The Black Pearl: hardline watercooling

[MkaiL]

So this is not really a new build. My system named "Black Pearl" is already over a year old. The Black Pearl started as a watercooled (aio) pc. I had an EK predator 360 in there but after 3 faulty units and the fact that they got discontinued, I had to switch to an aircooler (temporary). But finally the Black Pearl hits the waters again . This was my first ever pc build a year ago. I've done over 10 other builds since but never a custom watercooled pc. So I have no experience in watercooling, yet I couldn't resist going all out on a hardline loop and I think I did pretty ok. 

 

First here are the specs of the system:

i7 6700k / Evga gtx 1080ti FTW3 / Asus maximus VIII formula / modded Phanteks enthoo evolv TG / G.skill Trident Z 2x8gb 3200 / 960 evo 500gb + 850 evo 500gb / Corsair rm850x

 

And what it looked like to begin with:

Spoiler

 

Here is where the actual build log starts: the switch from aircooling to a hardline waterloop.

The components going into the system:

 

Day 1

The first day, I tore the system down. I spent the entire day modding the top of my phanteks case so I could mount the fans up top right under the top panel. This was necessary so that the rad wouldn't interfere with the fitting for the vrm cooling. I also drilled holes into the case to mount the reservoir on the back panel instead of using the adapters to mount them to the rad. This imo makes it look much cleaner. Here are the results of the first day:

 

Day 2

On the second day I started disassembling the 1080ti to replace the heatsink with a full cover ek block. The rest of the day I spent cable managing everything. All fan cables run to the top of the case to a fan hub and only a single cable connects to the motherboard. I'm still planning on getting mdpc-x sleeved cables. I wanted to order them but decided that I want to do it myself, so that's going to be my next project. I also changed the white hue+ for a black one that I had and moved it to the bottom of the case.

 

Day 3

Only thing left to do were the tubes. Bending the tubes was actually easier then I thought. For now I'm just using ek's clear cryofuel. I don't know yet if I will get colored coolant, maybe pastel white? Temps are great, haven't seen the gpu or cpu go above low 40's and the system is much quieter (using low rpm sp fans on the gts rads). Only noise I hear is the coil whine from my gpu, but nothing I can do about that. Overall a great experience and a good challenge for me. I'm not finished though, I will keep adding and changing things around. 

 

The gpu holder to prevent sag that I mounted on the back and through the grommet. It's actually an accessory for a specific cooler master case that I modded to fit my phanteks case. 

[Crunchy Dragon]

That's really nice, I especially like the honeycomb design.

 

I also never fully realized before just how big the EVGA FTW cooler was....

[For Science!]

Simple looking and beautiful!. Great amount of radiator space! Bet the temps are superb 

[TheSLSAMG]

Did you mod those panels yourself or buy them from another company? I'd love to know who you bought them from if you did, as I have an Enthoo Evolv ATX TG and those look fantastic. Amazing looking build all around, very clean.

[MkaiL]

29 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

That's really nice, I especially like the honeycomb design.

 

I also never fully realized before just how big the EVGA FTW cooler was....

Thanks. Yes, the triple fan cooler is massive and has thermal pads everywhere. I find it impressive that they managed to keep it a 2 slot card with such great performance. The card boosts to 2020mhz without any overclock on air.

 

22 minutes ago, For Science! said:

Simple looking and beautiful!. Great amount of radiator space! Bet the temps are superb 

Thank you. Temps during triple A games on ultra never pass the 40's with the fans on lowest setting and pump on 40%.

 

17 minutes ago, TheSLSAMG said:

Did you mod those panels yourself or buy them from another company? I'd love to know who you bought them from if you did, as I have an Enthoo Evolv ATX TG and those look fantastic. Amazing looking build all around, very clean.

The panels are modded by gosumodz (germany). I had this hexagon design in mind, told them exactly what I wanted, they made the designs, send them my own top and front panel and received them back 2 weeks later with the hexagon pattern.

[foamygopher]

4 hours ago, TheSLSAMG said:

Did you mod those panels yourself or buy them from another company? I'd love to know who you bought them from if you did, as I have an Enthoo Evolv ATX TG and those look fantastic. Amazing looking build all around, very clean.

FYI in case your interested https://modmymods.com/custom-services/phanteks-case-mods.html. They only have the 1 design. But, I like it and it has helped with temps as well.

Edited February 22, 2018 by foamygopher
added photo.

[TheSLSAMG]

41 minutes ago, foamygopher said:

FYI in case your interested https://modmymods.com/custom-services/phanteks-case-mods.html. They only have the 1 design. But, I like it and it has helped with temps as well.

 

I do know about this option, however I'm not a big fan of the shape of the holes. I might do it at some point, but I'll end up spending as much on panels as I did on the case. Maybe I'll look into seeing if they could custom make me ones with rectangles.

[foamygopher]

23 hours ago, TheSLSAMG said:

I do know about this option, however I'm not a big fan of the shape of the holes. I might do it at some point, but I'll end up spending as much on panels as I did on the case. Maybe I'll look into seeing if they could custom make me ones with rectangles.

I believe they might. I've seen them do custom work for others while they were prototyping the front panel. It wouldn't hurt to shoot them am e-mail. If you have a design planed out you could also look into any machine shops in your area to see if they might cut thenm for you.

[MkaiL]

I'm thinking about sleeving new cables for the psu with mdpc-x sleeving. Should I go black/grey/white or maybe black/dark grey/light grey? Other suggestions? 

[I-r0k]

On 2/26/2018 at 12:02 PM, MkaiL said:

I'm thinking about sleeving new cables for the psu with mdpc-x sleeving. Should I go black/grey/white or maybe black/dark grey/light grey? Other suggestions? 

I say gray/light gray/black. 

[MkaiL]

26 minutes ago, I-r0k said:

I say gray/light gray/black. 

Thanks for your opinion. I don't know how it would look without white because I have so much other white accents in the case. I think I'm first going to change the fluid to white pastel and see how that looks. No hurry though, for now I'm just enjoying the performance and silence. I'm busy with college right now so I might give up on the idea of making them myself and just order them. 

 

These were the options I was considering:

Spoiler

 

[I-r0k]

38 minutes ago, MkaiL said:

Thanks for your opinion. I don't know how it would look without white because I have so much other white accents in the case. I think I'm first going to change the fluid to white pastel and see how that looks. No hurry though, for now I'm just enjoying the performance and silence. I'm busy with college right now so I might give up on the idea of making them myself and just order them. 

 

These were the options I was considering:

  Hide contents

 

Yea, Those cables look great.