[Updated] Timmy's Liquidfox R2 (MK II)

[Timmyfox]

Liquidfox R2 MK II
Specs:
Case - Fractal Design Arc Midi R2
PSU - Corsair AX860i (individually sleeved)
Mobo - Asus P8Z68V/Gen3
CPU - Intel Core i7 2600K
RAM - Corsair XMS3 1600MHz (16 GB)
GPU - AMD 7970 GHz edition
Storage:

• OCZ Vector 256GB (Primary)
• Crucial C300 RealSSD 128GB (Secondary)
• WD Caviar Black 1TB (Backups/storage)

Cooling:

• Swiftech MCP655 (Laing D5) pump
• XSPC Raystorm CPU block
• EK 7970 Acetal CSQ GPU block + backplate
• EK CoolStream RAD XT 240 w/ Noctua F12
• Swiftech Rad (from H220)
• EK X3 150 res
• Feser 10/13 light blue tubing
• Distilled water w/ silver coils
• NF-P12/14 case fans

Okay, here's some progress!
 
Getting started

 
Test fitting and making sure it's all functioning correctly

 
And laced

 

 
And installed

First batch of items arrive!


Radiator installed/testfitted with the NF-F12's (I turned it around in between shots).



Noctua P14, The fan filter I used was fairly inefficient and tons of dust was still sucked in - I fixed this by adding some foam from an older case to it.



Initial shots of the case and installation of the first few components:




As seen in the above photo, the reservoir has arrived. I also got some individually sleeved cables which I've laced by myself (using this guide by forum member alpenwasser).


Forgot to photograph the main components before installing but it's starting to get somewhere now with the cables!




Initial tubing cut and test-fitted


Time to mount the res! To do so I first need to a hole in the case.



And it's mounted! I think it'll look great here! Had to use custom screws to make it work as the supplied ones were too short.



Flipped the top radiator around and got all the tubing done. I cannot connect the graphics card yet as I'm waiting still for the EK FC-Bridge to arrive.


And now it's time for a little break and get something to eat whilst waiting for dinner.


Just getting started!



Paint it black~
I think they came out really nicely!



The finished product, put an untouched one next to them for reference..


More painting things black!




And installed...


Finally the FC-Bridge arrived!


And now to install the noise dampening foam I got as well, it looks great!




Change of plan, look at this sexiness~



Hope this shouldn't affect anything, it seems half of my EK compressions had blemishes like this. Good thing it's only on the parts not visible.


What is looks like so far!



And now for the final part, the heart of the loop - The pump.


Filled it up, now to let it leak test over the evening, night and whilst I'm in school. Once I get home it should be almost 24 hours non-stop.

Here I'll post updates of each milestone in the building process, I don't like to consider anything ever finished since there's always some tweaks to be done down the road.
 
Original build (September 2013)

 
MK II (May 2014)

 

 


 
Updates:
2013
Aug 29: Added initial photos and progress info
Aug 31: Added more photos and updated progress
Sep 04: Updated progress, done some work the fans
Sep 14: It is more or less finished, laptop broke so haven't been able to update this thread until now.
Sep 15: The last batch of progress photos and documentation is up! The spec sheet has also been updated to reflect the few changes.
 
2014
May 14: New PSU, sleeved cables, new plans/ideas etc..
May 15: Posted photos of progress

Current progress:
Updated a bunch of things in the time that's been since my last post, I should have some photos and further status updates up in a few hours when I get back from school. I have several new ideas I wanna do in the coming months if my budget allows.

[Xaring]

Waiting ^^

[skullbringer]

Waiting ^^

 

+1

[Timmyfox]

Here's all the initial progress shots:

First batch of items arrive!

Radiator installed/testfitted with the NF-F12's (I turned it around in between shots).

Noctua P14, The fan filter I used was fairly inefficient and tons of dust was still sucked in - I fixed this by adding some foam from an older case to it.

Initial shots of the case and installation of the first few components:

As seen in the above photo, the reservoir has arrived. I also got some individually sleeved cables which I've laced by myself (using this guide by forum member alpenwasser).

Forgot to photograph the main components before installing but it's starting to get somewhere now with the cables!

[Jumper118]

looks good so fa. what kind of overclock will you be going for with the loop?

[BiggestFan]

Looks really good man

[Timmyfox]

looks good so fa. what kind of overclock will you be going for with the loop?

No idea, my main focus is ultra low noise levels and temperatures. Once that's been achieved I'll see how far I can push everything.

Looks really good man

Thanks!

