Replumbing the main rig

[Voodoo Rufus]

To install my new 3080Ti, I needed to remove my water cooled 2080Ti. This seems to be an excellent time to clean and rethink the loop a bit. I know the 3080 is going to like as much airflow through the case as I can give it, so I'm thinking maybe my normal brute force method of a thick radiator in the front may not be necessary to cool a 250W max 9900KS. It never sees that kind of load in my casual gaming environment. I'm going to keep the top of the case open to help ventilate it as best as possible.

The case is a Fractal R6. I don't intend to put the DDC pump/res back in for now and will likely put my Optimus D5 reservoir in somehow. The front can accommodate a 280mm or 360mm radiator, the latter with the 5.25" bay removed. The top can do a thin 280 or 360 as well. With my dual radiator, dual DDC setup before, my water temps would max out at 45C, with 30C idle in a 25C house.

I'm tempted to put either the fat 280 in the front with my normal push pull setup, use my thin 360 up top or in front. Or I could go with my thin 280 up top. The fat 280 has the greatest capacity by far.

Bottom line I want to make for an elegant final setup that will sufficiently cool the CPU while giving the 3080 plenty of cool air.

 

[Nebulous]

Nice! Double the air-flow = Double the fun Gratz on the 3080Ti

I've been trying to get a new-ish card for quite sometime with no luck. I'm stuck with my 1070

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

Thanks!

Another issue is that the D5 reservoir does not have mounting holes that will work anywhere in the case without further drilling. Non standard holes are no fun. This EVGA card being so big isn't making things any easier either.

 

[maxfly]

Whichever rad has the lowest fpi would be your best option for airflow in front.
You can get a bracket that allows you to attach your d5 to any open 120 or 140mm fan mount. The drawback is you'll likely have to mount it to your front rad(unless you have an open one on the bottom). So it may not fit in front of your gpu and if it does...there goes most of your airflow.

Link is to titanrig only because it loads faster. Performance-pcs probably has a better selection.

https://www.titanrig.com/cooling/pumps/pump-mounts.html

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

I decided to go the simple route for now. Top mounted the slim 280, and bolted the D5 to the bottom of the case. Fresh 7/16" tubing and put my water temp sensor on the waterblock output. If the water temps on full load are favorable I'll leave it as is.

Had a disappointing setback last night. Started leak testing and my block is dripping on the motherboard and a little on the GPU. I'm going to have to disassembled it again to find out why.

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

Took the block apart. Looks like the o-ring between the block and the cold plate is not perfectly uniform. Not sure why. Letting it dry out for 24 hours hoping it will return to a normal shape. Otherwise I'll need a new one, or poor boy it and RTV the crud out of it.

I want to play with my new shiny card darnit!

 

[maxfly]

That's a drag. Nothings been damaged?
You could try gently heating the o-ring up. As it loosens up, put it back in the channel to cool and hopefully it refits itself properly. Sometimes it works a charm, others it just pops back into the same garbled shape. Mostly depends on how its pinched or bent.
GL!

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

I don't power the rig when I'm leak testing, so it should be fine. Sprayed everything well with 91% isopropyl last night and let it air dry.

I'll try the heat trick this evening if it hasn't changed shape at all.

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

The heat gun trick worked on the o-ring apparently. I removed it from the block and warmed it, softly working it with my fingers. Then I used some dielectric grease in the groove where it sits as well as lubed up the o-ring itself. Placed into the groove and worked it more to make the ring as uniform as possible. Carefully torqued down the cold plate again as evenly as possible. Leak test was perfect last night, and no drips this morning. This evening it should be good for a test run.

I know the Corsair radiator will be good for general use. I just hope it can keep up if I loaded up the CPU and GPU while gaming.

New personal rule of thumb: 1W for every mm of radiator, instead of 100W per 120-140mm fan.

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

Halp!

Board won't power up. PSU still works with a test plug on the ATX connector, so no issues there. The rear Bios/Power LEDs are lit, and the RGB's flicker when the PSU master switch is turned on, but I get no response now. I went the whole hog and removed every drive, the GPU, reinserted the ram and checked the CPU. I even removed all the heatsinks and backplate to clean the board. It's acting 100% bricked.

 

[maxfly]

Ugh, sounds like it was still a little wet somewhere
Time to get the magnifying glass out and see what is damaged. You might get lucky and be able to repair it you never know...or you could go the other less honorable route(but i never suggested anything of the kind).

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

The coolant is just distilled water and antifreeze. Nonconductive. Only other thing I can think of is to rinse the board in hot water and let it dry again. Maybe in my dehydrator.

Z390 boards worth a damn are getting rare. Crap.

 

[maxfly]

Right but any moisture becomes conductive as soon as it gets a bit of dust or dirt mixed in. Add some electricity to the mix and poof. Out go the lights.
I hear ya on the quality z390 mbs becoming rare. I've got an ASRock z390 in im hanging onto for that very reason. Well that and it clocks mem like no other

If you create a wanted thread at every forum your a member of, you may be able to find something solid at a decent price.

I accidentally killed a evga x99 mb by not drying it completely. It had to have been in the cpu socket or mem slots because i doused it with 2 full bottles of 91% isopropyl and let it dry for 2 days in the sun before i powered it back up.
I feel your pain man! GL!

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

May have found a Maximus XI Formula for a real good price. We'll see. I might be back on the road to water cooled VRMs again soon.

 

[maxfly]

That the ticket!

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

Nabbed a Z390 Master on ebay. Rig is back up and assembled.

Initial impressions on the loop are that the single row 280mm is plenty for the 9900KS. Water temps don't rise past 35C at 255W load. Using Kryonaut instead of Conductonaut this time around. Temps don't seem to justify the LM hassle. Might have cost me 5C but load temps are still under 90C with no throttling, so whatever.

The pump is running at 100% speed. I can't get the BIOS to throttle it on the PWM cable on either pump header. It just means that the pump is pulling more power than the CPU at idle. Oh well I guess.