Water Cooling: It's better down where it's wetter

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > Water Cooling: It's better down where it's wetter

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Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

Deuce posted:

Well, crap.

My GPU block seems to be going to hell. Questions:

1) Is it salvageable? If not, EKWB apparently has had a corrosion RMA process for this very issue, years ago. They must have thought the problem was solved, because they started selling nickel-covered blocks again, and no warning is found on the product page for use of silver killcoils.

2) Can I expect the corrosion in the copper parts as well? The CPU block is copper with an acetal top. The radiators are alphacool, so should only have copper in contact with water.

3) Should I use this as an excuse to purchase a 1080ti? You might argue that the GPU itself is totally fine, just the block needs to be replaced. My answer to that is shut up, who asked you?

Given that silver killcoils are incredibly common, you'd think EKWB would have some kind of warning about that.

From now on just use some ek or mayhems clear coolant + distilled. no need for coils and poo poo.

# ? Mar 3, 2017 05:23

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# ? Apr 25, 2024 21:34

originalnickname: Mar 9, 2005; tree

Deuce posted:

Well, crap.

My GPU block seems to be going to hell. Questions:

1) Is it salvageable? If not, EKWB apparently has had a corrosion RMA process for this very issue, years ago. They must have thought the problem was solved, because they started selling nickel-covered blocks again, and no warning is found on the product page for use of silver killcoils.

2) Can I expect the corrosion in the copper parts as well? The CPU block is copper with an acetal top. The radiators are alphacool, so should only have copper in contact with water.

3) Should I use this as an excuse to purchase a 1080ti? You might argue that the GPU itself is totally fine, just the block needs to be replaced. My answer to that is shut up, who asked you?

Given that silver killcoils are incredibly common, you'd think EKWB would have some kind of warning about that.

Umm,

Someone more experienced than me, please chime in, but you should be able to open that bastard up and clean out the worst of it. You might be able to use some sort of chemical rust removal stuff, just make sure you rinse the poo poo out of it and dry it properly before putting it back together. Then of course you should probably pressure test it before putting it back on your expensive electronics.

What kind of metal is your rad? (edit: I read good, point still (unfortunately) stands) Chances are that's all the way through the whole system, ionization and all. Make sure you try to get all of it, because corrosion breeds more corrosion. I'm guessing this is a good use for a toothbrush and ... I'm not sure, maybe brasso? don't get it on any plastic.

In answer to 3) why not just wait until the ti's out and put one of those pascal titan blocks on them (EK says they'll fit). I mean ... you were going to buy a 1080 anyway right? :p

# ? Mar 3, 2017 05:27

Deuce: Jun 18, 2004; Mile High Club

Don Lapre posted:

From now on just use some ek or mayhems clear coolant + distilled. no need for coils and poo poo.

Yes, this is the sort of error that only happens once. At least I figured it out when I did. Man, and I did so much research before doing my first loop. Missed that little bit.

The copper parts should still be fine, right? I can take apart the CPU block, but am not sure how I'd go about inspecting a radiator.

# ? Mar 3, 2017 05:29

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

Yea, but id clean everything anyway.

# ? Mar 3, 2017 05:55

Deuce: Jun 18, 2004; Mile High Club

Don Lapre posted:

Yea, but id clean everything anyway.

Looks like some toothbrush action tomorrow.

# ? Mar 3, 2017 06:43

PerrineClostermann: Dec 15, 2012; by FactsAreUseless

Ouch.

# ? Mar 3, 2017 06:44

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

Lemon juice will clean the copper up nice.

# ? Mar 3, 2017 07:19

rage-saq: Mar 21, 2001; Thats so ninja...

Don Lapre posted:

Lemon juice will clean the copper up nice.

But don't use anything acidic on the nickel.
My EKWB MSI 1070 water block got a little oxidized after a month of having some Monsoon fittings that were silver plated, I scrubbed it all out with a tooth brush and some distilled water and replaced the fittings with normal all-nickel kind.
Its fine now.

# ? Mar 3, 2017 08:00

Deuce: Jun 18, 2004; Mile High Club

rage-saq posted:

But don't use anything acidic on the nickel.
My EKWB MSI 1070 water block got a little oxidized after a month of having some Monsoon fittings that were silver plated, I scrubbed it all out with a tooth brush and some distilled water and replaced the fittings with normal all-nickel kind.
Its fine now.

Any recommendations for flushing out radiators? Swish some lemon juice through and flush good with distilled water?

