And they said fitting a H100i is hard in an Enforcer!

[MumsALizard]

Welcome!

 

Before I start I'm not a journalist or a grammar expert but I do hope you enjoy the read and I hope I don't go on too much! 

 

My PC project has always been dictated my good hardware on a low budget so most of my components are not brand new but I think I have done a good job considering I dont have a lot of money but I have an expensive enthusiast taste!
 
Here is my computer when I first bought it last year around October time..
 
I bought it used locally to me for a steal in my opinion! I payed £500 for the PC and a wireless mouse and keyboard.
 

 
The Spec at the time was as follows:
 
Intel Core i5-3570K CPU with a Bequiet Dark Rock 2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 Palit reference
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z77X-D3H
RAM: Mushkin FrostByte 8GB 
(2X4GB) 1600Mhz DDR3 Dual Channel 
PSU: Coolermaster GX 650w
Storage1: Toshiba Qseries 128GB SSD SATA6
Storage2: 500gb WD
Case: Coolmasters Storm Enforcer
 
I used this plugged into my 32" Sony 720p TV....  I soon realised this was ummm.... Crap! So I bought myself a 24" 1080p monitor and a new mouse Razer Death Adder 2013 for a steal at £30 on the Bay along with a Coolermaster Mechanical keyboard Cherry red switches! 
 
I used this for a while and loved it but I soon felt the urge to upgrade! I had seen the the prices for 670's had dropped to ridiculous prices! I managed to win one yet again on the bay for £160 however it arrived with a fan which sounded like someone had thrown stones in a washing machine! (reference fans are already loud but this was ridiculous) I'd like to say at this point although I was getting all this stuff for cheap the main disadvantage was no warranty on the second had items which can be very important I don't have deep pockets and I thought it was worth the risk I got a full refund no questions asked so it was all OK. Later that week another popped up for £140 so I snapped it up!
 
Now... I did a little research, well a LOT of research about power requirements for an SLI set-up and found that my PSU was cutting it very fine even if it was a decent one which I can safely say the GX650w is not... I wish I listened as I tried to run it anyway and it just spazzed out haha! So not by choice and to my bank balances dismay I had to fork out for a new PSU. I had heard good things about Corsairs AX series of PSU and again governed by my budget I decided on a pre owned AX760 for £95 (looking back I wish I got a 860 so I wasn't so close to my power limit after expanding the system more) I also stuck a 120mm fan in front of the cards too add a bit of airflow
 
This is how it then stood!
 

 
I will say the SLI upgrade made a MASSIVE difference so anyone thinking about it, don't think, Just do it!
 
I loved the new set-up on idle it was perfect! so quiet and quick! My CPU cooler was stupidly quiet so anyone who likes air cooling I highly suggest it as it was also very cool overclocked @4.3! BUT.... Gaming was a different story the two reference coolers at full tilt was way too loud they sounded like gets! So I took the fans apart the fans and lubricated them with sewing machine oil to no avail they were naturally just loud!  
 
So I had a few options change my cards to aftermarket cooled ones which vent inside your case and not exhaust out the back like my ones did which I think is good in an SLI setup for case temps!
 
Or... Water cool....... 
 
I researched this for a long time and drew multiple diagrams to see what I thought I could get where and I cant stress how important that is when designing a loop! 
 

 
Still my budget was the boss and I was very determined to pull it off cleanly and cheaply! I didnt want to do it on a shoestring and mess it all up or have a leak and break things or use sub standard on parts as if it was worth doing its worth doing properly!
 
I found a budle on the bay yet again which included:
 
XSPC Rasa Block
HWlabs 360 stealth rad (high FPI but I found it still works great with low pressure fans so don't believe the bad press about them)
Phobya 250 balancer 
Fittings
some old tube (wasn't going to use)
Phobya 220 pump (wasn't going to use that either as it wasn't man enough for my planned loop)
And some EK ekoolant in UV red which I heard is pants so I got rid!
 
I then sold my two 670s and purchased two GTX 670's (EVGA FTW and Zotac but I modded them both to be FTW's via copying and flashing the FTW bios onto the Zotac which worked!) both with EK 680 waterblocks and backplates and a SLI bridge which I didn't use at the spacing was off for my Motherboard for a grand total of £320!! 
 

 

 
I then bought 5 yate loon High speed fans with the theory I can always turn them down on a fan controller if they are too loud and I always have the option to crank up if every necessary.My original intention was to use orange tube and pure h2o as I heard dyes are bad for your system! But I then read that Mayhems stuff was good! So I bought some Mayhems Fluid in Orange with extra Mayhems Orange Dye to darken to my taste. along with extra XSPC fittings. I stuck with 1/2 ID 3/4 OD tube due to already having fittings for them which i was happy about anyway as it looks better in my opinion was just a bit more of a challenge in a small case! I chose Primochill LRT in clear as I heard good things about this.
I also read that a 360 rad for a CPU and two GPU's wasnt going to be great and like I said earlier if its worth doing do it properly! So I bought a HWlabs 240 stealth for the roof of my case.
 
My first set was to lay it all out ready!! As a tidy workplace is best practise! Haha
 

 

 

My next step was to remove everything from my case and set about removing things which were in my way! 
I removed all the HD cages And the 5.25 cage!
 
Trail fitting the 360 rad!
 

 
As you can see it didnt stay tidy for long!! 
 
My first and biggest obstacle was the fact that the existing holes for the dual 120mm fans at the front which I had planned to mount the fans and radiator too didn't line up as they were too low due to the expansion on the rad 
 

 
I had 3 options in my mind,
 
Velcro.. which to me is just no.
 
