First Custom Loop......or Computer.

1963SS · November 29, 2019

Well, I was finally able to get my first build under my belt...……...at 73 years old. It's a time thing. I've probably made some mistakes but that's why I'm here. You guys know more that I ever will. I'll probably be giving tis to a family member for Christmas and would like criticism. The weak lind is probably the 1080ti that used to be a MSI Sea Hawk until the Corsair pump decided not to pump any more. Here's a few of the goodies.

Fractal Define R6 case

I9-9900KF (4700 clock)

MSI Sea Hawk (kind of) 1080ti (Clocked a bit) (Sea Hawk Corsair pump died)

Alphacool water block for the 1080ti

Hardware Labs Nemisis 360 radiator

Radiator fans 3x120 Cougar Vortex

Thermaltake CPU Block

Swiftech Maelstrom 200mm reservoir. (I wanted glass and not acrylic)

Some kind of Swiftech modded D5 pump

32 Mb Corsair Vengeance 3200 RGB

Thermaltake temperature/flow thingy with an alarm if temp gets high or flow gets low.

Thermaltake Pure Plus14 140mm top fans

Corsair RM850X power supply

Noctua 140mm rear fan

Samsung 970 Pro M.2 (500 GB)

(2) Samsung 860 Evo SSD (500 GB each)

I know the cable management sucks but even though I spent 50 years as an electrician you can only do so much without custom cables. I am getting a piece of 11 Gauge anodized aluminum made to cover up all the wires that I stashed behind the power supply. I got into the Christmas spirit with the RGB stuff. My first computer was an Apple 2C. They've come a long way.

I guess it's time for a Benchmark when I figure that out.

Statik · November 29, 2019

Looks fresh man. How much did it run you? And how was the hard tubing? I want to do a custom loop down the line, but I personally really dont like the look of soft tubing.

1963SS · November 30, 2019

It cost a bit more than the woman thinks I paid for it and I'm really afraid to do the math. Maybe around $2500-$3000. She thinks I had a $1500 budget. I know I blew that. Yes, that's hard tubing. PETG I think. Hard tubing was pretty easy once I taught me a few tricks like the 1 1/4" thing with the bending tool. Thermaltake and Alphacool compression fittings. Thermaltake are bigger around and I couldn't get a pair of them on the video card. Only had one small leak on top of the reservoir. I didn't have it screwed into the reservoir enough. Rookie mistake. The little bit of water from the fill port fitting was just a few drops.

You'll have a good time with the water-cooling. I think the fittings are a major cost.