First Attempt of Water Cooling System

[henryhjiang]

• Story Behind the Build

 

Well the majority of hardware in this system were bought early in this summer, stuffed in a Cooler Master CM690 II. I love that case, plenty of space to work with as far as building the system and air cooling goes. In November I decided to upgrade the graphics card from GTX 650 to at least GTX 760 or equivalent in order to play Battlefield 4 and Call of Duty Ghosts properly (dat optimization of CoD nowadays...just...ewww...  ). I ended up with MSI GTX 770 Lightning (if I was given a second chance now I'd go for a 780 or 290X instead). Despite how the internet describes the card being quiet and all, I just could not stand the fan noise while gaming.

 

I then started considering water cooling the system. After extensive research turned out a mid tower like CM690 is just simply not for water cooling unless mods are involved. As much as I'd love to try it, I live in an apartment and do not have any proper tools to perform any modding at home. That left me with no choice but to look for a full tower for a full custom loop.

 

 

• Component List

 

CPU: Intel 4670K (O.C.ed to 4.8G)

Mobo: ASUS Z87-A (probably the most underpowered part of this build....)

Ram: Kingston HyperX Blu Black 2x4G @1600MHz

GPU: MSI GTX 770 Lightning (even Slight overclock causes the driver to crash from time to time, so it is running in stock OC now)

PSU: Corsair TX650M

SSD: Adata SX900 128G

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1T (dying right now, just bought a 2T for 90 CAD$ during boxing week)

Case: Corsair 750D (bought it for 120 after MIR during black friday, absolutely love the case and the deal!!)

 

Water Cooling Components:

 

EK Supremacy Plexi Copper

EK-FC680 GTX Lightning Acetal+Nickel

EK-D5-RES 140 CSQ Acetal

D5 Vario

XSPC RS360 35 x 360mm Rad

XSPC RX240 62 x 240mm Rad

Feser 3/8 ID 1/2 OD White Tube

Koolance black straight & 90 degree rotary compression fittings

Bitspower G1/4" Silver Shining Aqua-Pipe

 

 

• Early stage plan

 

 

After I've received everything I found out that I underestimated the size of pump-res combo. 770 Lightning being such a long card makes it impossible to hang the res up high like that. I was thinking about sitting the res directly on top or the bottom rad (which it did for about 2 weeks), but I just absolutely hate the look of it and how the tubes would run. So I borrowed a small drill from a friend and drilled some holes to mount the res slightly above the bottom rad, then had to remove HDD cage and hide the hard drive in 5.25 bay along with a newly purchased NZXT Sentry fan controller (to keep those non-adjustable cougar turbines slow & quiet :wacko:).

 

I bought some Darkside sleeved white cables to match the tube color as well. Although next time I might try clear tube + colored coolant (sigh...water cooling IS addicting indeed, I am already dreaming of my next build here)

 

The whole building process was a COMPLETELY mess, and filling the loop was as scary as it could ever be. Therefore I simply did not take any w.i.p. photos. The FC link that came with GPU waterblock leaked during the fill, so I had to drain the whole thing and re-assemble the loop without using it (which made the tubing route from GPU to top rad weird as you can see from the finished pictures below). I made sure it was bolted very tight to the waterblock, so I am sure it is either the O-rings that are bad or the FC link itself does not have a perfect enough finish on the contacting surface.

 

 

• PHOTOZ!

 

Enough said, time for some pictures! Right after the build was done, my newly purchased camera kits arrived. So I took the chance and played around with them while shooting for this build 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LED is NZXT sleeved LED kit 2m. It takes up a PCI-e slot and goes around the border of 750D. The side of 750D is about 500x500mm ish, so 2m is just enough to cover a full loop around.

 

I hope you enjoyed this "build log", and thanks for reading 

[TheEpicCanadian]

AWESOME 750D build!

[henryhjiang]

The rear AF140 was changed to exhaust as it makes more sense that way. All three AF140's (they are not really "AF140", they are the stock case 140's)  are running at full speed as they run super quiet. All the Cougar Turbines run at 40%, and D5 runs at max speed.

 

The system idles at around 30C (ambient temp is rather high), running furmark for 10 minutes makes it ~45C, running BF4 maxed out @1080p for as long as I wish makes the system 40-45C. I am very happy with the temperature, and it runs dead silent!

[henryhjiang]

AWESOME 750D build!

Thanks! The case is awesome. At the very first I thought it was too big for my desk, but now I am just so used to it....lol

[TheEpicCanadian]

Thanks! The case is awesome. At the very first I thought it was too big for my desk, but now I am just so used to it....lol

What was the total cost of the watercooling components?

[henryhjiang]

What was the total cost of the watercooling components?

A little more than 700 after tax.

 

I ordered all of them from Dazmode in case you are wondering (I guess that is pretty much the only choice for our poor Canadians...)

[TheEpicCanadian]

A little more than 700 after tax.

 

I ordered all of them from Dazmode in case you are wondering (I guess that is pretty much the only choice for our poor Canadians...)

