Jump to content

(Mephistopheles) AMD Custom Water Cooled Gaming Rig

guitarmanstamm
 Share
Posted

This is my custom water cooled rig. I built it over about a year and 3 months and am still making adjustments and upgrades as new tech is released. I started out with a Fractal Design Define R3 Case and soon realized it wouldn't be enough to house all the hardware I planned on throwing into my rig but I lived with it for awhile. The first revision of my PC was an Asus Crosshair IV Formula MB with an AMD Phenom X6 CPU, and an Asus 6950 GPU and and Intel X-25M 80GB boot SSD. I ran with that config for a couple months or so and decided to throw another 6950 in to up the GPU horse power. The build was originally air cooled with a Cooler Master V6 Heat Sink. Fairly soon after I had finished the first revision of my build the FX Series came out and not long after the 7000 series ATI cards came out, so just like most other enthusiast I had to have the latest and greatest... in my price range of course. After a bit of saving I upgraded the MB and the CPU and chassis to what I have now. After tax returns I decided I'd pick up a 7970 and a larger capacity SSD for my boot. That's when I ended up with 120Gig that is currently in my system. After a bit of research and price hunting I decided to water cool my entire build and push it to the max. That's when I ended up with the Koolance setup I have. Building your own rig is a fun and involved hobby that I've enjoyed greatly. I'm going to continue to upgrade and tune my PC.
 
HARDWARE
 
AMD FX 8120 Processor OC'd to 4.6GHZ
Asus Crosshair V Formula Motherboard
Sapphire 7970 OC'd to 1.2GHZ
Corsair Vengeance 8GB 2x4 1600MHZ RAM
Corsair AX850 Power Supply
Kingston HyperX 120GB SSD Boot Drive
Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 500GB Storage Drive x 2
Asus Essence STX Sound Card
Corsair 600T Windowed Case
Corsair SP 120MM Fans x 3
Corsair 200MM Front Case Fan
iStarUSA BPN 3 Bay Hot Swap Cage (red)
iStarUSA BPN 1 Bay Hot Swap Cage (black)
Logisys 12" Red LED Tube
 
WATER COOLING
 
Koolance CPU370 Nickel CPU Water Block
Koolance 7970 Nickel GPU Water Block
Koolance RAM 33 Water Block x 2
Koolance PMP 400 Water Pump
Koolance 393ML Cylinder Reservoir
Koolance Dual 120MM Radiator
Koolance Single 120MM Radiator
Koolance 3/8" Compression Fittings x10
Koolance 3/8" 45 Degree Adaptor x2
Koolance 3/8" 90 Degree Compression Fittins x4
Koolance 3/8" Quick Disconnect Compression Fittings x2
Koolance 3/8" by 1/2" Black Tubing
Koolance Clear Liquid Coolant
Koolance Red Anti-Kink Coiling
 
MODS
 
I didn't do too many case mods but I did remove the mesh at the top in between the dual radiator and the top fans and also removed part of the plastic brace for the top filter to accommodate the fans as well
 
PERIPHERALS
 
Samsung 23" 1080P Monitor
Logitech Z313 25W 2.1 Speakers
Senheiser HD558 Headphones
Mionix Naos 8200 Mouse
Corsair K70 Keyboard
Razr Nostromo Gaming Pad
Logitech C310 WebCam

PICTURES

This is the first revision that I started with

fractal3_zps8e5ee867.jpg

fractal2_zpsbd692e72.jpg


This is the second revision, after I got the second 6950 and the Corsair 600T

031_zps29348ace.jpg


Then this is the process of getting it to where its at now, New GPU new CPU and MB new RAM etc.

It's Messy I know but it gets better.