[AxelPeeters]

Awesome build

[Nicktrance]

Looks really awesome, not a fan of having Noctuas where they can actually be seen but the colour scheme and the cable management is definitely well done. Looking forward to see the WC loop finished .

[Timmyfox]

Looks really awesome, not a fan of having Noctuas where they can actually be seen but the colour scheme and the cable management is definitely well done. Looking forward to see the WC loop finished .

I do agree about the color scheme of the Noctuas, might switch them out at some point, though I like the performance and noise level of the Noctuas, plus I have a ton of them in my collection.

 

Awesome build

Thanks!

[Timmyfox]

Okay, time for another update! Here's installing the tubing and reservoar. I cannot do more unfortunately until' the EK FC-Bridge arrives. Hopefully it won't take too long.

Initial tubing cut and test-fitted

Time to mount the res! To do so I first need to a hole in the case.

 

And it's mounted! I think it'll look great here! Had to use custom screws to make it work as the supplied ones were too short for mounting like this.

 

Flipped the top radiator around and got all the tubing done. I cannot connect the graphics card yet as I'm waiting still for the EK FC-Bridge to arrive.

 

And now it's time for a little break and get something to eat whilst waiting for dinner.

[nickpc]

good job looks good

[Timmyfox]

good job looks good

Thanks!

[Timmyfox]

More work done!

I also got a confirmation that the EK FC-link has been sent so hopefully it should arrive by today!

Time for some work with the fans~

Just getting started!

 

Paint it black~

I think they came out really nicely!

 

The finished product, put an untouched one next to them for reference..

[Timmyfox]

Sorry for the large lack of updates this past week!

This has happened and a lot of updates has occurred. However my laptop broke so I've been unable to use anything else than my phone for the last week, but now I'm back on with the finished build, so expect a large update post soonish!

 

Brief updatelog:

*Swapped out H220 block for a D5 pump and Raystorm CPU-block

*Noise dampening foam

*More painting black

*Other fixes and refinements

[Timmyfox]

Let's finish this up shall we?

More painting things black!



 
And installed...

 
Finally the FC-Bridge arrived!

 
And now to install the noise dampening foam I got as well, it looks great!



 
Change of plan, look at this sexiness~


 
Hope this shouldn't affect anything, it seems half of my EK compressions had blemishes like this. Good thing it's only on the parts not visible.

 
What is looks like so far!


 
And now for the final part, the heart of the loop - The pump.

 
Filled it up, now to let it leak test over the evening, night and whilst I'm in school. Once I get home it should be almost 24 hours non-stop.

 
And it's alive! It's all up and running, everything seems to be working just fine! I love how the res looks with the LED shining through it.


 
This has certainly been a fun project. Hope y'all like it!

[AxelPeeters]

awesome can u actually hear the system ?

[Timmyfox]

awesome can u actually hear the system ?

Nah, that's why I got the LED's. That way I can make sure it's actually on!

 

(Of course I'm being sarcastic, but it's indeed extremely quiet, and my definition of quiet is QUIET)

[Wesley]

Very nice system

[Dacho]

That is BLUE!!

Great build, mate

[Timmyfox]

Very nice system

 

That is BLUE!!

Great build, mate

 

Thanks! I chose blue as I'm tired of seeing all these green or red themed builds and I love blue.

[T.E.D]

Now to test the noise and heat compare it with a thin plastic box running a 480GTX gigabyte wind force oc with 3 years of dust .

[Nicktrance]

Looks really awesome, I think it would have looked better with less LEDs or white ones, a bit too much blue as it is. Still a really great job .

[Timmyfox]

Now to test the noise and heat compare it with a thin plastic box running a 480GTX gigabyte wind force oc with 3 years of dust .

Oh dear

Looks really awesome, I think it would have looked better with less LEDs or white ones, a bit too much blue as it is. Still a really great job .

The LED's aren't as striking as they look in some of the pictures, it's just the camera that usually is fairly sensitive to the brightness of LED's and thus washes them out.

Seen with my own eyes it's more of a deep and stealthy look, mainly thanks to the smoked acrylic window of the Arc R2. I'll see if I can capture it better tonight.

I can note also the the LED strip has a 3 level brightness adjustment.

[Timmyfox]

Back with updates!

 

- I've updated my power supply to the Corsair AX860i and done some major custom sleeving work!

- Done some progressive updates to my desk and room to make it nicer and nicer

- Completely re-done cable-management

 

Photos are coming in a few hours when I'm back from school.