Project AZISAI: i7-7700K | GTX 1080 | MasterCase Pro 3 | EK Water Cooling (Complete!)

[MdX MaxX]

Checking out all the ekwb components

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This fan/radiator bracket has proven to be extremely useful

 

 

Let's go ahead and mount the reservoir

 

 

 

Time to light things up

Spoiler

 

 

Oh yes

 

 

I'll probably keep it at a more subtle glow in daily usage

 

 

Definitely prefer the paracord to the nylon of the Corsair cables

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

So vibrant

 

 

 

Water loop assembly incoming!

[d0p3t]

This is beautiful. Is this the first time installing a water loop? Is it difficult?

 

I've been thinking about doing it for my next build but am worried I might leak liquid

[0ld_Chicken]

that i/o shroud looks great!  makes a big difference.  Good monitor choice too!  I got a 2716dg a couple months ago and it's amazing!  gamma is a little meh but the buttery smoothness is breathtaking 

[MdX MaxX]

On 2/26/2017 at 6:54 PM, d0p3t said:

This is beautiful. Is this the first time installing a water loop? Is it difficult?

 

I've been thinking about doing it for my next build but am worried I might leak liquid

Yep, first time building a loop!  It's really pretty straightforward, IMO if you can build a computer you can build a loop.

 

Leaks aren't likely but are always a possibility.  It's a risk you assume but as long as you take your time with the build process you shouldn't have major issues.

 

23 hours ago, 0ld_Chicken said:

that i/o shroud looks great!  makes a big difference.  Good monitor choice too!  I got a 2716dg a couple months ago and it's amazing!  gamma is a little meh but the buttery smoothness is breathtaking 

Yes, G-Sync is treating me well so far, even just running Heaven lol.  Can't wait to actually sit down and play some games now!

 

Loop assembly time!

 

 

I did go ahead and get that IO shield in metallic plastic

 

 

Much nicer

 

 

You might be wondering why I'm using the lower PCIe-8x slot instead of the 16x slot.  Well, ASUS didn't exactly think this all the way through...

 

 

Oh well, not gonna cry over the 3 FPS I'll lose dropping down to 8x

 

 

Let's install blocks!

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful

 

 

Cable management time!

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

Not bad

 

 

No struggle whatsoever!  Glad I no longer have to put my whole body weight into closing the side panel properly

 

 

 

RGB cable's a bit awkward but it'll work

 

 

Tubing time!

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gonna sneak this guy in here behind the PSU cables

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can't forget the drain port

 

 

Done!  Leak testing time!

 

 

Meh who needs a fancy jumper

 

 

 

 

And we're off!

 

 

Stay tuned to see it all come together!

[MdX MaxX]

Time for the real deal!

 

 

 

Smells like a weird paint

 

 

 

Yesss

 

 

That looks stunning

 

 

 

Powered up!

 

 

 

Doing the best I can to get some glam shots with this One M8 lol

 

 

 

Ya know I think I'm just fine with the soft tubing

 

 

 

Man the memory gives the whole thing a fantastic vibrancy

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still captivated by that tempered glass

 

 

 

 

The whole setup

 

 

 

 

 

So the build is complete!  Well...sort of.  There are couple of things I'll want to resolve.

-The memory doesn't want to boot at 3200 MHz...guess that's what I get for buying two 16GB kits instead of one 32GB kit.  I only did so because the 16GBs went up for preorder first haha.  Oh well, I'll swap them out eventually.

-CPU temps are...less than stellar.  Coming from Sandy Bridge this is my first experience with Intel's not so awesome thermal paste between the die and the heatspreader, so delidding may be in order.  I'm lazy so I might just ship it off to siliconlottery and have them take care of it.

-The GPU has some nasty coil whine  which for some reason I didn't notice with the ACX cooler on there but is loud and clear now.  That's truly unfortunate because it's a fantastic performer, I bumped it up to 2125 MHz on the GPU clock effortlessly.  Well I'll probably RMA that sooner or later and see if I get luckier on the second try.

 

But for right now, I'm going to enjoy this thing and play some games, which I really haven't done regularly in quite a while.  It looks truly gorgeous, so I'm very happy with that, and at least it's whisper quiet when web browsing and doing light tasks.

 

Thanks everyone for following along!

[KeepItCool]

Great build bro love the clean look. Unlike other soft tubing build. Ur build looks super slick. 

[Conza]

Looks like a great build.

 

I bought the IO Cover, and I'm really saddened that it blocks the upper GPU slot.

 

Have you considered filing it down? How secure do you think it would be with a single upper screw?

 

I'm pretty sure I'll be giving this mod a try.

[scgt1]

Hey smokin build local Texan. I tracked your post down through Asus by Asus on Shapeways from their I/O Cover. I've messaged Asus so many times over the past year year and a half about that poor design and finally I got a response. It's taken a little over 2 months but finally they re designed the cover. Mind you they haven't bothered to update the Shapeways page or their own 3d print file download page with the new design. 

 

So you would have to upload the 3 files to the 3d printing place of your choice should you wish to gain those 3 FPS back with the x16 slot. ;-)

 

I myself got tired of waiting on them once I finally received a response 2 months ago and pulled the trigger on a damaged Z370E board and robbed it's I/O cover, removed the control board and cable, and installed a short RGB strip to the back of the I/O boxes to make the built in light have functioning RGB. (The connector they have on their circuit board is nothing like the onboard 5050 connectors)

 

So there you have it. Again nice looking build man.

 

 

Proper IO Cover Design.zip