I've ended up drilling the whole piece off and riveted it back.

 

 

 

The pump+res combo stands on 4 tubes/spacers. I've got it made on a lathe and painted them black. 4 long screws hold the pump top and pump together through the bottom of the case and these tube spacers. (also put the rubber gommets under the spacers) And of course I've drilled a hole to access the pump's speed screw as well. It's not the best option, but I still can use it if necessary, hanging the case off the edge of a table or something.

 

After putting everything together it came up like this:

 

This was my first watercooling build, first "expensive" VGA&waterblock install (EVGA GTX 770 SC, 2GB), and cable sleeving. I think it's quite nice.

I've used a koolance CPU block, XSPC waterblock for the VGA, alphacool fittings, alphacool d5 pump, koolance pump top, EK res, xspc 240 crossflow rads, primochill tubing, and the ice dragon white liquid.
Quite surprising I barely got any mess inside the rads when I cleaned them, maybe I got lucky.
What I'm not satisfied with are the fans. They were quite expensive but still not total silent on the lowest rpm I could run them on my old asus board. Maybe it's because of the fan-rad distance and turbulance. They are NB-eloops. Don't remember the exact types but I've got different for the rads and the one exhaust on the back.
Also I've replaced the power and HDD indicator led to white ones, it was quite a ride finding a LED that fits inside the power switch. I had to sand it in a few places but eventually went inside. not perfect, but usable.

A few months later it was time to make a nicer window to the side. The original is smoked, and didn't show half of the insides... 4mm plexi, nothing really special. I'd love to use some H profile silicone to hold the window but didn't find any (why do they not make them?), so It's the usual C profile on the edge. Nice little 3mm screws (round socket head) and tiny tabs (I cut and drilled from a piece of sheet metal..) hold it in place.

 

 

 

I also got 2 white sunlights, they stand next to the front rad. Utilising the factory "fan controller" of the case, I can turn the lights off-low-hi. Needs more tweaking in the future. My brother helped me with it, I'm not good with these stuff. I think he put some diodes to reduce the voltage on one position. But I think we need one more put in since the "low" setting is still a bit bright to my liking.

So after a year I really would like to upgrade the heart of the system, but didn't found any "good looking" motherboards in the past year. Now that the Z97s are here, I think I'll go for an Asus Z97 Deluxe if I could buy one without the additional stuff (NFC WLC), an i5 4670k, and 2x4GB Corsaire Vengeance pro.

 

Also after 6 months or so I've noticed some yellowing of the primochill clear tubes. They are ugly yellowish now, I'll change them to white ones and hope they won't discolor by time.
Maybe FanExpert 3 will give me better control over my fans, allowing me to use them on lower rpms. And I'll make a holder for the SSD (U shape from sheet metal probably) so I can remove it without removing the motherboard.

 

 

 

 

[ZetZet]

The brown mobo really stands out.  :lol:

[Guest]

The brown mobo really stands out.  :lol:

That's why it has to go! In a few months, I hope

[werto165]

I've got that motherboard and its super ugly. D: 

[dev893]

looks nice you have the same issue I do it seems darn brown motherboard lol

[Geekazoid]

Yeah, I have to agree, that motherboard looks quite hideous.

[austin541]

good build except for that motherboard, but still nice.

[Guest]

I'm waiting for the i5 4690k to hit the market. After that I'll upgrade. Asus Z97 deluxe mobo, and 2x4GB hyperX fury ram (black). So the ugly board will go away.

Also decided to sleeve every cable (black) so that would be nicer too. I'm waiting for the 2,5mm sleeves to arrive next week. I've got a bunch of ~3mm but I find them too big for single cables.

(They were sold as 3mm)
Hoping for a little price drop for the motherboard as well. It's quite expensive here right now

[Guest]

I've made my SSD brackets hoping the holes will align well. They still need painting.
I probably won't use the 2nd one but I'd rather keep the option there if I take out the ugly motherboard.



Also fiddled with sleeving. Added a 2nd layer to the non-modular cables, the factory sleeving was quite sparse.
Taken out the extensions for the 8pin and 24pin, and sleeved the PSU's original cable ends. The 8pin was short about 10cm so it got dealth with as well.
I guess my warranty is voided...

 

 

I don't have fancy pictures. All the stuff I made is basic wire cutting, soldering and sleeving. The only cables left are the SATA data sables, but I'll need new ones witht the new board probably.
I'll have more when I got the new "heart". But the 4790k (yes, I've decided to go i7) is still unavailable here

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

EDIT (2014.jul.13): mobo+CPU+RAM should arrive next week.

