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New TOTALLY Overkill project...

First post here...

 

Basically, I got a wild hair up my ass and decided to WASTE a ton of $$ and build a computer that I totally don't need.  On top of that, I decided that I would water cool this bad boy just for shits and giggles.  

 

I'm probably looking at over 6 grand by time I'm finished, and considering I'm hardly even ever on my computer anymore, and hardly game at all, I know it's a complete waste, but I'm going to do it anyway.

 

This is basically my parts list, but with the announcement of the GTX 980's being available next month, I'll probably wait a couple of weeks and get those instead.

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/chadmccune/saved/XXRwrH

 

Like I said before, I've never built a water cooled rig before, always have just air cooled them, so I have some questions.  I see lots of contradicting information online, so looking for some clarification.

 

In the parts list, I have some basic parts picked for the cooling system, cpu block, gpu blocks, but I'm totally at a loss on what pump/res I should pick.  I believe the case I'm using supports a 240mm rad and a 120mm, should I use both?  I may water cool the ram too, may not..I don't know...Depends on what parts I can find.

 

Is there a better place to get the parts than ekwb?  I really don't like ordering from overseas, but I couldn't find another site that had a tool like their configurator that takes me to exactly the right block for the gpus.

 

My main goal is for the final product to be SILENT, with a room to overclock some.

 

But other than the pump/res question, I have a couple of other questions...What kind of maintenance is involved with water cooling?  Do I need to occasionally drain/flush and put new coolant in? Do I just need to top it off occasionally?  

 

 

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Didn't know the CM  HAF XB EVO, could support an E-ATX board... 

The time you enjoy wasting, is not wasted time. 

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dropping so much money for this shit would be insanely stupid tbh.

Gaming HTPC:

R5 5600X - Cryorig C7 - Asus ROG B350-i - EVGA RTX2060KO - 16gb G.Skill Ripjaws V 3333mhz - Corsair SF450 - 500gb 960 EVO - LianLi TU100B


Desktop PC:
R9 3900X - Peerless Assassin 120 SE - Asus Prime X570 Pro - Powercolor 7900XT - 32gb LPX 3200mhz - Corsair SF750 Platinum - 1TB WD SN850X - CoolerMaster NR200 White - Gigabyte M27Q-SA - Corsair K70 Rapidfire - Logitech MX518 Legendary - HyperXCloud Alpha wireless


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R5 2400G - Noctua NH-D14 - Asus Prime X370-Pro - 16gb G.Skill Aegis 3000mhz - Seasonic Focus Platinum 550W - Fractal Design R5 - 
250gb 970 Evo (OS) - 2x500gb 860 Evo (Raid0) - 6x4TB WD Red (RaidZ2)

Synology-NAS:
DS920+
2x4TB Ironwolf - 1x18TB Seagate Exos X20

 

Audio Gear:

Hifiman HE-400i - Kennerton Magister - Beyerdynamic DT880 250Ohm - AKG K7XX - Fostex TH-X00 - O2 Amp/DAC Combo - 
Klipsch RP280F - Klipsch RP160M - Klipsch RP440C - Yamaha RX-V479

 

Reviews and Stuff:

GTX 780 DCU2 // 8600GTS // Hifiman HE-400i // Kennerton Magister
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hmm do you have more that 6 grand ?

cuz two titan Zs +  other stuff wont cover it

If your grave doesn't say "rest in peace" on it You are automatically drafted into the skeleton war.

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"I'm probably looking at over 6 grand by time I'm finished, and considering I'm hardly even ever on my computer anymore, and hardly game at all, I know it's a complete waste, but I'm going to do it anyway."

 

Now that pisses me off, don't go wasting money just because you want to ave this insanely overkill PC. 

Get a PC for $3,000, $3,500 max, otherwise you're just using an anti-matter bomb on your wallet, instead of just lighting it on fire. 

To be a little more constructive I recommend Koolance, but I prefer EKWB. 

CPU: Intel i7 8700K | CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 | RAM: Kingston HyperX 2x8GB | Motherboard: Asus ROG Z370-E | GPU: MSI GTX 970 | HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB & 2TB | SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB & 970 EVO M.2 500GB | Case: Phanteks Enthoo Evolv X | PSU: Silverstone Platinum Strider 1100W | Monitor: AOC i2367Fh | Headphones: ATH-M40X | Mic: Antlion ModMic 4 | Keyboard: Corsair K70 RGB w/ MX Browns | Mouse: Logitech G502 HERO

 

Make sure you quote or mention the person you're replying to in your comment. Also remember to follow your thread when creating it to get a notification every time someone replies. 

