|| Enz0man's Dream Rig || Liquid Cooled Corsair Air 240 Build ||

[Big Wang]

Also, where did you find that backplate for your GPU?

[Big Wang]

Sooo when are the pictures coming out?

[Enz0man]

Sooo when are the pictures coming out?

 

I'll post them tonight don't worry

[Enz0man]

Since I did this quite a while ago, I might forget to include steps, and they'll probably be out of order. Just a heads up. I also apologize for the terrible lighting in some of the photos.

 

So when the teardown started, the very first thing i decided to do was test fit the pump/res and make sure that would fit.

 

 

 

And it does fit, but as you can see, there are some clearance issues with the top return line which resulted in me having to do something that I didn't really want to do, which you will see later.

 

Then decided to put the CPU block on

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had to put it upside down to work with my tubing runs. Next up is the GPU block!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to say, putting on a GPU block is much less scary than I originally thought. It was actually quite enjoyable.

 

After that came the front radiator, but there isn't really much involved in that, so there's like one picture.

 

 

And here's how I had to route the fan cables so they aren't visible: around the front.

 

 

 

 

Here is the multiway fitting and drain valve on the single rad in the other half of the case

 

 

This is where the rad is mounted on the other side of the case. It's just stuck on the bottom with velcro, and it's surprisingly stable.

 

 

In order to mount the rad there, I had to snip two little tabs off the bottom of the case. 

 

 

After all that was done, it was time for bending tubes! I decided to do the one from the outlet on the GPU to the inlet on the radiator first. I don't have any pictures of the process unfortunately, just of the tube when it's done.

 

 

 

I was super happy with how this one turned out. The next one was a bit of a hassle...

 

 

I tried to do this run between the pump and the top of the GPU in as short of a run as possible.

 

 

 

If i persevered, I probably could have gotten it to work, but it was just way to hard to have a tube that short, heat it up, bend it and hold it in place without burning myself and warping the ends of the tube. Also one of my attempts at doing that bend was super kinked so it wouldn't have worked anyway. So my dad actually helped me "design" a longer bend that has nice open curves and was MUCH easier to make. Once again I don't have any pictures of the process, but we measured it out on paper and used that as a stencile for the bends. Here's how it looks:

 

 

 

Before I made it, I didn't think it would look good, but now I think it actually looks kinda cool. Still would have rathered it be shorter though.

 

Also, I didn't have any pictures of the process of this, but I painted the pump white, and plastidipped the reservior holder clip things white. You can see it in some of the pictures. I also tried to plastidip the cable grommets white too, but it didn't turn out very well; doesn't stick very well. I only ended up using two of the grommets.

 

Next I just did the little tube from the front radiator, to the one in the rear of the case. I had to drill a hole in the motherboard tray to make a clear path, but that's it. Just a simple 90 degree bend.

 

 

 

So now it's time for the one from the outlet of the CPU block back to the top of the reservoir. Doing the bend itself, wasn't that hard, but fitment was tricky. I was adamant that the pump/res stays in that spot no matter what, and I for some reason didn't think to order a 90 degree fitting. But even if I did, it still wouldn't have fit completely properly anyway. It also wasn't financially feasible to order one fitting since I live in Canada and have to order all of my liquid cooling components from the US, which makes shipping and import charges many times more than the fitting itself. And apparently I only have one picture of that tube, and it's fairly poorly lit. Sorry

 

 

So to fit the top of the tube, I unfortunately had to cut the top panel and let the tube stick out a little bit. Like I said before I didn't want to have to do that, but I would rather do that than move the pump/res somewhere else. Now somehow I forgot about the "measure twice cut once" rule and kinda eyeballed where the tube would stick out, broke out the dremel, and started cutting. 

 

 

 

So I was happy that i got the cut done, went to test fit it, and it wasn't even close. Turns out the tube stuck out right where one of the white bars were. Now thankfully the grills on the top and bottom of the case are identical, so I just swapped the grills and re-cut the hole, this time cutting the white bar too. I also had to cut a notch in the chassis itself to allow a filling tube to be screwed in, and to clear the return tube.

 

 

This cut was also much more clean than the first one too which I liked.

 

 

Now we are on to the final tube: the one going from the inlet on the CPU block to the radiator in the other half of the case. This one was definitely daunting and challenging, but I knew that so I just took it nice and slow, made sure i properly measured everything, and it turned out perfect on the first try!

 

 

It's hard to see in this picture, but there are 6 bends in this one tube. Unfortunately this is the only picture I have of just this tube, so I'll take some more detailed pictures of it later because i'm proud of this one.

 

At this point, all tubing is done. The next step is the scary part: leak testing!

 

 

 

This is kind of a shitty picture, but it's looking at the rear radiator through the top of the case where the SSD cage is.

