"Dave" - Phanteks Enthoo Primo

[Blade Runner]

Having moved my hardware from my Ethnoo case to my STH10 I had an empty nearly new case. My daughter needed a proper PC to have set up for her homework at her desk (She is really into minions, who isn't?) so the plan is the following.

Hardware
The aforementioned Phanteks case - White
Asus Z170A motherboard
CPU - To be decided, one of the K type Skylakes but not urgent at the moment and hoping the prices come down a bit - I mean, the i7 Skylake is the same as a 5820K!
Gigabyte Radeon R9 280 Windforce (B grade at OCUK £105.00)
RAM - Again not urgent so waiting for DDR4 to drop a bit more in price.
OS Drive Corsair Neutron GTX 240GB
HDD WD 1TB

Watercooling
Alphacool 480 ST45 Push pull
Alphacool 280 ST60 Push pull
Alphacool NexXxos GPX - ATI R280 M02 Waterblock
Alphacool CPU and RAM Blocks
Alphacool Cape Corp Bullseye reservoir
Monsoon Hardline 16mm pipes and free centre fittings

Lighting
Aqua Computer Farbwerk USB Aquabus LED controller

General
Fans are what I had on the old build, Phanteks and Enermax. I am having to buy 4 120 fans for the 480 rad, Silverstones with most wired back to the excellent Phanteks Fan Hub.
Minion theme - lots of yellow with black and blue highlights.

I have made a start on the pull fans for the 480 rad, these are 140s which were left over from the old build. They wont line up with the 480 rad so they will be fixed with 3M tape in the top of the case in the locations as shown.

ETA:-

Got the 24 pin cable made up and sleeved this evening, its yellow and blue.

 

[Dacho]

Gonna be awesome. Great colors, man.

 

[Blade Runner]

Gonna be awesome. Great colors, man.

Thank you, I hope it turns out all right; I am struggling finding a yellow paint that goes with the sleeve at the moment.

I might end up having denim blue as the colour that I paint things with as I just cant get a yellow that is as bright as the sleeve.

The sleeve is just so bright, it makes other yellows look mustard when they are beside it.

A few more parts have turned up today.

 

[Excalabur50]

Can you not get the sleeve yellow scanned at a paint shop then matched that way?

 

[Blade Runner]

Can you not get the sleeve yellow scanned at a paint shop then matched that way?

That's a good idea, I hadn't thought about that, I'm just not sure if the paint shop that I know makes up rattle cans of paint has scanning facilities and I'm colour blind.....

I will give them a ring on Monday, see what they say. I have got another can of yellow this morning that may be closer, I'll do a couple of coats on some metal and see what it looks like.

 

[Blade Runner]

I got all the big holes cut in the case today along with the cover for the panel behind the motherboard to cover up most of the pre cut holes.

I only need one large hole to take the 24 pin cable and the Sata cables so the others were going to be empty and I think covering them up looks cleaner.

I used 0.6mm thick formica which is thin enough to not make contact with the rear of the motherboard but also stiff enough to sit nicely in place when held with 3m tape. It is a nightmare to cut though, it just wants to splinter so its a very slow process but it will be a good contrast for the yellow cables and highlighted parts.

The 280 rad is now fitted in place, the Phanteks rad bracket making fitting it and the fans a simple process. The bullseye mounting plate fitting was easier than I thought as I happened to have a hole saw that was a perfect size to cut out the hole. The rectangular hole below the reservoir is for a 5" mini monitor.

The 480 rad at the top needs some custom brackets making up as I want the pipe inlet and outlets at the front of the case and the holes don't line up with the pre drilled case holes when fitted that way round.

Change of plan on the CPU and RAM blocks, I had forgotten I have a brand new XSPC Raystorm CPU block that was going to be fitted to the STH10 before the full mobo block became available. I will fit that along with an XSPC RAM block and light both of them with LEDs which will be controlled by the LED light switch on the top of the case.

 

[Blade Runner]

Got the top 480 radiator along with its 7 fans fitted and wired back to the fan hub. The brackets ended up being simple strips of some carbon fibre strip I had lying around.

I also got the drain valve fitted to the bottom 280 radiator which is sticking out more than I would like so I will either get a smaller rotary spacer if possible or make a cage to go round it to keep it away from any harm.

The Corsair SSD (It is going to get a yellow Minion decal) is also in place with its SATA cable sleeved and attached to the mobo along with the front power, reset and HDD LEDs.