Be nice and have fun. Cheers!

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I have a feeling you're going to have money issues in the near future, but for shits and giggles drop in two r9 295x2's. 

My Little Gaming Rig:

CPU: FX 8320 | MOBO: Gigabyte 970A-D3P | RAM: G.Skill Ares 2x4GB | GPU: Sapphire Dual-X R9 270X | Storage: Seagate SSHD 1TB | Case: Corsair 200R | PSU: CM 550W V-Series

Upgrades to come: CPU FAN: Corsair H100i | RAM: 2 more 4GB sticks | GPU: Another R9 270X running in crossfire | Storage: Samsung 120GB SSD | PSU: Corsair 800w

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I am not angry about you going ham on your budget. I am however completely salmon about you going with dual 780's(no TI), a HAF XB case and not water-cooling your CPU.

EDIT: You would be better off going with R9 290's at that price range for GPU's, and also it is better to just OC your CPU as opposed to your GPU(s) IMO. The case would also need to be larger to accommodate all that properly. 

 

You need to redo allot of your build to make it actually "totally overkill", this is just a "relatively overkill" build.

 

Spoiler

Case Bitfenix Ghost, Mobo Asus Maximus VIII Ranger, CPU i7 6700K @4.2 Ghz cooled by Arctic cooling Freezer i30, (barely). GPU Nvidia GTX 970 Gigabyte G1 @1519Mhz core, RAM 16Gb Crucial Ballistix CL16 @2400Mhz. SSD 128GB Sandisk Ultra Plus as my OS drive. HDD's  1TB  Seagate ST31000524AS its OEM, 3TB Seagate Barracuda, 2x 500GB WDC Blue (RAID 0)

If it isn't working absolutely perfectly, according to all your assumptions, it is broken.

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Didn't know the CM HAF XB EVO, could support an E-ATX board...

According to pcpartpicker, it doesn't, but according to a couple posts at overclock.net, it will...

dropping so much money for this shit would be insanely stupid tbh.

Probably, but I only build a new system every 3-4 years, so, we're really only talking about $125 a month

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According to pcpartpicker, it doesn't, but according to a couple posts at overclock.net, it will...

What needs to be done to make it support one? A cardboard box can also support any motherboard with some modding.

 

Spoiler

Case Bitfenix Ghost, Mobo Asus Maximus VIII Ranger, CPU i7 6700K @4.2 Ghz cooled by Arctic cooling Freezer i30, (barely). GPU Nvidia GTX 970 Gigabyte G1 @1519Mhz core, RAM 16Gb Crucial Ballistix CL16 @2400Mhz. SSD 128GB Sandisk Ultra Plus as my OS drive. HDD's  1TB  Seagate ST31000524AS its OEM, 3TB Seagate Barracuda, 2x 500GB WDC Blue (RAID 0)

If it isn't working absolutely perfectly, according to all your assumptions, it is broken.

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I have a feeling you're going to have money issues in the near future, but for shits and giggles drop in two r9 295x2's. 

 

It's not something that I can not afford, I wouldn't do it if it were...and I don't like ATI cards...I never have...Last time I used one was like 10 years ago and their drivers were buggy as hell.

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Honestly, Imo you should be considering a very high quality case  if you wanna spend that much on your rig. Something from caselabs probably would suit this very well. however i dunno about your space constraints if you have any

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Not even 64 gb ram?

Current system has 16gb, I've never even hit 100% of that.

Honestly, Imo you should be considering a very high quality case if you wanna spend that much on your rig. Something from caselabs probably would suit this very well. however i dunno about your space constraints if you have any

Not really any space constraints, I just really liked that case. I've used the HAF 932 and HAF-X in the past, and was really pleased with those. I was going to use green lighting inside this one and make it kind of look like a borg cube :)

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I guess I should have known better than to expect helpful information from an internet forum...

