mATX 2011-3 Custom-loop WC Build Thread [Completed]

[exar333]

Really happy with the build. It was definitely a challenge to fit everything I wanted in a rather small case, but it is possible to have a great OC machine on a 'smallish' footprint.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Really happy with the build. It was definitely a challenge to fit everything I wanted in a rather small case, but it is possible to have a great OC machine on a 'smallish' footprint.

Did you have any room left for an optical drive, hard disk etc.? I don't think there's a need for drive cages with SSDs: they can be secured elsewhere in the case. I've even seen side-panel mounts for them.

I just thought it was daring to give up HDD storage space for that big radiator in your case front-panel.

 

[exar333]

Did you have any room left for an optical drive, hard disk etc.? I don't think there's a need for drive cages with SSDs: they can be secured elsewhere in the case. I've even seen side-panel mounts for them.

I just thought it was daring to give up HDD storage space for that big radiator in your case front-panel.

I hadn't really used my built-in optical drive for a while, as I have a better one connected via USB. I also mounted my 2x 2.5'' and 1x 3.5'' hard drives in the 5.25'' bays to keep them out of the way. After recently retiring my 3TB RAID setup and migrating that over to a purpose-built NAS, I had just enough room to fit what I needed.

Edit: My initial thought was side-mounting (1) OR (2) SSDs on the back panel, but I really needed all that space for extra cable clutter. The 350D doesn't have a ton of space behind the MB tray, so you have to be pretty judicious about what you use it for.

 

[Ajay]

Congrats exar333 - nice build and build log!

http://youtu.be/v57sUtvNa5o

 

[Grooveriding]

Awesome machine! :thumbsup:

I think I have developed bad habits as far as leak testing goes. When I started water cooling I would let the system sit for well over a day, checking often. Now I probably run the system for 4 to 6 hours or overnight and power it up. I've done as little as an hour

I've found leaks in my loop before and have had to tear down to correct it, but they've turned up immediately after filling. Probably a bad habit to have and I may pay for it one day with a dead part. The few times I've discovered a leak, it's always been on one of the seams of a compression fitting due to it having too much pressure on it from the tube run it's holding.

As far as air in the loop it will work out after a couple weeks. You'll see your reservoir level go down a little as the tiny bubbles find their way there. I just do enough tilting of the case to get rid of the gurgling sounds and let the rest work its way out over time.

 

[exar333]

Awesome machine! :thumbsup:

I think I have developed bad habits as far as leak testing goes. When I started water cooling I would let the system sit for well over a day, checking often. Now I probably run the system for 4 to 6 hours or overnight and power it up. I've done as little as an hour

I've found leaks in my loop before and have had to tear down to correct it, but they've turned up immediately after filling. Probably a bad habit to have and I may pay for it one day with a dead part. The few times I've discovered a leak, it's always been on one of the seams of a compression fitting due to it having too much pressure on it from the tube run it's holding.

As far as air in the loop it will work out after a couple weeks. You'll see your reservoir level go down a little as the tiny bubbles find their way there. I just do enough tilting of the case to get rid of the gurgling sounds and let the rest work its way out over time.

Thanks!

I think I have a rather average overclocker. I definitely hit stability issues below 1.3v on anything higher than 4.4ghz. I think I could maybe go a little higher and hit 4.6-4.7 but would need close to 1.4v to do so. Not sure thats worth-it other than for epeen benching.

 

[njdevilsfan87]

I think I have developed bad habits as far as leak testing goes. When I started water cooling I would let the system sit for well over a day, checking often. Now I probably run the system for 4 to 6 hours or overnight and power it up. I've done as little as an hour

I've found leaks in my loop before and have had to tear down to correct it, but they've turned up immediately after filling. Probably a bad habit to have and I may pay for it one day with a dead part. The few times I've discovered a leak, it's always been on one of the seams of a compression fitting due to it having too much pressure on it from the tube run it's holding.

I go with tubing that's one size smaller than my fitting, so it's a tight fit and can honestly run without any fitting clamp if it's in a stable position. I've never once had a leak come from any fitting since going a tube size one down on the ID. My fittings are rated for 1/2'' ID and I run 3/8'' ID tubing.

And nice work OP. I had a little adventure myself trying to fit Caselabs territory worth of water cooling into my case, and it's a good bit larger than yours. But then end result feels very rewarding. It's almost creating a "sleeper car" - doesn't look like much from the outside, but when you remove the cover it's damn impressive! You could easily slip a second 970 into there with an EK GPU block terminal sometime down the line.

 

[exar333]

I go with tubing that's one size smaller than my fitting, so it's a tight fit and can honestly run without any fitting clamp if it's in a stable position. I've never once had a leak come from any fitting since going a tube size one down on the ID. My fittings are rated for 1/2'' ID and I run 3/8'' ID tubing.

And nice work OP. I had a little adventure myself trying to fit Caselabs territory worth of water cooling into my case, and it's a good bit larger than yours. But then end result feels very rewarding. It's almost creating a "sleeper car" - doesn't look like much from the outside, but when you remove the cover it's damn impressive! You could easily slip a second 970 into there with an EK GPU block terminal sometime down the line.

Thanks!

I think I will bide my time until big Maxwell arrives and decide to either go with a single big or throw-in another 970. For now, it does what I need it to.

 

[njdevilsfan87]

I do have a comment to make though - if you are using the front rad an intake, you'll be really diminishing the performance of the top rad exhaust. I know everyone is so used to that from air cooling, but it's completely wrong with water cooling, imo. Either all your rads are intakes or exhausts. I have all of my exhausting, with the case running open (until I finish my custom side panel to mount some intake to there).

It shouldn't matter much with a 970 and CPU only loop, but if you go big Maxwell down the line or add another 970, it most certainly will! I once had my loop as single Titan + CPU and made the mistake of doing a 280 intake + 360 exhaust, and it made my 360 exhaust nearly useless (Titan was passing 55C and the top rad was getting very hot). Now I'm dumping way more heat into my loop and haven't nearly scaled up the rad space as much, and my GPUs at worst will be 42 - 45C after a long gaming session.