Stan Radner
DARKLY Regular
Your sig made me laugh
Follow buckshotjr's Liquid Cooling Adventure!
- Thread starter OG buckshot jr
- Start date
Your sig made me laugh
OG buckshot jr
TD Admin
Necro.....
Starting out:
Graphics card (had two, at one point but sold it cause SLI = useless):
GPU disassembled:
Better View:
Close up of GPU PCB:
GPU Chip cleaned up with alcohol:
New thermal pads placed over VRAM (surrounding GPU) and MOSFET power supplies (6 of them towards bottom, 3 and 3):
New paste on GPU:
Block aligned with a few screws first, then rest go in:
Back of GPU for reference:
Checking gap, if any. Making sure thermal pads have contact:
Starting out:
Graphics card (had two, at one point but sold it cause SLI = useless):
GPU disassembled:
Better View:
Close up of GPU PCB:
GPU Chip cleaned up with alcohol:
New thermal pads placed over VRAM (surrounding GPU) and MOSFET power supplies (6 of them towards bottom, 3 and 3):
New paste on GPU:
Block aligned with a few screws first, then rest go in:
Back of GPU for reference:
Checking gap, if any. Making sure thermal pads have contact:
OG buckshot jr
TD Admin
Temporary labels for Sata cables. This helped a lot. That's a large, old mouse pad I worked on, no static and soft so no damage to shit:
The baggy that contained the screws for GPU water block - put all of the original screws right back in:
SATA cables labelled:
Starting to route shit, at a high-level:
CPU back-plate to start:
Side-view:
Clean CPU placed in:
Thermal paste applied:
CPU water block being mounted on the peg screws:
Tightening opposite corners little by little, like lugnuts on a vehicle:
Mounted showing inlet and outlet ports. Apparently you can use either or, but I used center for inlet; off-set center for outlet:
Different view to more clearly show inlet (left) and outlet (right) that I chose. That silver/metal elliptical shape around the center [inside] is a water spreader - there are four types, depending on what CPU you get. They're incredibly effective:
Full View of Mobo - getting there!:
The baggy that contained the screws for GPU water block - put all of the original screws right back in:
SATA cables labelled:
Starting to route shit, at a high-level:
CPU back-plate to start:
Side-view:
Clean CPU placed in:
Thermal paste applied:
CPU water block being mounted on the peg screws:
Tightening opposite corners little by little, like lugnuts on a vehicle:
Mounted showing inlet and outlet ports. Apparently you can use either or, but I used center for inlet; off-set center for outlet:
Different view to more clearly show inlet (left) and outlet (right) that I chose. That silver/metal elliptical shape around the center [inside] is a water spreader - there are four types, depending on what CPU you get. They're incredibly effective:
Full View of Mobo - getting there!:
OG buckshot jr
TD Admin
Case Disassembly:
Bye-bye :):
Full-view as shit comes apart:
I put case screws back in, less to lose. You'll be surprised at the mess and sheer number of parts/screws/other lying around as you disassemble and build - every little bit helps:
Stock front case grill - those trays are coming out:
Inside front view of more shit coming out:
Front grill re-worked:
Top view - emptied out, readying for radiator:
Front view:
View or working area - this is what I meant by how much space you'll need and how much shit ends up everywhere. I cleaned as I went from section to section; like GPU, CPU/mobo, case disassembly etc:
Mounting radiator - watching as I screw in screws to make sure they don't penetrate radiator fins:
Side view of mounted radiator:
Front view of mounted radiator. The yellow plugs are temporary and illustrate where I've chosen to have the inlet/outlet plugs located (at the front):
Wider side view looking towards front (right):
Dual-bay reservoir with Laing D5 Vario Pump attached. Figuring out which outlet to use:
Turns out you have one option, so it's mounted with a 90degree to shoot up to radiator. All fittings are Bitspower, black chrome compression fittings. Nothing but the very best:
Inlet - again, a 90degree because my loop would go: pump->Reservoir->CPU->GPU1->GPU2->Reservoir. GPU2 was not in this build; I added it later, then removed it again. I'll find pics of it later:
Front view of reservoir mounted, as well as LCD temperature screens:
Inside view after mounting pump, LCD screens etc. All wiring is temporary until all is mounted. I like to route cables last once everything is in place. I'll post updated pics after:
This was my way of measuring tubing. Primitive as fuck, but surprisingly on my first ever liquid cooling build, I did not have to re-cut any piece of tubing
:
After connecting all tubing, I mounted the Power Supply. While leaving the power supply disconnected from everything, I jumped the power supply so I could turn it on when I needed as I filled liquid:
Bye-bye :):
Full-view as shit comes apart:
I put case screws back in, less to lose. You'll be surprised at the mess and sheer number of parts/screws/other lying around as you disassemble and build - every little bit helps:
Stock front case grill - those trays are coming out:
Inside front view of more shit coming out:
Front grill re-worked:
Top view - emptied out, readying for radiator:
Front view:
View or working area - this is what I meant by how much space you'll need and how much shit ends up everywhere. I cleaned as I went from section to section; like GPU, CPU/mobo, case disassembly etc:
Mounting radiator - watching as I screw in screws to make sure they don't penetrate radiator fins:
Side view of mounted radiator:
Front view of mounted radiator. The yellow plugs are temporary and illustrate where I've chosen to have the inlet/outlet plugs located (at the front):
Wider side view looking towards front (right):
Dual-bay reservoir with Laing D5 Vario Pump attached. Figuring out which outlet to use:
Turns out you have one option, so it's mounted with a 90degree to shoot up to radiator. All fittings are Bitspower, black chrome compression fittings. Nothing but the very best:
Inlet - again, a 90degree because my loop would go: pump->Reservoir->CPU->GPU1->GPU2->Reservoir. GPU2 was not in this build; I added it later, then removed it again. I'll find pics of it later:
Front view of reservoir mounted, as well as LCD temperature screens:
Inside view after mounting pump, LCD screens etc. All wiring is temporary until all is mounted. I like to route cables last once everything is in place. I'll post updated pics after:
This was my way of measuring tubing. Primitive as fuck, but surprisingly on my first ever liquid cooling build, I did not have to re-cut any piece of tubing
:
After connecting all tubing, I mounted the Power Supply. While leaving the power supply disconnected from everything, I jumped the power supply so I could turn it on when I needed as I filled liquid:
OG buckshot jr
TD Admin
I bought smaller tubing (can't remember inner/outer diameter, but I'll check later) and a turkey baster and connected them. Pro Tips, son, write this shit down..:
The turkey baster acted like a small funnel, as well as an easy way for me to suck up bubbles as I filled the reservoir:
The general guide is this:
1. Fill Reservoir
2. Turn on PSU to activate pump
3. Immediately shut off PSU once reservoir gets low
4. Refill reservoir
5. Repeat 1-4 until constant flow
Never run pump dry, you will break the pump. This is no joke.