# ? Mar 3, 2017 16:32

PerrineClostermann: Dec 15, 2012; by FactsAreUseless

I used an adapter to run tons of soft water through it from my faucet, followed by lots of nearly boiling distilled water poured in and swished around. My rads were EKWB so they were already fairly clean though.

# ? Mar 3, 2017 17:05

Deuce: Jun 18, 2004; Mile High Club

Pump doesn't look too bad from the outside but I'm not savvy enough to tear it to pieces.

# ? Mar 3, 2017 18:01

PerrineClostermann: Dec 15, 2012; by FactsAreUseless

Speaking of rad cleaning, I've seen people use micron filters and a big bucket of water to just pump through a radiator for hours, a kind of lazy way to do it. Does that sound remotely feasible?

# ? Mar 3, 2017 18:33

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

For rads i usually just use hot water and vinegar. swish it around, let it sit a bit. then i make a loop with my faucet and run hot water through it, so hold tube up to faucet, turn on, water exits out, then i do the same but with distilled.

# ? Mar 3, 2017 19:54

Bold Robot: Jan 6, 2009; Be brave.

Is there a 280mm AIO cooler that people would recommend generally? I am looking at watercooling for my next build but having trouble differentiating some of the AIO products out there. Specifically, I'm trying to figure out what other than price and RGB lighting differentiates the NZXT x62 from the Corsair h110/h115 (or for that matter what the actual difference is between those two Corsairs).

# ? Mar 3, 2017 21:11

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

Bold Robot posted:

Is there a 280mm AIO cooler that people would recommend generally? I am looking at watercooling for my next build but having trouble differentiating some of the AIO products out there. Specifically, I'm trying to figure out what other than price and RGB lighting differentiates the NZXT x62 from the Corsair h110/h115 (or for that matter what the actual difference is between those two Corsairs).

They are almost all asetek. Any of the round ones like the nzxt's and some of the corsairs. Buy based on which one you think looks best or has extra features you want, like the nzxt software.

# ? Mar 3, 2017 21:16

Deuce: Jun 18, 2004; Mile High Club

Ok let's try out this acrylic tubing thing

Goddamn PETG was easier.

# ? Mar 10, 2017 04:20

Don Lapre: Mar 28, 2001; If you're having problems you're either holding the phone wrong or you have tiny girl hands.

If you are going to do acrylic might as well move straight to glass

# ? Mar 10, 2017 04:33

Deuce: Jun 18, 2004; Mile High Club

Don Lapre posted:

If you are going to do acrylic might as well move straight to glass

Acrylic is something you can bend with a heat gun and your hands.

# ? Mar 10, 2017 04:50

BurritoJustice: Oct 9, 2012

Deuce posted:

Acrylic is something you can bend with a heat gun and your hands.

Fitting bends are sexier, if wind-pissingly expensive.

# ? Mar 10, 2017 06:03

Scarecow: May 20, 2008; 3200mhz RAM is literally the Devil. Literally.; Lipstick Apathy

So having just found out that silver and nickle coated blocks dont play well....after just stripping my loop and cleaning out 2 gpu blocks and a cpu block and reading EK's study of Irregularities on the surface of water-cooling blocks http://www.ekwaterblocks.com/shop/EK-IMAGES/Corrosion_Report_Final.pdf

given that they used the following
- Distilled water
- 5 mL of Copper(II) sulfate pentahydrate 4.1% (high concentration to accelerate the process)

as a comparison how does that compare to having a silver kill coil in a loop with distilled water?

# ? Mar 10, 2017 10:35

Truga: May 4, 2014; Lipstick Apathy

You're gonna want to replace everything 2-6 years down the line depending on how much corrosion happens. Also, stagnating water will accelerate the process, so I hope your pc is running 24/7.

Watercooling is a really funny place, where all the shitlord enthusiasts are saying one thing (don't mix galvanising metals!!!! but then they turn around and say use distilled + silver coil :downs:

), meanwhile all the vendors tell you explicitly not to do that, for very good reason. And all the common sense people just use real coolants and eat the 0.01% worse heat conductivity the tiny amount of additives needed to keep your loop gunk free give to water.

# ? Mar 10, 2017 10:56

Collateral Damage: Jun 13, 2009

Just treat your water cooling system like your car and flush the liquids once a year. :shrug:

# ? Mar 10, 2017 11:10

Captain Hair: Dec 31, 2007; Of course, that can backfire... some men like their bitches crazy.