IMG_0136_zpsd9b1ca1a.jpg

IMG_0137_zps29c56312.jpg

IMG_0152_zps4536a7ef.jpg

IMG_0066_zps076a22fa.jpg

IMG_0067_zps43a5c1e8.jpg

IMG_0068_zps8686bfb3.jpg

IMG_0069_zps97ff7f08.jpg

IMG_0071_zps96850b9c.jpg

IMG_0073_zpsd10c7509.jpg

IMG_0099_zps66c78ea2.jpg

IMG_0097_zps9f64ef49.jpg

IMG_0096_zpsbd7137c5.jpg

IMG_0102-001_zps1a32913a.jpg

IMG_0078_zps34af0b3e.jpg

IMG_0080_zpsbeb69997.jpg

IMG_0103-002_zpsa94d8d1e.jpg

IMG_0073_zps2bcaa13e.jpg

IMG_0092-001_zpse4e155ce.jpg

IMG_0103-001_zps70f4064f.jpg

IMG_0107-001_zps8ddd7040.jpg

IMG_00761_zpscaaf07e6.jpg

IMG_00771_zpsaab85ed3.jpg

IMG_0093_zps2d07a42f.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

The photos dont show up man the links work tho im pretty sure you have to put %7Boption%7D  thelink  [img/]   i think thats it

| Contact Information |
My Teamspeak : Austs1.gameservers.com:9334  |  Steam: Iamtictac456  |  My other aliases include Scruffy and Scruffy Biggems :)
 
 
 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

Thats pretty cool, I love how you put the SSD on the roof of your case next to the fans!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

Wow, just wow, I don't even know a word that can describe how good that looks. I'm a huge Corsair fanboy and I love red themed builds.

Great work!

PC Specs: Case: Corsair 650D     MOBO: Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z     CPU: Intel Core i7 2600k     CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i     RAM: Corsair Vengeance 2x4GB 1600MHz CL8    SSD: Corsair FGT120

HDD: Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB     GPU: Asus GTX580 Matrix Platinum     PSU: Corsair AX850

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

i think you had a little type, you said 8 gb's of 4x4

but overall good build :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Author

Thanks for the feed back everyone, I fixed the photo issue for everyone. I was going to go with a thicker tubing but its tough to manipulate into tighter bends without kinking, I had issue with it when I was helping a friend build his rig. Oh and I fixed the typo, I meant it as 8GB total two 4GB sticks but I went ahead and made it a little more clear for everyone :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

Nice, colour scheme, everything seems to be decent.. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

Very nice looking build

Intel i5 3570k | MSI GTX 670 Power Edition/OC SLI | Asus Sabertooth Z77 | Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB | Fractal Design Newton R2 650W | NZXT Switch 810 SE Gun Metal | BenQ 24" XL2420T 120Hz | Corsair K90  | Logitech G500 / Logtitech Performance MX | Sennheiser PC 360 | Asus Xonar DGX | NVIDIA GeForce 3D Vision 2 Wireless Kit

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

Looks good, is similar to mine  :)

FX8120 @ 5.0GHz | Sabertooth 990FX | Patriot Viper Xtreme 8GB @ 2133MHz | Powercolor HD7950 @ 1300/1800 | Bitfenix Shinobi XL Modded | Corsair AX850 | Mushkin 120GB & Seagate 2TB | Bitfenix Recon | 5X SP120 PE | 6X Yate Loon 120mm HS


Koolance 200 Res | 2X Koolance 360 Rads | Danger Den CPX Pro | EK 7950 Block | Koolance CPU Block | Bitspower & XSPC Fittings


Green Machine

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Author

So, opinions on throwing in a phobia 200mm radiator in the front? I'm tryin to think if the gain is enough to justify the price.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Author

Update,

 

With the recent ATI Crossfire issues I've decided against my original idea of adding a second water cooled 7970 and will be instead watercooling my motherboard throwing in the 200mm front radiator and adding a 3 SSD Raid 0 array. I'm looking into bits power crystal link as well because it looks freakin sexy but looks like its just a little too pricey for the time being, but a very possible future upgrade.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

with the prototype driver coming in a month or two, the frame stuttering will be nearly gone. also, Radeon Pro Tool already solves the problem (they do the same thing really, it's just one will be an official driver release and one is 3rd party)

Daily Driver:

