Liquid Overhaul (Define R4 - H100i / Kraken X40 x Kraken G10)

[Makaseo]

My components are entirely cooled by CLC's! Very exciting. Didn't really seem fitting to resurrect my old post (June 2013) from when I first built this thing up from scratch. Decided to start a new thread, hope that's okay by everyone.

The only reason I decided to do this at all was because I met a guy who was willing to sell me his unopened H100i and X40 - 100 USD for the pair. I couldn't pass that up if I wanted to, and I knew the G10 would be released soon after that.

 

Near the end, I ramble a bit, making sort of a quick and dirty review of the the H100i, X40, and G10.

 

Quick rundown of the specs again, with indicators of new hardware since my last update:
~ Intel i5 4670k (4.4 GHz OC)

~ Corsair H100i (with 2 x SP120 QE)

~ Gigabyte Z87x-UD3H

~ Corsair Vengeance Pro 2 x 4GB @1600MHz

~ EVGA GTX 760 ACX (though the aftermarket cooler matters little now)

~ NZXT Kraken X40

~ NZXT Kraken G10

~ 3 x Noctua AF-140 FLX

~ Corsair CX500M

~ 128GB SSD and 2 x 1TB HDD's

 

And now for some mediocre phone pictures showing it off:

 

 

 

 

Sorry again about the photo quality, my DLSR--I mean, photographer classmate moved far, far away.

 

The H100i is a lot louder than I thought it would be, even after sticking the fans on the motherboard headers, much louder than my old XigmatekDarkKnightTwoNightHawkEditionPewPewLasers. It's the pump, mostly, with its faint humming. The Kraken setup on the graphics card, however, is amazing. The X40's pump is pretty inaudible over anything else, especially with the H100i there, and it's quieter than the old ACX twin fan cooler by a long way.

 

Temps-wise, I'm very very very happy. The CPU idles at 30-33, hits just over 70 during 3DMark Firestrike Extreme, and the fans just kinda whoosh quietly under load. The CLC on the GPU is just insanity- it just idles at two or three degrees above whatever room temperatuer happens to be, and I've never seen the temps go over 65, even after looping a custom 3DMark stress test for an hour.

 

In case anyone's wondering, I was initially worried about VRM temps, even with the cute little fan NZXT bundles with the G10. Lucky for me, the ACX PCB has a sort of metal heatsink-esque thing covering half the board, which made contact with the original air cooler's thermal pads. It gets warm to touch, but never near what I'd consider hot. The little fan is decently audible, but only because of the air it moves. Again, a nice little whoosh. Nothing whiny. Note that my "audible" is actually pretty dang quiet. Apart from the H100i's pump, I'd say the X40 and G10 make about the same noise as if I'd added 2 or 3 more NF-A14's running at 7V. Whatever that means.

 

End of ramble and end of post. Thanks for checking out my build thread!

[itslegendddd]

I think I am planning on doing a very similar set up with g10 w/ single 120mm rad and cpu with 240mm rad. I think it is very optimal for good temps. I like the build alot!

[Makaseo]

I think I am planning on doing a very similar set up with g10 w/ single 120mm rad and cpu with 240mm rad. I think it is very optimal for good temps. I like the build alot!

 

Thanks! Yeah that setup sounds like it'd work really well without being unnecessary.

 

It looks so awesome! I really want to have those coolers too but the gpu cooler seems to be so unnecessary for a gtx 760 and its very pricy.

 

Thank you! It's a fair point--I just happened to luck out by finding a really good deal. It really is kinda overkill for my GPU, but lower temps are lower temps I guess.

[antidote13]

you should take the upper hdd cage out if you're not using it. It would look cleaner and would allow better airflow

[Makaseo]

you should take the upper hdd cage out if you're not using it. It would look cleaner and would allow better airflow

 

Yeah I usually keep it out. I actually don't know why it was in there when I took the photos.