Edited July 13, 2014 by namivanmar

[Guest]

I got something shiny today:

 

 

Unfortunately, still no CPU. It was availalbe in about 3 shops here, 2 of them are quite overpriced (15-20%). I've ordered one from the 3rd shop with bearable pricing but they sent me an e-mail that "Sorry but we really don't have one and who knows when it will arrive again"...

[Guest]

This afternoon I got everything I needed.
My first i7:

 

I only got time to do an ugly test plug, to see if anything's dead:

 

I've got CPU and RAM in UEFI (sorry, for the ugly potato snapshot of the TV screen):



When I took things apart I touched the heatsinks on the motherboart and all of them were quite warm. I hope it's not a problem and will be fine in the case with some ventillation.
Now I only need some free time to get to the building I've been waiting for a couple of months. Maybe tomorrow morning.
Also I've made some brackets for the front rad so that I can take off the front panel of the case witout any hassle. Before the panel held the rad...

[Guest]

The front rad brackets (the upper and lower part only cover the holes):

 

The hardest sleeving (it's not perfect, but fortunately it's quite hidden):

 

I put in some rear I/O LEDs. This will be usefull under the desk:

 

Almost done:

I still need to work on the cables and lights. Waiting for a SATA to MOLEX adaptor/splitter so I can take out one modular power cable.

[Guest]

So after the bad motherboard RMA looks like I get it back this weekend finally. Why does it take a month to check and repair/replace it?

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/187869-asus-z97-i7-4790k-overclock-help-faulty-motherboard/

I'm not sure if I'll try overclocking when I get it back. Maybe in the future when I know it's stable and won't die on me in a few days again. I'll surely run a long stresstest when it's up and running.

Also I'm thinking about going for solid tubing in the future.

[Guest]

After I got back my mobo it was time to put everything back together.

 

Final specs:
Motherboard: Asus Z97 Deluxe
CPU: Intel i7-4790K

RAM: HyperX Fury 2x4GB 1866Mhz

GPU: EVGA GTX 770SC 2GB

Storage: Samsung 840 Evo SSD + 500GB Seagate Barracuda HDD

 

Case: Fractal Design Arc Midi 2

PSU: OCZ/PC power & cooling 750W semi-modular
Noiseblocker NB-eLoop Fans

Watecooling:
Alphacool D5 pump + fittings
XSPC 240 crossflow rads + GPU waterblock
Koolance CPU block + pump top
EK res., Primochill tubes, Ice Dragon white cooling fluid
 

 

Here are some final shots:

Rear I/O LED's:



They gave me plenty of light when plugging anything in under the desk. They have 3 setting like all of the lights inside the case: Low - Off - High. I used the built in fan controller switch for this.


 

No more ugly brown+blue motherboard (I gave that to my brother, it will serve him well):

Through the window:

[Paralectic]

After I got back my mobo it was time to put everything back together.

 

Final specs:

Motherboard: Asus Z97 Deluxe

CPU: Intel i7-4790K

RAM: HyperX Fury 2x4GB 1866Mhz

GPU: EVGA GTX 770SC 2GB

Storage: Samsung 840 Evo SSD + 500GB Seagate Barracuda HDD

 

Case: Fractal Design Arc Midi 2

PSU: OCZ/PC power & cooling 750W semi-modular

Noiseblocker NB-eLoop Fans

Watecooling:

Alphacool D5 pump + fittings

XSPC 240 crossflow rads + GPU waterblock

Koolance CPU block + pump top

EK res., Primochill tubes, Ice Dragon white cooling fluid

 

 

Here are some final shots:

Rear I/O LED's:

They gave me plenty of light when plugging anything in under the desk. They have 3 setting like all of the lights inside the case: Low - Off - High. I used the built in fan controller switch for this.

 

No more ugly brown+blue motherboard (I gave that to my brother, it will serve him well):

Through the window:

Nice build! The white really stands out!

 

I only don't like the case that much and you don't have a fancy DSLR to take glamour shots :-)

[Guest]

Nice build! The white really stands out!

 

I only don't like the case that much and you don't have a fancy DSLR to take glamour shots :-)

Thanks!

I know it's not a mega-nice/designer case but has really good options for watercooling in its pricerange.

My brother has a DSLR but most of the parts are 1 year (or +) old and "used" so I won't get really shiny pics. And it's not a showcase. Unfortunately I don't have the money to build more fancy, though I'd like to and probably could.

And now I'd probably choose a black PSU. It would be so much easier :-)