New watercooling loop in Define S

[m_tieu]

I just decided to build a full watercooling loop in my PC. This is my first time watercooling a pc. I will post my experience and talk and the issues I encountered and how I dealt with them. The parts for my computer are listed here: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/X4q9mG 

 

Performance-Pcs had a labour day sale recently so I decided to pick these up for my loop:

Black Ice Nemesis 360GTS® XFLOW Ultra Stealth Cross-Flow Low Profile Radiator

Black Ice Nemesis 360GTS® Ultra Stealth U-Flow Low Profile Radiator

2x EK-C780 GTX Classy - Acetal + Nickel

2x EK-FC780 GTX Classy Backplate - Black Rev 2.0

EK-FC Terminal DUAL Parallel 3-Slot - Acetal

EK-Supremacy EVO CPU Water Block - Nickel/Acetal

EK-Tube ZMT Rubber 15.9/9.5mm (5/8" x 3/8") Tubing - Matte Black 10ft

12x EK-ACF Compression Fitting 10/16mm (3/8 x 5/8") - Black

4x EK-Ekoolant EVO CLEAR (concentrate 100mL) Makes 4L

Swiftech 8-Way PWM Splitter Box - SATA

2x Hardware Labs Black Ice Mount Screws M4 x 28mm Black (Set of 4)

EK-RES X3 250 Reservoir

EK-XTOP D5 PWM - Acetal (incl. pump)

2x Alphacool 16/10 Compression Fitting 90° Revolvable G1/4 - Deep Black

2x Koolance QD3 Quick Disconnect No-Spill Coupling, Female Compression 10 x 16mm (3/8 x 5/8in) Black

2x Koolance QD3 Quick Disconnect No-Spill Coupling, Male Compression 10mm x 16mm (3/8in x 5/8in) Black

4x EK-AF Angled 45° G1/4 - Black

 

When the parts came in, I flushed the radiators with distilled water by filling them halfway, plug them up and shake them. Little pieces of flux and leftover metals from manufacturing came out. Attaching the fans and radiators to the case were a major pain in the ass. The screws that came with the radiators were not long enough to thread them through the case and a set of fans to mount them between the case and radiator since the fans I'm using are NF-F12's with rubber anti vibration mounts that make them ticker than standard fans. To make them fit, I had to remove the anti vibration pads from both sides of the fan. I was also trying to be very careful while installing them to avoid bending the radiator fins. Something I didn't know was that the define s doesn't fit two 360mm radiators if the front fans are mounted inside the case, so after I had everything assembled I had to take it apart and remount the fans outside between the front panel and the case. This makes it so I'm not able to use the fan filter which bothers me a little. Also I wanted to put the cross flow radiator in the front to avoid having a long run from the bottom radiator to the top radiator but that didn't work out either since there isn't enough room to install a fitting in the top port since the other radiator is so close together. So my advice to everyone else thinking of doing a watercooled build, measure everything first before buying. The pumps and radiators were also bigger than expected so I had to change everything about my plan last minute.  Installing the GPU blocks were easier than I expected, everything went smoothly, even the SLI fitting was easy to install. After hours of work, my fingers are raw from tightening compression fittings over and over again. Here's a look at the build in progress:

The pump I got was the d5 PWM version, so I plugged it into a separate computer's cpu header and molex to control the speed to help with the bleeding process.  I didn't want o run my own system dry without fluid, otherwise it might burn. 

[Dobbsjr]

I wish I had enough money for water cooling.

[lovingGamer]

I wish I had enough money for water cooling.

me too

[Tech_Dreamer]

i didn't know black tubing would look this good..

[Exotath]

Great build. Just picked up two of those rads in 480mm myself. Amazing rads.