First Build & Upgrades

[CormadeStukov]

Built my first personal PC just before COVID hit (last time I 'helped' with a build was my dad in the late 90s). The original build spec was:

 

• Asus X570-P
• AMD Ryzen 3600
• AMD RX 5600XT
• 16GB Kingston Fury 3200
• NZXT H710i

 

Just after COVID hit my wife wanted to get a PC as her old laptop was dying. The local memory express had some deals on a returned Crosshair Formula and Phanteks Enthoo 719, and I wanted to dabble with ray-tracing, so I slowly replaced parts as they came on sale until I had built an entirely new PC. This one was built with the intention of future-proofing for attempting water cooling. The only component I couldn't get for this build was the Phanteks Evolv X so I went with another Phanteks case that was on sale.

 

• Asus Crosshair Formula XIII
• AMD Ryzen 3800X
• Gigabyte RTX 2060 Super Windforce
• 32GB TridentZ Royal 3600 CL16
• Fractal Celsius+ S36 Prisma
• Phanteks Enthoo 719

 

I finally made the decision to attempt water-cooling and decided to go hardline. I also wanted to get the LianLi Unifans that had just launched. Ordered the fans and made the plunge with Bykski for water cooling for the significant difference in price from EK and limited availability from Alphacool at the time. I ended up being a couple fittings short and had 1 tube to spare since I had not properly preplanned how I would run things. 

 

The last change I made was when I came across an Evolv X on sale last year and decided I wanted to go with a case that wasn't so oversized. With only the 1 tube to spare from previously I had to repurpose old tubes in order to run everything. I did not account for the reduced space in the basement of the case that would have to accommodate everything, so with no way to modify the case to accommodate a drain port it is limited only to a fill port. Peripherals listed below.

 

• BenQ EX3203R
• KRK Rokit 5
• Edifier R1280T
• Roccat Vulcan 120
• Roccat Kone XP
• Logitech X56
• Thrustmaster T248
• Secretlab Titan Evo 2022

[thrasher_565]

57 minutes ago, CormadeStukov said:

Built my first personal PC just before COVID hit (last time I 'helped' with a build was my dad in the late 90s). The original build spec was:

 

• Asus X570-P
• AMD Ryzen 3600
• AMD RX 5600XT
• 16GB Kingston Fury 3200
• NZXT H710i

 

Just after COVID hit my wife wanted to get a PC as her old laptop was dying. The local memory express had some deals on a returned Crosshair Formula and Phanteks Enthoo 719, and I wanted to dabble with ray-tracing, so I slowly replaced parts as they came on sale until I had built an entirely new PC. This one was built with the intention of future-proofing for attempting water cooling. The only component I couldn't get for this build was the Phanteks Evolv X so I went with another Phanteks case that was on sale.

 

• Asus Crosshair Formula XIII
• AMD Ryzen 3800X
• Gigabyte RTX 2060 Super Windforce
• 32GB TridentZ Royal 3600 CL16
• Fractal Celsius+ S36 Prisma
• Phanteks Enthoo 719

 

I finally made the decision to attempt water-cooling and decided to go hardline. I also wanted to get the LianLi Unifans that had just launched. Ordered the fans and made the plunge with Bykski for water cooling for the significant difference in price from EK and limited availability from Alphacool at the time. I ended up being a couple fittings short and had 1 tube to spare since I had not properly preplanned how I would run things. 

 

The last change I made was when I came across an Evolv X on sale last year and decided I wanted to go with a case that wasn't so oversized. With only the 1 tube to spare from previously I had to repurpose old tubes in order to run everything. I did not account for the reduced space in the basement of the case that would have to accommodate everything, so with no way to modify the case to accommodate a drain port it is limited only to a fill port. Peripherals listed below.

 

• BenQ EX3203R
• KRK Rokit 5
• Edifier R1280T
• Roccat Vulcan 120
• Roccat Kone XP
• Logitech X56
• Thrustmaster T248
• Secretlab Titan Evo 2022

seem like alot of moeny to do just wc the cpu?

[SleepDeprivationTheITGuy]

Nice work and it looks great. Certainly better than I'd do water cooling, ha. The reservoir in particular is very interesting looking.

 

If I may ask, why did you custom water cool a CPU that can be effectively cooled by the cooler that comes in the box and a GPU with a TDP of only 160W? I guess it's one thing if you already had the water cooling parts and decided "f- it, this'll be fun", but wouldn't it have been better to buy a faster CPU instead?

 

My home desktop PC has a 10900K which eats up double the power the 3800X does if you let it, and I still air-cool it and sustain 200W at ~92C.

[RealBACONATOR2]

That speaker setup is stunning!

[CormadeStukov]

On 11/4/2022 at 7:52 PM, thrasher_565 said:

seem like alot of moeny to do just wc the cpu?

I had originally planned to water block the GPU when I upgraded to a 30 series, but I didn't realize just how in demand they would be at launch and wasn't able to pick one up new and was not going to spend scalper prices when the 2060S was working just fine.

[CormadeStukov]

On 11/4/2022 at 8:30 PM, SleepDeprivationTheITGuy said:

Nice work and it looks great. Certainly better than I'd do water cooling, ha. The reservoir in particular is very interesting looking.

 

If I may ask, why did you custom water cool a CPU that can be effectively cooled by the cooler that comes in the box and a GPU with a TDP of only 160W? I guess it's one thing if you already had the water cooling parts and decided "f- it, this'll be fun", but wouldn't it have been better to buy a faster CPU instead?

 

My home desktop PC has a 10900K which eats up double the power the 3800X does if you let it, and I still air-cool it and sustain 200W at ~92C.

The water cooling was initially just to make the case look less empty as it was a bit of an overkill case for a single system, then I decided I'd do a full loop with a water-blocked GPU when 30 series launched. I wanted to practice building a loop before going the route of water-blocking a GPU and potentially making a very expensive mistake.

 

In all honesty the entire build is very overkill and I only got a lot of the components because they happened to go on sale during the course of the build (I paid less for the Formula VIII than a Crosshair Hero was going for new). My next build would be much more sensible should I do a scratch build in another year or two.

[CormadeStukov]

On 11/18/2022 at 7:14 PM, RealBACONATOR2 said:

That speaker setup is stunning!

Thanks! I do need to get some risers for the KRK's to decouple them from the desk and get a better listening position, but at least right now if I want to just relax and listen to either set I can just raise or lower my chair.