"Oh No" - Air 540 - GTX 780 Classified

[catbutts]

Hello!

I became very interested in watercooling almost a year ago, but I have/had a very decent air cooled gaming rig with no need for any performance/aesthetic upgrades at the time. What really caught my attention was @failwheeldrive 's Arc Under Water and I decided I wanted a green themed build. Since I picked up a 780 Classified, I figured I could really clean up my computer and add to the aesthetic quality!

 

Parts list:

Case - Corsair Air 540

PSU - Corsair HX750

CPU - i5 3570K

Motherboard - ASRock Z77 Extreme4

RAM - 2x 8GB 1866

GPU - 1x GTX 780 Classified

 

Radiatiors - 1x Alphacool XT45 360mm, 1x Alphacool XT45 240mm

CPU Block - Koolance 380I

GPU Block - EKWB 780 Classy

Pump - MCP655

Tubing - Primochill Advanced LRT

Dye -  Mayhems Pastel Green

 

Newegg sent me a dead ASRock motherboard and I am very unhappy, but who can you blame, right? I have all the parts except for that so I am waiting for my replacement to arrive within the week.

 

 

Final pictures!

My first time custom sleeving cables (I think they turned out pretty good)

[Unhelpful]

Really nice job with the sleeving! I have an HX850, how did sleeving the 24-pin connector work since the PSU is semi-modular?

[catbutts]

Really nice job with the sleeving! I have an HX850, how did sleeving the 24-pin connector work since the PSU is semi-modular?

Thanks! I made cable extensions myself in order to get around that issue. It also allows me to make them as short as possible even though there's almost an unlimited amount of space in the Air 540 for cable management.

[CameronUK]

I was thinking the same thing. Most likely took it to pieces.

[AMICLG]

That quad color sleeving looks so sexy.

[catbutts]

Update:

Some new pictures!

 

Time seems to pass by so slowly while I wait for my motherboard replacement I called Newegg today; my motherboard is ready to ship by Friday, but that probably means I'll receive it on the following Monday. That means I have more time to sleeve cables though.

 

I've installed my radiators with Corsair SP120s and an NZXT Sentry Mix 2

 

[Monty007]

Looks great!

[Homicidium]

Looks awesome! Stoked to see how the build is going to turn out!  

[failwheeldrive]

Great start, looking forward to seeing more! Glad to hear the Arc inspired someone new to make the jump to wc

[Stylez]

Looking sweet so far mate

[CJPowell27]

Your inspiration is here . Nice job sleeving the cable!

[catbutts]

Thanks everyone!

I'm still waiting on my motherboard to arrive, so I've just been messing with the lighting for now.

 

 

My phone is making it look way more intense than it really is though. (You might also notice I am being cheap and using a plain piece of printer paper to reflect the LED lights back into the acrylic piece  , I'll tidy that up later)

 

Since my motherboard is coming tomorrow or the day after, my next update will be installing the components and making sure my motherboard isn't dead again. After that: waterblocks, tubing, and leak testing! I'm excited!

[AMICLG]

If that LED panel doesn't workout you could always use a EL panel.

[Jimstah87]

Wow sweet build love 540 builds don't see enough of them really

[catbutts]

Thanks again for all your support! Here's a smallish update; I got my motherboard back!

 

Took this really quickly after installing my CPU block:

 

Tweaked the lighting a bit:

 

Tomorrow, I'll be blocking my GPU and finishing sleeving the two 8-pins for it. 

[d33g33]

Awesome, any guides on training the sleeve you have done? It looks super tight!

 

Also keen to see what the Classy GPU block looks like installed

[catbutts]

Installing GPU waterblock:

 

The 780 Classified is massive.

Soo pretty:

 

I also changed up my RAM from my previous rig to fit the color scheme:

Didn't want to go looking around for brand new memory just to get a new color. I don't think it looks bad at all!

 

Awesome, any guides on training the sleeve you have done? It looks super tight!

Also keen to see what the Classy GPU block looks like installed

It was my first time ever sleeving so I'm surprised at how well it's been received! For each individual cable, I just pinch it in the direction I want it to curve. If your sleeving is tight enough, it should hold its shape really easily.

[catbutts]

Leak testing!

 

I'm waiting to get 8-pin connectors for the GPU cable extensions, so I'll be using stock PSU cables for a while

Other than that, I think I'm finished; wish me luck on leak testing! *spills water absolutely everywhere*

[Monty007]

Are you going with a coloured coolant? I personally have the EK UV green and it looks awesome under UV light. I have also seen the mayhems Pastel green in person and it looks great although I don't know how well it does it's job as a coolant.

Edit: just saw that you are going with the pastel green.

[catbutts]

I'm pretty much finished, except for the ugly GPU cables.

When that's done I'll borrow my friend's camera!

 

Things are going pretty well with overclocking. I never go above 50C and 2 of my fans aren't even plugged in:

edit: picture didn't update my clocks speeds

I haven't touched the memory clock much yet, but I've never gained any significant performance from it in the past.

 

 

Are you going with a coloured coolant? I personally have the EK UV green and it looks awesome under UV light. I have also seen the mayhems Pastel green in person and it looks great although I don't know how well it does it's job as a coolant.

Edit: just saw that you are going with the pastel green.

I liked the color of UV green, but I didn't want a transparent coolant. Maybe I can mix dyes in the future and get a brighter green.

[NetworkCowboy]

Thank you so much for doing this! Can I see pictures of the backside. I want to see how you have the pump and res layed out.planned on doign this my self but can't really imagine how I could.

[godsarmy]

Very nice!

[catbutts]

Thank you so much for doing this! Can I see pictures of the backside. I want to see how you have the pump and res layed out.planned on doign this my self but can't really imagine how I could.

Oh the backside is ugly as heck. There's so much room in the back that you really shouldn't be able to go wrong, but I installed my pump and reservoir in the worst location (right next to the PSU connectors) without thinking ahead. I've also crammed a few HDDs on top of the power supply.

I think a better route would be mounting the pump and res right on top of the power supply and out of the way of every single power/data cable

 

Edit: also here's a really late update on my sleeving

[Kiwiandapple]

awesome, love that sleeving and the coolant is awesome. 

[catbutts]

Finally got some new pictures!

I wish the Air 540 came with dust filters and also a little grommet for that hole below the motherboard to help tidy up cables. I'm pretty happy with my build so let me know what you think!