Case: Red Prodigy CPU: i5 3570K @ 4.3 GHZ GPU: Powercolor PCS+ 290x @1100 mhz MOBO: Asus P8Z77-I CPU Cooler: NZXT x40 RAM: 8GB 2133mhz AMD Gamer series Storage: A 1TB WD Blue, a 500GB WD Blue, a Samsung 840 EVO 250GB

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Author

that's true, I'm thinking I'll benefit from the raid array a little more than the card for the time being. I need more space and data speed than graphics HP right now. it's probably going to happen eventually but the array is still what I'm leaning towards

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

that's true, I'm thinking I'll benefit from the raid array a little more than the card for the time being. I need more space and data speed than graphics HP right now. it's probably going to happen eventually but the array is still what I'm leaning towards

 

RAID 1 8 120gb samsung 840s for a boot drive, and the RAID 6 with 48 4TB WD drives :P

Daily Driver:

Case: Red Prodigy CPU: i5 3570K @ 4.3 GHZ GPU: Powercolor PCS+ 290x @1100 mhz MOBO: Asus P8Z77-I CPU Cooler: NZXT x40 RAM: 8GB 2133mhz AMD Gamer series Storage: A 1TB WD Blue, a 500GB WD Blue, a Samsung 840 EVO 250GB

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

i wish i had enough money to make my 600t look like that DAMN. :o

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
Posted
  • Author

It took a couple years and a few tax returns but it wasn't too pricey. I got a lot of things on sale. If you get the time to really hunt for components you can get them for a decent price. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Author

So what's the general opinion? I've avoided Windows 8 til this point but with the new games coming out and more focus on being optimized for windows 8, should I bother to upgrade?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

Very good job mate. 10/10 ;)

export PS1='\[\033[1;30m\]┌╼ \[\033[1;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[1;30m\] ╾╼ \[\033[0;34m\]\w\[\033[0;36m\]\n\[\033[1;30m\]└╼ \[\033[1;37m\]'


"All your threads are belong to /dev/null"


| 80's Terminal Keyboard Conversion | $5 Graphics Card Silence Mod Tutorial | 485KH/s R9 270X | The Smallest Ethernet Cable | Ass Pennies | My Screenfetch |

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Author

I was bored tonight so I did what any sensible person would do... Cleaned and re-cable managed my PC!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

Take those anti kink could off man! Especially on straight runs, apart from that, good job dude, nice to see some AMD builds

/ / 6G V2 - MX Black / Choc Mini - MX Blue / HHKB Pro 2 (Anthracite) - Lubed and dental modded / Poker 2 - MX Black / Dell AT101W / Filco TKL(Beige) - MX Black / Filco TKL(Black) - MX Brown / V60- MX Red / V80 - MX Brown / Winkeyless B.Mini / RS84 / / 

@pexonpcs

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

Take those anti kink could off man! Especially on straight runs, apart from that, good job dude, nice to see some AMD builds

I agree with him.  I know it's personal taste and all, but I think the anti kink coils kill the sexiness of your rig.  Overall, I think it's a great build, nice job :). 

CASE: FRACTAL DESIGN DEFINE R4  |  MOBO: MSI MPOWER Z77  |  CPU: Intel i5 3570k @ 4.4 GHz  |  CPU COOLER: NOCTUA NH-D15  |  GPU: EVGA GTX 770 SC |

PSU: CORSAIR AX860 W/ RED BRAIDED CABLES | SSD: SAMSUNG 840 EVO 250 GB | HDD: WD BLACK 1 TB | FANS: 3x NOCTUA NF-A14 | MONITOR: HP W2371D

KEYBOARD: CM STORM QFR MX BLUES W/  PBT KEYCAPS  |  MOUSE: LOGITECH G502 | MIC: AUDIO TECHNICA AT2020 | HEADPHONES: SENNHEISER HD 558

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

Amd fan ;) love the name too, I studied Ancient Greek for a time, so much harder than Latin :p

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Author

I don't know I'm a fan of the anti kink, it adds just a bit more red and the black tubing kind of dissapears without it. =/. maybe I'll take it off and see what it lookes like and take some pics and have a vote. I have plenty of it left haha.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing Build Logs

×