Sectorix's Water Cooling Build (Obsidian 800d)

[sectorix]

so ...

something terrible just happened ! one of my GTXs has a broken GPU cover.
when i took off the cover as explained on EK manual, the GPU cover broke off !!!
so far lucky for me, i called EVGA's support in EU and this great guy answered and is now checking with their RMA department what to do, hopefully they can replace it for me.
i know that EVGA's support is considered very good, so i hope i will enjoy that service as well.

btw, even the EVGA support guy was really surprised when i sent him the picture, he never saw something like this, so i guess this is super rare.


i am a bit tilted right now, since these cost me 1100$ together. and i hope EVGA will help me out of this pain point.

broken card :



i did complete assembly of the other one just fine :



i think i will leave the rest for the weekend, as i am completely tilted by this.

[ScytheNoire]

Oh jees, that's a nightmare. I really hope EVGA can help.

[sectorix]

well, they have the reputation of helping gamers, and customers of high end gear such as this, and i have always had good experience with them
hope it lasts

[fr0wn3r]

Eeek! Hope they'll help you... Never seen this before.

[sectorix]

update!

EVGA support are amazing ! i called the guy in EVGA Germany, sent him the pictures, and got a great "sure, we will RMA your card".
this is astounding, since im not used to that level of support ( other than maybe Asus ) so im really really happy !

i definitively recommend anyone that is looking to go EVGA, my future business will go to them without missing a heartbeat.

and now, off to DHL to ship the faulty card ... will start the build this weekend regardless.
im happy again! thank you EVGA!

Edit : part shipped to Germany ... should get the replacement in about a week, but going to build anyway with 1 card for now.

[sectorix]

so ... starting the build, this is one heavy case , gonna work on my kitchen table

[sectorix]

first task was to put in the fill port on top of the case, i measured a9cm parallel line from front, then X marks the spot



used a drill step bit kit that i purchased at Amason a few weeks ago, started with a small hole to position, and extended for the fill port.



this is where the wife started complaining about the mess :P





fill hole complete.

[sectorix]

second phase for me was to upgrade the case sata2 bay to sata 3 using the kit ordered from corsair.
i actually managed to break a bolt in the process and had to fight with it for almost 20 minutes

this is the original kit



stripped down



and finally upgraded

[sectorix]

ok, after a few minutes of rest, started to assemble the pump with the ek top



pretty



took no more than 5 minutes, quite straight forward ( very simple instructions as well )

[sectorix]

now, the radiator bit of the build
this was a very tricky part, and i had to use my wife as a second pair of hands to assemble this, but the result is quite nice.









Important Note : i tested the fans after assembly, very very quiet. im happy with leaving them on without a fan controller.

[sectorix]

ok, time to put in the pump and the reservoir

measurments are a real , since i can only drill from the other side, this took a while to think over...





tada !



connection tro the fill port and the radiator have been fitted :P

[sectorix]

CPU time !

i love the easy mounting mechansim that EK introduced with the new Supreme HF. comes with some MX-4 but i already had an open tube of that :P



backplate in place



clean CPU ready for some paste :P



let there be light !



block in place.




also took some time to drill the drain port that i designed in the build



and now for the loop assembly DDDD

drain system



and the loop complete ( remember, i still need to add a second GPU once its back from RMA, but this is a good chance to do the leak test




lets hope i will be smiling tomorrow morning

[sectorix]

oh boy. seems to be a leak from the reservoir at the point of connection to the fillport.
i tried replacing the fitting, but it remained, so it means the top of the res is faulty probably...

im trying to solve this with an extra O-ring, but just in anycase, i ordered the XSPC 5.25 bay Res as was my B plan for the loop ( will be here monday/tuesday ) plus another bottle of coolant, since this one
is now part of my floor :P

delays delays ...


btw, some personal thought, the EK res when the loop returns to it, and you also use a top fill port, makes it terrible to bleed.

[sectorix]

got my little package from SpecialTech today so lets continue the work.

first of all i have decided that i dont like the EK reservoirfor my loop. its a good res, but because of the structure of my loop ( water back to res from above ) the bleeding is very very hard and i dont like the maintenance that i might get into.
so i changed to an XSPC Bay 5.25 res which fits me perfectly, i added a cap that connects to the fill port which is just pretty.

also changed the tube to the Pro version of Primochill PrimoFlex Pro LRT.
at last i changed the 90 Degree fitting from the GPU to an EK one. to have some quality control

ok here goes the new loop ( still missing the final GPU addition that is now on its way from Germany ).













the purple is because its UV active... dont worry, its blue

[sectorix]

bleeding the loop and leak testing :




Note : the air in the pump while bleeding makes so much noise, its silent after the air is out.

[Niel]

Nice.. it's great with the videos. Do not know if there's a particular reason why you made the loop as you have. I would suggest. res, pump, cpu, gtx, radiator, res!

[sectorix]

Elmy, the decision was after i've seen this build : http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...TX-watercooled
which is very very close to mine, and gets to the tempratures i wanted.

[Niel]

Okay I understand. If it is true he has the temperature as he says, it is impressive. Are you interested in the oc your cpu, then I'll change the setup.

[sectorix]

Well, going to OC it to 3.6 so not too much...

btw, leak test ended great. case wiring done, now i just need to wait for the second GPU, and then ill plug this baby
and have the final footage :P

oh, and no sleeving... just not my thing i guess...

[gR3iF]

Nice build, ugly story with the Hs on the 580....


Did you notice, that you got the fans wrong on the pictures?

[sectorix]

Nice build, ugly story with the Hs on the 580....


Did you notice, that you got the fans wrong on the pictures?

TY, and ofcourse i did.

[sectorix]

Alright ! the EVGA RMA card has arrived !

took 10 days, and made me go nuts over wanting to finish this, but then a nice package came in. thank you EVGA <3 !



inside the box waited a shiny new GTX580 <3



now for waterblock and accessory assembly ( i hope this one is ok ! )





YES ! gpu is not broken



and now its even clean and stripped, interesting that this pcb is brown, where the other one i had was blue



GPU enforcing ring



screwing the waterblock mounts



end result :

[sectorix]

final assembly time
i already ran the wires and boot tested the machine before installing the final card so this is a re-assembly.

ok, so first of all i will drain the system. and its a good time to show the final look of the drain port



smart decision with the draining system i think took 20 seconds to drain.



install the second GPU, rerouted the hose and added an SLI pipe between the cards ( very easy install )
now its fill and leak test time.

.

now, after refilling i felt that there is something wrong... dont know... heard knucks from the pump, so dissasembled, cleaned and reassembled.
i would note that i found a piece of plastic from the acetal top that was probably left from the original cutting of it.

[sectorix]

Ladies and Gentlemen... the final loop :



now just a leak test/bleed, and on to install and benchmarks.
i already put in the UV lighting that i wanted , so this should take almost no time.
im also considering sleeving but i dont really care about these things.

thinking if i should take a photoshoot with my D90 just to have a better picture album of the project... we'll see...

[sectorix]

some pictures using D90 and a 50mm lens.