It's not about the size...Piccolo! [Full Custom Loop in Ncase M1 v5 Build]

[paddy-stone]

1 hour ago, For Science! said:

since this case isn't windowed my intention is put another 120 mm radiator in front as well as a fan so that there is some air going to the board.

 

I obviously don't like making my life easy

Ahh I wondered what you were going to do about the board cooling, you think you'll have enough airflow over the VRMs? or are you going to mod the block(s) to make the cooling more efficient if you can?

[For Science!]

1 hour ago, paddy-stone said:

Ahh I wondered what you were going to do about the board cooling, you think you'll have enough airflow over the VRMs? or are you going to mod the block(s) to make the cooling more efficient if you can?

we'll see how this fan layout fairs. im not really chasing insane overclocks or anything like that so personally i would settle for easiest options.

 

maybe in the future I could upgrade to a monoblock.

 

Meanwhile tube bending has been smooth as usual (not). Man things are really tight 

 

 

[For Science!]

Something in currently really bummed about is the my planned place for the drain port is completely packed so I had to put it in a place that' completely idiotic.

 

it's in front of the RAM sticks.

[For Science!]

the fill and leak test. amazing I actually finished in 1 evening, but there we go. more to come tomorrow!

 

 

oh and did I say it was silver?

[For Science!]

I couldnt resist the urge to run some realbench to see how the loop copes.

Interestingly it would seem that a 8700K + 1080Ti is somewhat the limit of what a 360 mm radiator setup can take, despite it being a custom loop with relatively good parts.

 

You can see that after an healthy half hour of realbench or so, the CPU temperature is 75 degree (up 15 degrees when compared to an AIO!) whereas the GPU temperature is 54 degrees (down 12 degrees compared to a separate air cooler.

 

Now, can we rationalize this? - I would say yes we can. While it is disappointing somewhat that the CPU temperatures are worst than when compared to just an AIO, we were dissipating only the CPU load with a dedicated 240 mm radiator. Now we are dissipating both the 8700K and 1080Ti with just 120 mm extra.

 

We know that hybrid GPU coolers typically use 120 mm radiators and so this should be "okayish", but in a custom loop the heat from the power delivery is also dumped into the loop as well. This is my reasoning as to why the overall system temperature delta is +3 degrees when compared to having just an AIO + blower GPU. But nonetheless the system is much quieter without the high rpm fan from the GPU so for me personally as a silence chaser, it is worth it.

 

[paddy-stone]

I'd say anything where the CPU isn't hitting TJ max is OK anyway... it's silly to chase a lower number just for the sake of it, or bragging rights. Except when you're chasing that lower number to give yourself headroom for OCs of course.

Anyway, well done, seems like a nice setup and very good use of limited space.

[KrMaH]

cant remember if youve covered this so far or not (and I cant be bothered dereading this in its entirety right now), but have you considered delidding the 8700k? GN got a pretty decent temp drop from doing that.
Otherwise, Im extremely impressed! congrats! and as long as youre not throttling the CPU should be fine!

[paddy-stone]

23 minutes ago, KrMaH said:

cant remember if youve covered this so far or not (and I cant be bothered dereading this in its entirety right now), but have you considered delidding the 8700k? GN got a pretty decent temp drop from doing that.
Otherwise, Im extremely impressed! congrats! and as long as youre not throttling the CPU should be fine!

It's already been delidded.

[For Science!]

2 hours ago, paddy-stone said:

-

 

5 hours ago, paddy-stone said:

-.

 

Yes already delidded, if just after good CPU temps, then an CPU only custom loop or an AIO is just fine. It would seem to me that a 240 mm rad space is necessary to truly keep the 1080Ti in check. Having said that I suppose it would be fairly rare for both the CPU and GPU to be under full load as is done in Realbench so for day-to-day tasks I am sure it will be fairly smooth sailing with good temperatures.

 

For example in cinebench I did see about 5 degrees improvement over the AIO.

[For Science!]

ーDid I mention this also ticked the RGB box?

 

 

Playing with some overclocks now. it would seem stable at 5 GHz and now trying to dial back the voltage. The Vcore reads 1.28 V at the moment, which is more than what I've asked for adaptive voltage wise (something like 1.255V) but I'll try to see if I can dial it back further.

[For Science!]

Okay so probably really the final update this time.... I tried to drain the fluid and reconfirmed that the drain valve placement was really REALLY stupid. So I redesigned bits of the loop and rearranged the cables for a more optimal splution.

 

First I moved the excess SATA  and Molex power cables to the front.

 

 

This freed just enough space round the back to have the drain valve on the bottom radiator via a Tsplitter. Still not optimal since I have to leave the valve open to close the side panel. but I suppose the stop plug should be reliable enough.

 

 

 

so I redid the bend coming from the CPU block to the reservoir. had to use a dual 45 fitting to offset the path to match the minimum curve radius.

 

 

I also changed the bend going from the graphics card to the radiator to 2 90 degree fittings and a straight tube. looks a bit neater.

 

The position of the new t plittermeant that the connection from the bottom radiator to the front radiator will be done purely with fittings (dual rotary male to male) since the come up too close for a tube run.

 

Also redid the bend from the front radiator to the CPU block since it was a bit wonky previously. happy with the new version.

 

 

Overall very happy with the new drain system. this was actually it' original intended location but I had too many cables in the back to allow for it the first time. just goes to show how important it is to manage them cables

[Nicnac]

Very very very nice build! Really wanna do something like this as well one day... ^^

[Chyves]

Dude..... such a porno build and wow all of that into a tiny ass case. I'm slow clapping for you. Good show sir!

[evil_noodles]

Glad to see you completed the build! Considering the temps you're getting, I would be pretty happy with what you've achieved! Nice build!

[For Science!]

So before this gets lost into oblivion, I did maintain this build to incoorporate dual-240 mm radiator with an unobstructed rear intake. I also changed out the feet of the original Ncase M1 so that the case can exhaust air through the bottom more effectively. Furthermore, I did also make custom cables for all the components so that there is significantly less clutter in the PSU area so that the drain port can be accessed better.

 

2 x Hardware Labs GTS 240 mm radiators. The bottom has 15 mm Noctua Fans, and are set in exhaust. I had to redo a lot of the tubing and also in the meantime ran out of black fittings, so you see the random nickel fitting on the left.

 

View of the rear side. While the custom length cables are easier in terms of being the right length, they are stiffer and so I had to resort to a bit of a janky routing behind the motherboard. However the cleanly available drain port is a huge plus

 

Equally clean front, with no excess SATA power. I guess if I wanted another one in future I would have to remake this cable, no biggie. You can also see my temperature probe on the left port as the other one I put in died shortly after moving.

 

Top view. The D5 pump and CPU block was replaced by a Eisbaer Solo LT. It really isn't powerful enough to be fully automonous in this kind of build. I in fact had to use a D5 pump/res to fill the system and then splice it out. Even after that there was a bit of air that you can see has accumulated in the top of this tubing. As this is a reservoir-less loop, I suppose that was to be expected. In future I could plumb in a smaller LT pump/res or just a T-valve up there so that I can remove this last bit of air.

 

Not immediately clear from the photo but I have a fan in the rear and intake just to balance some pressure and provide some minimal airflow to the board. Also I got a ARGB strip so that I could get rid of the bulky controller. Fans are also upgraded to Noctua A12x25 on exhaust. As an additional note, I had to move the power plug to the central position to clear the radiator and make space for the rear intake fan.