Well, I'm going to try to defend LTT forum here and say. That we get post like this ALOT. Saying TITAN BLACK OR 295x2 stupid stuff,  they'll be new to the forum and happen to have alot of money to blow to. We LLT forum members either know it's a troll, 12 year boy, or someone who really happens to have that much money<--(0.000.099 chance of that happening). SO when you see some members go off, saying stuff that is rude. It's because we (or atleast I) feel our help is wasted and pointless when you could get much more for your money. So Sir, I'm sorry and want to apologize for the whole members that have offended you. ANYWAY! Though, do you really have enough money to do this? The price point you have why not the H440, Corsair 900D, Corsair Air 540 and all those MUCH bigger cases and waterproof ready?

The time you enjoy wasting, is not wasted time. 

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Well, I'm going to try to defend LTT forum here and say. That we get post like this ALOT. Saying TITAN BLACK OR 295x2 stupid stuff,  they'll be new to the forum and happen to have alot of money to blow to. We LLT forum members either know it's a troll, 12 year boy, or someone who really happens to have that much money<--(0.000.099 chance of that happening). SO when you see some members go off, saying stuff that is rude. It's because we (or atleast I) feel our help is wasted and pointless when you could get much more for your money. So Sir, I'm sorry and want to apologize for the whole members that have offended you. ANYWAY! Though, do you really have enough money to do this? The price point you have why not the H440, Corsair 900D, Corsair Air 540 and all those MUCH bigger cases and waterproof ready?

 

I do have the money to spend on this, my only hobbies are playing adult sports, which don't cost a lot of money, so I have a lot of disposable income.  To put this in perspective, the last computer I built was in 2009 and I have an i7 3ghz Extreme edition with 16GB DDR3 1600 memory, SSDx4 RAID 0, and had originally put a GTX 280 in it.  I think I spent 4 grand on that rig.  The only thing I've done since then is upgrade the video card, and it still is faster than any computer I use elsewhere, including the brand new workstation class machine I have at work.

 

So, while I won't be using this machine to its 100% potential, it will get used, and it will last me for quite some time.

 

That said, I had originally chose the Air 540 case, but want to use the fan controller/display that comes with the Rampage V mobo.  I think it would look a little stupid mounted vertically where you have to turn your head to read it.  Other than that, I really liked what I saw on the 540.  The H440 & 900D aren't cube shaped, and I wanted to do something different than the standard full towers I've had in the past.  All he reviews I've read on the HAF XB Evo say it is an amazing case with extreme build quality, and it's only like $100.  I figure I can order it, and if it's not what I want/expected, I can keep it for a test bench and choose a different case, but I need legitimate answers to the questions I raised in my original post.

 

Thanks

 

Edit, sorry 2009 was my I built the i975, 2011 was when I built the i7 6 core that I have now.

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I have a CM Haf XB & I enjoy it completely. As long as you're getting the Evo & not the 1st version. It is a little limited on storage space compared to full towers, but with single drives having the insane capacity that they do, it doesn't really matter.
Fans can be mounted between the front plastic panel & the chassis itself, with the radiator sitting just inside the chassis. Good way to save a couple inches for extra long GPUs.

The 2nd Rad is limited to 120mm, though.

That aside, it does have solid build quality. Everything mounts with thumbscrews or tool-less drive bays. <- One downside here (at least for original version) is that fan/pump control panels that mount in a 5" bay may not work optimally with the tool-less mounting. The pins that hold a drive in place are only on one side of the bay. I tried putting in a touchscreen fan controller, but it was only 2" deep. When I pressed on the screen, the entire control panel would be pushed back into the bay at an angle, kinda like a sideways diving-board. If your controller is 3-4+ inches long, it should have enough rigidity that this won't be an issue.

I also chose the XB because I was tired of the standard tower. And I like that my GPUs and my CPU coolers aren't putting strain by hanging off the motherboard. (And the GPU cooling is better by about 8c-10c by mounting vertically)

If you check Bing (sorry) you can find pix for some amazing builds using this case.

That's about all my experience for the parts you have listed. Hope the 1st hand feedback helps.