That said, I used a measuring cup as I filled it so I could tell how much my custom loop would use. This would help me when emptying the loop and cleaning it, to know what to expect:
Front view of reservoir (it's got a clear tube in the middle that allowed me to slide an LED light strip in it - I couldn't resist..). The bubbles there are from a solution I used to combat corrosion. I use nothing but distilled water and a basic anti-corrosion additive. This is where the turkey baster allowed me to suck the bubbles right from the top:
Bubbles = inefficiency, so what I did was turn my pump up fairly high to force shit out while moving my parts around. The CPU, since its attached to the case, I would pick up my hole case and hold it at different angles to help get CPU bubbles out. Here's a pick of me rotating and shaking GPU:
Last method is time.. left it run for a while, you're wasting next to no electricity and because your pc is actually not on (remember, the PSU is only connected to - and thus only powering - the pump), it's great to let it run a few hours. This is also good to find leaks, which I've never had because of compression fittings. They're worth their weight in gold, and easily are worth their $120 price tag for this build:
Eventually, I re-routed cables (boring and I took no pics of it, but I promise I'll show updated pics of my case tomorrow) and got it all together to take some pics at night. The tubingis blue, but reactive to UV light. I laid two 30cm/1ft LED strips in my case, so tubing looks white-ish:
Side angle of it closed up:
Close up of side:
I'll come back to update this thread with:
1. How it looked with SLI and how I chose to tube it
2. Update tubing as it is today
3. Updated pics of cable routing etc. as it is today
4. Start a new thread on how to clean a loop out - very, very important!!
5. Start a new thread on the cable sleeving I'm now doing, as well case mods, paint, PSU painting etc.!
I'm never done modding :) Cheers
The turkey baster acted like a small funnel, as well as an easy way for me to suck up bubbles as I filled the reservoir:
The general guide is this:
1. Fill Reservoir
2. Turn on PSU to activate pump
3. Immediately shut off PSU once reservoir gets low
4. Refill reservoir
5. Repeat 1-4 until constant flow
Never run pump dry, you will break the pump. This is no joke.
That said, I used a measuring cup as I filled it so I could tell how much my custom loop would use. This would help me when emptying the loop and cleaning it, to know what to expect:
Front view of reservoir (it's got a clear tube in the middle that allowed me to slide an LED light strip in it - I couldn't resist..). The bubbles there are from a solution I used to combat corrosion. I use nothing but distilled water and a basic anti-corrosion additive. This is where the turkey baster allowed me to suck the bubbles right from the top:
Bubbles = inefficiency, so what I did was turn my pump up fairly high to force shit out while moving my parts around. The CPU, since its attached to the case, I would pick up my hole case and hold it at different angles to help get CPU bubbles out. Here's a pick of me rotating and shaking GPU:
Last method is time.. left it run for a while, you're wasting next to no electricity and because your pc is actually not on (remember, the PSU is only connected to - and thus only powering - the pump), it's great to let it run a few hours. This is also good to find leaks, which I've never had because of compression fittings. They're worth their weight in gold, and easily are worth their $120 price tag for this build:
Eventually, I re-routed cables (boring and I took no pics of it, but I promise I'll show updated pics of my case tomorrow) and got it all together to take some pics at night. The tubingis blue, but reactive to UV light. I laid two 30cm/1ft LED strips in my case, so tubing looks white-ish:
Side angle of it closed up:
Close up of side:
I'll come back to update this thread with:
1. How it looked with SLI and how I chose to tube it
2. Update tubing as it is today
3. Updated pics of cable routing etc. as it is today
4. Start a new thread on how to clean a loop out - very, very important!!
5. Start a new thread on the cable sleeving I'm now doing, as well case mods, paint, PSU painting etc.!
I'm never done modding :) Cheers
OG buckshot jr
TD Admin
For sure! I have two of them in my garage. However, I neglected to use them because I wanted to keep 'sets' of screws together; for example, GPU screws together, cpu screws, case screws, mobo screws, liquid blocks (GPU and CPU) etc. I work very neatly. It costs me time, but well worth it. My method is using the baggy for new sets of screws to bag the old set.