Considering an epic watercooling adventure

[Asperatis]

Hi all!

over the past couple of months I've been searching for some neat hardware to put in my very first gaming build. I've decided to go for a X99 system with the following specs:

Rig:
Case: Corsair 760T black
MoBo: Asus ROG Rampage V Extreme
CPU: intel i7 5930K 6 core @ 3.5-3.7GHz
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (4x8GB) DDR4 2666MHz CL16
PSU: Corsair AX1200i
(CPU Cooling: Corsair H100i)
GPU: dual SLI Asus ROG Matrix 980's
SLI Bridge: the newly yet to be released Asus ROG SLI bridge
SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB
HDD: WD Black 2TB
(ODD: Asus BD-RE BW-16D1HT/B 12x)
OS: 64 UK Windows 8,1 PRO OEM 64 bit
Cables: Cablemod C series AXi cable kit in red-black and a bunch of small E22 cable combs for some sweet cable management
Extra Fans: 2 Corsair SP 120 quiet (replacing the stock H100i fans), 1 Corsair AF 140 quiet (replacing the stock rear case fan), 3 Corsair AF 120 Red LED quiet (2 for the H100i on top and another above the ODD bay)
Dust Filters: DemciFlex 760T dust filter set
Lighting: 2 Corsair Link RGB LED lighting kits
Soundcard: Asus Xonar Phoebus

Peripherals:
Monitor: ASUS PG278Q ROG Swift 27" 2560x1440 1ms 144Hz
Keyboard: Razer Blackwidow Chroma
Mouse: Razer Deathadder Chroma with a Razer Goliathus Control extended mouse mat
Headset: Razer Tiamat 7.1
Audio: Razer Leviathan soundbar
And a Dx Racer Chair OH/FE08/NE in Green to top it all off

These are the specs if I would go for an aircooled rig. BUT I am greatly considering to go watercooling. I can still use some advice on this part, seeing as this will be my very first build ever

These are the watercooling parts I'm planning on getting for now:

CPU Block: EK Supremacy EVO Red
Reservoir: FrozenQ LF Reaction 250mm res Blood Red Helix
Pump: EK-D5 Vario X-TOP incl. pump - Acetal
GPU Block: EK-FC980 GTX Acetal for Nvidia reference card x2
GPU Backplate: EK-FC980 GTX backplate - black for Nvidia reference card x2
Rad 1: Alphacool NexXxoS UT60 Full Copper 360mm rad 400x124x60
Rad 2: Alphacool NexXxoS ST30 Full Copper 360 rad 400x124x30
Miscelanious: Monsoon Silver Bullet antimicrobial G1/4 plug - black and a XSPC LCD Temp Sensor V2 Red + G1/4 plug sensor
Tubing: PrimoChill Acrylic tubing 13/10mm 90cm length Red x5
Coolant: EK-Ecoolant clear 1000ml
Coolant additive: IandH Dead-Water copper sulfate biocidal pc coolant additive

Ofc I will ditch the AIO, ODD and add a few extra fans in this case. Both rads will run in a push-pull config btw.

Note I've listed the GPU blocks for the reference cards, I'm still gathering some info about what card would be the best suited to watercool. Not sure if the reference cards hold the same OC power as Strix or Matrix cards (most likely not, still awesome performance though) or if I should go for Strix's, or maybe wait for 980 Matrix water blocks, we'll see what further research comes up with.
I've also listed more than enough tubing to give me 'some' room for error while bending

Another note is that I'll have to attack the bay drive cage with a dremel and get rid off it in order to fit the 360 front rad. I know it is perfectly possible as I've read a build log of someone doing this with a Corsair 750D case.

There are no fittings listed yet, as I'm still doing some research on them as well as to what brand to go for and what type of fittings to pick. Advice is most welcome here.

One more thing that questions my mind though. I want to keep one HDD cage inside the case, which will sit just to the right of the PSU. I'm wondering if there will be enough space in between the HDD cage and the front rad to still fit the pump properly. Has anybody had any experience with this?

There is still a lot of time for research, I won't buy any parts until late April and start building around the end of May. It will be quite the project, having some scary steps like dremeling a brand new case, first time bending acrylic, very first leak test etc, but I'm looking forward to it already!

Thanks for reading this block of text

Cheers,
Asper

 

[Jakusonfire]

Do not add anything to the coolant. It contains everything that is needed already. Adding copper sulphate will potentially cause big problems.

Forcing two 360 rads into that case would be ill advised in my opinion. It will just take up lots more room, not look great, and only make a marginal difference to using a 360 and 240.
I would expect a 360 and 280 rad to perform very much the same but without the compromise of twin 360's

 

[GTXJackBauer]

to OCFs.

