Few pictures of my watercooled PC, about 95% complete

It still needs some detail stuff like shrink tubing for the fan wires and a few other things - but for tonight it's enough.

It's nothing that special, but I did take bits of info from here & a handful of other online sites so thanks to those who contributed and provided ideas.
This is my 1st PC build ever but definitely won't be my last.
I'll add temps & benchmarks once I finish.


My camera is cheap and w/o flash is too blurry to use...so unfortunately it looks much different (really bad) under the flash.

http://www.rc-mod.com/vs/PC1.jpg

http://www.rc-mod.com/vs/PC2.jpg

http://www.rc-mod.com/vs/PC3.jpg

http://www.rc-mod.com/vs/PC5.jpg

http://www.rc-mod.com/vs/PC6.jpg

http://www.rc-mod.com/vs/PC7.jpg

http://www.rc-mod.com/vs/PC8.jpg

http://www.rc-mod.com/vs/PC9.jpg

http://www.rc-mod.com/vs/PC10.jpg

Nice work, looking good.

what are your temps

what case is that

Hey, that looks really nice. I like the wiring job. You sure decided to go all out on your very first PC you've made, hehe.

Looks good. Excellent pump choice btw. You should consider running a line from the reservoir to the pump inlet instead of pulling from the radiator. You'll get much better flow.

I suggest reservoir-pump-rad-cpu-gpu-reservoir. I had cavitation issues with my Mag 3 when I accidentally put the radiator on the inlet instead of the outlet. There is a definite improvement of flow rates by pulling from the reservoir instead of the radiator.

Senater_Cache said:

what case is that

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From the look of it, it is an Antec solution series. The cheaper version of the Antec Sonata....nice case he has there.

that looks nice.. how did you run your ribbon cable from your audigy to the front panel?

Just my opinion... but I think you would get a cool effect if you put highlighter and a few UV cold cathodes in there.

Really nice job.

Really nice looking setup.

What Res is that?

that looks sweet, computers with wire management look so much better

Bad ConNecTioN said:

Nice work, looking good.

Click to expand...

Thanks man

Senater_Cache said:

what are your temps

what case is that

Click to expand...

I haven't benched it or tested it yet, but I do have temp probes between the radiator/inside fan, on the inlet barb of the res (you can see it in the pictures), on the NB & in the HDD rack. I'll post temps and everything once I finish.

As someone mentioned, it's the Antec SLK3700BQE. It is a great case for the price, and it also uses a 120mm fan (Vantec) in front of the HDDs.

OLMI said:

Hey, that looks really nice. I like the wiring job. You sure decided to go all out on your very first PC you've made, hehe.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the compliments.
True I have gone pretty much all out lol. But in this forum my rig is pretty mild . Even so it's been a steep learning curve.

Alacritan said:

Looks good. Excellent pump choice btw. You should consider running a line from the reservoir to the pump inlet instead of pulling from the radiator. You'll get much better flow.

I suggest reservoir-pump-rad-cpu-gpu-reservoir. I had cavitation issues with my Mag 3 when I accidentally put the radiator on the inlet instead of the outlet. There is a definite improvement of flow rates by pulling from the reservoir instead of the radiator.

Click to expand...

I do have slight cavitation, and I really wanted to put the pump inlet from the res but w/ the mag3, it just barely fits as is. I wish the pump would have fit turned the opposite direction. I even bought a CSP750 with the intention of doing that and putting the res along the bottom horizontally, but the low flow rates just don't compare to the Mag 3. It was buzzing pretty badly too until I took everything apart and put 2 mouse pads (cut to fit the bottom) underneath and through-bolted the pump to the case. It's pretty quiet now.

Gongo56 said:

that looks nice.. how did you run your ribbon cable from your audigy to the front panel?

Click to expand...

Thanks Gongo56. The cable runs back behind the case. To do that, One day I was reading an article on rounding your own cables & next thing you know lol....
I just split them down to every 3rd or 4th one and rounded them. I used zip ties every few inches to keep it neat and then wrapped it.

Legion2005 said:

Just my opinion... but I think you would get a cool effect if you put highlighter and a few UV cold cathodes in there.

Really nice job.

Click to expand...

Thanks man. Actually I don't know if you can see them but there is a 4" UV light running along the bottom between the pump and the acrylic of the case window. I have DD blue dye for the water. I also have a 12" blue CC light but I'm debating on using it, it mounts up and slightly behind the PSU along the back of the case.

Thanks Bugsmasher

sunrunner20 said:

What Res is that?

Click to expand...

It's the 6" criticool waterplant.

techun said:

that looks sweet, computers with wire management look so much better

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Thanks alot man. Makes all the little cuts worth it lol.

You're sure you can't rotate it so the inlet is vertical and the outlet is pointing towards the radiator? That's how I have mine set up, sitting on top of a gel wrist pad thing.

I have mine set up like this

Pump to rad, rad to cpu, cpu to pump. Ifi get a water block it would be pump to rad, rad to cpu, cpu to gpu, gpu to pump.

Doing it this way will make sure youre cpu imediatly gets the cool water from the rad, then youre block getting the water from the cpu.

That's what I told him, but there are logistical problems with that it seems. He would have arranged it that way but lack of space won't allow it.

Yea that so true, thats why i keep my rad and pump outside my case.

CandymanCan said:

I have mine set up like this

Pump to rad, rad to cpu, cpu to pump. Ifi get a water block it would be pump to rad, rad to cpu, cpu to gpu, gpu to pump.

Doing it this way will make sure youre cpu imediatly gets the cool water from the rad, then youre block getting the water from the cpu.

Click to expand...

The difference between the hottest and coldest parts of any loop is less than 1 degree C (generally in the region of 0.25C). Order doesnt really matter; plumb how its convieniant. (man, i get sick of typing that, i should put it in a notepad on my desktop )

hes a braver man than me, though - no way any water system that goes near my hardware doesnt have hose clamps on everything.

That remains the single most reoccurring piece of misinformation suggested in the WC forum.

If you arent more than absolutely 183% sure about the things you are saying, just be quiet and prevent the propagation of this ignorance. It gets the forum into trouble when we breed a whole legion of misinformed, supposed regulars and mentors.