Blood red noob build!

[Bartacus]

Seeing as how I've been pestering you people non-stop since I got the water bug (pun intended), I thought I'd pester you some more by posting a build thread!

System Parts:

CPU - Intel i7-3820K 3.6Ghz
Mobo - Asus Rampage Extreme IV Gene
RAM - 16GB (4x4GB) Corsair Dominator Platinum (CL9 1866)
Video - Sapphire Radeon 7950 3GB
Cooling - Corsair H100 CPU cooler
Hard Drives (OS/Games) - ADATA S510 120GB SSD SATA6G x 2 (RAID 0)
Hard Drives (storage) - Seagate 1TB x 4 (2 in RAID1, 2 stand alone)
Case - Corsair Obsidian 800D
Power Supply - Corsair AX750W modular

Wow, that's a lot of Corsair parts and I'm not even a fanboy!

Some parts:



The case was a display model I got with a tiny discount. Filthy:



Main guts installed:



Video card close up:



It lives:



Corsair likes lights:



So after buying all this crap and setting it all up, I decided to get interested in water cooling, and nerd bling for the 1st time. Did some research and ended up here:


Water Cooling and Bling Parts:

DazMode Dual D5 XSPC custom kit
2x D5 variable pumps
XSPC RayStorm CPU block
XSPC dual bay reservoir
XSPC EX360 radiator (3x XSPC fans)
Alphacool NexXxoS GPU block 7970/50 V2
10 ft clear tubing (3/8-5/8), 10 ft Primochill red UV tubing (3/8-5/8)
Black chrome compression fittings
FrozenQ 250mm helix reservoir (blood red UV)
Red LEDs for the XSPC block / res
2-pc UV light set
3x Coolermaster Sickleflow 120 red LED fans
El Cheapo SunBeam fan controller, because it was on sale (30W x 3)

I also ordered some Darkside cable sleeving stuff, but because I didn't understand what I was doing, the entire order was wrong. DOH! What a waste.

[Bartacus]

Good thing I have no kids. Otherwise, I'd feel guilty about blowing their college fund on toys:



Since I'm going under water, might as well do it right:



More toys arrived:



My bling centerpiece, in blood red UV (which was christened in ACTUAL blood when I cut my finger on it):



Test fitting the dual bay reservoir. TIGHT damn fit (might need some case rail sanding):



Planning the location a bit:



METRIC you yankee dogs! METRIC!!!



Setting up the leak test:

[Bartacus]

BUBBLES! Only had one minor heart attack when firing up the pumps for the 1st time. Not bad for a noob.







Now I just need to wait for more fittings, and start planning how to cut up the Obsidian case. I'm thinking about Dremel-ing out the top honeycomb grills for better intake. The 800D isn't very well ventilated, and my house is a bit dusty. Therefore I've decided to experiment with positive pressure and have the top 3 fans as intake fans. I'll try to take lots of pics as I go! Merry Christmas all!

Bart

[scaccima]

Awesome so far Bartacus!!!! I can already tell this is going to be a nice looking rig!!


P.S. Welcome to "Senior Member" level!!

[scaccima]

I also must say I have 3 of those EX360 rads and when flushing them out, they were much cleaner than I thought.

[Bartacus]

I didn't see a thing come out of mine. Maybe I didn't shake it long enough or something, but it was clean.

First disaster happened moments ago though! I was trying to adjust the speed of one D5 pump, and the little adjustment thingy snapped off. Not sure why. Unless I miss my guess, one of my pumps is permanently stuck on speed 2. I've unplugged it in the meantime (thank god I bought 2), and leak testing continues on one pump.

EDIT: senior member? LOL! I'm just a noob who posts too much! I'm about as senior as the baby in my avatar, and about as mature too!

[Bartacus]

Oh the humanity! Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuu:

[fuji]

Very nice. I'm in the same boat you are. Spent way too much money on water stuff for the first go around. Since you'll be building before me, I'll just watch you and learn

[Bartacus]

Considering I've already broken something, you might be learning from the wrong guy.

I really hope this res doesn't leak. Loving the looks of it:

[Father Fuzzy]

Well thats a groovy lookin rez Bartacus

your going to do a horizontal mount
and put the pumps in the bsmt?

[Bartacus]

I have 2 reservoirs, the dual bay in the front and the crazy red thing. So the pumps are in the bay res. I was considering a vertical mount at first, but with the weight of this thing, horizontal is probably best. I don't trust the clips that came with the pump. They just pop on, quite easily. Since I have a micro-ATX board and only one vid card that will be thinner once the GPU block is on, there will be plenty of room below.

[Hooded]

Looking good Bart.
I think that you were that fastest to senior member of all people on the form.

[scaccima]

Looking good Bartacus! Sorry to hear about the broken speed dial. Maybe you could keep both pumps at that speed so you can still use both?

[bungwirez]

please let us know how that Indigo TIM works out.
if installed properly, its supposed to be the best.

I don't know of anyone that is using it on a raystorm.

[Bartacus]

Looking good Bart.
I think that you were that fastest to senior member of all people on the form.

That's because I don't ever shut up, in person or on the internet.

Looking good Bartacus! Sorry to hear about the broken speed dial. Maybe you could keep both pumps at that speed so you can still use both?

I emailed Daz, and according to him I can take it apart and still adjust the resistor. I just don't get why that stick broke. Even the stick on the other pump doesn't want to move. I think it's locked at speed 2. Are these things supposed to "click" between speed settings? Or is the stick supposed to turn gradually, like a radio dial?

please let us know how that Indigo TIM works out.
if installed properly, its supposed to be the best.

I don't know of anyone that is using it on a raystorm.

I can't wait to find out either. Sure is freaky when you read the install guide. It is by far the strangest install procedure I've ever seen for a thermal interface.

Good news guys: no leaks from the rad / CPU block / XSPC reservoir! Now since I'm short on both fittings and tubing, the next step is to drain the loop and replace the CPU block with the FrozenQ helix res and see if that one leaks. Damn it, I should have ordered 20 feet of "test" tubing instead of just 10.