Its a tall order you got there for a first water cooling build, let alone first time putting a system together. (I assume that's what you meant by gaming build.) Usually I advise those who are first timers in anything, to build their first newly system on air and than take your time on water cooling after a while. X99 has been troublesome for a few. Since its new with its bugs etc, most have been worked out but it would stink if you had to take apart the loop every time something goes wrong. I know I had to a few times. That's what happens when we're early adopters to new tech.

Also, since you haven't purchased anything yet, if you're still going as planned, I would recommend looking at some other cases that won't need modding. (Corair 900D, Enthoo Primo, Case Labs, Mountainmods) Do you want your build to be silent but have great Delta-Temps?

I hope you understand how it all works other than listing what you know you need for a loop. A quick read in our water cooling stickies will give you a general idea on how it works, why and what it takes to maintain it.

Also, you can use Coolingconfigurator to see if there are blocks for specific GPUs other than reference designs.

 

[Asperatis]

Thanks for the replies.

It will indeed be my very first build ever, but I do have some experience with hardware etc. I work as a network admin in the belgian Defence, which also includes installing servers and opening them up etc along with computers.
Over the past four to five months I've also done nothing but research on all sorts of tech to gain as much knowledge as possible, so this is not just an impulsive list thrown together with the thoughts of, oh well let's build a rig shall we Yet there is still a lot more to be learned!

I'll consider the 900D, even though it will empty my pockets even more looking at this list. With this case I could easily go for a double quad 120 rad setup.

And yes, great temperatures while not having a tornado on my desk would be quite something

I'll forget about the copper sulphate as well, thanks for the tip

 

[EarthDog]

It is an epic build... lots of overkill honestly. There are plenty of places to save a lot of cash...

1. There is no need for a 1.2KW PSU. You can easily run with a QUALITY 850W PSU, something like the EVGA SUpernova G2. Remember, the 980's only use around 165W. Give them 220W or so with overclocking to their limit on water.
2. The motherboard you chose, while awseome, is essentially made for extreme overclocking which water(ambient) would not be considered extreme. You would be purchasing a board and not using its features/what its made for. Its akin to buying a lambo, but only using it on side streets. If you want to do that, its fine of course, but just letting you know.
3. You can also go Z97 and 4790K for a gamer and save a ton there too over the mobo and DDR4 required.
4. Hopefully you are rocking at least one 2560x1440 monitor or 3 1920x1080 monitors for 2 980s...

 

[Asperatis]

It is an epic build... lots of overkill honestly. There are plenty of places to save a lot of cash...

1. There is no need for a 1.2KW PSU. You can easily run with a QUALITY 850W PSU, something like the EVGA SUpernova G2. Remember, the 980's only use around 165W. Give them 220W or so with overclocking to their limit on water.
2. The motherboard you chose, while awseome, is essentially made for extreme overclocking which water(ambient) would not be considered extreme. You would be purchasing a board and not using its features/what its made for. Its akin to buying a lambo, but only using it on side streets. If you want to do that, its fine of course, but just letting you know.
3. You can also go Z97 and 4790K for a gamer and save a ton there too over the mobo and DDR4 required.
4. Hopefully you are rocking at least one 2560x1440 monitor or 3 1920x1080 monitors for 2 980s...

Others have indeed already pointed out a 850W PSU would be better, I seemed to have forgotten to update the list.

X99 VS Z97.. Still thinking about that too. At first I made a Z97 parts list with the Asus ROG Maximus VII Hero and 4790K along with the cheaper DDR3 when compared to DDR4. Perhaps it would be wiser to stay away from X99 just a tad longer untill lets say we get 10nm CPUs. Just as I decided to stay away from 4K monitors for the moment as they only support 60Hz refresh rate.
Going Z97 would clear a lot of budget to spend on watercooling and a 900D case too.

To answer your last point, yes I will be running one 2560x1440 monitor with the eye on getting a multimonitor setup in the future

 

[Robmoo]

If money is tight go with the Z97. Otherwise I would use the enthusiast line and buy the 5930k to have more pipes for sli. Also why the 250gb SD? Spend a bit more here and buy the 1tb. Check and see how much HD space you use after you have been using a rig for over a year. I've got 600gb no music or movies, just games and other apps. Why not buy an SSD that will fit all your games and other applications? Keep the HD for you music and movies.

Also, why the WD black HD? You know performance HD is an oxymoron? HD are for bulk storage of media file and back ups. Buy a cheaper HD and buy a SSD on which all your application will fit.

 

[Asperatis]

If money is tight go with the Z97. Otherwise I would use the enthusiast line and buy the 5930k to have more pipes for sli. Also why the 250gb SD? Spend a bit more here and buy the 1tb. Check and see how much HD space you use after you have been using a rig for over a year. I've got 600gb no music or movies, just games and other apps. Why not buy an SSD that will fit all your games and other applications? Keep the HD for you music and movies.

Also, why the WD black HD? You know performance HD is an oxymoron? HD are for bulk storage of media file and back ups. Buy a cheaper HD and buy a SSD on which all your application will fit.