With not having any HDD racks I have plenty of room to fit another radiator behind the front intake fans so I have ordered a Alphacool 240 XT45. This will fit in behind the removable pump/ HHD cage bracket - Phanteks really have put a lot of thought into this case and how you fit radiators in it.

 

[Blade Runner]

Little update, the 240 rad is fitted along with the pump, reservoir, monitor and a couple of the pipes.

Banannas........................

 

[Blade Runner]

I got the loop finished apart from where it will connect to the GPU, CPU & RAM water block. I used a short pipe to connect from either side of the motherboard and filled the loop to leak test.

Again I had another UV Glue joint failure, my fault, I am not giving the tubes long enough in the UV Box. Once that was fixed I hot wired the pump and got it circulating then left it overnight to check for any leaks.

All good this morning so I was safe to install the Farbwerk and start the RGB LED and RGB strip lighting. The reservoir has a RGB LED fitted now and the XSPC CPU and RAM blocks will get one each too.

The other RGB feeds will be for background lighting in mobo area and a couple under the base to give that floating on a glow look if you know what I mean?

With the 3 radiators now fitted I was pleased to measure 1.6 litres to fill the loop. Remembering that there is still a bit of pipework and 3 water blocks to add I would think the total capacity will be around the 1.75 litre mark which bodes well for a quiet system.

 

[Blade Runner]

The B grade GPU I ordered from OCUK turned out not to be in stock, luckily I had not ordered the water block so no harm done. A quick search of GPUs turned up this MSI GTX 960. A good looking card with a proper back plate, it seems a shame to take it apart The Alphacool water block should be here tomorrow to fit it.

The last 3 fans also turned up today so I spliced two together and re sleeved them to match the rest. The centers were crying out for a Minion eyes..........These two fans and the exhaust fan on the rear will get wire grills.

ETA A few pics of the water block and the stripped down GPU - Lots of empty real estate on this PCB.......

 

[Blade Runner]

Nearly finished Dave, just one problem I cant get a 6600k, they are out of stock everywhere at the moment. I have fitted the CPU water block against the socket cover to allow me to get the pipes bent. I just have one more to do to go from the RAM block to the top 480 rad but I am short one blue monsoon fitting.

I have found that when bending pipes it works better for me if I make a jig like the one in the picture below, it ensures you get the return bend in exactly the right place, assuming you measure them accurately first!

I managed to bend all three of the pipes in the bottom picture first attempt, doing it this way, so no waste. It may take a bit longer to set up but in the long run it works out quicker and cheaper.

 

[Blade Runner]

I was all set to finish "Dave" this weekend, I have the 6600k at the ready and everything else I need to get him fully running but.............................

Looking through the bulls-eye on the reservoir I saw something grim, stripping it down has showed up horrible corrosion of the aluminium which has turned into a green gunk and furry bits in places.

What have I done wrong? I flushed the loop several times and ran it overnight as a leak test with tap water, then flushed it with distilled water before draining it to put it away until the 6600K chips became more reasonably priced.

OK the inside of the res was damp and if it was full of fluid the corrosion should not have happened, no oxygen = no corrosion? But that reservoir, like most will have an air pocket even when the loop is full.

Is it a clash between the copper rads and the aluminium? The green maybe suggests that, I don't know, all I do know is that I am not fitting it in my loop, I have already ordered an Aquacomputer derlin version of the same type of reservoir which is very nearly the same size so should fit in this ones place quite easily.

It does mean that finishing this PC is a job for next weekend now if the parts turn up so its back to the 900d this weekend.

Any thoughts on the corrosion? Was it my fault for using tap water to leak test? Leaving the loop damp while stored for a few weeks? Anyone?

 

[Gurt11]

Wew, that does not look good at all I always remembered aluminium and water are no good together. But other than that I'm not a chemist or anything so no idea what exactly caused this green gunk.

I do however must applaud your cable management back there! Very nice!

 

[Dark NighT]

With aluminium you need anti corrosive solution added in the loop, doing leak tests for that long without it is probably the cause of this.

 

[Blade Runner]

Thanks for the replies, that sounds like what I did wrong.

Its something to keep in mind for future builds.

 

[Davva2004]

Corrosion deposits feel dry and crumbly, mould feels wet and slimy. From the picture it looks more like mould than corrosion, so adding biocide or a kill coil would definitely help. Personally I would use either ready made or concentrated coolant as it contains both biocides and corrosion inhibitors.