Project Cerberus - Maximus X Formula 8700K, 1080Ti, Lian Li PC-O11 WGX ROG Edition

[Jsunn]

 

 

 

 

Hello All, 

 

I am coming from O/C.net and really enjoying LTT forums and I wanted to share my build log here.  

My build has undergone a lot of evolutions but this is its current form.  I had to get creative to get 3 360 rads in the case, and mount the GPU vertically.  I know it is overkill, but I figured why not?

 

Here is my complete component list:
-2 X EK Coolstream PE 360mm radiators
-1 X EK Coolstream SE 360mm radiator
-Optimus Watercooling CPU Block
-EK 1080ti FE waterblock
-EK D5 combo unit glass
-EK fittings
-EK PETG tubing
Case: Lian-Li PC-O11WGX ROG Edition
Motherboard: ASUS Z370 Maximus X Formula
CPU: 8700K Coffee Lake - (Delided) O/C to 5 GHz
RAM: G.Skill TridentZ RGB Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-3600
GPU: 1080ti FE
Monitor: Asus PG279Q ROG Swift 27.0"

SSD: Samsung 850 Pro 1 TB

 

If you have any questions, please let me know and I'll do my best to answer.  Also, if you have any suggestions please let me know as well.  

Thanks!

-Jason

[Jsunn]

This post will be for finished images.  I have completed the build at this point, and I need to get more pics posted. 

 

 

 

[Jsunn]

 

 

 

[Jsunn]

 

 

 

[Jsunn]

Here are some sexy hardware pictures.  Photography is a hobby of mine, so I enjoy taking macro shots. 

 

G.SKILL TridentZ RGB Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4 3600

 

Intel 8700K

 

 

 

ASUS Maximus X Formula

 

Optimus Watercooling CPU Block

 

 

 

[SeanAngelo]

9 minutes ago, Jsunn said:

 

awesome! can't wait for the pictures!  what OC settings did you use to get 5Ghz? and nice macro shots, photography is a hobby of mine, also! what setup do you have regarding camera gear?

[Jsunn]

1 minute ago, SeanAngelo said:

awesome! can't wait for the pictures!  what OC settings did you use to get 5Ghz? and nice macro shots, photography is a hobby of mine, also! what setup do you have regarding camera gear?

I used the settings from der8auer in his video from his Maximus X Hero vid:

 

[Jsunn]

I had to do some custom stuff to get all three radiators to fit within the case, I was able to do that without any major case modifications.

This is the space in the side chamber. The front panel cables really caused a space issues that I had to work around. 

Here are some MS Paint drawings of what I decided to do with the side rad. 

 

My first mock-ups. 

 

 

The corsair fans are about 3mm thicker than a 25mm thick fan, they have rubber pads to help absorb vibrations, so this makes the spacers just a little too thick.
So I am going to have to use a canabilized fan as a spacer. 

 

I made a cutout for the front panel connectors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jsunn]

I got a custom made fan grill for the side rad.  

I found him on Etsy.  

https://www.etsy.com/shop/jmmods?ref=l2-shop-header-avatar

He worked with me to come up with the design which is the ASUS ROG tribal pattern.
I think it is going to look amazing in front of the RGB fans for the side panel radiator.

 

 

 

 

 

[Jsunn]

I mocked up the assembly for the pump. I'm using a 140 fan bracket because I didn't want to be limited by the fans for pump placement. I also wanted to clear the custom fan grill.

I used some old motherboard standoffs to clear the fan grill. I want to be absolutely sure everything is centered.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[For Science!]

I'm super confused why you put spacers between the fans and rad. To me it seems to be a penalty for performance as well as making it difficult to fit. Am I missing something? @Jsunn

[Jsunn]

9 minutes ago, For Science! said:

I'm super confused why you put spacers between the fans and rad. To me it seems to be a penalty for performance as well as making it difficult to fit. Am I missing something? @Jsunn

 

@For Science! The reason for the spacers was that the front panel connectors and cables are in the way.  Because I wanted to 3 rads in the case, I could not put the fans for the side radiator in the main chamber because they would interfere with the bottom rad.  So I needed to have the fans and rad in the back chamber.  The cables on the front panel are pretty stiff and I didn't want to really bend them out of the way as I was concerned about putting that much strain on the cables and front panel.  

 

I may be losing some performance on the rad, but I think it is negligible overall.

[For Science!]

7 minutes ago, Jsunn said:

The reason for the spacers was that the front panel connectors and cables are in the way.  Because I wanted to 3 rads in the case, I could not put the fans for the side radiator in the main chamber.  So I needed to have the fans and rad in the back chamber.  The cables on the front panel are pretty stiff and I didn't want to really bend them out of the way as I was concerned about putting that much strain on the cables and front panel.  

 

I may be losing some performance on the rad, but I think it is negligible overall.

Okay gotcha; in hind sight, would you say that a 240mm XE rad  (60mm without spacer) would then mitigate these clearance issues and also possibly give you more cooling given the more direct contact with the fans?

[Jsunn]

41 minutes ago, For Science! said:

Okay gotcha; in hind sight, would you say that a 240mm XE rad  (60mm without spacer) would then mitigate these clearance issues and also possibly give you more cooling given the more direct contact with the fans?

@For Science! Unfortunalty, I don't think I could get a 240mm rad in the case.  It is very tight and the cutout on the side rad is specifically for a 360 rad.  I like your thinking though.

[Jsunn]

The Lian Li PC-O11 WGX comes with a bracket and PCIe riser cable to mount your GPU vertically to the floor of the case, but if you have fans or radiator on the bottom of the case, you can't mount it there.  

