Hello,
After asking many questions around here and putting a lot of thought and research into building my first water cooling set up I figured I would post a work log.
Here is a pic of all my parts.
I ended up getting a raystorm block for cpu
ek block for water cooling
I ordered tygon tubing but the guys at Petras ran out of tygon tubing so i had to settle for neoprene black tubing.
have the 35x pump and maelstrom res
MCR-320 Rad
and scythe fans
This is my original set up.
AMD 965 BE
ATI 7870
ASUS Board
HAF-x Case
This installation was definitely a learning process. I think i turned the radiator around 4 times before I finally stuck with it's current position and moved the res to all of the possible positions.
At first I tried to put all my parts in and then run the tubing, I found this to be extremely difficult with the monsoon fittings so i opted to take everything but the cpu block off and put the tubing on out of the case. I'm not sure if this is how everyone else does it but its how i had the best luck.
After I put the tubing all together I put the radiator in again. I think this was the 5th time I moved the radiator around, fiddling with fan direction and were i wanted the tubing etc..
I already had the cpu block in
Then I did the res, i really like this res I only wish it took up 3 bay slots so it would have a little more head room for bleeding. I had a real hard time getting all the bubbles out after everything was together. I also experimented with many diff placements for the res but found I liked this spot the best.
Then I put the gpu in
I found this out afterward and was kinda pissed at myself but apparently the ek block comes with a 90 degree fitting to make running the tubing easier and I neglected to use this handy piece of equipment.
I am kind of confused on how to connect this piece anyway but haven't really tried to put it on. I am kind of hesitant to take everything apart after all the time it took to bleed everything anyway.
after the gpu i hooked up all the tubing to the cpu
my loop currently goes as follows
RES > Pump > CPU > GPU > Rad > RES
Then i filled everything up and rehooked up my gear. I wanted to do the first op test with everything but the pump disconnected but found I couldn't get the pump to run without being hooked up to a fan controller on the board and I didn't get the NZXT fan controller for 2 days later. So i went ahead and hooked everything up and got lucky with no leaks I guess.
This is what it looks like atm
As you can see I still have a lot of cable management to take care of (still need to get sleeving)
Lessons learned:
put the tubing together before installing all components
installation takes way longer than expected
buy extra tubing (i bought 14ft and nearly ran out)
monsoon compression fittings are cool, but a pain in the ass with neoprene tubing because they like to stick to it and twist the tubing instead of sliding across it.
get a bigger res
have a fan controller ready before installation.
More pics to come of fan controller and temps
Thanks
Ricky
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