Collateral Damage posted:

Just treat your water cooling system like your car and flush the liquids once a year.

Mine only requires a flush every 3, allegedly :shrek:

Speaking of that though. Recently alot of people I know have converted both their brakes and cooling system on their cars to run magical fluids that don't ever need flushing or bleeding. These are classic cars too where the setup isn't far off a bigger scale of p watercooling.

How come there isn't something similar for pc watercooling? I think the brake fluid they use is something silicon (silicone?) based, can't remember what the cooling fluid was though I'll try and find out.

# ? Mar 10, 2017 15:32

originalnickname: Mar 9, 2005; tree

Captain Hair posted:

Mine only requires a flush every 3, allegedly

Speaking of that though. Recently alot of people I know have converted both their brakes and cooling system on their cars to run magical fluids that don't ever need flushing or bleeding. These are classic cars too where the setup isn't far off a bigger scale of p watercooling.

How come there isn't something similar for pc watercooling? I think the brake fluid they use is something silicon (silicone?) based, can't remember what the cooling fluid was though I'll try and find out.

I think they probably have stuff like that and it's either extremely expensive, or it's super poisonous, or it doesn't transfer heat as well.. Personally, I know it's a pain in the rear end to flush the system, but I take the opportunity when I'm flushing to check everything else in the system at the same time.. which is probably good since I'm dealing with conductive fluids and electronics.

# ? Mar 10, 2017 18:56

Deuce: Jun 18, 2004; Mile High Club

BurritoJustice posted:

Fitting bends are sexier, if wind-pissingly expensive.

Yes. But even fitting bends still require the ability to actually cut the tube without it shattering.

# ? Mar 10, 2017 19:02

xorex: Jul 23, 2002; whatever

Watercooling noob here. I'm changing out my case and cooling and am planning my first custom loop. I used the EK configurator as a start point and came out with this:

https://www.ekwb.com/custom-loop-configurator/shared/oW58cd5ccaa0609

The case is a Corsair 460X (kinda small).

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/crystal-series-460x-rgb-compact-atx-mid-tower-case

Other components are 3770k, Asus P8z77-v, GTX 1070, Corsair GS800 (older non modular PSU), 2 SSDs.

I'm planning on getting a small pump/res combo and mounting it on the rear 120mm exaust fan bracket, and a slim 360mm radiator on the front. No GPU cooling for the time being. I am kind of planning on this being my test run and then expanding on it later this year when I upgrade the core components.

Since this is my first attempt at water cooling, I'm interested in any suggestions. The only thing I'm confident on now is the radiator. I'd like a full 360 in the front but it will need to be slim to fit in front of the psu shroud.

# ? Mar 18, 2017 17:50

rage-saq: Mar 21, 2001; Thats so ninja...

xorex posted:

Watercooling noob here. I'm changing out my case and cooling and am planning my first custom loop. I used the EK configurator as a start point and came out with this:

https://www.ekwb.com/custom-loop-configurator/shared/oW58cd5ccaa0609

The case is a Corsair 460X (kinda small).

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/crystal-series-460x-rgb-compact-atx-mid-tower-case

Other components are 3770k, Asus P8z77-v, GTX 1070, Corsair GS800 (older non modular PSU), 2 SSDs.

I'm planning on getting a small pump/res combo and mounting it on the rear 120mm exaust fan bracket, and a slim 360mm radiator on the front. No GPU cooling for the time being. I am kind of planning on this being my test run and then expanding on it later this year when I upgrade the core components.

Since this is my first attempt at water cooling, I'm interested in any suggestions. The only thing I'm confident on now is the radiator. I'd like a full 360 in the front but it will need to be slim to fit in front of the psu shroud.

I would recommend the EKWB P360 kit, it's got everything you need to setup a CPU water lock with a 360 radiator. The PE 360 radiator is 38mm thick, so you'll want to see what people have been able to fit in custom loop builds in that case. A cursory search on google shows some builds with 360s in the front no problem, though I don't know what rad they were using.

If you want to buy separates or reuse your fans or something I would still buy the EKWB EVO Supremacy Waterblock, and EK-XRES 140 Revo D5 PWM pump/res combo. Hey are both really great and reliable pieces at a good cost.
Some superior fans (quieter AND better performing) would be the corsair ml120s and a slimmer (and better performing) rad would be a black ice nemesis 360 GTS that's 29.5mm thick. You would still need to buy some fittings, tubing, and coolant additive.

