Upgrading to a Custom Water Cooling Loop in an NZXT H510 Elite

[TheBritishDerp]

Ok so basically... PC upgrade time.

My plan is to switch up my very simple, boring, but pretty system by moving towards a less empty feeling tower with #matteblackallthethings and RGB illumination with metal colours here and there. What I picture in my head is so beautiful that it must come to life, so here we are.

I will be creating a custom water cooling loop within a small form factor with soft tubing - thick, matte black, soft tubing, with as little fittings as possible. The majority will say hard tubing is much sexier than soft tubing, and from a certain standpoint, this may be an obvious thought. HOWEVER, you're all forgetting that soft tubing has natural curves... OK enough of that talk, I just personally think its a better look in this case and for a first time custom water cooler, I'd prefer to take the easy route anyways. This isn't just a form PC, I'd say it's a 50/50 form & function PC.

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I'm currently running:

- Case: Anidees Ai Crystal Lite
- CPU: Intel i5 8600k 6 cores OC @ 4.7GHz
- CPU Cooler: Cooler Master MasterLiquid 240
- Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX Z370-F
- RAM: GSkill Trident Z RGB 2x8GB @ 3200MHz
- GPU: ASUS STRIX 1070 08G (OC Edition) Stock
- PSU: Seasonic FOCUS Plus 650W Gold with custom CableMod Pro cables for CPU, ATX, and GPU
- Storage: Samsung 970 EVO Plus M.2 SSD 250GB (boot drive), Samsung 850 EVO SATA 250GB, and a Seagate 1TB HDD
- Case Fans: 5x Thermaltake Riing LED White 120mm (3 in front for intake & 2 radiator fans on top for exhaust)

What I am planning on running:

- Case: NZXT H510 Elite
- CPU: Intel i5 8600k 6 cores OC @ whatever I can get it to (5.2GHz+?)
- Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX Z370-F
- RAM: GSkill Trident Z RGB 4x8GB @ 3200MHz
- GPU: NVIDIA RTX 2070 Super
- PSU: Seasonic FOCUS Plus 650W Gold with custom CableMod Pro cables for CPU, ATX, and GPU
- Storage: Samsung 970 EVO Plus M.2 SSD 250GB (boot drive), Samsung 850 EVO SATA 250GB, and a Seagate 1TB HDD
- Case Fans: 3x Corsair LL140 RGB (2x push intake on front & 1x exhaust on top), 1x Corsair LL120 RGB (push exhaust on rear), and 1x Noctua MF-R8 80mm (custom mounted intake at bottom of front to cool basement)

As for the water cooling, I'm going to be slapping a water block on both my CPU and GPU including a 150mm reservoir, a D5 pump, a 280mm radiator, and a 120mm radiator.

- CPU Block: EK Velocity RGB - Nickel + Acetal
- GPU Block: EK Vector RTX RE RGB - Nickel + Acetal
- Radiators: EK CoolStream SE 120 (Slim Single), EK CoolStream SE 280 (Slim Dual)
- Reservoir: SC Protium 150mm - Black Acetal with 2x SC Ethereal Single Reservoir Mount - Black, 2x SC 140mm Back Plate, and 2x SC 140mm Mounting Rails (4x)
- Pump: EK -XTOP Revo D5 - Black Acetal with EK-UNI Holder 50/70
- Fittings: 12x EK-ACF 13/19mm - Black Nickel, EK-AF T-Splitter 3F - Black Nickel, EK-AF 90° Angled - Black Nickel, 2x EK-AF 16mm Rotary Extender M-M - Black Nickel, 3x EK-AF 6mm Extender M-M - Black Nickel, 2x EK-AF Pass-Through - Black Nickel, 4x EK-CSQ Plug - Black Nickel, EK-AF Ball Valve - Black Nickel
- Tubing: EK-Tube ZMT 13/19mm - Matte Black
- Coolant: Distilled Water with 1x or 2x EK-CryoFuel Clear 100mL Concentrate

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The 280mm radiator will be placed at the front of the case in a push configuration with the reservoir mounted onto it using 2 mounts with several plates and rails to get the optimum position, trying to keep in-line with other components. The 120mm radiator will be positioned at the back of the case also in push configuration. Directly below the reservoir would be the pump mounted sideways on a couple universal brackets with outlet pointing towards the power supply.

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The loop will go from the reservoir to the pump by drilling a hole directly between the two in the cable bar & basement ceiling and using pass through ports and different fittings. It will exit the pump into a 3-way t-splitter fitting that'll split to a ball valve draining port and ahead to a 90° angled fitting back up to the basement ceiling. With another pass through port in a second drilled hole in-line with the first, the loop will head up to the right-hand GPU block port as the graphics card will be mounted vertically. Then out the left-hand GPU block port to the right 120mm radiator port, out the left and into the CPU block inlet port. From here it will go from the CPU block outlet port to the right 280mm radiator port, out the left, and back into the reservoir. One of the 90° ports on the top of the reservoir will lead to another drilled hole with pass through port on the inside panel to be used as a filling port.