Is it? In that case I'll revise my storage choice and perhaps go for a bit larger SSD.

Also, I've decided to go with the 900D, X99, a 60mm 480 rad push-pull in the top and a second 60mm 480 rad push in the bottom. I reckon there is enough space left in the bottom to fit the pump next to the rad? There will be approximately 135mm space left between the bottom rad and the backside of the case.

I also want the rest of the case not covered up by the mobo to be hidden behind a black acrylic panel, hide the drive bay cage behind an acrylic panel and have a floorplate made where the tubes pass through. I've been looking at many fittings and found the PrimoChill 10/13 Revolver compression fittings best suitable for my build. I'll add some BitsPower plugs here and there too.
A question about the PrimoChill revolver/ghost 10/13 coupler fittings though: can they be used as some sort of passthrough fittings to go through the acrylic? What is the spacing in between the two caps? This is the one I'm tallking about:

 

[Asperatis]

I'll be needing some sort of fan controller as well that can control up to 16 fans. Preferably not one to put in a 5.25" bay.
Any suggestions?

 

[EarthDog]

That's where they normally go though... lol!

 

[GTXJackBauer]

If you're looking for a PWM fan hub that can plug the fans and work off of a PWM header on the MB, have a look at Swiftech.

 

[Asperatis]

That's where they normally go though... lol!

Yeah well, I know Though the 900D has these 5.25" bay covers that extend like an extra inch to the sides. Having this cover removed makes it look.. not good anymore.
Are there any good ones that I can mount behind the mobo tray and control it with software rather than buttons and switches that go in a 5.25" bay?

 

[Asperatis]

If you're looking for a PWM fan hub that can plug the fans and work off of a PWM header on the MB, have a look at Swiftech.

Those look promising, however, when used in combination with Corsair SP120 fans they get 'stuck' on max RPM when connecting more than 4 fans. I found this about the SP120 and the Swiftech 8-way PWM splitter:
1) This happens only with Corsair PWM fans so far because they don't follow the Intel PWM standards and would rather you use Corsair Link to control them.
2) Corsair's fans require a much stronger PWM signal than other PWM fans. So far Corsair's are the only ones that we can confirm require such a strong PWM signal. Due to this if you load 5 or more fans off of a single motherboard fan header, the fans will run at full speed. Our splitter was not designed with any signal boosting capabilities, so there really isn't a way around this.

So that kinda sucks

Any other suggestions of fan controllers that are mountable on the backside of the mobo tray and are capable of powering at least 8 Corsair SP120s? I can mount two fan controllers to control all the fans (a total of 16) if needed.

 

[GTXJackBauer]

I believe Aquaero has a PCB controller that can control a few things via software.

 

[Asperatis]

I believe Aquaero has a PCB controller that can control a few things via software.

Thanks, I'll most likely get two of the Aquaero 5 LT's and mount them somewhere in the backside of the case to control everything properly.

I've made my first attempt with Sketchup to draw a plan of the loop (made it in 2D though):



Dimensions have been measured to the millimeter for every component I knew the dimensions of (almost everything ). If you look closely you might see the layout of a 900D

The bottom rad will also have a drain valve attached to it.

 

[t1nm4n]

The 900 might have those weird bezels, but they have plenty of room to ghost your drives or controllers. Saw a really nice flushed Aquaero 6XT from another user here on the forums.

I did this with just a Dremel watching a movie, didn't need to take the face off the drive either.

 

[Asperatis]

The 900 might have those weird bezels, but they have plenty of room to ghost your drives or controllers. Saw a really nice flushed Aquaero 6XT from another user here on the forums.

I did this with just a Dremel watching a movie, didn't need to take the face off the drive either.

That's a proper fine job you did there, thank you for that idea!

 

[t1nm4n]

Thank Flat-6 for showin me his 900d ghost drive, it got me off my rump to do mine, not the first time I've done it before, but much easier this go round.

 

[Flat-6]

Do you require 2x Aquaero 5LT's? If you use an AQ6 you should be able to control pretty much all you want from the one unit.

You mention that you do not want to mount one in the drive bays - is this purely for looks? You can achieve a nice front finish with the 900D if you are prepared to do some basic cutting if using an AQ6.

I achieved a nice flush finish by cutting two ends off the one blank panel and used some double sided tape to hold them in place.

The AQ6XT was mounted further forward than normal by remounting the front LCD panel - This is quite easy to do [only 4 screws] and it spaces the front panel out by around 5mm or so. It ends up mating perfectly flush with the brushed aluminium front panels.

 

[Asperatis]

Yes I won't mount anything there purely for looks, I like the way the bay covers looks the way they are.
I've seen builds using two 5LTs in a master-slave setup to control up to 8 fans / unit. There will be a total of 15 fans in the case.

I'll have a look at how you've done it with your 900D. I'm thinking though if an AQ6 is put there to control 15 fans, won't it become a giant clutter of cables?