# ? Mar 18, 2017 18:47

xorex: Jul 23, 2002; whatever

rage-saq posted:

I would recommend the EKWB P360 kit, it's got everything you need to setup a CPU water lock with a 360 radiator. The PE 360 radiator is 38mm thick, so you'll want to see what people have been able to fit in custom loop builds in that case. A cursory search on google shows some builds with 360s in the front no problem, though I don't know what rad they were using.

If you want to buy separates or reuse your fans or something I would still buy the EKWB EVO Supremacy Waterblock, and EK-XRES 140 Revo D5 PWM pump/res combo. Hey are both really great and reliable pieces at a good cost.
Some superior fans (quieter AND better performing) would be the corsair ml120s and a slimmer (and better performing) rad would be a black ice nemesis 360 GTS that's 29.5mm thick. You would still need to buy some fittings, tubing, and coolant additive.

I did look at the EK kit with the slim radiator initially. I don't need fans though as I will only have room for the radiator on top of the Corsair SP120 RGB fans that came with the case. I don't really want to use different fans since the case comes with a fan/lighting controller that apparently only works with those specific fans. The width I have for a radiator with the PSU shroud is about the width of a fan, which is why I like the EK-CoolStream SE 360. I could go thicker without the PSU shroud, but I wasn't planning on replacing the PSU just yet (there would be a mess of cables showing). I'll take measurements when I get a chance, maybe that black ice nemesis 360 GTS would work.

As for the pump/res, with my mounting location, I only have about 6 inches to work with, so that mainly limits me to smaller reservoirs. It would be better with the pump down below, I know, but without a new PSU in addition to all this stuff, I'd rather not. That would also further tempt me to add the GPU to the loop. I don't want to go all out just yet.

# ? Mar 18, 2017 19:36

Deuce: Jun 18, 2004; Mile High Club

xorex posted:

I did look at the EK kit with the slim radiator initially. I don't need fans though as I will only have room for the radiator on top of the Corsair SP120 RGB fans that came with the case. I don't really want to use different fans since the case comes with a fan/lighting controller that apparently only works with those specific fans. The width I have for a radiator with the PSU shroud is about the width of a fan, which is why I like the EK-CoolStream SE 360. I could go thicker without the PSU shroud, but I wasn't planning on replacing the PSU just yet (there would be a mess of cables showing). I'll take measurements when I get a chance, maybe that black ice nemesis 360 GTS would work.

As for the pump/res, with my mounting location, I only have about 6 inches to work with, so that mainly limits me to smaller reservoirs. It would be better with the pump down below, I know, but without a new PSU in addition to all this stuff, I'd rather not. That would also further tempt me to add the GPU to the loop. I don't want to go all out just yet.

Could you fit a pump underneath the shroud if the reservoir wasn't attached to it? You can get separate pumps with a top on them and then just connect them via tubing.

# ? Mar 18, 2017 19:58

xorex: Jul 23, 2002; whatever

Deuce posted:

Could you fit a pump underneath the shroud if the reservoir wasn't attached to it? You can get separate pumps with a top on them and then just connect them via tubing.

There wouldn't be a problem fitting a pump down there I'm sure, but I wanted a very simple loop. Right now in that space there is a rack for two HDDs, but I think I will need to take that out just to have room for my extra PSU cables. My plan was to use a combo res/pump, keep it all up top and when I upgrade my motherboard, psu, etc. move it down low and add the GPU to the loop (possibly adding another rad depending on the GPU.) I was kind of thinking for now, keep the tubing and overall setup as simple as I can for a custom loop.

# ? Mar 18, 2017 20:43

rage-saq: Mar 21, 2001; Thats so ninja...

xorex posted:

I did look at the EK kit with the slim radiator initially. I don't need fans though as I will only have room for the radiator on top of the Corsair SP120 RGB fans that came with the case. I don't really want to use different fans since the case comes with a fan/lighting controller that apparently only works with those specific fans. The width I have for a radiator with the PSU shroud is about the width of a fan, which is why I like the EK-CoolStream SE 360. I could go thicker without the PSU shroud, but I wasn't planning on replacing the PSU just yet (there would be a mess of cables showing). I'll take measurements when I get a chance, maybe that black ice nemesis 360 GTS would work.

As for the pump/res, with my mounting location, I only have about 6 inches to work with, so that mainly limits me to smaller reservoirs. It would be better with the pump down below, I know, but without a new PSU in addition to all this stuff, I'd rather not. That would also further tempt me to add the GPU to the loop. I don't want to go all out just yet.