 

 

Now i'm lucky I did leak testing, because leaks were found Both of the fittings on the radiator in the back of the case leaked. I just didn't tighten them enough. And since I couldn't get to them with everything assembled, I had to drain it, take it apart and take the radiator out, take out the tubes that connect to that radiator, connect them to the radiator outside of the case and tighten the shit out of them, then put the radiator back in the case while maneuvering the tubes through the holes in the motherboard tray. After that, I just left the computer to leak test for 24 hours, and it was fine after that one scary incident. I didn't take any pictures of anything to do with the leak because I just wanted to get it fixed. So I filled it with my Mayhems Pastel Orange coolant, and now IT'S FINISHED!!!!!

 

At this point in writing this, I just want to be finished, and I'm out of pictures. So i'll post some finished pictures tomorrow and some final comments. Thank you all so much for following me along this journey, and sorry to everybody who has been waiting to see this build finished. I just didn't have the motivation to update this thread for some reason. Stay tuned!

[Big Wang]

Feels like Christmas came a year early. Thank you for updating this log. Looking foward to the pictures that are coming out soon.

[Enz0man]

So now comes the completed pictures! Thanks to my friend Jordan for taking the pics

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the spacing between the bottom of the pump and the graphics card backplate. I actually ground down the fins on the pump so I could mount it a little lower to minimise how much the one tube sticks out the top of the case. Speaking of which...

 

 

 

In these pictures, you can see how the tube sticks out the top.

 

 

Here you can see a little better how the huge tube runs into the back of the case.

 

 

 

Now I have saved this picture for last...

 

 

A little tribute to the man/channel that got me into computers and turned me into an enthusiast. Without Linus and their team, this computer wouldn't exist, and I would have a lot more money   A large chunk of my computer knowledge has come from this channel. Even going into computer classes in high school, I knew a lot of what was taught in the class just from LTT videos. Getting into computers and PC gaming was one of the best things I've done. It's definitely one of my favourite hobbies. Thank you Linus; keep up the good work.

 

Now some final words about the build. This was definitely quite the learning experience. If I were to do this again, I would plan out the loop much more extensively. I just kind of bought a bunch of parts and straight fittings thinking everything would fit perfectly; boy was I wrong. Everything takes up much more space than I thought it would. Even measuring certain things, they turned out to be physically bigger than I imagined. And if I ever do another custom loop computer, which I probably will, I'm not going to do it in such a small case, again for space reasons. There is probably a reason this case was called the Air 240. Again with planning out the loop better, I also probably would have coughed up more money for some angled fittings. Using just straight fittings and bending everything can look cool, but it's such a pain in the ass. For example, the weird bend I had to do from the pump to the top of the GPU. Yes it looks good, but I think it would look better if I had some angled fittings to help. The only thing i'm a little unimpressed with is the noise of the pump. I chose a DDC pump simply because they're smaller than D5 ones, and I'm stubborn and wanted the pump/res in it's current place no matter what. I knew going into it that DDC ones are louder than D5 ones, but I still find it a little annoying that my computer was quieter before I liquid cooled it. 

 

That's all I can think to say for now. Thank you to everybody for following this and to the people who commented. It's really appreciated. I hope you guys like it as much as I do.

 

Enz0man's Dream Rig is officially completed.

[EldarNi]

I actually like how the tube is sticking out of the case and wouldn't mind for more tubes on the top, it kinda makes this case unique with a personal touch. Nice build.

[stealth80]

Very nice, makes me wanna strip mine out when I go rigid in a few weeks and spray my res's and motherboard, scares the crap out of me though lol 

[Hackentosher]

Wow, very nice. A couple of things, are you worried about the pastel fluid changing color like it has in many other people's loops? Also, is the pump's vibrations resonating with the graphics card causing it to sound louder? If so, ipwould it be possible to stick a piece of rubber in between the card and pump? All that aside, this looks really good and I too like the little bit of tubing sticking out the top it gives it a nice touch of ghetto and uniqueness. Great job

[Enz0man]

Wow, very nice. A couple of things, are you worried about the pastel fluid changing color like it has in many other people's loops? Also, is the pump's vibrations resonating with the graphics card causing it to sound louder? If so, ipwould it be possible to stick a piece of rubber in between the card and pump? All that aside, this looks really good and I too like the little bit of tubing sticking out the top it gives it a nice touch of ghetto and uniqueness. Great job

 

I am slightly worried about it changing colour, but not enough for me to not even try it. If I do end up having problems with it, i'll try a different type of coolant. And no it's not loud because it's resonating against the graphics card. It's just a loud pump. I've tried dampening things and it doesn't do anything. But glad you enjoy it!

[darth_pontificus]

This log helped me tremendously with my fugly Xeon bored dilemma thanks for posting.

[Enz0man]

Hey guys! I recently entered this build in a little contest that is held by @mitxlove on Instagram! It would mean the world to me if you guys would take the time to go and vote for me. There are two ways you can vote. On Instagram, and on his blog page. Just go to @mitxlove on Instagram, and comment "3" on the contest picture to vote for me. Then on the blog page, there is a voting section at the bottom of the page. Thanks a ton! And I would recommend following mitxlove on instagram if you love small form factor builds. He posts some pretty cool things.

 

https://mitxlove.wordpress.com/2016/03/01/ultimate-mitx-championships-round-2/