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ok so i put this together for you http://pcpartpicker.com/user/GaryDaCat/saved/xXfxFT I changed the cpu because it has better single threaded performance for gaming. I added I  THINK all of the water cooling stuff except the fittings. I changed the storage to raid 0 ssds because I think its a little better than the m.2. and I changed the case... I know you want a cube but that wont really happen unless you use the air 540... (if you want something different just get the 260t from corsair 

SONG- If you like pina-colatas ME- I like them SONG- And getting caught in the rain ME- I sorta like that SONG- If your not in to yoga ME- I hate yoga SONG- Then im the love that you look for ME-  :blink:  no...

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To the op,

 

I have no clue why ppl are b***ching but to answer you.

 

To be Silent, fan must be spinning as slow as possible and constantly.  140mm will be better than 120mm running at same speed.  So you want to choose good 140/280mm static pressure fans  at about 1200rpm or lower.  Low to medium fpi (probably gonna be a thin rad under 40mm thickness) 20~40 fpi is what I would go for.

 

Maintenance is very important.  Depends on your usage but highly recommend to disassemble your loop every 6 month.  Open your block, leak test fittings, clean rad entirely etc...

 

Depends on how big your res is, check how much coolant left as often as possible.

 

Koolance, Alphacool, Bitspower are brands I received great customer support.  EK fks me off more than once so I lost faith in them.

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I do have the money to spend on this, my only hobbies are playing adult sports, which don't cost a lot of money, so I have a lot of disposable income.  To put this in perspective, the last computer I built was in 2009 and I have an i7 3ghz Extreme edition with 16GB DDR3 1600 memory, SSDx4 RAID 0, and had originally put a GTX 280 in it.  I think I spent 4 grand on that rig.  The only thing I've done since then is upgrade the video card, and it still is faster than any computer I use elsewhere, including the brand new workstation class machine I have at work.

 

So, while I won't be using this machine to its 100% potential, it will get used, and it will last me for quite some time.

 

That said, I had originally chose the Air 540 case, but want to use the fan controller/display that comes with the Rampage V mobo.  I think it would look a little stupid mounted vertically where you have to turn your head to read it.  Other than that, I really liked what I saw on the 540.  The H440 & 900D aren't cube shaped, and I wanted to do something different than the standard full towers I've had in the past.  All he reviews I've read on the HAF XB Evo say it is an amazing case with extreme build quality, and it's only like $100.  I figure I can order it, and if it's not what I want/expected, I can keep it for a test bench and choose a different case, but I need legitimate answers to the questions I raised in my original post.

 

Thanks

 

Edit, sorry 2009 was my I built the i975, 2011 was when I built the i7 6 core that I have now.

Mad respect, for putting in in perspective. and with the air 540, don't you jsut need a 3.5 drive bay? There's only one? 

The time you enjoy wasting, is not wasted time. 

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Mad respect, for putting in in perspective. and with the air 540, don't you jsut need a 3.5 drive bay? There's only one?

I'm pretty sure it uses a 5.25" bay, and both of those are vertical on the 540

Additional question I just thought of, how long will it take for full cover water blocks to become available for the 980's when they are released?

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Have you looked at the CaseLabs Mercury S8?

It won't take EK long to put out waterblocks for the 980's when they hit the shelves.

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Have you looked at the CaseLabs Mercury S8?

It won't take EK long to put out waterblocks for the 980's when they hit the shelves.

 

Someone above mentioned CaseLabs earlier and I went and checked, and the S8 was one that caught my eye...looks like a really good case as well...HUGE but good.  I think I like the look of the HAF XB better, but if it doesn't work out, this S8 will...The one I configured was like $550

 

Glad to hear about the waterblocks, is EK usually the first to get them out?

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@ChadMcCune I'm really sorry about some of the other immature and unfriendly members on this forum

 

As far as where to get your cooling components from, you can use ek' cooling configurator in order to see if your specific graphics card is of reference design or if it is a non-reference design. once you find out if it is or is not, then you can check other gpu blocks that fit reference cards. If you are in the US, Performance PCs is usually the cheapest place for components, but they may not have the best customer support. FrozenCPU is also another great online retailer which has almost every possible cooling part you could imagine, but it comes at a higher cost. I've heard that FrozenCPU has very good customer service though, and can ship internationally pretty easily. What country are you located in?

 

In case you are not familiar with the whole reference/non-reference thing, I'll give a short explanation.