I really wanted to have the card vertically, with fans and a rad on the bottom.  

 

I made a custom mount for my card using some acrylic and a PCIe bracket, but when I got my new Mobo and CPU i decided to go with the Coolermaster vertical GPU mount.

 

 

Dyno helping.

 

Figuring out where I needed to cut. 

 

I wasn't a huge fan of how the card sat on the rear slot, it puts the card very close to the motherboard and just look a little odd with the flat shelf on the front.

 

 

 

I ended up modifying it a little so I can mount the card on the front PCIe slot of the card mount. 

 

One thing to be aware of, the PCIe extension cable is relatively short, and in my case, barely reached the top 16x PCIe slot. 

 

[Jsunn]

So I am running my CPU delided.  I used the RockitCool kit to remove the IHS.  I also purchased the RockitCool copper IHS replacement.  I used Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut liquid metal thermal paste.  

I don't have before and after temps, but here are some pics.  

It was super easy to use and I would recommend it to anyone who was even mildly interested.  

 

 

[Jsunn]

I got my rads and fans installed and I struggled a bit with tube routing.  Though I am complete at this point, I am always interested in your thoughts and suggestions on how I could do this better.  

 

I have quite a few components to connect.  3 x 360mm radiators, CPU cooler, Motherboard VRM waterblock, GPU, and Res pump combo. I wanted to keep the top and bottom radiators on the inside of the RGB fans.  I think the RGB fans can easily dominate a build so I wanted them as an accent on not a focal feature.  This made it so I had to mount the top rad with the ports near the front of the case.  They would not clear the motherboard I/O shroud at the rear.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jsunn]

Here is a pic of the cable mess in the back chamber.  With the cable extensions, really fills up the space in the back.  

With this case, if I wanted to put in more HDD, it would get really cramped.  

[Jsunn]

 

 

[Jsunn]

Finished pics added!  Let me know what you think or improvements for next time!

 

Thanks everyone!

[SockLobster]

Niceeeee ! Looks really good mate, been following this for a while now, now you can actually use your PC . 

I've just fished a an extremely simple version myself in the Lian Li PC-011 WX think that model is a slight variation on your case, as you can see from the pics i wussed out of the Hard line tubing, pluss my current "drain port" is unscrew the bottom of the res in to a bucket  Might end up modding the case raising the GPU and adding in another rad and lift the res/pump and add a drain port at the bottom, But its rocking 42 deg on a GTX1080ti at max load, and round about 60 deg on a 7700k at 4.8ghz so thats fine for now for me. 

[Jsunn]

2 hours ago, SockLobster said:

Niceeeee ! Looks really good mate, been following this for a while now, now you can actually use your PC . 

I've just fished a an extremely simple version myself in the Lian Li PC-011 WX think that model is a slight variation on your case, as you can see from the pics i wussed out of the Hard line tubing, pluss my current "drain port" is unscrew the bottom of the res in to a bucket  Might end up modding the case raising the GPU and adding in another rad and lift the res/pump and add a drain port at the bottom, But its rocking 42 deg on a GTX1080ti at max load, and round about 60 deg on a 7700k at 4.8ghz so thats fine for now for me. 

Nice work!  I really like your pump res assembly, where did you get it.  It looks like something like what Radikult Customs makes. https://www.ebay.com/usr/radikultcustom?_trksid=p2047675.l2559

And those are great temps for your setup!

I'm getting around 60 degrees on my 8700k O/C to 5.0 GHz and 48 degrees on my 1080Ti. 

 

 

[SockLobster]

21 hours ago, Jsunn said:

Nice work!  I really like your pump res assembly, where did you get it.  It looks like something like what Radikult Customs makes. https://www.ebay.com/usr/radikultcustom?_trksid=p2047675.l2559

And those are great temps for your setup!

I'm getting around 60 degrees on my 8700k O/C to 5.0 GHz and 48 degrees on my 1080Ti. 

 

 

Thanks

Those ebay ones look nice, did think about going for something like that until I found that Phanteks made a res/pump that would go with the set. If you don't want to use it with the pump you can have just as a stand alone Res but perfect for me for the combo.

CPU: https://www.phanteksusa.com/collections/liquid-cooling/products/phanteks-glacier-series-c350i-intel-cpu-block
GPU: https://www.phanteksusa.com/collections/liquid-cooling/products/phanteks-gtx-1080ti-asus-strix-edition-rgb-gpu-block

(Not exactly the same one, mine is for the GTX1080TI Aorus but that looks to have been removed from their site).
RES/PUMP: http://www.phanteks.com/PH-R220.html
(Tried to get a better pic of it below)
Fittings: https://www.phanteksusa.com/collections/liquid-cooling/products/phanteks-glacier-13-10mm-soft-tube-fitting-1-2-3-8-g1-4

 

[stealth80]

This is nice, I would prefer to see the ram not running RGB as you have a great theme there, you know you can customise the colours?

 

 

 

 

 

[Jsunn]

5 hours ago, stealth80 said:

This is nice, I would prefer to see the ram not running RGB as you have a great theme there, you know you can customise the colours?

 

 

 

 

 

That is a great color combination! Nicely done!

 

Yeah, right now I am limited by the Asus Aura software.  The current version is buggy as hell and doesn't work properly with my motherboard, so I reinstalled windows and just left the rainbow for now.  I am hoping that they will get it fixed with the next version of the software.  

 

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the rainbow colors.  

Here's currently the issues thread for the Aura software...  

AURA 1.05.28 & 1.05.32.02 [Report all issues in this thread]

 

I'll probably go with a red theme, for obvious reasons.  

Do you have some more pics of your build?

 

-J