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"John Wick's PC"
Simple, Effective and Blacked Out!
First off want to give a big thanks to Daz at Dazmode, for being patient with me and answering all my nubby first time watercooling questions. I really appreciate your time and effort man. Your Great man.
Well this is my first custom loop. Not my first PC build but have always used AIOs for what seems forever. Ive always wanted to have a custom loop but could never take the plunge. Always too scared. And well here i am finally doing it. And well it was a journey and ive learnt a ton and im very happy with the results.
Ive acquired the parts over the last few months and have been slowing working away at it. I had some issues with some things that I had to get resolved first. RMAs, me changing constantly changing my mind on what i wanted lol and well me just being a slow poke and wanting things just right. LOL. But Im happy to report that its finally done!
.I acquired a few custom parts as well as I painted and modded a few things myself. Nothing crazy like some people. But enough to make my rig look what I think is clean an just how i wanted it.
I added some custom acrylic panels to clean up some of the holes and grommets as well clean up the side intake area. I replaced all stock filters with demciflex filters. Even cut the bottom of the case to fit a custom one there. Also made a few holes in the case for tube routing. I blacked out ALL the EK badges. Removed all fan logos and replaced them with matte black stickers i made. Modded the white RGB ring on the pump as it stuck out like a sore thumb. I painted it black and added a chrome stripe on it to match the nickle accents else where. And I lastly lapped my cpu and block. I know Im missing a few other things I did but those are the main things. Its got temp probes for coolant temp off the top radiator and also in the reservoir. I also have thermal probes placed for ambient air intake as well as a inside case temps. Great for setting fan curves with deltas and the Aquaero 6 LT. Im very happy with how it turned out.
Build went pretty smooth for the most part. Biggest build issue i had was getting a good mount with this new EK Magnitude block. I spent days mounting this block with different coldplates and differnet jetplates and thermal paste methods only to end up lapping the cpu and block which in the end of course gave me the best performance. But I did find that the stock mounting options gave a variance of upwards of 7c difference depending on which coldplate used and thermal paste method used. Also how much pressure you apply with the screws. In order to get any more performance out of it I would have to delid and liquid metal it which I’m not gunna bother. Ive been able to obtain 5.1ghz while keeping it at the 80c ish mark running AVX prime 95 so im happy. Everyday use like gaming it never breaks 65c. But for sure this block requires a ton of fiddling with its mount due to the stock coldplate comes with a convex coldplate meant to match the 9th gen IHS. And with all IHS’s not being the same I found it difficult to get a good easy mount. Actually found the extra flat cold plate you buy separately preformed better. As well the block does not like a lot of thermal paste. It likes very minimal paste. Like very minimal. I tried everything from X, pea, line, manual spread, lots. Little. And I found the best performance was a tiny tiny amount of thermal paste spread just over the die. This block 100% requires patience and time to fiddle around with mounting and trying different things to really make sure your getting the most out of it. Its not a mount once and get the best result for sure. Thought that I’d share this experience with the block as it’s stupidly expensive and you might want to know what your getting into before buying it. Lol
My other biggest oversight and pain on my build was routing some of the tube to the back. Seemed simple and I had the plan but when i went to dry fit everything i found the ek torque angle fitting was hitting the IO shield on the MB. and wouldn't fit due the the EK PE rad thickness.
That moment i was super disappointed. LOL. Went back to the drawing board. Determined to make it work some how as I really didn't want a tubing run across the top of the build and I also really wanted a way to hide the high flow USB sensor in the back. After a night of brainstorming and research. I discovered that bits power fittings are small enough that you can remove the ek radiator port spacer and screw the bitspower fitting right to the rad chamber through the radiator cover! Its a tight fit but it makes a perfect seal. I leak tested it with a EK leaktester for a few hours to be safe. And now the angle fitting fits in there nicely and has enough space and doesn't hit the IO shield anymore. I love it when things seem like they are falling apart but some how come together.Main Parts:
Lian Li 011 Dynamic XL ( But im sure you already knew that LOL)
i9 9900KS @ 5.1ghz
Asus Maximus XI Extreme
32gb Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB
GTX 1080Ti Founder Edition (Waiting patiently for 3000 Series!
Two Samsung EVO 1TB's
EVGA 1200 P2 w/Cablemod Pro Cables
Worked with Ricardo @ ColdZero for custom acrylic panels I used (NOT SPONSORED)
WC Parts:
EK Magnitude CPU block
EK 1080Ti Full Cover Block
Two EK 360 PE Radiators
EK Kinetic D5 TBE Reservoir
Aquacomputer High Flow USB Sensor
Aquacomputer Aquaero 6 LT Fan Controller
Aquacomputer Coolant Passthrough Temp Sensor
10 Corsair ML Pro 120mm Fans. NO RGB
EK ZMT Tubing
Mixture of EK and Bitspower Fittings
Mayhems XT-1 Nuke V2 Clear Coolant 1.2L to fill entire loop
Due the the post Attachment limit I will spread the pics through a few posts. Here are some more finished shots. I normally dont run any RGB when the computer is on but threw in a few pics with some white lighting to showcase the rig with the side panels on and what it can look like with some light accents. Normally they are off though and only light up red when alarms are triggered from either low coolant flow or overheating temps.
Now that Im done, Im actually kinda sad. I had a ton of fun building this PC. Watercooling really adds another dimension to PC building I already loved. I like planning and executing things. Running into issues and having to problem solve them. Looking back I really should have gotten into this much sooner. But with that said. It also feels like its a good time to start as well due to all the options available these days. It wasnt as hard as i imagined it. Starting now almost feels like cheating. Respect to the guys that have paved the way for this. Days of fish tank pumps and zip ties are defiantly long gone. LOL. Much Respect to you long time Watercooling Enthusiasts.
Its also quite apparent how addicting this can become. LOL. Im already constantly looking for things i might wana change or add to make it even better. I wasn't even fully done this build and I was already thinking about what I want to do next time! That says alot.
Anyways. System flow is about 285 LPH and is as quiet and cool as a cucumber. Very Happy. My only regret. Maybe I should have added a third EK PE on the side. LOL. Oh well.
I know this maybe just another 011 build for some of you. I had a vision of what I wanted and did my best. And I love it. All that matters right? LOL .
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