Project Endeavour - Water cooling

[iJarbus]

Hello everyone, thought I' start a build log for my first dip into the water cooling world. So I Built my current rig about a month or two ago with the plan to do a full water cooling loop, I didn't do a build log of that mainly because I forgot to take pictures but this time I am going to be documenting everything. So first some specs of my current build.
 

• CPU: i5 4690K
  
  Motherboard: Asus Maximus VII Ranger
  RAM: 8GB Corsair Vengeance Pro
  GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming 4GB
  Case: Phanteks Enthoo Primo
  Storage: Samsung 840 EVO Series 120GB SSD, 500GB WD HDD
  PSU: Be Quiet! Straight Power 10 800W CM Power Supply
  Cooling: Cryorig H5 Universal CPU Cooler(for now)

 

So now I have decided to install a full water cooling loop, I ordered all the parts yesterday and I should be doing the build this weekend, I'll be sure to keep this thread posted with updates as soon as I can.

[iJarbus]

OK guys an update, the parts haven't arrived today and it's Friday night over here so looks like I will be waiting till next week to start the build, possibly later in the week depending how school goes.

[Tearass]

When shipping estimates are wrong, and things wont ship over the weekend...

 

 

Also, don't hold back on the potato pictures!

[iJarbus]

When shipping estimates are wrong, and things wont ship over the weekend...

 

 

Also, don't hold back on the potato pictures!

Yep, that was me when I got home. Oh well if that's the worst that happens I'm doing well. I'll make sure to take lot's of pictures too and post them on this thread as well. 

[Lord_Karango17]

OK guys an update, the parts haven't arrived today and it's Friday night over here so looks like I will be waiting till next week to start the build, possibly later in the week depending how school goes.

lol, I'm in the same boat, as i've ordered my watercooling stuff last Friday, and the fittings went out of stock delaying the whole thing , that's as good an excuse as any to get more expensive matte black fittings I suppose ...

 

Either way, I will be lurking around the forums, and this thread for the next little while...

[XYOUNEED]

Aight, I hope your parts will arrive soon!

[iJarbus]

Hello everyone, sorry for no update for a few days I've been crazy busy with school, work and this build. I'll put up all the photos and write a much more in depth build log. So far though the parts arrived Tuesday, and I strted the build then, unfortunately I didn't get it finished that night. Last night was the final night I got it finished and filled, it's currently still doing a lack test (so far so good) and I should be doing the first boot tonight. Thanks to everyone who has checked this out and I should have a much more complete build log tonight.

[iJarbus]

OK guys here we are the completed build, as requested I have a fair few photos, please pardon the quality of them since the only camera I have is my iPhone. This will be the full build log and in a few days when I have got my overclocks sorted and stable I'll be posting those and some bench marking scores. I'd also like to thank Linus Tech Tips and JayzTwoCents for both providing incredibly helpful guides and to my dad for helping me with the build and for sharing his knowledge and tricks on plumbing up radiator systems (he's an mechanic by trade).

 

Just some photos of my systems prior to the loop going in.

 

Well here we go, I have to say at this point I am wondering at this point what I have gotten my self into.

 

I started by removing my air cooler which was relatively painless, just a few screws and some methylated spirits to clean of the thermal paste. I've also taken out my GPU at this point.

 

OK this is where I'm realy starting to feel out of my depth, I've now started to remove the stock cooler and put on the waterblock and I can tell you that at this point I was fair old worried about killing my card. I successfully installed the water block though so in my mind the most worrying part was over.

 

Installing the CPU block was no more or less difficult than installing and other cooler, just put on the bracket, apply thermal compound, ect. Positioning the tubing was where things started to get interesting. I decided on a loop order which doesn't sound that logical but remember that there is only a 1-2 degree difference between the hottest and coldest part on the loop so I went for what was convenient and looked good. The order is Res -> pump -> Rad -> CPU -> GPU -> Res. I am lucky building in a case like the Entho Primo since it is very well thought out in terms of mounting points and it's shear size, I have been able to run tubing behind the drives.

 

 

Well it was bound to happen, I made a mistake when ordering some of the parts, just before I ordered my parts the tubing I was going to get ran out of stock so I had to go with a different size (3/4" to 5/8" tubing) I did change the compression fittings on the parts list but I forgot to change the barb fittings. This isn't a large mistake all things considered since I just heated up the tubing and put it on the barb. (sorry no photos on this one)

 

Pump mounting got a but creative, what happened is that when the pump was directing stuck on to the pump mount it passed on to many vibrations to that case becoming well to loud. What my dad and I decided on was using a cable tie to suspend the pump and using a massive twist tie to pull the pump out of the way so that is doesn't hit the side panel.

 

Well after all the work the system is finally up and running, the leak test went off without a hitch and is currently very quite and I still have some fan setting optimization to do. I can say the photos don't do it justice and so far I'm very happy. Thanks to everyone who's followed this far and I should have some benchmarks and temps up soon.