Good to know how much I have to save to watercool my 750D but I can save a bit because I can use the radiator from my H320

[henryhjiang]

Good to know how much I have to save to watercool my 750D but I can save a bit because I can use the radiator from my H320

The bottom of 750D actually natively supports 280 only. I totally did not notice it when I bought the rads. I am currently using only 4 screws to mount the 240 on it. I am surprised they do not have pre-drilled holes for 240...

[TheEpicCanadian]

The bottom of 750D actually natively supports 280 only. I totally did not notice it when I bought the rads. I am currently using only 4 screws to mount the 240 on it. I am surprised they do not have pre-drilled holes for 240...

If I get into watercooling, are there any brands I should just totally stay away from? Like basically the Biostar of watercooling?

[henryhjiang]

If I get into watercooling, are there any brands I should just totally stay away from? Like basically the Biostar of watercooling?

I can't really name any because the components I used are the only ones I have experience with....

 

One thing I have noticed though is that, Koolance fittings' paint job does not impress me whatsoever. I have adjusted my loop several times and the paint on some of those fittings are getting off.

 

A general rule of thumb is to just do online research of the brands/products you are interested in, and see what other people have to say about them.

[MrWizard1974]

Great job for a first run. If I may please take this as constructive criticism and in no way bashing your work but would it have been possible to take the top rad and put the barbs to the front of the case? If you could it would have made your tube runs much shorter and a bit more tidy if you went res to rad then rad to cpu then cpu to gpu and then into the bottom rad and then back to pump. If you are worried about heat from the cpu then to the gpu the change would be un noticeable. Again great job.

[henryhjiang]

Great job for a first run. If I may please take this as constructive criticism and in no way bashing your work but would it have been possible to take the top rad and put the barbs to the front of the case? If you could it would have made your tube runs much shorter and a bit more tidy if you went res to rad then rad to cpu then cpu to gpu and then into the bottom rad and then back to pump. If you are worried about heat from the cpu then to the gpu the change would be un noticeable. Again great job.

Thank you! I think that is a great idea, though the space available in 5.25 bay right is very limited given I used more than two and a half slots...

 

 

Yeah...I don't know if 90 degree fittings will do

[MrWizard1974]

I think it could work. I have this controller and it has oodles of room for a 90 inside it. I also think your tube is small enough to clear the fans and the controller

 

 

You could always turn the controller around

 

BTW if you were wondering. Mine is white because I modded it for my white NZXT switch 810 build but decided not to use it and went with different controller

[Monty007]

Great work. The only thing I would do I have the CPU go to the back port of the top rad and the front port god down straight to the video card but use the top port instead of the either side or bottom port as you have currently used. Awesome first attempt. Do you have any build pics or daylight shots?

[FluffyNuggets]

Looks very clean! The SSD on the front radiator kinda throws off the whole look but that's just nitpicking lol. 

[MrWizard1974]

Looks very clean! The SSD on the front radiator kinda throws off the whole look but that's just nitpicking lol. 

I think you looked at it wrong bud. There is no front rad. The 750D has special SSD mounts that line up with the mobo tray

[FluffyNuggets]

I think you looked at it wrong bud. There is no front rad. The 750D has special SSD mounts that line up with the mobo tray

Ha, I guess you're right lol. Looks like a radiator to me

 

Well then it's supposed to look like that so disregard everything. 

[rambi36]

How is that motherboard doing for u overclocking wise?

[henryhjiang]

Great work. The only thing I would do I have the CPU go to the back port of the top rad and the front port god down straight to the video card but use the top port instead of the either side or bottom port as you have currently used. Awesome first attempt. Do you have any build pics or daylight shots?

Yeah I think I will try to flip the top rad like MrWizard suggested.

 

The GPU block w/o FC link has two ports facing the bottom ONLY....I really wish FC link does not leak, that would make the tubing route look much more natural.

 

This is what the block looks like:

 

Front:

 

Back:

 

With FC link:

[henryhjiang]

How is that motherboard doing for u overclocking wise?

It gets the job done pretty well. This is the third ASUS board I use. I love their BIOS/UEFI layout, and AI Suite is quite handy

[henryhjiang]

Great work. The only thing I would do I have the CPU go to the back port of the top rad and the front port god down straight to the video card but use the top port instead of the either side or bottom port as you have currently used. Awesome first attempt. Do you have any build pics or daylight shots?

 

I will try to take some shots when I adjust the top rad. I do not get much sunshine in my room but I can probably move the rig to living room for some daylight shots. (When I am not feeling lazy )

[WaavinHicks]

I should be getting all my watercooling stuff along with the 750D on Tuesday coming and can't wait to build in it after seeing this, very clean looking build, love it :wub:

[MPX309]

I'd set your bottom intakes to pull, as they'll gather less dust against the rad?

[Tango Golf]

i would put the bottom fans to pull it will be easier to clean the rad and just lift the rad and clean, rather than lifting the rad and taking the fans off, it looks great, i just think that would make it a bit easier to clean when you have to.

[KenadyDwag44]

Dat Graphics card is so sexy! I also have a 770 lightning and have been wanting to water cool it for ages! Nice Build you have there!