Back to watercooling

[aeus]

After 3ish years since my last (and first hard tube) watercooling build in a Carbide 540

 

 

I'm relapsing and I will go back to watercooling my current build. I wasn't particularly happy with the setup above, at least not on water. After a few months the fluid wasn't as white anymore and it actually looked pretty bad. And since I didn't have a drain port there just draining it once was a pain...and just thinking about filling/cleaning/draining few more times to get all the white coolant out made me go back to stock cooling on GPUs and AIO for the CPU for the past years.

 

Since a few days ago I've temporary build this:

Intel i9 9900k

ASUS RTX 2080 Strix Gaming O8G 8GB

ASUS ROG STRIX Z390-F GAMING

Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO 16GB DDR4

SSD Samsung 970 EVO 500GB

in a case which i dislike and will likely return soon

Deepcool Gamer Storm Genome II Black-Red

 

 

I've already ordered most of the watercooling parts and they will probably arrive sometimes in January:

Bitspower Lotan VGA Water Block for ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 2080 and 2080Ti

Bitspower CPU Block Summit M Acrylic - Digital RGB

EK-XRES 140 Revo D5 PWM - Plexi (incl. sleeved pump)

EK-CoolStream XE 240

EK-CoolStream PE 360

EK-Vardar F3-120 (1850rpm)

EK-HDC Fitting 12mm

Random things, like T-splitter, ball valve (not making the same mistake twice), few extenders, angled fittings, vertical pump bracket.

 

Now I'm struggling to find a case. I already own an empty Fractal Design Define S but kinda feels outdated?

I'm very close to the limit of my budget for this build, most of what I have spare is in case I miss something (fittings, extenders, cables, adapters, these kind of small things).

 

To mention a few things - there will be very little modding to the any of the parts, maybe some painting/recoloring here and there but that's about it. No modifying of the (future) case.

What I'm looking for in this build, in order:

1. Longevity - I want it to last 4-5 years

2. Performance

3. Aesthetics - I don't mean things will be all over the place, but don't really need the "bling"

 

Since I can't proceed at the moment I thought I'd post this thread and ask for people's opinion and suggestions if any and update along as I go!

So I will start with a question  Should I stick to the Define S or try to stretch it for something else even if it's a bit later? If so, what?

[boey]

The Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic looks really good and is designed more for aesthetics + watercooling(it has slots for 3 360mm radiators) . Maybe you could take a look at that? It costs something like $129.99? It comes in white or black, so you could stick to a theme that you like that includes black and that would look really nice, especially with a custom loop. There’s plenty of cable management space in the back and the PSU is hidden in the back compartment. (Note the PC-O11 Dynamic may have clearance issues for some watercooled GPUs, you might wanna look into that)

[aeus]

Thanks d0nut. Sadly I can't find that case locally but would look good indeed.

International shipping costs about the same as the case itself so that's not an option.

 

So I'm undusting the good ol' Design S and will buy a vertical mounting kit from Cablemod for the video card since I'm returning this Genom II.

[aeus]

I just finished undusting and moving the parts in the old Define S.

 

 

This case looks so empty without a reservoir, though you can barely see the mobo with that NH D15.

Don't mind the mess, as it will be mostly taken apart again when I get the watercooling stuff in place.

 

In the process I returned the initial PSU and got the HXi instead, for having all cables compatible with the Cablemod set, as well as Corsair Link (because why not). And it was discounted at this time, so it ended up being cheaper than the HX850 by around $30.

 

If someone is wondering about cooling performance on the Genome II vs Noctua D15, with my case and not particularly good air flow in this define S (only got those 2 intake fans, and top cover is still on) - under load in small ftts prime95 Noctua clearly wins at max temp on some cores of 72C. While the Genome water cooler was getting up to 85C.

This is with the default Asus "overclock" MCE enabled (all cores at 4.8ghz, 1.20 to 1.32 V).

 

And for now my setup is pretty much set, as today was the last day I could legally return & replace parts from the original order.