Do you have the case already? Looking at the 460x more it looks like its not going to be the most optimal case for a custom loop, you want a decent amount of room to pull it off and it looks really cramped, even if you pull the second bottom shroud.
There doesn't appear to be much in the way of clearance for a 360 rad in the front and using both bottom shrounds, even using low profile ones. It barely looks like there is clearance for your standard 25mm fans, most people who are doing a custom loop in that and are using both bottom shrouds appear to be using a 240 rad and putting the pump/res over the PSU. GPU clearance looks like it also could be a challenge if you have any rads in front.
There is the slightly bigger 570x that wouldn't have such problems. The 460x is 440mm x 220mm x 464mm while the 570x is 480mm x 234mm x 512mm which is not a huge difference externally, but internally it makes all the parts a lot easier to fix. I would HIGHLY recommend it if you are trying to fit larger water cooling parts.

# ? Mar 18, 2017 22:35

xorex: Jul 23, 2002; whatever

rage-saq posted:

Do you have the case already? Looking at the 460x more it looks like its not going to be the most optimal case for a custom loop, you want a decent amount of room to pull it off and it looks really cramped, even if you pull the second bottom shroud.
There doesn't appear to be much in the way of clearance for a 360 rad in the front and using both bottom shrounds, even using low profile ones. It barely looks like there is clearance for your standard 25mm fans, most people who are doing a custom loop in that and are using both bottom shrouds appear to be using a 240 rad and putting the pump/res over the PSU. GPU clearance looks like it also could be a challenge if you have any rads in front.
There is the slightly bigger 570x that wouldn't have such problems. The 460x is 440mm x 220mm x 464mm while the 570x is 480mm x 234mm x 512mm which is not a huge difference externally, but internally it makes all the parts a lot easier to fix. I would HIGHLY recommend it if you are trying to fit larger water cooling parts.

Yea, I have the case. I wanted something smaller and knew it would be more difficult and wouldn't be ideal for a first timer. I measured, and there is 31mm clearance for a radiator between the front case fans and the shroud. There's a decent of clearance for a radiator with the 1070, especially one 25-30mm. It is actually more problematic to put a radiator on top due to the setup bumping in to the RAM. There aren't that many examples to go off of unfortunately, and none with a pump/res where I was considering placing it. I did see someone do that with a 570x build, which actually gave me the idea, but the loop was much more complicated overall (the pump was separate mounted just off the radiator, there were two rads, and there were GPUs was in the loop).

My backup plan is to just get an AIO similar to this guy: https://pcpartpicker.com/b/qccYcf He actually used a 280 which looks nice in the pics since it goes straight down to the shroud. I'm not sure how it would look in person though since it wouldn't line up with the fans. I'm also not sure about mounting the 280 against three 120mm fans.

But since I was going for a bit of bling, I wanted to try a custom loop, at least research it first.

# ? Mar 18, 2017 23:57

rage-saq: Mar 21, 2001; Thats so ninja...

xorex posted:

Yea, I have the case. I wanted something smaller and knew it would be more difficult and wouldn't be ideal for a first timer. I measured, and there is 31mm clearance for a radiator between the front case fans and the shroud. There's a decent of clearance for a radiator with the 1070, especially one 25-30mm. It is actually more problematic to put a radiator on top due to the setup bumping in to the RAM. There aren't that many examples to go off of unfortunately, and none with a pump/res where I was considering placing it. I did see someone do that with a 570x build, which actually gave me the idea, but the loop was much more complicated overall (the pump was separate mounted just off the radiator, there were two rads, and there were GPUs was in the loop).

My backup plan is to just get an AIO similar to this guy: https://pcpartpicker.com/b/qccYcf He actually used a 280 which looks nice in the pics since it goes straight down to the shroud. I'm not sure how it would look in person though since it wouldn't line up with the fans. I'm also not sure about mounting the 280 against three 120mm fans.

But since I was going for a bit of bling, I wanted to try a custom loop, at least research it first.

Really if you aren't willing to remove the second shroud and mount your pump/res combo there you are going to be better off with an AIO. That case doesn't have many other mounting options for the pump. A 240 rad for the CPU is more than sufficient, so getting a 360 AIO would be a bit of a waste since it wouldn't be future expandable and it will just be more hassle to fit.
You don't want to use a rad without matching sized fans.