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I will also invest in a few other pieces to the puzzle:

- Phanteks 220mm PCIE 90° Riser Cable ~for the vertical graphics card mount.
- An extra 6-Pin PCIE cable from CableMod to power the graphics card and match the other cables.
- Corsair Commander Pro & Corsair RGB Fan Hub ~to support & control all the fans and their RGB lighting.
- A custom designed fan grill for the top 140mm fan, to hide the ugly back of fans and give it a completely different look whilst still letting RGB goodness shine through.
- A custom cut mirrored acrylic PCIE shelf that can 'clip in' to the highest short PCIE slot to hold light ornaments / figurines.
- Possibly an EK-Vector RTX Backplate - Nickel ~in-case I cannot remount the founders edition stock back plate.
- Possibly a Matte Black dbrand laptop skin to wrap the reservoir if I do not like the look of clear water in a clear plastic cylinder.
- Possibly, down the line, a custom real neon or NeonPlus LED sign to be hung in the middle somewhere.

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SO... In conclusion, after all that, I should end up with a well planned, fully functional, fully beautiful computer where no purchase decisions end up being wrong. To counter that completely, I will buy the parts sequentially rather than all at once, so I can double check measurements etc. Now the reason for having a small fan cooling the basement is because pumps tend to get quite hot, so best to circulate some air down there too. I also have a CableMod 30cm RGB strip that I will locate vertically along the back left edge of the case, facing across (not into) the case and graphics card. I will also be removing the 3.5" drive bays to allow enough room in basement.

Before I create a huge hole in my financial pocket, can I get some peoples opinions on this build? Along with any concerns towards measurements, compatibility, missing components, or advice.

Questions I have currently:

- Where do I mount the Commander Pro and LED Hub?
- If a PCIE slot can hold a graphics card with help from an expansion slot or two, then can a short PCIE slot hold up a piece of acrylic?
- How flexible is 13/19mm soft tubing?
- Will I need more or less than 1L of coolant in this loop?
- Can I trust local stores to supply perfect distilled water without any additives?

Thank you very much,
Sam

[brob]

31 minutes ago, TheBritishDerp said:

Now the reason the top fan is an intake, creating a positive pressure, is because I thought that I could feed the rear radiator more cool air, that hasn't been warmed up by the front radiator already.

You will be setting up a confused airflow within the case. More likely to reduce rather than improve cooling. The temperature of air exiting an intake radiator is generally warm, not hot. There are a few studies around that indicate a unidirectional airflow offers optimal temperatures. The usual rule of thumb is bottom and front intake, top and rear exhaust.

 

34 minutes ago, TheBritishDerp said:

Questions I have currently:

• Will I need to buy another 8-Pin PCIE cable for my graphics card due to my current one possibly not reaching up and around into a vertically mounted graphics card?

• Am I able to fit my hard drive behind the graphics card, under the PCIE riser cable, mounted on it's side to the many holes on the basement panel?

• Where do I mount my 2.5" SATA SSD?

• If a PCIE slot can hold a graphics card with help from an expansion slot or two, then can a short PCIE slot hold up a piece of acrylic?

• How flexible is 13/19mm soft tubing?

• Will I need more or less than 1L of coolant in this loop?

• Can I trust local stores to supply perfect distilled water without any additives?

 

• Measure the distance. Go into a store that has the case, take a length of string with you.
• I doubt there would be enough room. Even if there is, remember that hdd are mechanical devices and having one side unsecured would lead to potentially harmful vibration. I'd suggest using the dedicated hdd mounting brackets.
• 2.5" ssd can be mounted on the right side of the motherboard tray. There are two dedicated mounts.
• The cable bar has a slot intended for use in mounting pump and reservoir. Careful part selection should avoid any issues with the vertical gpu. Best ask the question in the forum linked below.
• I believe standard Acrylic is conductive. This property would make it a really poor choice for insertion into a PCIe slot.
• Ask the question in the forum dedicated to liquid cooling, https://linustechtips.com/main/forum/36-liquid-and-exotic-cooling/
• Same as previous answer
• A pharmacy / drug store / chemist will sell true distilled water for various medical uses (CPAP machines, etc.)

[TheBritishDerp]

10 hours ago, brob said:

You will be setting up a confused airflow within the case. More likely to reduce rather than improve cooling. The temperature of air exiting an intake radiator is generally warm, not hot. There are a few studies around that indicate a unidirectional airflow offers optimal temperatures. The usual rule of thumb is bottom and front intake, top and rear exhaust.

 

 

• Measure the distance. Go into a store that has the case, take a length of string with you.
• I doubt there would be enough room. Even if there is, remember that hdd are mechanical devices and having one side unsecured would lead to potentially harmful vibration. I'd suggest using the dedicated hdd mounting brackets.
• 2.5" ssd can be mounted on the right side of the motherboard tray. There are two dedicated mounts.
• The cable bar has a slot intended for use in mounting pump and reservoir. Careful part selection should avoid any issues with the vertical gpu. Best ask the question in the forum linked below.
• I believe standard Acrylic is conductive. This property would make it a really poor choice for insertion into a PCIe slot.
• Ask the question in the forum dedicated to liquid cooling, https://linustechtips.com/main/forum/36-liquid-and-exotic-cooling/
• Same as previous answer
• A pharmacy / drug store / chemist will sell true distilled water for various medical uses (CPAP machines, etc.)

Ah thank you for taking a look at my plan! I guess the top fan shall be intake instead, which is better for looks anyways.
And thanks for answering my questions. I have asked in the water cooling thread and updated my original post here.

[brob]

3 hours ago, TheBritishDerp said:

Ah thank you for taking a look at my plan! I guess the top fan shall be intake instead, which is better for looks anyways.

 

Fans on the top should be exhaust, i.e. take air from the inside of the case and push it out the top.

[TheBritishDerp]

8 hours ago, brob said:

 

Fans on the top should be exhaust, i.e. take air from the inside of the case and push it out the top.

That's what I meant to put! My bad!