Had to sell some stuff to make this happen, but man... I'm super stoked about this new project. Custom water cooling a computer has always been my dream, but I never had the funds or knowledge to do it. The next few weeks or so of bleeding the loop, leak testing, and the overall maintenance is going to be a blast! I, sadly, had to sell my GTX 980ti Ref FTW. That card, with a healthy overclock, did amazing in synthetic benchmarks, but it just wasn't compatible with the EK waterblock that I had purchased. Here's to hoping that the replacement is just as good, but I'm doubtful.
Gotta wait for the replacement GPU before I can finish this, so my PC is just a zombie for now...
parts list:
XSPC Raystom Intel CPU copper/acetal water block
EK TitanX/980ti copper/acetal full cover block
XSPC Photon 170 DDC pump/res combo
10x XSPC chrome compression fittings
Danger den UV Reactive Onyx Black tubes
360mm XSPC copper radiator
240mm XSPC copper radiator
Silver anti-microbial kill coil
10x Corsair SP120's (only using 5 fans for now)
Distilled water
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I looked at your pictures and just thought "What the bloody fuck has happened to that video card?". Then I realised it was just the block xD
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i really thought i wouldnt like black tubes. but it actually looks good. like a vampire setup
Yeah. The new replacement 980ti should be here by next week. Hoping!!
I was actually doubtful as well. I thought it would look boring, but it is actually fairly nice in person. The pictures don't really do it justice. But once I get some UV lighting in the case, it should look a lot better.
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post that when you get it. my tubes are 3 years old, i think its time for a change
So, the auction that I was bidding on ended yesterday. Managed to pick up a reference 980ti for $470 shipped.
I know Pascal hits the shelves later this month, but Big Pascal is a long ways off, so I'll hold out for that, or Polaris if it's better.
Honestly, I'm only using soft tubing to get this rig up and running. I'm going with hard acrylic next year when I upgrade my hardware.
It's just so neat and clean by comparison. Since you're already looking to replace your tubes, maybe you should go with hard acrylic, too! lol
it doesnt look right with my rig, and its impractical. i have a test bench/ open style rig. i dont mind soft tube's
I'm of the opinion that tubing material doesn't necessarily make or break the cleanliness of your loop. I've seen sloppy loops of both soft and hard-line tubing.
My loop is soft tube and I think it came out pretty nicely. But I also wasted a few feet of tubing making sure the runs were exactly the length I wanted them to be. I could have tightened up the runs on the right side a lot more, but I wanted to leave enough slack in them so that I can pull my bay reservoir out a few inches without disconnecting it.
Don't pay any mind to my ghetto mounted LED bar lol. That's temporary.
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the red takes away from the tubing in that pic. but it still looks good.
im going to try out the black tubing when i update my whole water cooling next month.
my rad is sooo old
Just doing a leak test. Hence the extra long tubes, so I can keep the res out of the PC.
Just one question, though. How long does it take to flush the air out of a loop? My pump keeps making whining noises as the air bubbles pass through it. Is that normal?
Leak test is done. Bleeding is done. Typing from the PC as we speak.
GPU load temp: 41c. CPU load temp: 55c. Noise level: silent.
Loving it!
Edit: Left a little slack in the tubes for the res/pump. Wanted to be able to move it easier in the future.
2 Likes
Looking good! What are you using for fan control?
The built in fan controller in my case. Fractal design Arc Mini R2.
yea... im going to have to change to black
your GF probably as bored as mine gets watching me
what pump res combo are you using ?
thx!
She says that she thinks it's neat, but she doesn't really understand why I had to do it. lol
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