# ? Mar 19, 2017 01:48

Deuce: Jun 18, 2004; Mile High Club

You can get some of those 3M sticky pads made for hanging things on walls to hold a pump in a strange spot. I've got a pair of larger reservoirs in a desk case attached to the bottom with those. (so they lay horizontally in the desk) However, I need to tilt the motherboard tray to a vertical position for proper filling/draining, so these reservoirs full of fluid with a running pump are literally just glued to the side on these 3M pads. Pretty sturdy stuff.

# ? Mar 19, 2017 01:57

Deuce: Jun 18, 2004; Mile High Club

You know what an advantage of UV-reactive dye in your coolant is?

When a bad connection vomits half a pint's worth all over the inside of your case and onto your carpet, it's easy to find using a UV-LED strip!

:suicide:

# ? Mar 19, 2017 20:56

Indiana_Krom: Jun 18, 2007; Net Slacker

I have water cooled more of my computers than not, the first time I did it was in the 90s before they even had proper water cooling parts. I sawed the square part off a 4" PVC pipe cap and used tub and tile calk it to glue it the top of an AMD K6 and drilled holes in it with tubing similarly calked in so water was just flowing directly on to the aluminum heat spreader. It had no radiator, the entire system worked because the reservoir was a 25 gallon plastic storage carton that just had such enormous thermal capacity that it was impossible for a 16w CPU to heat it by any significant amount. Tap water, well water, distilled water, hard water, soft water, ice water, dish water, carbonated beverages, pure alcohol...if its wet, I've probably run it through a cooler loop at some point or another.

Through the years I went through tons of water blocks, from cheap custom milled copper held in the super 7 socket by janky clips to a bunch of innovatek parts, including several blocks that had copper bases with aluminum cap pieces and had about the expected endurance you would get from mixing those metals, the aluminum slowly dissolved into the water over a year. How the industry has learned since those early days. Though one thing I can give a nod to, the eheim 1046 pump I got back then deserves much of its legendary status, mine is something to the tune of 15 years old with a good 10 years of 24/7 operation behind it and it still just works if you ever plug it in in something wet. I eventually dumped the bucket for much smaller internal reservoirs and threw in a 120mm heater core for a radiator. I abused the ability to dump the heat somewhere else and stuck the radiator under the floor in the basement with a ridiculous 190 CFM 4000 RPM 120mm Delta fan on it. Which I eventually replaced with a 360mm radiator with three 110 cfm Deltas on it, could feel the air moving from that radiator from 12 feet away, cooling a core 2 duo by then.

Ultimately after moving to a new house and time, maintenance and financing being a pain, I abandoned my custom loop and ended up with a couple AIOs in the form of of a Corsair H100i and later a MSI Sea Hawk 1080. However, last year I started to get the itch to return to a proper custom loop cooler. Between wanting something fun to do to escape the daily grind, thinking it was about time to upgrade from my aging 3770k that was having trouble keeping the 1080 fed, and once again having more money than sense. I decided to build a whole new system and to stuff a small fortune worth of EKWB parts into it with the goal of it being a extremely stealthy system both audibly and visibly (Just say no to RGB!) while still making no compromises on performance.

The result after voiding several warranties by cramming a 420 radiator into the top of a Corsair Obsidian 750D and removing the stock H55 from the Sea Hawk:

# ? Apr 2, 2017 16:37

RiperSnifel: Jul 13, 2007; Pull the handle, let it go, now you know you're ready to roll.

Hello everybody, over the past year or so I've accumulated the parts I needed to build my first full loop, modded my fractal define S to mount the 420mm rad outside on top, and gone HAM with balancing my intake/exhaust pressure with demand from my system. I've got full push pull going on, with a nice shroud over the top external fans which aren't pictured (fractal GP14x3) but maintain 750rpm operating speed silently.
I've also been working on some visual tweaks and mods, and keeping cabling mess to a minimum while still having access to everything so I can freely tweak things for air flow. Up next I need to air gasket everything on the case and seal things so that there are no leaky bits when it comes to airflow.

I'm adding an alphacool nexxos UT60 280mm up high in front also, I'm planning hardware for a water loop for whenever I can afford a 1080ti. I'll add some more pictures once I finish prettying up the outside of the case and completing final installation of other parts. I've got quite a long way to go customizing the A E S T H E T I C aspect of things, but with exception to the noctua exhaust/push fans in the top everything will ultimately be black/white - I'm going to add a shroud of some kind over those taquito poo poo motif fans.

# ? Apr 5, 2017 19:04