 

nVidia and AMD release their gpus with a standard "reference" design, such as how much memory there should be, and where each of the components should be located on the card. GPU manufactueres can choose to either follow this reference design, or decide to make their own. If they decide to make their own, then the graphics card will have a physically different layout, and so you would need to get a special waterblock that will perfectly fit the non-reference design

 

Usually, cards which are of higher performance have non-reference designs, like some of gigabytes high end windforce 3 cards, are non-reference.

 

From what I have noticed, most other gpu waterblock manufactures only make reference designs. The only people who make non-reference blocks are EK

 

For the maintenance of your loop, I usually upgrade my system every year, and during that time I change out the water. During the other times, I occasionally check my reservoir just to make sure that it is full. If it is not, then i shoot a little bit of distilled water into it.

If you set it up correctly, you shouldn't have to do much maintenance at all. Make sure you include some sort of biocide in your loop. a Silver kill coil works pretty well with distilled water, but if you want, you could get a premixed coolant. I think Mayhems makes good coolants and dyes. If you do decide on coolants, do not get the aurora/swirly coolant. It looks beautiful for a few months, but then it turns really ugly, and can clog your system. That coolant is meant for conventions and showing off systems.

 

If you want you computer to be silent, it depends on your radiators. If you are going to stick with your case, and it only supports 240 +120mm radiators, you might be a little short on cooling for two gpus and 1 cpu. You could still get away with using that much radiator space for those components, but your temperatures will suffer if you want to keep your system completely quiet. If you wanted to have good temperatures with only 360mm of radiator space , you would probably need loud, high performance fans.

 

Also, you should consider your radiator type. There are some radiators which are thicker than other, and they offer high cooling performance, and can be paired with different types of fans. But if you get too thick of a radiator, then you may run into clearance issues inside your case. 

 

Since you want to keep your pc quiet, you should stick with lower rpm fans. probably around 1000rpm or less is in the quiet range. I'm not too familiar with all the fan brands, but if you have enough money, you could go with the noctua fans that linus loves. the noctua fans come with Low noise adapter, which are just resistors in order to lower the voltage of the fans, slowing them down, making them more quiet. If you could get a bigger case, itll be easier to build your loop in, and you could have more radiator space to cool all of your components. I would say you should try to get a 360mm rad plus a 240mm rad. You should also consider that 2011 chips run much hotter than 1150 chips, so that why I think you need that much radiator space. But the more radiator space you can get, the cooler and more quieter your system can become.

 

If you want to try watercooling the ram, then you should do it for the looks of it, rather than the performance. So I would say you should be able to have a good look at how cool your ram will be. Also, I don't know if they have ddr4 ram waterblocks available yet.

 

For the pump/res, you should defineately go with a variable speed D5 pump. many companies rebrand the Laing D5 pump, such as swiftechs MCP-655, but as long as it looks like that, or says D5 in it, you should be good. Do not get the DDC type pumps though. They are smaller and could be more convienaint than the D5, but they have this high pitched whine that got really annoying after a couple years.

For the reservoir, get one that you think looks cool. I like the reservoirs that double as a pump top so that I can use fittings on the pump and that the pump is always feed straight from the reservoir. the only reservoirs that could give you trouble are the extremely small ones because they are a little hard to fill up your loop with.

 

another user suggested that you get the 5930k rather than the 5960x, and I would want to agree with them, based off of your usage scenario, but I don't think you will really see that big of a performance difference between the two on single threaded performances.

 

I hope this helps!

 

You should create a build log when you start creating your system

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First post here...

I'm probably looking at over 6 grand by time I'm finished, and considering I'm hardly even ever on my computer anymore, and hardly game at all, I know it's a complete waste, but I'm going to do it anyway.

Welcome to the forum.

Using the above info, Gotta ask WHY?

Surely there is a Car/Trinket/Other thing your interested in you could put that money into for better personal benefit.

I'm only saying give it a think on what you COULD spend that 6G on before dropping in into a PC you'll never use much, esp when your current build is powerful enough.

 

I'm all for E-peen and the lovely jubbly Epicness, but priorities are just as important.

I'm not taking anything away from your inquiry, go for it ifthats what you wanna do. I was just curious.

Maximums - Asus Z97-K /w i5 4690 Bclk @106.9Mhz * x39 = 4.17Ghz, 8GB of 2600Mhz DDR3,.. Gigabyte GTX970 G1-Gaming @ 1550Mhz

 

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