Cut out the front and make my own brackets
 
Or cut a hole in the floor below the rad so I could drop it through the floor a little to align the holes!
 
Out came the Cutter!!!
 
I went with the third option!

 

 

Yes that is a lump hammer! Don't ask...

 

I then drilled some holes in the roof to custom mount my 240 rad, Fitted the Mobo, Radiator, fans and GPU's Along with the PSU not plugged into anything obviously! 

 

I still had my Phobya 220 pump at this point so I plumbed that in using some of the old pipe I got in the bundle to save me cutting my new tube that could potentially need to change length when my new pump arrived.

 

So this is how it looked at the time (ignore the PSU being plugged in it was just for show).

 

 

Time for loop clean!

 

I filled up my res with half vinegar and half distilled water as this is what the general consensus was and left pumping round for a few hours I then drained and washed through several times with distilled water before filling with distilled water with a little orange dye.

 

 

I left this leak testing for about 36 hours on and off, In this time I noticed I was getting a lot of turbualnce in my res due to a top inlet with no splash tube so I fashioned one out of spare tube and fixed into place!

 

In this time I read up about pumps and decided to go with a DDC MCP355 with a XSPC V3 top which is small which is useful in my case and also very powerful which my multiple block loop would need! I picked this up for £35!

 

I drained and fitted this to the system and bloddy hell its LOUD I tired decoupling it from the case which helped but it still buzzes!

 

I also bought a NZXT sentry mesh 30w per channel fan controller and butchered the back off of it to fit in the bay but not foul the rad

 

Finally I filled the system with the Mayhems coolant and did a final leak test and all was good!

 

Moved it upstairs did another pump round without towels down and it leaked!! Into the PSU the only component on!!! 

 

POP! it went! but after a bit of drying it worked fine! FEW!!! Lesson learnt though!!

 

I got a few final bits like case CCFL lights

 

So without further or do here is how it all turn't out!!

 

 

 

 

 

Ive probably missed loads out but its late here in the UK! I will edit this I'm sure! 

 

I hope you have enjoyed the read!! I have loved building this and I'm very happy with the way it turnt out considering I spent not much over £1000

 

Comments very welcome!!

 

Cheers!

 

James

 

 

 

 

[SAV1OUR]

HOLY BANANAS BATMAN

[Shd0w2]

You dedicated bastard. IM SO JELOUS

[CJPowell27]

Great job, it looks amazing.

[MumsALizard]

Thanks guys! A lot will say why not buy a new case! But I had already spent all my money and more and I really love the case even though some may think its a bit garish I really like it and if it doesn't fit make it fit! 

[helping]

mm, ketchup

[flibberdipper]

That's dedication.

[Commander_Z]

sauce everywhere in that case

 

nice job

[madscientist56]

nice job, must have been kinda difficult in that case

[WAI]

hmm secret sauce from good burger? me like Lol

[Monty007]

Looks great bro! Congrats!

[Megazero]

Absolutely love it  

[Almercenary]

Eh,at the start I was like, why'd you put orangey piss coloured coolant in your rig lol, but this is very cool indeed. I like that orange. Dedication=good end product

[paulsterio]

This looks great, I really like creativity in getting radiators to fit in unusual cases...etc. 

 

However, if you ever wanted a small upgrade or to improve the aesthetics a bit, I would suggest

 

1) Use an EK serial link to join the two graphics cards, it just looks much cleaner than with the tube running across. 

 

2) Use some angled fittings. I'm personally not a fan of angled fittings either, but I use 3/8" tubing, looks like you've used 3/4" tubing or something like that here and it just looks massive. I'd change the two fittings on the CPU block to 45 degree ones and the one on the top GPU (to the top rad) to a 90 degree one. 

 

Just some suggestions there for you if you ever drain your loop for upgrades or maintenance. 

[ArumanBE]

nice looking build. Grats!!!

[MumsALizard]

Thanks for the kind words guys!! 

 

This looks great, I really like creativity in getting radiators to fit in unusual cases...etc. 

 

However, if you ever wanted a small upgrade or to improve the aesthetics a bit, I would suggest

 

1) Use an EK serial link to join the two graphics cards, it just looks much cleaner than with the tube running across. 

 

2) Use some angled fittings. I'm personally not a fan of angled fittings either, but I use 3/8" tubing, looks like you've used 3/4" tubing or something like that here and it just looks massive. I'd change the two fittings on the CPU block to 45 degree ones and the one on the top GPU (to the top rad) to a 90 degree one. 

 

Just some suggestions there for you if you ever drain your loop for upgrades or maintenance. 

 

Hi there thanks mate! 

 

Yeah I did get a EK link but the spacing is wrong for my PCIe slots I'm using maybe in the future I'll get another as the radius on the pipe between the two is a little on the tight side.

 

As for fittings one day im going to replace all of them with premium ones and I think I will change the top GPU to a 90 but I do quite like the CPU ones being straight 

[MPX309]

tubing looks great!

[old reece frost]

This is the best Enforcer I've seen

[CJPowell27]

So sexy you should paint the motherboards heatsinks to match the build

[MumsALizard]

Thanks guys! Makes it worth it! I was thinking about painting them but does this dramaticly impair the cooling of the motherboard?

[seiny]

No offense, I'm glad you didn't use second hand tubes    awesome build!

[MumsALizard]

Just a quick update:

 

ASUS Sabretooth Z77

 

i7 3770k upgrade

 

been fiddling with the OC managed to ge  4.8ghz at 1.28v do you guys think thats ok? temps are around 67degC

 

[Nup]

Great build! really enjoyed the read too, nice job man  

[MumsALizard]

Thanks mate! It's not the best written so thanks for sticking with it